He fought against the Syrians in the battle at Ramath-gilead, where King Ahab was slain, and afterward with Ahab's son, Jehoram, he fought against the Moabites. Jehoshaphat made peace with Israel, and united with the Israelites against the kingdom of Syria. When he became king Ahab was king of Israel, of whom we read in Part Fourth. This led many of Asa's people to worship images, so that when he died there were again idols throughout the land.Īsa's son, Jehoshaphat, was the next king, and he was the wisest and strongest of all the kings of Judah, and ruled over the largest realm of any. He turned to men who called themselves physicians or doctors, but they were men who tried to cure by the power of idols. Until Asa was old he served the Lord but in his old age he became sick, and in his sickness he did not seek the Lord. He found that his own mother, the queen, had made an idol, and he cut it down and broke it in pieces and he would not allow her to be queen any longer, because she had worshipped idols. He went through the land, and broke down the idols, and burned them. Then Asa rebuilt the altar of the Lord which had fallen into decay, and he called upon his people to worship. Now be strong, and put away the wickedness out of the land, and the Lord shall reward your work.' If you seek him you shall find him but if you forsake the Lord he will forsake you. The Lord is with you while you are with him. He said, 'Hear me, King Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. Then the Lord sent to Asa a prophet named Azariah. Asa took again the cities in the south which had gone over to the side of the Ethiopians, and he brought to Jerusalem great riches, and flocks of sheep, and heads of cattle, and camels, which he had taken from his enemies. The Lord heard Asa's prayer, and gave him a great victory over the Ethiopians. O Lord, thou art our God let not man succeed against thee.' Help us, O Lord, for we trust in thee and in thy name we fight this vast multitude. 'O Lord, it makes no difference to thee whether there are few or many. He had no hope of success in his soldiers, because they were so few and the enemies were no many. Asa drew out his little army against the Ethiopians at a place called Mareshah, in the south of Judah, near the desert. Against Asa a great army of enemies came up from Ethiopia, which was south of Egypt. And God helped the men of Judah against Israel, and they won a great victory so that Jeroboam never again came against Judah.Ībijah's reign was short, only three years and after him came Asa, his son, who was a great warrior, a great builder of cities, and a wise ruler. But Abijah told his men to trust in the Lord, and to fight bravely in the Lord's name. But Jeroboam's army was twice as large as Abijah's, and his men stood not only in front of the men of Judah but also behind them, so that the army of Judah was in great danger of being destroyed. When Jeroboam, the king of Israel, made war upon him, Abijah led his army into the land of Israel. This evil came upon Judah because its king and its people had turned away from the Lord their God.Īfter Rehoboam had reigned seventeen years he died, and his son Abijah, became king of Judah. They marched over all the land of Judah, they took the city of Jerusalem, and they robbed the Temple of all the great treasure in gold and silver which Solomon had stored up. He brought upon the land of Judah a great army from Egypt, led by Shishak, the king of Egypt. God was not pleased with Rehoboam and his people, because they had forsaken him for idols. But he did not look to the Lord as his grandfather David had looked he allowed his people to worship idols, so that soon on almost every hill and in almost every grove of trees there was an image of stone or wood. Its chief city was Jerusalem, where stood the Temple of the Land and the palace of the king.Īfter Rehoboam found that he could no more rule over the Ten Tribes, he tried to make his own little kingdom strong by building cities and raising an army of soldiers. It reached from the Dead Sea westward to the land of the Philistines on the shore of the Great Sea, and from Beersheba on the south not quite to Bethel on the north but it held some control over the land of Edom on the south of the Dead Sea. This division left the kingdom of Judah very small and weak. The Ten Tribes broke away from the rule of King Rehoboam and set up a kingdom of their own under Jeroboam.

We turn from the story of the kingdom of Israel in the north to the story of the kingdom of Judah in the south.

Jehoshaphat bible study for teens