We left off with the tribe of Dan backing down from their planned invasion of Judah, right? Good news for Judah. But, as often happens, one problem solved just paves the way for another. This time, it came in the form of Shishak, the ruler of Egypt.

Now, Shishak had a connection to the Israelite monarchy: he was actually Solomon's father-in-law. And he arrived in Jerusalem with a demand: his daughter's jointure, her marriage settlement. Apparently, he felt it was time to collect. But what he took was far more than just a simple settlement. According to Legends of the Jews, Shishak made off with Solomon's throne itself, and something even more significant: the treasure the Israelites had taken from the Egyptians during the Exodus!

Talk about a full circle! Think about that for a second. All that wealth, acquired after generations of slavery, now flowing right back to where it came from. As Ginzberg puts it in Legends of the Jews, "So the Egyptian money returned to its source." You can almost hear the echoes of history, can't you? A cosmic balancing act, perhaps?

But the drama doesn't end there. Remember Jeroboam, the king of the breakaway northern kingdom of Israel? He hadn't entirely given up on his plans to invade Judah. Though he didn't act while Rehoboam (Solomon's son) was king, he eventually launched his campaign after Abijah took the throne in Jerusalem.

And Abijah was victorious! A great victory, but a short-lived one. Because soon after, Abijah died, and his death, the Legends suggest, was brought on by his own wickedness. You see, in his war against Jeroboam, Abijah acted with extreme cruelty. He ordered the mutilation of enemy corpses, preventing proper identification and burial.

Think about the implications of that. According to Legends of the Jews, this savagery was "all the more execrable as it prevented many widows from entering into a second marriage." Mutilated bodies meant uncertainty. Were their husbands dead? Were they alive? These women were left in a terrifying limbo, unable to move on with their lives.

The consequences of Abijah’s actions, it seems, caught up with him. And it leaves us with a question: Do our deeds, especially those driven by cruelty and disregard for human dignity, ultimately determine our fate? This story, woven from ancient texts and retold through generations, certainly suggests that they do.