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1At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam became sick. 2Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that you won’t be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife. Go to Shiloh. Behold, Ahijah the prophet is there, who said that I would be king over this people. 3Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the child.”

4Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose and went to Shiloh, and came to Ahijah’s house. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were set by reason of his age. 5Yahweh said to Ahijah, “Behold, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Tell her such and such; for it will be, when she comes in, that she will pretend to be another woman.”

6So when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife! Why do you pretend to be another? For I am sent to you with heavy news. 7Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: “Because I exalted you from among the people, and made you prince over my people Israel, 8and tore the kingdom away from David’s house, and gave it you; and yet you have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in my eyes, 9but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made for yourself other gods, molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back, 10therefore, behold, I will bring evil on the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam everyone who urinates on a wall, he who is shut up and he who is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam, as a man sweeps away dung until it is all gone. 11The dogs will eat he who belongs to Jeroboam who dies in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat he who dies in the field, for Yahweh has spoken it.”’ 12Arise therefore, and go to your house. When your feet enter into the city, the child will die. 13All Israel will mourn for him and bury him; for he only of Jeroboam will come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. 14Moreover Yahweh will raise up a king for himself over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is the day! What? Even now. 15For Yahweh will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking Yahweh to anger. 16He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin.”

17Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. 18All Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet.

19The rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. 20The days which Jeroboam reigned were twenty two years; then he slept with his fathers, and Nadab his son reigned in his place.

21Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. 22Judah did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. 23For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. 24There were also sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh drove out before the children of Israel.

25In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; 26and he took away the treasures of Yahweh’s house and the treasures of the king’s house. He even took away all of it, including all the gold shields which Solomon had made. 27King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. 28It was so, that as often as the king went into Yahweh’s house, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard room.

29Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 30There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 31Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in David’s city. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. Abijam his son reigned in his place.

Person

Aaron

Lived
1574 BC – 1451 BC (approximate)
Born
Egypt
Died
Mount Hor
Father Amram
Mother Jochebed
Spouse Elisheba
Siblings MiriamMoses
Biography | Hershel Wayne House

Aaron was the son of Amram and Jochebed, the brother of Moses and Miriam. He was the first priest of the people of Israel. He was appointed by God to be a spokesman for Moses when Moses went before the Pharaoh of Egypt to demand that Pharaoh would release the people of Israel from slavery. When facing Pharaoh, it was Aaron who threw his rod before Pharaoh, which turned into a snake. He also assisted Moses in declaring various judgments on Pharaoh and the Egyptian people until finally the Pharaoh conceded to the demand.

Aaron was also present at Sinai when Moses received the Ten Commandments, but he also conceded to the creation of the Golden Calf by the Israelites during the time that Moses was on the mountain receiving the law of God.

Aaron was important for the development of the priesthood in Israel, and had two sons who died, and Eleazar and Ithamar succeeded him as priests. After his death, he was buried on Mt. Hor.

The preceding information is based on Herbert Lockyer, All the Men of the Bible, (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, MI, 1958) and All the Women of the Bible (Zondervan: Grand Rapids, MI, 1967), Who's Who in the Bible (Bonanza Books, New York, 1981), and Biographies of Bible Characters, People and Characters in the Bible.

Biography | Hershel Wayne House

Aaron was the son of Amram and Jochebed, the brother of Moses and Miriam, and the first priest of Israel. God appointed Aaron to be Moses' spokesman in his audiences with the unnamed Pharaoh of Exodus. As a symbol of his office, Aaron received a magical rod. He turned the rod into a snake - the first in a series of signs, by which he and Moses hoped to persuade Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt. Aaron also used the rod to call down three of the plagues that followed this first sign (polluting the Nile, frogs and gnats). God also caused the rod to blossom and bear ripe almonds, as a sign that Aaron's descendants would inherit the priesthood.

God summoned Aaron to be present when Moses received the Ten Commandments. But Aaron did not stay on Sinai. Instead he agreed to oversee the casting of an idol (a golden calf) for the Israelites who had rebelled against the authority of the absent Moses.

Aaron was generally a supporter of Moses, but took him to task for his marrying a Cushite wife. For this God rebuked Aaron (and Miriam). His role as priest was critical when he made atonement for the Israelites and stayed the plague that had followed the rebellion of Dathan and Abiram. Exodus and Leviticus give a detailed account of the vestments and duties of Aaron and of his sons.

Aaron's elder sons, Nadab and Abihu, died early but the younger pair, Eleazar and Ithamar, succeeded him in the priesthood. When Aaron was a hundred and twenty three, God instructed him to go up onto Mt. Hor, where he died. Aaron figures prominently in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers, and is named in other books of both Old and New Testaments.

Person & place data: Theographic Bible Metadata by Robert Rouse (Viz.Bible), CC BY-SA 4.0.