2 Chronicles / Question
The priests and Levites came to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons cast them off from serving as priests to the LORD. The passage says Israelites who set their hearts to seek the LORD followed them to Jerusalem to sacrifice (2 Chronicles 11:13-16).
In 2 Chronicles 11:13–17, priests and Levites living throughout Israel relocate to Rehoboam in Judah, concentrating in Jerusalem. The text explains they leave property behind because Jeroboam and his sons remove them from serving at Yahweh’s worship. Jeroboam sets up alternative priests and cult sites connected with images he made. This section sits inside the story of the divided kingdom after Solomon, focusing on Rehoboam’s early rule in Judah.
The passage describes a large, worship-driven migration from the northern tribes into Judah, centered on Jerusalem. Priests and Levites are said to come to Rehoboam “out of all their territories,” and Levites abandon land and holdings to do so. The stated cause is policy: Jeroboam (and “his sons”) remove them from serving as priests to Yahweh.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with 2 Chronicles 11:13-16, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
13The priests and the Levites who were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their border.
14For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest`s office to Yahweh;
15and he appointed him priests for the high places, and for the male goats, and for the calves which he had made.
16After them, out of all the tribes of Israel, such as set their hearts to seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh, the God of their fathers.