Welcome and thank you for taking a bible break to test your knowledge of God's word.
This week's question:

King Solomon reigned in a time of peace as the Lord told him, "As for you, if you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in the integrity of heart and uprightness, doing all that I have commanded you and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, just as I promised to your father David, saying, 'You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.' But if you or your sons shall indeed turn away from following Me, and shall not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you and shall go and serve other gods and worship them, I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them, and the house which I have consecrated for My name, I will cast out of My sight. So Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all the peoples." (1 Kings 9:4-7). And he did build a great kingdom as he stood with the Lord (1 Kings 10:23), but then, in his later years, he did not wholly listen to Him as he had many wives "For it came about when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other Gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites. And Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not follow the Lord fully, as David his father had done." (1 kings 11:4-6). So the Lord told him, "Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will do it in your days for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen." (1 Kings 11:11-13). Solomon reigned for forty years-just as David (1 Kings 2:11), and when he died, his son became king (1 Kings 11:42-43).

That brings us to our question, "Which king ruled when his forced laborer is stoned?". When Solomon's son becomes king, he listened to the words of Jeroboam and the assembly of Israel who said, "Your father made our yoke hard; therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you." (1 Kings 12:4). He asked them to depart for three days and then come back for his answer. He then consults the elders who served his father and they told him, "If you will be a servant to this people today, will serve them, grant them their petition, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants forever." (1 Kings 12:7). He did not listen to them, as he listened instead to the counsel of his friends he grew up with instead, who told him, "Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, now you make it lighter for us!' But you shall speak to them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's loins! Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'" (1 kings 12:10-11). And so, when the people came back to hear his answer, he told them what his friends counseled him.

So then, for the answer to our question we turn and read, When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, 'What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel! Now look after your own house, David!' So Israel departed to their tents. But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death. And king Rehoboam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. (1 Kings 12:16-19). So there we have the answer to our question, as the one who ruled as king when Adoram his forced laborer is stoned, is Rehoboam, the son of Solomon! Rehoboam rules over Judah and Benjamin, while the ten tribes of Israel make Jeroboam king (1 Kings 12:20-21).

 May we recognize the need of holding fast to the word of God and not deceive ourselves into thinking we can be partially with God and the rest in the world as Solomon had done, the wisest man upon this earth (1 Kings 3:12), "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. (James 1:13-16)