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The kingdom has divided, the kings have failed, and yet God's faithfulness remains.

In this episode of The Dwelling Place, Stephanie Hickox continues our chronological Bible reading journey through 1 Kings 12–14 and 2 Chronicles 10–12, exploring one of the most significant turning points in Israel's history—the division of the kingdom after Solomon's death.

If you've ever struggled to keep track of Israel, Judah, Rehoboam, and Jeroboam, this episode offers memorable tools to help you understand the divided kingdom while keeping your focus on the larger story of Scripture: God's covenant faithfulness and His promise of a better King to come.

Together we'll examine the rise of the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, the dangers of pride, counterfeit worship, and spiritual compromise, while marveling at God's patience toward His people. As we read about flawed kings and repeated rebellion, we're reminded that every page of Scripture ultimately points us to Jesus Christ—the righteous King who never fails.

In This Episode

• Why the kingdom divided after Solomon's reign
• The difference between Israel (Northern Kingdom) and Judah (Southern Kingdom)
• Rehoboam's pride and the consequences of rejecting wise counsel
• Jeroboam's counterfeit worship and the golden calves
• God's warnings through prophets and His patience with rebellious leaders
• Why Chronicles focuses on Judah and the Davidic line
• Encouragement for parents who long to see spiritual fruit in their children
• How God's faithfulness shines even in seasons of widespread disobedience
• Why every failed king points us to Jesus, the perfect King

Key Scripture Passages

• 1 Kings 12–14
• 2 Chronicles 10–12
• 1 Kings 12:8
• 1 Kings 12:13–15
• 1 Kings 13
• 1 Kings 14:7–16
• Matthew 13
• God's covenant promises to David

Truth for Today

As we study the divided kingdom, we're reminded that God's patience is greater than our failures. Though Israel's kings repeatedly turned away from Him, the Lord continued to pursue His people, warn them, discipline them, and preserve His covenant promises.

For parents faithfully planting seeds of faith, this passage offers both warning and encouragement. Our children need more than good examples—they need a Savior. The same God who patiently pursued Israel is still at work today, watering seeds, drawing hearts, and accomplishing His purposes.

Resources

Entrusted Ministries exists to encourage moms to know God through His Word and faithfully pass biblical truth to the next generation. Join us as we read through Scripture, pray together, and discover that God Himself is our dwelling place.

Resources Mentioned

• Entrusted With a Child's Heart
• The Again Podcast episodes with Emily Schumann: Part 1 and Part 2

Commentaries Most Referenced: Moody Commentary, MacArthur Commentary, Spurgeon's Treasury of David

This is The Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

2

I'm Stephanie Hickox, and today my

teacher side is kind of geeking out.

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We are diving in to some

lesser-known scriptures.

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Many people commit to a Bible reading

plan and fall off at some point.

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But over the next couple months,

we'll have an opportunity

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to see how patient God was,

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And that's powerful for us as we're

striving to look for fruit in our

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kids' lives and even frustrated

with our own lack of progress

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we'll be looking at First Kings

twelve through fourteen and Second

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Chronicles ten through twelve.

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There is some major overlap, but there's

a key difference we'll talk about later

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if we were to go through the kingly

line in scripture, many know about Saul,

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and then of course we have David, and

then David's son Solomon, and then…

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Okay, wait, why doesn't it

just roll off the tongue?

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We might be able to list a

couple kings here and there,

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but who ruled after Solomon?

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half the reason for this dramatic fall

off is because this is the point when the

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kingdom divides When Solomon rebelled

against the Lord's ways The Lord declared

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that he was going to rip 10 of the tribes

away from Solomon's kingdom, and that

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he would only have one tribe remaining

but God said out of love for David, he

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would wait until Solomon passed away.

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You're probably doing some math like

me thinking, " Okay, 10 plus one is 11.

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I know there are 12 tribes."

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Well, Benjamin often gets grouped in with

Judah But there are moments that they're

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not quite sure where they'll fall, so

you can be watching for where they stand.

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Before we can dive into the incredibly

important event of the divided kingdom,

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I want to share some tricks that,

in consistent Stephanie fashion, are

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somewhat ridiculous, but hopefully

memorable because I want us to walk away

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being able to recall What

is the Northern Kingdom?

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What is the Southern?

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Who's Israel?

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Who's Judah?

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Who's good?

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Who's bad?

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Well, the nation of Israel

is the Northern Kingdom.

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There were 19 kings that served

in the Northern Kingdom And

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guess how many were bad?

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19.

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So the trick to remember

is no trick needed.

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The kings of the northern kingdom

All did evil in the eyes of the Lord

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When I was thinking about I for

Israel and Northern begins with the

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word no it makes me think, " Israel,

I can't believe you did that.

