“And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers.” — 2 Chronicles 11:16

After Israel divided into two nations, Jeroboam brought idolatry into the Northern Kingdom. The people living there who longed to serve God according to the Law of Moses began to move to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. 

In the centuries since that time, many people have moved so they could worship God with likeminded individuals. That’s what my grandparents did. My grandmother testified, “God called me to be a Christian when I was just a child, but I lived under conviction for years because no one told me that I could get down and pray my way through to an experience that I would know about and that would keep me every day. 

“In 1915, an Apostolic Faith paper was brought to my door in Murphysboro, Illinois. It was good news to my hungry heart. There were testimonies of people who really knew they were saved, and that put a hope in my soul. I was twenty-six years old and so afflicted that I was unable to do my housework. There was a testimony of a person who had been healed, and I prayed, ‘Lord, If You have healed that person, You can heal me.’ He did!” 

My grandparents began to attend cottage prayer meetings, and God saved, sanctified, and baptized them with the Holy Spirit. They wanted to go to a camp meeting in Portland, Oregon, and meet the people who had published the paper they had received. After selling their property in Illinois, they came to camp meeting in 1917, and they never went back to Illinois to live, although they made trips to visit their families. They loved worshipping and serving God with the people they had met in the Apostolic Faith work. Today their great-great-grandchildren are being raised in this congregation of believers. They made a good decision! 

Wherever we live, it is important to be united in spirit with fellow believers, and to worship God according to the instructions given in His Word.

BACKGROUND

Three significant events are covered in this chapter of 2 Chronicles: the Lord instructed Judah not to engage in civil war with Israel (verses 1-4), Rehoboam fortified cities for the defense of Judah (verses 5-12), and the priests and Levites in the Northern Kingdom of Israel relocated to Judah (verses 13-17). The chapter concludes in verses 18-23 with a record of the royal family of Rehoboam. 

Rehoboam’s ill-advised harshness toward the people of Israel had divided his kingdom, and he determined to reunite it by waging war against the seceding tribes. However, after he had gathered his best warriors at Jerusalem for this purpose, God spoke to him through the prophet Shemaiah and forbade taking such action. To Rehoboam’s credit—or perhaps due to a lack of courage—he obeyed the divine directive. This preserved the Davidic line in Judah. 

In verses 5-12, Rehoboam turned his attention to the defense of Judah. The word translated built in verse 5 has the meaning of “repaired” or “fortified” in this passage, since these cities already existed. Judah needed fortification as its two tribes were greatly outnumbered by the ten tribes of Israel. In addition, these cities gave Judah protection from the Philistines in the west and the Egyptians in the south. 

The Levites and other true worshippers of God who migrated to Judah from Israel did so because the northern king, Jeroboam, had instituted idolatrous worship practices. According to 1 Kings 12:25-33, Jeroboam had fashioned two calves of gold for the people to worship, had relocated the center of worship away from Jerusalem, and had appointed priests who were not from the tribe of Levi. The godly servants of the Lord refused to live in a kingdom where worship practices were thoroughly corrupted, so they “resorted to him [Rehoboam] out of all their coasts” (verse 13). 

The phrase in verse 15, “he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils,” refers to Jeroboam. The word “devils” is thought to be a reference to he-goats that were used in conjunction with the worship of the golden calves. 

Rehoboam obviously did not learn from his father Solomon’s error in taking many wives; according to the concluding verses of this chapter, he too married multiple times. However, verse 23 indicates that dispersing his sons throughout his kingdom as his agents was a wise move.

AMPLIFIED OUTLINE

III. The history of the kings of Judah
     A. The reign of Rehoboam
          1. The forbidden war against Jeroboam (11:1-4)
          2. The fortification of Judah and Benjamin (11:5-12)
          3. The protection of the priests and Levites (11:13-17)
          4. The prosperity of Rehoboam’s family (11:18-23)

A CLOSER LOOK

1. According to verse 4, what was God’s direction to Rehoboam when he prepared to go to war against the Northern Kingdom?
2. What will be some of the evidence when people “set their hearts to seek the Lord”?
3. What do you appreciate most about worshipping in unity with others?

CONCLUSION

God honors those who purpose to worship Him as His Word instructs. We want to be among those who are wholehearted and faithful.