Then Jeroboam fortified Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there.  . . . Jeroboam thought to himself, "The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam, king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam."After seeking advi...  Read More

Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.  . . . And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said t...  Read More

Also, Jeroboam, son of Nebat rebelled against the king. He was one of Solomon's officials. . . .  Here is the account of how he rebelled against the king:Now Jeroboam was a man of standing, and when Solomon saw how well the young man did his work, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the tribes of Joseph.About that time Jeroboam was going out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet of Shi...  Read More

Then the LORD raised up against Solomon an adversary, Hadad the Edomite, from the royal line of Edom. Earlier when David was fighting with Edom, Joab the commander of the army . . . had struck down all the men in Edom. Joab and all the Israelites stayed there . . . until they had destroyed all the men in Edom. But Hadad, still only a boy, fled to Egypt with some Edomite officials who had served hi...  Read More

On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molek the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods.The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although He had forbidden...  Read More

King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh's  daughter -- Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after other gods." Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three...  Read More