“The Kings – Rehoboam & Jeroboam”

​B I B L E  B I T S  &  B I T E S
Devotions for Families

Season 4: Kings
Episode 4: “The Kings – Rehoboam & Jeroboam”
Today’s Bible Bite: 1 Kings 12

Video Story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjtRRmQt-5k (Cartoonworks)

“But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. 13 And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.” (1 Kings 11:12-13)

King Solomon started out so well as king—building God’s Temple and following his guidance. But as he got older things changed. The man renowned for his wisdom made some serious mistakes. For one, he had 1,000 wives…crazy right? And many of these wives knew nothing about God. He built them places to worship their gods, even the ones that sacrificed children! This made God angry. He told Solomon that he was going to take the rule of the Israelites away from his family. It was only because David, Solomon’s father, had been so faithful that God would wait until after Solomon died.

Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, became the next king, but he wasn’t interested in being good to the people—he wanted to be richer than his father had been. The Israelites were made up of twelve tribes and only two of the tribes—Judah and Benjamin—agreed to let Rehoboam be their king. The other ten tribes chose Jeroboam, who had once been one of Solomon’s trusted workers to be their king. Israel was now split into two kingdoms—the northern tribe of “Israel” and the southern tribe of “Judah.” The northern kingdom quickly turned away from serving God after Jeroboam made two gold calf statues for the people to worship—he didn’t want to risk them going to Jerusalem to worship; the southern kingdom, served God more and had fewer wicked kings, but eventually they turned their backs on God too. The people of Israel had been desperate to have a king, but it turned out very badly for them.

Think about it...
• Solomon loved being the richest person alive more than he loved God. What kinds of things did he like to collect?
• Solomon had built the Temple for God, but then he built many temples for the fake gods too. Why do you think he did this?
• God was angry with Solomon for not obeying. What was Solomon’s punishment?
• The kingdom of Israel was divided. Do you think the people regretted wanting a king in the first place?
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Prayer: Thank you, God, for the rules you give us. When we remember to follow them, we are sure to please you and keep from making really big mistakes like Solomon, Rehoboam and Jeroboam. Help us to always obey you.