When we are first introduced to Rehoboam, he succeeds his father Solomon to the throne and then the kingdom divides into northern Israel (Ephraim) and southern Judah. Rehoboam rules the south and tries to wage war against the north to reunite, but a prophet tells him to stop, and he does. It seems that Rehoboam humbled himself.
However, in the conclusion to his reign in 1 Kings 14, it says that he had constant war with Jeroboam. Perhaps his repentance was a false repentance, and he had to keep up with the north. Jeroboam in the north set up golden calves to compete with the temple in Jerusalem in the south. Then maybe Rehoboam decided that it would be a good idea to set up Asherah poles and sacred stones to bring them back to the south. Neither king followed the true God who set him up on their thrones. So God sent Pharaoh Shishak from Egypt who plundered the temple's treasures, and Rehoboam replaced the gold shields with bronze ones and set up guards.
However 2 Chronicles 12:12 says that the southern king did humble himself and that there were true worshipers of God in Judah. The Lord did not destroy him and kept his line going.
If God had not saved me, my heart would be just as wayward. It is anyway from time to time. I go days and years without a spot, and then I make a huge error and either I or somebody else gets the consequences to it, and I have to repent and rethink God's plan for me. But I rest on God's mercy given through Jesus's blood, and I realize I need to let him work and stop thinking. But I can't shut down my brain. I'm setting up my own versions of Asherah poles and golden calves, and I need to stop and obey the Lord.
And then, I see a nation that never truly followed God following him even less, and I have to sit with the faithful ones and call out sin where I see it, but am powerless to turn the tide of depravity all around me. Lord help us all. Send Christ soon before things get worse.
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