Son of Solomon, and successor to his kingdom. His name seems to be a compound of Rehob and Am, the people - - probably derived from Rachab, and if so, it will be the enlargement of the people. We have his history at large from 1 Kings xi. 43, where it begins, to the rebellion against him by Jeroboam, where it ends in his death, 1 Kings 14. 31.
the son and successor of Solomon; his mother was Naamah, an Ammonitish woman, whom Solomon had married, 1Ki 14:20-21. He was forty-one years of age when he began to reign, and, consequently, was born in the first year of his father’s reign, A.M. 2990, or the year before. This prince reigned seventeen years at Jerusalem, and died A.M. 3046. After the death of Solomon, Rehoboam came to Shechem, because all Israel was there assembled to make him king, 1 Kings 12. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who had headed a sedition against Solomon, and had been compelled, toward the close of his reign, to take refuge in Egypt, as soon as he heard that this prince was dead, returned into Judea, and came to the assembly of the people of Shechem. The Israelites would have made terms with Rehoboam; but, being a poor politician, and following the advice of some junior counsellors, he managed his business so imprudently that he lost the whole house of Israel, save the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
Rehoboam (he enlarges the people), only son of Solomon, born of an Ammonitess, called Naamah (1Ki 14:21; 1Ki 14:31). His reign commenced B.C. 975, when he was at the age of forty-one, and lasted seventeen years. This reign was chiefly remarkable for the political crisis which gave rise to it, and which resulted in the separation of the previously single monarchy into two kingdoms, of which the smaller, which took the name of Judah, adhered to the house of David. All the points involved in this important event, and its immediate results, have been considered in the articles Israel, Jeroboam, Judah.
The son and successor of Solomon, by Naamah, an Ammonitess, 1Ki 12:1-33 14:21-31 2Ch 10:1-12:16. He was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and was therefore born at the beginning of his father’s reign.\par He ascended the throne about 975 B.C., and reigned seventeen years at Jerusalem. Under his reign the ten tribes revolted, and formed the kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam. The immediate cause of this schism was Rehoboam’s headstrong folly in rejecting experienced counselors, and claiming tyrannical power. He at once sought to recover the revolted tribes by force; and though directed by God not to make war, he did not long delay hostilities, and these continued during his whole reign. The people also fell into idolatry, and were punished in the fifth year of Rehoboam by an Egyptian army, which subjected them to a heavy tribute. See SHISHAK.\par Scripture leads us to trace the sins and misfortunes of Rehoboam in part to the influence of his heathen mother, 2Ch 12:13 . The latter portion of his reign seems to have passed more quietly.\par
Rehobo’am. (enlarger of the people). Son of Solomon, by the Ammonite princess, Naamah, 1Ki 14:21; 1Ki 14:31, and his successor. 1Ki 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 father’s 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 fly to Jerusalem, Judah and Benjamin alone remaining true to him.
Jeroboam was made king of the northern tribes. See Jeroboam. An expedition to reconquer Israel was forbidden by the prophet, Shemaiah, 1Ki 12:21, still, during Rehoboam’s lifetime, peaceful relations between Israel and Judah were never restored. 2Ch 12:15; 1Ki 14:30. In the fifth year of Rehoboam’s 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 Rehoboam’s 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 4. 1Ki 14:21; 2Ch 12:13. He had 18 wives, 60 concubines, 28 sons and 60 daughters.
Solomon’s son by the Ammonite Naamah (1Ki 14:21; 1Ki 14:13; 1Ki 11:43; 2Ch 12:13). Succeeded his father in his 41st year. In 2Ch 13:7 "young and tender hearted" means inexperienced (for he was not young in years then) and faint-hearted, not energetic in making a stand against those who insolently rose against him. In his reign Ephraim’s gathering jealousy of a rival (Jdg 8:1; Jdg 12:1) came to a crisis, the steps to which were the severance of Israel under Ishbosheth (2 Samuel 2) from Judah under David; the removal of the political capital from Shechem, and the seat of national worship from Shiloh to Jerusalem; and finally Solomon’s heavy taxation for great national and monarchical buildings, and Rehoboam’s injudicious reply to the petition for lightening the burden. The maschil (Psalm 78) of Asaph is a warning to Ephraim not to incur a fresh judgment by rebelling against God’s appointment which transferred Ephraim’s prerogative, for its sins, to Judah; he delicately avoids wounding Ephraim’s sensitiveness by not naming revolt as likely (compare 2Sa 20:2).
