After a little hiatus, I need to remind myself:
Jeroboam is king of the northern kingdom of Israel. He's a bit of a bad egg.
Rehoboam is the son of Solomon and he is king of the southern kingdom of Judah and he is not much better.
The time is around 931 - 910 BC and during this period Jerusalem is attacked by the King of Egypt and the treasures of the temple looted. Additionally, there was rivalry between the two kingdoms and they mostly seem to have forgotten about the one God.
A couple of generations later King Asa rules Judah for 38 years and King Ahab takes over in Israel for 22 years, in the meantime marrying Jezebel.
Finally, in I Kings chapter 17 we meet up with the mighty prophet Elijah. His story is like a shiny light in the midst of so much gloom. Of course, not all is rosy for Elijah. His advice about the pending drought is not well received at the royal court so he clears out in fear for his life. However, his life's work is just beginning and soon we see him helping out a local family in Zarephath.
As we know, his disciple or pupil Elisha soon appears on the scene. He must have been an excellent student, paying attention to all that Elijah practiced. In the meantime, Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, moves into the palace in Judah and the Syrians are giving them grief, including the death of Ahab.
And that pretty well takes us to the end of I Kings.
It's interesting that Jewish boys like Jesus would have read all these stories too. And taken note.
Julie Swannell
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