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No, no, no I told you it was

ridiculous, but I know I'll

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remember it, so I'm okay with it

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That means 19 evil kings came out of the

nation of Israel in the Northern Kingdom.

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this is a counterfeit kingdom And

we'll talk more about that later.

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But now we need to remember that

Judah was the southern kingdom

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And our trick for that is to remember

that they were just sorta good.

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So Judah, southern, just sorta good.

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Of course, people are complex, but

out of the 20 kings that served

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the nation of Judah, 12 were bad

and eight were classified as good

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What I hope is most evident

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even regardless of the evil committed by

these kings, is that our God is slow to

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anger and abounding in steadfast love.

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He blesses thousands of

generations of those who love Him.

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He remains faithful to His

promise and His covenant to David

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With all of that established, we can move

on to the details of how the Lord actually

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tore the kingdom away from Solomon's son.

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But first, we have to

tackle another tricky part.

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Rehoboam is Solomon's son

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Terri Lee Cabell says it might be

helpful to think that R and S are right

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next to each other in the alphabet

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And then God decided to give

the other 10 tribes to Jeroboam

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And that will be the nation of Israel.

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So J and I are close in the

alphabet, and R and S are

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And I think that this is the second

reason that so many people fail to

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remember which king comes after Solomon

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we'll begin in 1 Kings 12,

and we know that it's 931 when

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these two men begin to reign

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Throughout the Bible, we see

the idea that God is sovereign,

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but also that we have free will.

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What we're about to read reveals

that God uses Rehoboam's arrogance

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to cause the division of the kingdom

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jeroboam was placed as the manager of

the forced labor And he comes to Rehoboam

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And it's been prophesied to him that

God will give him part of the kingdom.

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He comes to Rehoboam and says,

"Your father made our yoke heavy.

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Now therefore, lighten the hard

service of your father and this heavy

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yoke on us, and we will serve you."

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Rehoboam says, "Come back in three

days and I'll tell you my decision."

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And his father may have passed away,

but there are still a bunch of older

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men who had stood by as his advisors,

watching Solomon's wisdom at work.

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They tell Rehoboam, " If you will

be a servant to this people today

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and serve them and speak good

words to them when you answer them,

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then they will be your servants forever.

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What compassionate advice, Do

you think Rehoboam will listen?

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First Kings twelve eight says, " But

he abandoned the counsel that the

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old men gave him and took counsel

with the young men who had grown

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up with him and stood before him."

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When Jeroboam returns, Rehoboam the king

answers the people harshly and forsakes

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the counsel that the old men had given

him He says, " My father made your yoke

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heavy, but I will add to your yoke.

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My father disciplined you with whips, but

I will discipline you with scorpions."

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So the king did not listen to the people,

for it was a turn of affairs brought about

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by the Lord that he might fulfill his word

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Rehoboam does not have his father or

his grandfather's diplomacy skills,

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but God knew that and uses it to

produce exactly what he intended.

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Because when Israel sees that the

king doesn't listen to them, those

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10 tribes of Israel crown Jeroboam

as king of the northern kingdom

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And from this point on, the name

Israel will refer to the northern

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kingdom and not the 12 tribes

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but what king would want to

release most of his kingdom?

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Not Rehoboam.

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He gets ready to fight.

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But God sends a messenger to tell

him, " Thus says the Lord, 'You shall

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not go up and fight against your

relatives, the people of Israel.

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Every man return to his home,

for this thing is from me.'"

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So they listened to the word

of the Lord and went home again

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according to the word of the Lord.

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Okay, finally, a point for Rehoboam.

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He realizes he can't fight

the Lord in this But then

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Jeroboam does something shocking

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Because they don't have the temple anymore

He decides to make two calves of gold.

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Yes, cows.

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He tells the people, " You have

gone up to Jerusalem long enough.

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Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought

you up out of the land of Egypt."

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Ugh, this might be the worst deja

vu I've ever read in the Bible.

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Aren't you astounded he would think he

could get away with this before the Lord?

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He puts one of the calves in

Bethel and one in Dan, and all

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the people wanna go worship them.

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Next, he appoints a new

feast that God never ordained

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And he picks new priests to serve

that aren't Levites Do you think

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the Lord will stand by and watch?

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Absolutely not.

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He sends a man of God from

Judah to go intervene.

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While King Jeroboam is standing at

the altar to make offerings, the

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man comes and he says to the altar

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Behold, a son shall be born to the house

of David, Josiah by name and he shall

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sacrifice on you the priests of the

high places who make offerings on you,

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and human bones shall be burned on you

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this is about 80 years before Josiah is

born, and I love that God inspires the

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man of God, to call him by name already.

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Jeroboam stretches out his hand

to seize the man, but when he

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reaches out, his arm dries up and

disappears, and the altar is torn down

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Jeroboam begs the man to pray for

healing, and God restores his arm.