He leaves the application to themselves. Rehoboam selected Shechem as his place of coronation, probably to conciliate Ephraim. But Ephraim’s reason for desiring Shechem for the place of coronation was their intention to rebel; so they made Jeroboam the spokesman of their complaints.
With the same watchword of revolt as under Sheba (2Sa 19:43; 2Sa 20:1), Israel forsook Rehoboam (1Ki 12:16), "what portion have we in David? To your tents, O Israel." They then stoned Adoram who was over the tribute, Rehoboam retained, besides Judah, Levi, Simeon, Dan, and parts of Benjamin.
Thus, Rehoboam became strengthened in his kingdom, but after three years’ faithfulness and consequent prosperity from God the tendency to apostasy inherited from his mother Naamah the Ammonitess, and her bad early training, led him to connive at, and like Solomon join in, the abominations of idolatry, the "high places, standing images, and groves on every high hill and under every green tree" (1Ki 14:22-24). Rehoboam "forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him." So God sent Shishak, Jeroboam’s ally, with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen, to punish him, in the fifth year of his reign (1Ki 11:40; 1Ki 14:25-28; 2Ch 12:2-4, etc.).
Therefore, the Lord "granted them some deliverance," at the same time that He gave them up to Shishak’s service, who took the Jews’ fenced cities and came to Jerusalem, that they might know to their sorrow its contrast to "His service" (Deu 28:47-48; Isa 47:13; 1Jn 5:3; Hos 2:7). So Shishak took away the temple and the palace treasures, and the golden shields (200 larger and 300 smaller, 1Ki 10:16-17), for which Rehoboam substituted brazen shields, to be borne by the bodyguard before him in state processions, characteristic of his vanity which comforted itself with a sham after losing the reality; but the Lord did not let Shishak destroy Rehoboam altogether, for He saw, amidst abounding evil, with His tender compassion, some "good things in Judah."
Shishak’s success against the kingdom of Judah (
Rehoboam (rç-ho-bô’am), enlarges the people. The son and successor of Solomon. He reigned 17 years, b.c. 975-958. His insolent conduct hastened the political crisis which resulted in the division of the Hebrew kingdom into the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel. 1Ki 12:21-24; 1Ki 14:21; 1Ki 14:31; 2Ch 10:1-14. Within five years of Rehoboam’s accession to the throne, the kingdom of Judah was invaded by Shishak, king of Egypt, who desolated the country, and made it tributary to Egypt, and Shishak’s victory is noted in the great temple at Karnak.
[Rehobo’am]
Son of Solomon and Naamah an Ammonitess: he succeeded his father. On the tribes seeking relief from some of the burdens laid upon them by Solomon, Rehoboam unwisely turned from the counsellors of his father, and followed the advice of his young companions. He proudly boasted that he would augment their burdens and treat them with increased rigour. The ten tribes then revolted from Rehoboam and chose Jeroboam as their king. This had been prophesied of, and the folly of Rehoboam brought it thus to pass. He raised an army to punish the rebels, but was forbidden by the prophet Shemaiah to fight against them, and he had to hear that the separation of the ten tribes was of God. It was because of the sin of Solomon. Though a civil war was at that time averted, there were continual conflicts between the two nations, as they must now be called.
The outward worship of Jehovah was maintained in Judah, but Rehoboam did not check the introduction of heathen abominations into the land, and the wickedness of the people became very great. Shemaiah rebuked them, and said the Lord would deliver them into the hand of Shishak, king of Egypt. The king and the princes humbled themselves, and God granted them some deliverance; nevertheless they were made tributary to the king of Egypt. Shishak took away the treasures of the temple and of the king’s house, and the shields of gold that Solomon had made. Rehoboam replaced the latter with shields of brass. Thus the glory of Solomon soon passed away! Rehoboam reigned over Judah and Benjamin, under the title of JUDAH, seventeen years, from B.C. 975 to 958. 1Ki 11:43; 1Ki 12:1-27; 1Ki 14:21-31; 1Ki 15:6; 2Ch 10:1-18; 2Ch 11:1-22; 2Ch 12:1-16; 2Ch 13:7. He is called ROBOAM in Mat 1:7.
