So I decided to try to read 1 Samuel- 2 Chronicles, and make an application from what I read. It is actually not as easy as it sounds. But anyhow, I was reading 1 Kings 14:21- 31 and I noticed a few things. For your convenience I have put the verses below...
21 Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was 41 years old when he became king, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. 22 Judah did evil in the eyes of the LORD. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than their fathers had done. 23 They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. 24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the palace. He took everything, including all the golden shields Solomon had made. 27 So king Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard of duty at the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king went to the LORD's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom. 29 As for the other events of Rehoboam's reign are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 30 There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 31 And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the Citry of David. His mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.
Whew! After typing all that I feel sorry for the monks who copied the whole Bible. Anyhow, one of the things I noticed was a repeat of the phrase "mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite" in both verses 21 and 31. I'm not sure what signifigance that phrase has,but if it is in there twice it must be imporant. Another thing I noticed was that in verse 27, Rehoboam replaced the gold(high quality stuff) shields with bronze (cheap stuff) shields. Also in verse 28, it says that the guards only used them when the king went to the temple. This makes me think that because of both the cheap stuff he used for the shields, and only using them on temple occasions, that Rehoboam's heart wasn't in serving God. If he had really treasured the shields, he would have made them of a better metal, and used the shields more. This is kinda what we do with our Bibles. Sure, we take them out on Sunday, and maybe even open them,but after that, they end up on our dressers or on the coffee table or on top of the toilet in the bathroom until next Sunday. Instead of bronze disused Bibles, we should strive to have golden Bibles, that don't stay in one place long enough to get dust!
That's what I took away from that passage. If you saw any other applications, I'd love to hear about them.
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