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The man leaves and obeys God, but then

there's a prophet that comes and lies

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to him, giving him some directions that

contradict God's first message to him.

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But God never contradicts Himself, so

he shouldn't have trusted the prophet

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In fact, it leads to his death.

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When he's departing for home on a

donkey, he gets attacked by a lion.

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The donkey and the lion just stand

beside his dead body, and this

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indicates that even the donkey and

the lion submitted to God's authority

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and went against the laws of nature

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But the man of God had a lapse in

judgment and did not honor God's

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authority After we read about his

burial, unfortunately, King Jeroboam

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continues in his evil practices.

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He received a clear warning from

the Lord, but he continues to

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respond in complete defiance.

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He allows anyone to become

priests of these high places, But

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then his son Abijah gets sick.

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Jeroboam tells his wife to disguise

herself and go find the prophet

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Ahijah that had told him that

he was going to be the next king

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Ahijah has lost his eyesight, but

God tells him who's at his door.

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" Come in, wife of Jeroboam.

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Why do you pretend to be another?

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For I am charged with

unbearable news for you.

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Go tell Jeroboam, 'Thus says the Lord,

the God of Israel: Because I exalted you

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from among the people and made you leader

over my people Israel and tore the kingdom

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away from the house of David and gave it

to you, and yet you have not been like

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my servant David, who kept my commands

and followed me with all his heart, doing

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only that which was right in my eyes.'"

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But you have done evil above all

who were before you and have gone

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and made for yourself other gods and

metal images provoking me to anger,

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and have cast me behind your back.

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Therefore behold, I will bring harm

upon the house of Jeroboam and will

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cut off Jeroboam every male, both

bond and free in Israel, and will

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burn up the house of Jeroboam as a man

burns up dung until it is all gone.

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anyone belonging to Jeroboam who

dies in the city, the dogs shall

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eat, for the Lord has spoken it.

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Arise therefore, go to your house.

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When your feet enter the city, the

child shall die, and all Israel

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shall mourn for him and bury him.

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For he only of Jeroboam shall come

to the grave, because in him there is

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found something pleasing to the Lord,

the God of Israel, in the house of

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Jeroboam Moreover, the Lord will rise

up a king for himself over Israel, who

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shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today

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Jeroboam's wife leaves with a

message layered with devastation,

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and the moment she hits the

threshold of her home, her son dies.

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But did you hear that line?

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That the Lord allowed him to die

because in him there was found

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something pleasing to the Lord.

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God protected him and preserved him

for something better This is the

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end of Jeroboam's 22-year reign,

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so that concludes the first king

of Israel, the northern kingdom,

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turning the people away from the

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back to Rehoboam, Solomon's son, king

of the southern kingdom of Judah.

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He reigned 17 years.

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We're told twice in the passage that

his mother was Naamah the Ammonite.

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It's probably there to

indicate Why Ray Obolm?

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worshipped idols and built up the high

places and pillars and embraced the

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abominations of the surrounding nations

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God rises up Shishak, king

of Egypt, against Jerusalem

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We have archeological evidence from

Egypt of how they defeated God's

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people in this specific attack.

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The Egyptians only kept a record of

their victories, but this is a victory

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God wanted them to have, and it's their

first conflict since God victoriously

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led the people out in the Exodus

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We focused our time in 1 Kings

today because the Book of Chronicles

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only follows the Davidic line.

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Okay, here's your little test.

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Which kingdom is that?

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If you said the southern kingdom

of Judah, you're correct.

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So if you look over to Chronicles,

you're not going to find the

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stories about Jeroboam because

that's not the Davidic line

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As I warned, we are going to be reading

about many evil kings to come but if I

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could put a two-word banner over this

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Speaker 50: phase

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Steph: Of Israel's history

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I would use Harry Shields'

phrase, " Keep looking."

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There is a better king

to come, Jesus Christ.

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He won't reign on the earth the way

many predicted, but if He had come to

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reign in might and power and authority

the first time, He wouldn't have been

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able to accomplish His ultimate purpose

of surrendering His life So while

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we are disappointed by this grievous

sin, let's rejoice that it once again

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points to the perfection of our Savior

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Heavenly Father

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As we read about your mercy and your

grace and your faithfulness to communicate

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with your people, your patience is

on full display We thank you that you

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continually pursue us and that you are

patient, not wanting any to perish.

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We also see that our legacy matters

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and we long to pass on a rich

spiritual inheritance to our kids

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but we know that we need you

to save them and to sanctify

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them and we humbly ask you

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To water the seeds that have

been planted in their hearts.

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We pray that they would not be robbed

away by the temptations of this earth

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we're aware that all of our hearts are

prone to wander, and we ask that you would

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keep us for your sake and for your glory.

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In our righteous King

Jesus' name we pray, amen.