REHOBOAM.—Son of Solomon, mentioned as a link in our Lord’s genealogy (Mat 1:7).
By: Emil G. Hirsch, Ira Maurice Price, Wilhelm Bacher, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach
—Biblical Data:
Son of Solomon by Naamah the Ammonitess (I Kings xiv. 21), and his successor on the throne in Jerusalem. Solomon's administrative policy had fostered dangerous principles. His ambition for the magnificence and fame of his capital, Jerusalem, had led him to inaugurate a system of levies and taxes that proved burdensome and galling to his subjects. His attempt to form domestic alliances with his numerous neighbors (I Kings xi. 1-4) filled his court with foreign customs and religions, and in later generations produced unfortunate results. Solomon's wisdom and power were not sufficient to prevent the rebellion of several of his border cities. Damascus under Rezon secured its independence of Solomon; and Jeroboam, a superintendent of works, his ambition stirred by the words of the prophet Ahijah (I Kings xi. 29-40), fled to Egypt. Thus before the death of Solomon the apparently unified kingdom of David began to disintegrate. With Damascus independent and a powerful man of Ephraim, the most prominent of the Ten Tribes, awaiting his opportunity, the future of Solomon's kingdom became dubious.
Coronation Council.
The assembly for the coronation of Solomon's successor, Rehoboam, was called at Shechem, the one sacredly historic city within the territory of the Ten Tribes. The fact that it met here was a recognition of the prominence of those tribes in the government of Israel. It seems that Jeroboam (I Kingsxii. 2, 3, 20) either was present at the assembly or was in close touch with the leaders. Before the coronation took place the assembly requested certain reforms in the policy followed by Rehoboam's father, Solomon. Rehoboam was forty-one years of age (I Kings xiv. 21), but he was not ready at once to modify a policy that had yielded him and his court associates such large privileges of luxury and ease. The reforms requested would materially reduce the royal exchequer and hence its power to continue the magnificence of Solomon's court. Rehoboam was advised by the old men, who had seen the evils of his father's course, to yield to the people's request; but his own companions, accustomed to the pleasures of the brilliant court of Solomon, advised him rather to increase his revenues.
Intervention of the Prophet Shemaiah.
This precipitated a rebellion. The Ten Tribes, never wholly unified with Judah since Saul's reign, and particularly that of his son (II Sam. ii. 8-10), violently withdrew and said, "Now see to thine own house, David" (I Kings xii. 16). Outraged by this action, Rehoboam resolved to enforce his rights and collect his revenues. But the collector, Adoram, was stoned to death, and the proud would-be king was compelled to flee to Jerusalem, where without ceremony he seems to have assumed the crown over Judah and the few peoples who lived adjacent to its boundaries. Israel, the Ten Tribes so called, made Jeroboam its king. Rehoboam's ambition was not yet subdued, and he collected an immense army of 180,000 men to put down the revolt. But before this body of troops could be put in motion, the prophet Shemaiah delivered a message of the Lord, commanding Rehoboam to desist from war, "for this thing is of me" (I Kings xii. 24). The haughty young ruler oboyed. The records (I Kings xiv. 22-24) declare that his people became infatuated with idolatry, and that the strange worships introduced under Solomon's policy took root in the land. Indeed, so thoroughly did the people become imbued with heathen idol-worship that "they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord drove out before the children of Israel" (R. V.).
In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign Shishak, King of Egypt, went up and pillaged Jerusalem (See Shishak). The most valuable part of the booty was the golden shields Solomon had made for the royal body-guard. Rehoboam replaced these with shields of brass. The feeling of enmity and jealousy between the two kingdoms was bitter all the days of Rehoboam. Nothing is said of any battles fought between them during Rehoboam's life, but the expression "there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually" presents the spirit of retaliation animating both kingdoms. The disruption was a fact that carried its results throughout the existence of the kingdoms of Israel, and it became a frequent theme of prophetic discourse. Judah henceforth stood practically alone.
