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Easton's Bible Dictionary
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" ( 1 Kings comp 11:31 ). This brought matters speedily to a crisis.
The terrible cry was heard (Compare 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 (divided in two). Rehoboam was appalled,
and tried concessions, but it was too late (1 Kings 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
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 , 14:26 ; 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. ( See EGYPT )
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
who sets the people at liberty
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(enlarger of the people), Son of Solomon by the Ammonite
princess Naamah, ( 1 Kings 14:21, 14:31 ) and his successor. ( 1 Kings 11:43 )
Rehoboam selected Shechem as the place of his coronation (B.C. 975), probably
as an act of concession to the Ephraimites. The people demanded a remission of
the severe burdens imposed by Solomon, and Rehoboam, rejecting the advice of his
fathers counsellors, followed that of his young courtiers, and returned an insulting
answer, which led to an open rebellion among the tribes, and he was compelled
to flee to Jerusalem, Judah and Benjamin alone remaining true to him. Jeroboam
was made king of the northern tribes. [JEROBOAM] An expedition to reconquer Israel
was forbidden by the prophet Shemaiah, ( 1 Kings 12:21 ) still during Rehoboams
lifetime peaceful relations between Israel and Judah were never restored. ( 2
Chronicles 12:15 ; 1 Kings 14:30 )
In the fifth year of Rehoboams reign the country was invaded by a host of Egyptians
and other African nations under Shishak. Jerusalem itself was taken and Rehoboam
had to purchase an ignominious peace by delivering up the treasures with which
Solomon had adorned the temple and palace. The rest of Rehoboams life was unmarked
by any events of importance. He died B.C. 958, after a reign of 17 years, having
ascended the throne B.C. 975, at the age of 41. ( 1 Kings 14:21 ; 2 Chronicles
12:13 ) He had 18 wives, 60 concubines, 28 sons and 60 daughters.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
re-ho-bo'-am (rechabh`am, "the people is enlarged," or
perhaps "Am is wide" Rhoboam; "Roboam," Matthew 1:7 the King James Version):
The son and successor of Solomon, the last king to claim the throne of old Israel
and the first king of Judah after the division of the kingdom. He was born circa
978 BC. His mother was Naamah, an Ammonitess. The account of his reign is contained
in 1 Kings 14:21 - 31 ; 2 Chronicles 10 - 12. The incidents leading to the disruption
of the kingdom are told in 1 Kings 11:43 - 12:24 ; 2 Chronicles 9:31 - 11:4.
1. The Disruption of the Kingdom:
Rehoboam was 41 years old (2 Chronicles 12:13) when he began to reign Septuagint
1 Kings 12:24 a says 16 years). He ascended the throne at Jerusalem immediately
upon his father's death with apparently no opposition. North Israel, however,
was dissatisfied, and the people demanded that the king meet them in popular assembly
at Shechem, the leading city of Northern Israel. True, Israel was no longer, if
ever, an elective monarchy. Nevertheless, the people claimed a constitutional
privilege, based perhaps on the transaction of Samuel in the election of Saul
(1 Samuel 10:25), to be a party to the conditions under which they would serve
a new king and he become their ruler: David, in making Solomon his successor,
had ignored this wise provision, and the people, having lost such a privilege
by default, naturally deemed their negligence the cause of Solomon's burdensome
taxes and forced labor. Consequently, they would be more jealous of their rights
for the future, and Rehoboam accordingly would have to accede to their demand.
Having come together at Shechem, the people agreed to accept Rehoboam as their
king on condition that he would lighten the grievous service and burdensome taxes
of his father. Rehoboam asked for three days' time in which to consider the request.
Against the advice of men of riper judgment, who assured him that he might win
the people by becoming their servant, he chose the counsel of the younger men,
who were of his own age, to rule by sternness rather than by kindness, and returned
the people a rough answer, saying: "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will
add to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you
with scorpions" (1 Kings 12:14). Rehoboam, however, misjudged the temper of the
people, as well as his own ability. The people, led by Jeroboam, a leader more
able than himself, were ready for rebellion, and so force lost the day where kindness
might have won. The threat of the king was met by the Marseillaise of the people:
"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). Thus
the ten tribes dethroned Rehoboam, and elected Jeroboam, their champion and spokesman,
their king (see JEROBOAM). Rehoboam, believing in his ability to carry out his
threat (1 Kings 12:14), sent Adoram, his taskmaster, who no doubt had quelled
other disturbances, to subdue the populace, which, insulted by indignities and
enraged by Rehoboam's renewed insolence, stoned his messenger to death. Realizing,
for the first time, the seriousness of the revolt, Rehoboam fled ignominiously
back to Jerusalem, king only of Judah and of the adjacent territory of the tribe
of Benjamin. The mistake of Rehoboam, was the common mistake of despots. He presumed
too much on privilege not earned by service, and on power for which he was not
willing to render adequate compensation.
2. Underlying Causes of Disruption:
It is a mistake, however, to see in the disruption the shattering of a kingdom
that had long been a harmonious whole. From the earliest times the confederation
of tribes was imperfectly cemented. They seldom united against their common foe.
