The Death of Lazarus

John 11 A man named Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, became sick. Bethany was the town where Mary and her sister Martha lived. ( ²This Mary was the one who poured the perfume on the Lord's feet and wiped them with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was sick.) ³The sisters sent Jesus a message: "Lord, your dear friend is sick."
⁴When Jesus heard it, he said, "The final result of this sickness will not be the death of Lazarus; this has happened in order to bring glory to God, and it will be the means by which the Son of God will receive glory."
⁵Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶Yet when he received the news that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. ⁷Then he said to the disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."
⁸"Teacher," the disciples answered, "just a short time ago the people there wanted to stone you; and are you planning to go back?"
⁹Jesus said, "A day has twelve hours, doesn't it? So those who walk in broad daylight do not stumble, for they see the light of this world. ¹⁰But if they walk during the night they stumble, because they have no light." ¹¹Jesus said this and then added, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I will go and wake him up."
¹²The disciples answered, "If he is asleep, Lord, he will get well."
¹³Jesus meant that Lazarus had died, but they thought he meant natural sleep. ¹⁴So Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵but for your sake I am glad that I was not with him, so that you will believe. Let us go to him."
¹⁶Thomas (called the Twin) said to his fellow disciples, "Let us all go along with the Teacher, so that we may die with him!"

Jesus the Resurrection and the Life

¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been buried four days before. ¹⁸Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁹and many Judeans had come to see Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother's death.
²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, "If you had been here, Lord, my brother would not have died! ²²But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask him for."
²³"Your brother will rise to life," Jesus told her.
²⁴"I know," she replied, "that he will rise to life on the last day."
²⁵Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶and those who live and believe in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
²⁷"Yes, Lord!" she answered. "I do believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

The Northern Tribes Revolt
(1 Kings 12.1-20)

2 Chronicles 10 Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all the people of northern Israel had gathered to make him king. ²When Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had gone to Egypt to escape from King Solomon, heard this news, he returned home. ³The people of the northern tribes sent for him, and they all went together to Rehoboam and said to him, ⁴"Your father placed heavy burdens on us. If you make these burdens lighter and make life easier for us, we will be your loyal subjects."
⁵Rehoboam replied, "Give me three days to consider the matter. Then come back." So the people left.
⁶King Rehoboam consulted the older men who had served as his father Solomon's advisers. "What answer do you advise me to give these people?" he asked.
⁷They replied, "If you are kind to these people and try to please them by giving a considerate answer, they will always serve you loyally."
⁸But he ignored the advice of the older men and went instead to the young men who had grown up with him and who were now his advisers. ⁹"What do you advise me to do?" he asked. "What shall I say to the people who are asking me to make their burdens lighter?"
¹⁰They replied, "This is what you should tell them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.' ¹¹Tell them, 'My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!'"
¹²Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to King Rehoboam, as he had instructed them. ¹³The king ignored the advice of the older men and spoke harshly to the people, ¹⁴as the younger men had advised. He said, "My father placed heavy burdens on you; I will make them even heavier. He beat you with whips; I'll flog you with bullwhips!" ¹⁵It was the will of the LORD God to bring about what he had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh. This is why the king did not pay any attention to the people.
¹⁶When the people saw that the king would not listen to them, they shouted, "Down with David and his family! What have they ever done for us? People of Israel, let's go home! Let Rehoboam look out for himself !"
So the people of Israel rebelled, ¹⁷leaving Rehoboam as king only of the people who lived in the territory of Judah.
¹⁸Then King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was in charge of the forced labor, to go to the Israelites, but they stoned him to death. At this, Rehoboam hurriedly got in his chariot and escaped to Jerusalem. ¹⁹Ever since that time the people of the northern kingdom of Israel have been in rebellion against the dynasty of David.

Shemaiah's Prophecy
(1 Kings 12.21-24)

2 Chronicles 11 When King Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he called together 180,000 of the best soldiers from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah. He intended to go to war and restore his control over the northern tribes of Israel. ²But the LORD told the prophet Shemaiah ³to give this message to King Rehoboam and to all the people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin: ⁴"Do not attack your own relatives. Go home, all of you. What has happened is my will." They obeyed the LORD's command and did not go to fight Jeroboam.

Rehoboam Fortifies the Cities

⁵Rehoboam remained in Jerusalem and had fortifications built for the following cities of Judah and Benjamin: ⁶Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, ⁷Bethzur, Soco, Adullam, ⁸Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, ⁹Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, ¹⁰Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron. ¹¹He had them strongly fortified and appointed a commander for each of them, and in each one he placed supplies of food, olive oil, and wine, ¹²and also shields and spears. In this way he kept Judah and Benjamin under his control.

Priests and Levites Come to Judah

¹³From all the territory of Israel priests and Levites came south to Judah. ¹⁴The Levites abandoned their pastures and other land and moved to Judah and Jerusalem, because King Jeroboam of Israel and his successors would not let them serve as priests of the LORD. ¹⁵Jeroboam appointed priests of his own to serve at the pagan places of worship and to worship demons and the idols he made in the form of bull-calves. ¹⁶From all the tribes of Israel people who sincerely wanted to worship the LORD, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem, so that they could offer sacrifices to the LORD, the God of their ancestors. ¹⁷This strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and for three years they supported Rehoboam son of Solomon and lived as they had under the rule of King David and King Solomon.

Rehoboam's Family

¹⁸Rehoboam married Mahalath, whose father was Jerimoth son of David and whose mother was Abihail, the daughter of Eliab and granddaughter of Jesse. ¹⁹They had three sons, Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰Later he married Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, and they had four sons: Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹In all, Rehoboam had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and he fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. Of all his wives and concubines he loved Maacah best, ²²and he favored her son Abijah over all his other children, choosing him as the one to succeed him as king. ²³Rehoboam wisely assigned responsibilities to his sons and stationed them throughout Judah and Benjamin in the fortified cities. He provided generously for them and also secured many wives for them.

God the Judge

Psalm 75 We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks to you!
We proclaim how great you are
and tell of the wonderful things you have done.

²"I have set a time for judgment," says God,
"and I will judge with fairness.
³Though every living creature tremble
and the earth itself be shaken,
I will keep its foundations firm.
⁴I tell the wicked not to be arrogant;
⁵I tell them to stop their boasting."

⁶Judgment does not come from the east or from the west,
from the north or from the south;
⁷it is God who is the judge,
condemning some and acquitting others.
⁸The LORD holds a cup in his hand,
filled with the strong wine of his anger.
He pours it out, and all the wicked drink it;
they drink it down to the last drop.

⁹But I will never stop speaking of the God of Jacob
or singing praises to him.
¹⁰He will break the power of the wicked,
but the power of the righteous will be increased.