—In Rabbinical Literature:
Rehoboam was the son of an Ammonite woman; and when David praised God because it was permissible to marry Ammonites and Moabites, he held the child upon his knees, giving thanks for himself as well as for Rehoboam, since this permission was of advantage to them both (Yeb. 77a). Rehoboam was stricken with a running sore as a punishment for the curse which David had invoked upon Joab (II Sam. iii. 29) when he prayed that Joab's house might forever be afflicted with leprosy and running sores (Sanh. 48b). All the treasures which Israel had brought from Egypt were kept until the Egyptian king Shishak (I Kings xiv. 25, 26) took them from Rehoboam (Pes. 119a).
REHOBOAM, son of Solomon, is said to have reigned seventeen years. The statement that his mother was Naamah, the Ammonitess (1Ki 14:21), has nothing improbable about it. The LXX
It was natural that an effort should be made to reduce the rebel tribes to subjection. But Rehoboam seems not to have had either adequate resources or military capacity. The brief notice that there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually is all that we are told. Besides this, the Biblical author describes the religious condition of the people in this reign in dark colours. This condition, however, is no more than prevailed under Solomon. The chief event in the secular history of the time was the invasion of the country by Shishak, king of Egypt. This monarch claims to have reduced the whole country to subjection, probably reviving ancient claims to suzerainty. The author of our Books of Kings is chiefly concerned at the Egyptian’s plundering the Temple (1Ki 14:26), while the Chronicler (2Ch 12:1-16) as usual is ready to make an edifying story out of the incident. It would interest us to know whether Egypt maintained its claims on the successors of Rehoboam, but on this point we are left in the dark.
H. P. Smith.
1. The Disruption of the Kingdom
2. Underlying Causes of Disruption
3. Shemaiah Forbids Civil War
4. Rehoboam’s Prosperity
5. Shishak’s Invasion
6. His Death
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 1Ki 14:21-31; 2 Ch 10 through 12. The incidents leading to the disruption of the kingdom are told in 1 Ki 11:43 through 12:24; 2 Ch 9:31 through 11:4.
1. The Disruption of the Kingdom:
Rehoboam was 41 years old (2Ch 12:13) when he began to reign Septuagint 1Ki 12:24 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 (1Sa 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” (1Ki 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” (1Ki 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 (1Ki 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” (1Ki 14:30; 2Ch 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 (2Ch 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 2Ch 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 (2Ch 11:18-23). He is said to have had 18 wives and 60 concubines, (2Ch 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 (1Ki 11:40). The Septuagint (1Ki 12:24) 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 2Ch 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 (2Ch 12:9, 2Ch 12:10).
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).
Upon the death of Solomon, Rehoboam his son became king of Israel (930 BC). He inherited the judgment that God had previously prepared for the throne of Solomon (1Ki 11:11-13).
Aware that the northern tribes were dissatisfied with the Jerusalem government, Rehoboam tried to hold their allegiance by going north to Shechem for his coronation ceremony (1Ki 12:1). He also decided to take a firm stand against any tendency to weaken Jerusalem’s control of the north. But his efforts were in vain, with the result that the ten northern tribes broke away from David’s dynasty and formed their own kingdom under Jeroboam (1Ki 12:2-20). The Davidic kingdom, though still centred on Jerusalem, was reduced to the tribe of Judah and one neighbouring tribe.
Though Rehoboam thought of sending his army to force his rule upon the north, he changed his mind when a prophet told him that the division was a judgment sent by God (1Ki 12:21-24). For three years Rehoboam followed the way of God faithfully. This was partly because of the good influence of a large number of priests and Levites who had fled from the north to Jerusalem rather than cooperate with Jeroboam’s idolatry (2Ch 11:13-17). During this time he ruled well, improving the nation’s defences and training his sons to be administrators (2Ch 11:5-12; 2Ch 11:23).
As Rehoboam’s strength increased, so did his pride. Soon he tried to show himself independent of God by copying the Canaanite religions (1Ki 14:21-24; 2Ch 12:1; 2Ch 12:14). God punished him by allowing Egypt to invade and plunder the land. Only a last minute confession of sin from Rehoboam and his governors saved Judah from destruction (2Ch 12:2-13).