No mention is made of Judah in the list of tribes who fought with Deborah against
Sisera. A chain of cities held by the Canaanites, stretching across the country
from East to West, kept the North and the South apart. Different physical characteristics
produced different types of life in the two sections. Old jealousies repeatedly
fanned into new flame intensified the divisions due to natural and artificial
causes. David labored hard to break down the old antagonisms, but even in his
reign Israel rebelled twice. Northern Israel had produced many of the strongest
leaders of the nation, and it was not easy for them to submit to a ruler from
the Judean dynasty. Solomon, following David's policy of unification, drew the
tribes closely together through the centralization of worship at Jerusalem and
through the general splendor of his reign, but he, more than any other, finally
widened the gulf between the North and the South, through his unjust discriminations,
his heavy taxes, his forced labor and the general extravagances of his reign.
The religion of Yahweh was the only bond capable of holding the nation together.
The apostasy of Solomon severed this bond. The prophets, with their profound knowledge
of religious and political values, saw less danger to the true worship of Yahweh
in a divided kingdom than in a united nation ruled over by Rehoboam, who had neither
political sagacity nor an adequate conception of the greatness of the religion
of Yahweh. Accordingly, Ahijah openly encouraged the revolution, while Shemaiah
gave it passive support.
3. Shemaiah Forbids Civil War:
Immediately upon his return to Jerusalem, Rehoboam collected a large army of 180,000
men (reduced to 120,000 in the Septuagint's Codex Vaticanus), for the purpose
of making war against Israel. The expedition, however, was forbidden by Shemaiah
the prophet on the ground that they should not fight against their brethren, and
that the division of the kingdom was from God. Notwithstanding the prohibition,
we are informed that "there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually"
(1 Kings 14:30 ; 2 Chronicles 12:15).
4. Rehoboam's Prosperity:
Rehoboam next occupied himself in strengthening the territory which still remained
to him by fortifying a number of cities (2 Chronicles 11:5 - 12). These cities
were on the roads to Egypt, or on the western hills of the Judean Shephelah, and
were doubtless fortifled as a protection against Egypt. According to 2 Chronicles
11:13 - 17, Rehoboam's prosperity was augmented by an immigration of priests and
Levites from Israel, who came to Jerusalem because of their opposition to the
idolatrous worship instituted by Jeroboam. All who were loyal to Yahweh in the
Northern Kingdom are represented as following the example of the priests and Levites
in going to Jerusalem, not simply to sacrifice, but to reside there permanently,
thus strengthening Rehoboam's kingdom. In view of the fact that Rehoboam added
to the innovations of his father, erected pillars of Baal in Jerusalem long before
they were common in Northern Israel, and that he permitted other heathen abominations
and immoralities, it seems that the true worship of Yahweh received little encouragement
from the king himself. As a further evidence of his prosperity, Chronicles gives
an account of Rehoboam's family. Evidently he was of luxurious habit and followed
his father in the possession of a considerable harem (2 Chronicles 11:18 - 23).
He is said to have had 18 wives and 60 concubines, (2 Chronicles 11:21; the Septuagint's
Codex Vaticanus and Josephus, Ant, VIII, x, 1 give "30 concubines").
5. Shishak's Invasion:
One of the direct results of the disruption of the kingdom was the invasion of
Palestine by Shishak, king of Egypt, in the 5th year of Rehoboam. Shishak is Sheshonk.
I, the first king of the XXIId or Bubastite Dynasty. He is the same ruler who
granted hospitality to Jeroboam when he was obliged to flee from Solomon (1 Kings
11:40). The Septuagint (1 Kings 12:24 e) informs us that Jeroboam married Ano,
the sister of Shishak's wife, thus becoming brother-in-law to the king of Egypt.
It is therefore easy to suppose that Jeroboam, finding himself in straits in holding
his own against his rival, Rehoboam, called in the aid of his former protector.
The results of this invasion, however, are inscribed on the temple at Karnak in
Upper Egypt, where a list of some 180 (Curtis, "Chronicles," ICC) towns captured
by Shishak is given. These belong to Northern Israel as well as Judah, showing
that Shishak exacted tribute there as well as in Judah, which seems scarcely reconcilable
with the view that he invaded Palestine as Jeroboam's ally. However, the king
of Israel, imploring the aid of Shishak against his rival, thereby made himself
vassal to Egypt. This would suffice to make his towns figure at Karnak among the
cities subjected in the course of the campaign. The Chronicler saw in Shishak
an instrument in the hand of God for the punishment of R. and the people for the
national apostasy. According to 2 Chronicles 12:3, Shishak had a force of 1,200
chariots and 60,000 horsemen to which Josephus adds 400,000 foot-soldiers, composed
of Lubim, Sukkum and Ethiopians. No resistance appears to have been offered to
the advance of the invading army. Not even Jerusalem seems to have stood a siege.
The palace and the temple were robbed of all their treasures, including the shields
of gold which Solomon had made. For these Rehoboam later substituted shields of
brass (2 Chronicles 12:9 , 10).
6. His Death:
Rehoboam died at the age of fifty-eight, after having reigned in Jerusalem for
17 years. His son Abijah became his successor. He was buried in Jerusalem. Josephus
says that in disposition he was a proud and foolish man, and that he "despised
the worship of God, till the people themselves imitated his wicked actions" (Ant.,
VIII, x, 2).
S. K. Mosiman
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, first king of judah after the division of the kingdom, insulted people, king of israel (united), king of judah, rehoboam, shishak invasion, son of solomon (and naamah), taxation
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