Rehoboam: He enlarges the people, the successor of Solomon on the throne, and
apparently his only son. He was the son of Naamah "the Ammonitess,"
some well-known Ammonitish princess
(1 Kings 14:21; 2 Chronicles 12:13) He was
forty-one years old when he ascended the throne, and he reigned
seventeen years (B.C. 975-958) Although he was acknowledged at once as
the rightful heir to the throne, yet there was a strongly-felt desire
to modify the character of the government. The burden of taxation to
which they had been subjected during Solomon's reign was very
oppressive, and therefore the people assembled at Shechem and
demanded from the king an alleviation of their burdens. He went to
meet them at Shechem, and heard their demands for relief
(1 Kings 12:4)
After three days, having consulted with a younger generation of
courtiers that had grown up around him, instead of following the
advice of elders, he answered the people haughtily
(1 Kings 12:6-15).
"The king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the
Lord" (comp.)
(1 Kings 11:31; 12:15) This brought matters speedily to a
crisis. The terrible cry was heard (comp.)
(2 Samuel 20:1) "What portion
have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: To
your tents, O Israel: Now see to thine own house, David"
(1 Kings 12:16)
And now at once the kingdom was rent in twain. Rehoboam was appalled,
and tried concessions, but it was too late
(1 Kings 12:18) The tribe of
Judah, Rehoboam's own tribe, alone remained faithful to him. Benjamin
was reckoned along with Judah, and these two tribes formed the
southern kingdom, with Jerusalem as its capital; while the northern
ten tribes formed themselves into a separate kingdom, choosing
Jeroboam as their king. Rehoboam tried to win back the revolted ten
tribes by making war against them, but he was prevented by the prophet
Shemaiah
(1 Kings 12:21-24; 2 Chronicles 11:1-4) from fulfilling his purpose.
(See JEROBOAM)
In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, Shishak (q.v.), one of the
kings of Egypt of the Assyrian dynasty, stirred up, no doubt, by
Jeroboam his son-in-law, made war against him. Jerusalem submitted to
the invader, who plundered the temple and virtually reduced the
kingdom to the position of a vassal of Egypt
(1 Kings 14:25,26)
(2 Chronicles 12:5-9) A remarkable memorial of this invasion has been
discovered at Karnac, in Upper Egypt, in certain sculptures on the
walls of a small temple there. These sculptures represent the king,
Shishak, holding in his hand a train of prisoners and other figures,
with the names of the captured towns of Judah, the towns which
Rehoboam had fortified
(2 Chronicles 11:5-12) The kingdom of Judah, under
Rehoboam, sank more and more in moral and spiritual decay. "There was
war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days." At length, in the
fifty-eighth year of his age, Rehoboam "slept with his fathers, and
was buried with his fathers in the city of David"
(1 Kings 14:31) He
was succeeded by his son Abijah.
