Within 190 years many of the people of the northern kingdom were taken captive to Assyria, followed by heavy taxation by Assyria and eventually conquest bringing about Israel’s captivity. The northern kingdom totally ended within 18 years.

When Rehoboam came to power, he inherited a mighty kingdom.

For the first three years, King Rehoboam attempted to obey God and the southern kingdom prospered.

Everything he could want was given to him. He however did not recognize why he had so much, or how it had been obtained. He set up idols and shrines to foreign gods and led the people away from the true God.  To teach Rehoboam a lesson, God allowed Egypt to invade Judah (south) and Israel (north). Although Egypt was no longer the world power it had once been, the Egyptian army was not strong enough to destroy Judah and Israel, but they were weakened so much that they were never the same again.

Within five years of Solomon’s death, the temple and palace were ransacked by foreign invaders. How quickly the glory, power and money disappear. When the people become spiritually corrupt and immoral, it is just a short time until they lost everything. Wealth, idol worship and immorality had become more important to them than God. (When God is gone from our lives, everything else becomes useless, no matter how valuable it seems).

The people repented, the king repented, Egypt plundered their land, carrying off all the treasures, however because they repented the Lord heard their cries and allowed them to remain under King Rehoboam’s rule (2^{nd Chronicles} 12v 8) They were however subject to Egypt, and had to pay tribute to Egypt “so that they will know the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands.”

After Rehoboam’s death, Judah was ruled by king ABIJAH.

War broke out between the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. Now Jeroboam, the ruler in the north, had erected a golden calf which the army carried around with them to war. During this war against Judah, the south prevailed, because they had kept the worship and reverence of Almighty God.

It was during King Abijah’s reign that Jeroboam was killed. Azariah the prophet warned the people of Judah that the problem that the northern kingdom was having ( constant wars from the surrounding areas)  was because they had turned from the true God and were worshipping other gods. He told them that the same would happen to them if they turned from God.  Abijah ruled for three years, he did not follow the true God. After he died his son ASA became king.

Under king Asa’s reign the kingdom was at peace for ten years (2^{nd chronicles} 14 v 7) He stayed a long time with God before getting off tract. He removed the foreign altars which the people had erected; he smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. (2nd ^chronicles 14 v 3. He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, and obey his laws and commandments. He came as close to being called a good king. His downfall was not so much deliberate disobedience, as it was that he chose the easy way out rather than the right way. When the odds seemed impossible in the battle with the Cushites, Asa recognized he needed to depend on God.

The south defeated Cush mighty army. Following the victory, God promise of peace, based on the king’s obedience, spurred the king and people to many years of right living. However Asa was to face a tougher test. 8 kings reigned in the northern kingdom (Israel) during king Asa’s 41 years rule in the south. All 8 kings in the north were evil kings, steeped into paganism.

There was years of animosity between King Asa in the south, and King Baasha in the north, who led his people in idol worship for 24 years.  King Baasha began building a fort that threatened both the peace and the economy of the southern kingdom, Judah. King Asa decided on a plan, so he bribed King Ben-Hadad of Aram, to break his alliance with King Baasha in the north. The plan worked, but it wasn’t God’s way. King Asa had not consulted the Lord for advice.

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