He put shields and spears in all the cities, and made them very strong. So Judah and Benjamin were his. – 2 Chronicles 11:12

Today's Scripture Reading (February 11, 2026): 2 Chronicles 11

The Korean War was fought from June 25, 1950, until July 27, 1953. In contrast, M*A*S*H, the dramady about the Korean War, ran from September 1972 until February 28, 1983, almost four times as long as the actual fight lasted on the Korean Peninsula. But one thing that the dramady appears to stress is that the Korean War, in many ways, was a civil war. Foreign nations had become entwined in what was a local conflict. Korea had been a Japanese colony for thirty-five years before World War II. At the end of the war, the nation was divided into two occupation zones: the north, under Soviet Control, and the south, under U.S. control. In 1948, two governments took control of the nation, each claiming to be the legitimate government of the Korean Nation. In the north, Kim Il-sung, the grandfather of the current North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, ruled in Pyongyang. In the South, Syngman Rhee ruled over the portion of the Korean Peninsula south of the Military Demarcation Line, which approximately follows the 38^th Parallel, from Seoul. And in 1950, the two factions clashed in an effort to take control of the Peninsula.

But there is no real difference among the Korean people other than where they live on either side of the 38th Parallel. And what that meant is that one of the stories of the war was that parents placed sons in both armies, hoping that one might be on the winning side. It is a story the writers of M*A*S*H attempted to tell in one episode.

Today, more than seventy years later, the Korean Peninsula remains divided. And a military buildup continues on the Peninsula. But the buildup is not really about foreign nations; the weapons are still aimed at the other side of the Peninsula. I am not sure if we will ever see a renewal of hostilities between the North and South, but if the war resumes, it will likely once again be an international fight staged on the Korean Peninsula.

When Israel divided into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah, there was no civil war. That conflict was avoided, at least in the early days of the divided Kingdom. But that didn't mean that the new Kingdoms did not need to build up their capacity for war, not necessarily to fight each other in an attempt to unify the Kingdom, but to defend themselves from other nations.

Rehoboam secures his Kingdom, placing his strongest troops in the South and West of his Kingdom. He didn't seem to be worried about Israel, but rather about an attack from Egypt. And Rehoboam wanted everyone to think that he was ready for any external threat. And he would fight to defend the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

If there is a failure here, it is this. While Rehoboam stressed the nation's need for an army and city defenses, he failed to reinforce the people spiritually. And that was the real strength that his country needed.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 2 Chronicles 12