Welcome to this Daily PBJ devotional. Read 2 Chronicles 11 and 12 today and Zephaniah 3. This devotional is about 2 Chronicles 11 and 12. When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. But the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, the man of God, Tell Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and all the Israelites in Judah and Benjamin, that this is what the Lord says. You are not to go up and fight against your brothers. Each of you must return home, for this is my doing." So they listened to the words of the Lord and turned back from going against Jeroboam. Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem, and he built up cities for defense in Judah. He built up Bethlehem, Ettam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, Socko, Edulam, Gath, Mereshah, Ziph, Adurim, Lachish, Ezekah, Zorah, Ejilon, and Hebron, the fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin. He strengthened their fortifications and put officers in them with supplies for food, oil, and wine. He also put shields and spears in all the cities and strengthened them greatly, so Judah and Benjamin belonged to him. Moreover, the priests and Levites from all their districts throughout Israel stood with Rehoboam. For the Levites left their pasture lands and their possessions, and went to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the Lord. And Jeroboam appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat-demons and calf-idols he had made. Those from every tribe of Israel, who had set their hearts to seek the Lord their God, followed the Levites to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord, the God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah. And supported Rehoboam, son of Solomon, for three years, because they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon. And Rehoboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David's son Jeremoth, and of Abahel, the daughter of Jesse's son Eliab. She bore sons to him, Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. After her, he married Maka, daughter of Absalom, and she bore to him Abijah, Attai, Zizah, and Shalemith. Rehoboam loved Maka, daughter of Absalom, more than all his wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he was the father of twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. Rehoboam appointed Abijah, son of Macca, as chief prince among his brothers, intending to make him king. Rehoboam also acted wisely by dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions, and sought many wives for them. 2 Chronicles 12 after Rehoboam had established his sovereignty and royal power. He and all Israel with him forsook the law of the Lord. In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, Shishak, king of Egypt, attacked Jerusalem with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen, and countless troops who came with him out of Egypt, Libyans, Succites, and Cushites. He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. Then Shemiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak. And he said to them, This is what the Lord says, You have forsaken me, therefore I have forsaken you into the hand of Shishak. So the leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, The Lord is righteous. When the Lord saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them, but will soon grant them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. Nevertheless, they will become his servants, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands. So King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and seized the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields that Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place. and committed them to the care of the captains of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. And whenever the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards would go with him, bearing the shields, and later they would return them to the guardroom. Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned away from him, and he did not destroy him completely. Indeed, conditions were good in Judah. Thus King Rehoboam established himself in Jerusalem and reigned. He was 41 years old when he became king, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel in which to put his name. His mother's name was Nema the Ammonite, and Rehoboam did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord. Now the Acts of Rehoboam from first to last. Are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer concerning the genealogies? There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their days. And Rehoboam rested with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. And his son Abijah reigned in his place. This is God's word. When God chose the tribe of Levi to serve as the priests, he decreed that they would receive no allotment of territory in the promised land. Instead, God wanted the Levites to be dispersed throughout the land of Israel, in every tribe, every town, all over the nation. When it was time for their service at the temple, they came to Jerusalem to serve, but most of the year they lived elsewhere. Now there were multiple reasons for this. First, God wanted them throughout Israel so that they would teach his law to all the people of Israel. Second, he also wanted them all over the place so that they would examine the people. so that they could examine them. Second, he wanted them all over the area so that they could examine people who had skin diseases and homes which had mold. You can see Leviticus 13 for this exhilarating information. The priests and Levites were paid from the offerings that were brought to the tabernacle and later the temple. And they used that money to buy land in the towns and villages where they lived all over Israel. God did not forbid him from owning land. He decreed that they would not have a segment of tribal land in Israel like the other tribes did. But they were allowed to own land in any of those tribes. In addition to the money they earned serving the Lord, these Levites and priests had time to farm and raise animals like everyone else in Israel did. So many of them bought property among the tribes of Israel. Israel rebelled from the heavy taxation of Rehoboam, as we already read a few days ago, and Israel became two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The Northern Kingdom, led by Jeroboam, created idols and worship areas in the Northern Kingdom, as we read about in verse 15. That left the Levites and priests in all these towns in the north with a choice. Their choice was this, would they conform and condone the idolatry of the northern kingdom and keep the land and relationships they had built in the ten tribes of Israel in the north or would they remain faithful to the Lord and abandon their land, the land that they had paid for, as well as their friends, and continue to serve him by migrating to Jerusalem? The answer was given to us back in verse 14. I'll read it this time from the NIV, but this is chapter 11, verse 14. And it says, but this is chapter 11 verse 14 and it says this, the Levites even abandoned their pasture lands and property and came to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the Lord. Although they did not leave their land and their homes, many in Israel continued to worship the Lord faithfully in Jerusalem, as we read in verse 16, which says, those from every tribe of Israel, that's the northern part, who set their hearts on seeking the Lord, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the Lord, the God of their ancestors. So this illustrates two important truths. First, in a pagan culture, which Israel, the northern kingdom, had become, there is a cost to serving God. And that cost may be very high. Although over time, even the priests became wicked, as we've seen in many of the prophets. Many from that first generation of the divided kingdom, many from that generation that saw Israel split, were willing to start over in order to serve the Lord. It cost them everything, but they were faithful to God. The second important truth is that when people reject the Lord, God's Word is withdrawn from them. Remember that one of the functions of the priests was to teach God's Word to Israel. You can see Leviticus 10, 11, Deuteronomy 33, 10, and Malachi 2, 7 for passages that teach this. So one of the functions of the priest was to teach God's Word to Israel. and God distributed them within Israel all over the tribes to perform that work for the Lord. As these men and their families in the north abandoned their land in the northern kingdom, access to God's truth was also withdrawn from them. Sadly, over generations the priests stopped teaching God's word to anyone. God sent prophets to call them to repentance, and then sent his judgment on the people for their disobedience. These things all teach us to be prepared to count the cost of serving the Lord, and to realize that we lose access to his truth when we refuse to accept it, believe it, and live by it. I hope your subscription to these devotionals or the fact that you're watching this means that you care about the truth of God's Word. But I want you to know that when we turn our backs on the Lord, when we reject His Word, we cut ourselves off from the truth. And when we refuse to believe what it says and live by it, our lives Turn away from the Lord. So let me encourage you to keep reading God's word, to keep going to church, to keep learning God's truth, and not just learning it, but believing what it says and therefore living by it. This is the way to cultivate a godly spiritual life. Let me encourage you to keep doing it. And if you found this devotional helpful, maybe it would help your spiritual life to read these or listen or watch these every day. If you want to do that, you can go to dailypbj.com slash subscribe, enter your email address there, and every day you will receive an email from me with links to the audio, video, and a transcript of these devotionals, and that will help you be in God's word every day. If you'd like to see this continue and grow, maybe you should become part of my financial support community. Go to dailypbj.com slash support for more information about that. Please share this with someone who might be helped in their faith by it, and I'll see you next time. May God bless you. I hope you have a great day today.