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One-sentence summary: Jeroboam is made king, he does evil by turning from the Lord and making idols and high places for the people to worship, Rehoboam also does evil while reigning over Judah, a prophet is tested by another prophet, and the Lord takes the kingdom from Jeroboam.
Rehoboam goes to Shechem, where all Israel has gone to make him king. Jeroboam hears from Egypt where he had fled from Solomon, and he and all Israel speak to Rehoboam, saying that his father made Israel's burden heavy, and that he should lift the yoke and if so, they will serve him. He tells them to leave for three days and then come back. Then, he consults the elders, and they say that if he serves the people now, they will be his servants forever. However, he rejects their advice and consults the "young men who grew up with him," who say that he should say that his little finger will be thicker than his father's waist, and that he will give them heavier burdens than his father did. When the people come back, he answers them roughly, rejecting the advice of his elders. And it says that this turn of event was from the Lord, that He might fulfill the word He had spoken to Jeroboam through the prophet. When Israel hears this, they say, "We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse," and they go back to their own houses, and Jeroboam reigns over those in Judah. It says he sends a man who is in charge of the revenue to the people, but they stone him to death, so he mounts his chariot and flees to Jerusalem, and this is why Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. When Israel hears Jeroboam has come back, they send for him and make him king, and no one follows the house of David except the tribe of Judah. When Rehoboam comes to Jerusalem, he assembles Judah with Benjamin to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to himself, but the word of God comes to a man of God, telling him to speak to Rehoboam, Judah, Benjamin, and the rest of the people, telling them not to fight against Israel, since "the thing is of the Lord," and they obey. Then, Jeroboam builds Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim and dwells there. He says in his heart that if the people offer sacrifices to the Lord in Jerusalem, their hearts will return to Rehoboam, and they will kill him, so he makes two cows of gold and tells them the people that it is "too much" for them to go up to Jerusalem and that the cow is their god who brought them up out of Egypt. He sets up one in Bethel and one in Dan, and the people worship them. He also makes shrines on the high places and ordains priests from all the people except the Levites. He ordains a feast, offering sacrifices on the altar, sacrificing to the cows and burning incense.
A man of God goes from Judah to Bethel at the word of the Lord where Jeroboam is standing at the altar to burn incense. He cries out that a child named Josiah will be born to the house of David who will sacrifice the priests of the high places on the altar, and he gives a sign, saying that the altar will be split and the ashes poured out. When Jeroboam hears this, he stretches out his hand from the altar and commands the man to be arrested, but his hand withers, and the altar is split in two, and the ashes poured out. Then, the king asks the man of God to pray for him that his hand may be restored. The man of God prays, and his hand is restored. Then, the king asks the man to come home with him to refresh himself so he may get a reward, but the prophet says he wouldn't go to his house or eat or drink in the place even if he offered him half the kingdom, because the Lord strictly commanded him not to do so- not to not even return the same way he came. There is an old prophet who dwells in Bethel, and his sons tell him what the man of God did and said, and he asks where the man went. He tells them to prepare his donkey, and he finds the man of God sitting under an oak. He asks him to come home with him and eat bread, but the man tells him what God said. The old prophet he says he is also a prophet, and that an angel told him to bring him back and eat and drink, but it says he is lying. The man of God goes to his house and eats and drinks, but the word comes to the prophet who brought him back, and he tells him because he did not obey the Lord, he will not lie in the tomb of his fathers. He saddles the donkey, and when he leaves, he is met by a lion and is killed, and his donkey and the lion stand by his body. Men pass by and see this and tell it in the city where the old prophet dwells, and he tells them it is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord. He tells his sons to saddle his donkey, and he finds the body, with the lion and donkey standing there, and he lays the body on the donkey and takes it back, and he mourns and buries the man in his own tomb. Then, he tells his sons to bury him in the same tomb when he dies, because what the man cried out against the altars and high places will come to pass. After this, Jeroboam does not turn from his evil ways but still consecrates whoever wishes as a priest of the high places, and he even becomes one himself. It says this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth.
Abijah, Jeroboam's son, becomes sick, and he asks his wife to disguise herself and go to Shiloh to inquire of Ahijah the prophet, who had said he would be king, and to take cakes and honey, and that he will tell her what will happen to the child, so she goes. The prophet is old and cannot see, and the Lord had told him who was coming and why and what to say. He hears her footsteps and says, "Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why do you pretend to be another person? For I have come to you with bad news." He says the Lord gave Jeroboam the kingdom from David, and yet he has not kept His commands or followed Him with all his heart as David did, but did more evil than all who were before him. Therefore, the Lord says He will bring disaster on his house and cut off from him every male in Israel. The remnants of his house will be taken away like garbage until they are all gone. The dogs will eat those who are left in the city, and the birds those in the field. He tells her to go to her own house, and that when she enters the city, the child will die, and all Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He says he will be the only one from the house who will go to the grave because in him there was found something good toward the Lord. He says the Lord will raise up a king who will cut off the house of Jeroboam and will uproot Israel from the land and scatter them because they have provoked Him to anger in serving other gods and because Jeroboam made them sin. She leaves, and as she comes to the threshold of the house, the child dies, and it all happens just as the Lord spoke through the prophet. Nadab his son reigns in his place. Rehoboam reigns in Judah for 17 years, in Jerusalem where the Lord chose to put His name. His mother was an Ammonitess. It says Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord and provoked Him to jealousy with the sins they committed more than all their fathers had done, because they made many altars and high places, and there were many perverted persons. They according to all the abominations of the nations. In the 5th year of Rehoboam, the king of Egypt comes up against Jerusalem and takes away the treasures from the house of the Lord and the king's house and the gold shields. Rehoboam makes bronze shields and commits them to the captains of the guard who stand at the king's house. They carry them whenever the king enters the house of the Lord. There is war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days, and Rehoboam rests with his fathers and is buried in the city of David, and Abijah his son reigns in his place.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
There are many lessons in this passage, hidden away:
It is wise to listen to the advice to elders and not your younger friends "who you grew up with!" :)
Follow what the Lord tells you to do, no matter who tells you otherwise- even a person of God- it could be a test! Seriously!
So many people say they want to be a prophet: Are you sure?