This week, we shall continue the
study of 2 Chronicles of the Old Testament.
The Folly of Rehoboam
(1) What reason was given for Rehoboam to have gone to Shechem of Ephraim to seek to be crowned king, succeeding his father Solomon as the king of Israel? (10:1)
(2) Shouldn’t the people come to Jerusalem to crown him king? How does this reflect the political undercurrent upon the death of Solomon?
(3) Why did the ten tribes send for the fugitive Jeroboam (see 1 Ki. 11:26ff) to join them in this important event? (Note that Jeroboam was an Ephraimite.)
(4) What was the request (which was really a condition made by the people) before they were willing to crown Rehoboam king? (10:4) Do you think this was a genuine request or an excuse to rebel against the house of David? Why?
(5) Why did Rehoboam ask the people to give him three days to consider their request?
(6) Whom should he have consulted?
(7) Why did Rehoboam consult the elders? Why did he reject their advice? What was the advice he was hoping to receive from the elders?
(8) What was the essence of the advice given by his peers? (10:10-11)
(9) If you were Rehoboam, to which advice would you have listened? Why?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) Was the difference between the two groups of advisers necessarily one of age? Why or why not?
(2) Why did Rehoboam take the advice of his young peers?
(3) Was he not expecting a revolt by the people? (see his military strength in 11:1)
(4) How did the people (of the ten tribes) respond to the king’s words?
(5) What do you think was the essence of their revolt?
a. Against the king?
b. Against the house of David?
c. Against the Lord?
(6) This was the pivotal moment in the history of the united kingdom: Should the blame be laid on Solomon, Rehoboam, the ten tribes or was it simply a must “to fulfill the word of the Lord”? (10:15) Why?
(7) What did the incident in v. 18 indicate to Rehoboam?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
11:1-4—Blood-shed Prevented
(1) What did Rehoboam do after he escaped back to Jerusalem? (10:18; 11:1)
(2) Why did the Lord choose to intervene? (11:2-4)
(3) Why did the people choose to listen? (v. 4)
(4) What lesson can you learn from them?
11:5-12—Rehoboam Fortified Judah
(5) While Rehoboam did not seek to attack Israel to regain his kingdom, he did make an effort to fortify his cities: Why?
11:13-17—The Loyal Clergy
(6) What did Jeroboam do that caused the priests and Levites in Israel to leave? (vv. 13-15; see 1 Ki. 12:25-31 also) What sacrifice did they have to make in the process?
(7) What impact did these priests and Levites have on the rest of the people? (v. 16)
(8) What impact did these priests and Levites have on the kingdom of Rehoboam and for how long? (v. 17)
11:18-23—Rehoboam’s Family
(9) How many wives and concubines did Rehoboam have?
(10) Whose example do you think he followed?
(11) Politically, what wise decision did he make? (v. 22)
(12) Spiritually speaking, was it a wise decision? Why or why not?
(13) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
12:1-4—The Chastisement of Rehoboam
(1) How long were Rehoboam and his people able to follow the law of the Lord? (See 11:17)?
(2) As they turned away from the Lord, when and how did the Lord chastise them? (12:1-2)
(3) As much as he fortified many of his cities and “made them very strong” (11:12), was it enough to stand against the mighty army of Egypt? (12:4)
12:5-11—The Repentance of Rehoboam
(4) What did the Lord say to Rehoboam and his people through the prophet? (v. 5)
(5) They responded by saying, “The Lord is just”: What does it mean? (v. 6)
(6) God had obviously forgiven them, but did it mean that they would prevail over their enemies? (vv. 7-8) Why?
(7) Why do you think the Chronicler chose to mention the loss of the golden shields and their replacement by bronze shields used by the guards to escort the king to and from the temple of the Lord? (vv. 9-11)
12:12-16—Summary of Rehoboam’s Reign
(8) What is the overall comment by the Bible concerning Rehoboam’s spiritual life? (vv. 12-14)
(9) How long did God allow him to reign in Jerusalem?
(10) Why does the Bible reiterate at this point that Jerusalem was “the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put His name”?
(11) What is the message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
13:1-19—Abijah’s battle against Jeroboam
(1) In this particular battle, how many men did each side have? (v. 3)
(2) Under normal circumstances, what should a king like Abijah do? (see Lk. 14:31-32)
(3) Instead of being afraid of Jeroboam’s “vast army”, Abijah chose to warn Jeroboam and all Israel (vv. 4-12).
a. How did he contrast his kingship with that of Jeroboam’s? (vv. 5-8)
b. What in essence was his point?
c. How did he contrast their worship of the Lord with that of Jeroboam and his priests? (vv. 8-11)
d. What in essence was his point? (v.12)
e. Do you think his message would have any effect on his listeners? Why or why not?
(4) The battle (vv. 13-19)
a. What strategy did Jeroboam use to attack Judah? (v. 13)
b. What did the army of Judah do in response to the attack? (v. 14)
c. What was the result? Why?
13:20-22—Summary of the Life of Abijah
(5) What happened when Abijah grew in strength? (v. 21)
(6) While Chronicles was silent about Abijah’s spiritual life, what was the comment in 1 Kings 15:3 in this respect?
(7) What is the main message to you today, and how may you apply it to your life?
14:1-8—The Early Reign of Asa
(1) What kind of a king was Asa’s father, Abijah? (1 Ki. 15:1-3)
(2) What kind of a king was Asa? (2 Chr. 14:2)
(3) What kind of reform did he carry out? (14:3-5)
(4) How could he break away from the apostasy of his father and his mother?
(5) How did the Lord reward his faithfulness? (14:6)
(6) How strong was Asa’s army? (14:8)
14:9-15—War with the Cushites (Note: Cushites were likely Ethiopians, but scholars differ in their opinions. They seemed to be launching their attack from the southwest, through some of the Philistine lands (Gerar being one of the ancient Philistine cities).
(7) Even with his 580,000-men strong army, Asa knew that he was still outnumbered by the Cushites (v. 9):
a. What did he choose to do? (v. 11)
b. Study his prayer carefully:
- How did he address God?
- How did he express his total reliance on the Lord?
- What reasons did he give in urging the Lord to fight for them?
(8) What was the outcome of the battle?
(9) What proof might there be that such a victory came from the Lord?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
15:1-7—The Prophet’s Message to the Victorious King
(1) Given their convincing victory over the Cushites, what lessons did the prophet want to impress upon them from this victory? (v. 2) Why?
(2) What past lesson did the prophet remind them of? (vv. 3-6)
a. What were the marks of this period of history cited by the prophet?
b. Some scholars opine that based on these marks, the prophet most likely was referring to the period of the Judges up till the time of Samuel. Do you agree? Why or why not?
15:8-19—Completion of Asa’s Reform
(3) How did Asa respond to the words of the prophet? (v. 8) Why?
(4) What further actions did he take to complete his work of reform? (v. 8)
(5) How important were these actions?
(6) He further committed the people to enter into a covenant with the Lord (vv. 9-15)
a. Who were the people he assembled to make this covenant? (v. 9)
b. What was the covenant they entered into with the Lord? (vv. 12-14)
c. Why was God pleased with their covenant? (v. 15)
(7) What did Asa do to his grandmother? What did this action represent? (v. 16)
(8) What does the biblical comment in 15:17 mean? (Note: High places likely refer only to those shrines set up unlawfully around Israel, but still for the making of sacrifice to the Lord, not to idols.)
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?