Difference between revisions of "Rehoboam" - New World Encyclopedia

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Rehoboam rejects the advice of Israel's elders.

Rehoboam (Hebrew:רחבעם Rehav'am) was a king of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, succeeding his father Solomon. His grandfather was David. He was the third king of the House of David and the first of the Kingdom of Judah. His mother was Naamah "the Ammonitess." His name means he who enlarges the people.

Rehoboam's reign has been dated to 922 B.C.E.-915 B.C.E. by William F. Albright and 931 B.C.E.-913 B.C.E. by E. R. Thiele. The Bible is the only historical source for his reign. His story is told in the Books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles.

When Rehoboam refused to lighten Solomon's policy of heavy taxation and forced labor, the northern tribes seceded from his kingdom, proclaiming Jeroboam I as their king. Only the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained under Rehoboam in what became known as the Kingdom of Judah. The Egyptian king Shishak pillaged Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign and Judah became a tributary to Egypt.

The Kingdom divided

Background

Rehoboam ascended the throne at the age of 41, and he reigned seventeen years. Although the biblical account holds Solomon's toleration of the religions of his foreign wives responsible for his kingdom's division in Rehoboam's time, the immediate cause of the north's rebellion was Rehoboam's labor and taxation policies. Under his father, the people were taxed heavily to pay for the Solomon's building projects, and forced labor was also mandated. Moreover, Jeroboam, a rising young Ephraimite encouraged by the prophet Ahijah, had increasingly outspoken against Solomonic policy. Forced into exile under Solomon, he had recently returned. Solomon had also accumulated several prominent enemies during his later reign, notably Hadad, the Egyptian-backed heir to the Edomite throne; Rezon, the son of an Aramean army captain, now the de facto ruler of Damascus.

In an apparent gesture to the northern tribes, Rehoboam traveled to Schechem to be crowned, rather than holding his coronation ceremony in Jerusalem. (1 Kings 12:1). There, he was confronted by a large delegation, "the whole assembly of Israel," with the complaint:

Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.

Rehoboam asked for three days to consider the issue. He first consulted the elders who had advised Solomon, and these men counseled him: "If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants." (12:7)

Rehoboam, however, prefered the advice of younger men, who exhorted him to express his authority by refusing to compromise. Rehoboam thus declared to the Israelites: Mmy father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." (1 Kings

The northerners then retracted their recognition of House of David and declared independence. The Bible preserves the political slogan of their movement:

What share do we have in David,

what part in Jesse's son?

To your tents, O Israel!

Look after your own house, O David!"

Testing the Israelites' determination, Rehoboam he dispatched Adoram, his minister of forced labor, to conscript Israelite men. Adoram, however, was stoned stoned to death, and Rehoboam fled in haste to Jerusalem.

Jeroboam I was appointed king of the northern tribes, and their breakaway state became known as the Kingdom of Israel. Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem as king over what later became know as the Kingdom of Judah, consisting of only the areas alotted to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

Wars

Rehoboam organized a sizeable army to suppress the rebellion. Its size is given as 180,000 men by I Kings and by II Chronicles. However a prophet named Shemaiah proclaimed God's words as: "Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites." Rehoboam immediately abandoned his plans for a full scale invasion. However, he skirmished against the forces of Jeroboam I throughout the remainder of his reign.

In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, Pharaoh Shishak and his allies, including the Ethiopians, invaded Judah. The biblical narrative indicates widespread defeats for the Judahites. Jerusalem, too, was taken, and both the Temple and the royal palace were looted. (2 Chronicles11:5-12)

A remarkable memorial of this invasion has been discovered at Karnak, 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.

Rehoboam fortified the heart of the kingdom, and thus most of the approaches to Jerusalem were flanked by major fortresses. However, the ascents from the Judean Desert in the east and from the Kingdom of Israel in the north were not covered by the defensive works. The Judean Desert was a ground to which enemies were to be lured and ambushed, and the Judah-Israel border was not guarded because Rehoboam did not recognize the Kingdom of Israel as an independenent state.

Succession

Rehoboam's eighteen wives and sixty concubines bore him eighty-eight children, but he had the insight to prevent court power struggles by appointing his numerous children to important posts across the country, predominantly away from the capital. He died and was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem. He was succeeded by his son Abijah.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

I Kings 11-12

II Chronicles 10-12

Battles of the Bible, 1978

House of David Cadet Branch of the Tribe of Judah
Preceded by: Solomon	King of Judah Albright: 922 B.C.E. – 915 B.C.E. Thiele: c.931 B.C.E. – 913 B.C.E. Galil: c.931 B.C.E. – 914 B.C.E.	Succeeded by: Abijam

Credits

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 '''Rehoboam''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]:רחבעם Rehav'am) was a king of the ancient [[Kingdom of Judah]], succeeding his father [[Solomon]]. His grandfather was [[David]]. He was the third king of the [[House of David]] and the first of the [[Kingdom of Judah]]. His mother was Naamah "the Ammonitess." His name means ''he who enlarges the people''.
-Rehoboam's reign has been dated to [[922 B.C.E.]]-[[915 B.C.E.]] by [[William F. Albright]] and [[931 B.C.E.]]-[[913 B.C.E.]] by [[E. R. Thiele]]. The Bible is the only historical source for his reign. His story is told in the Books of Kings and Chronicles.
+Rehoboam's reign has been dated to [[922 B.C.E.]]-[[915 B.C.E.]] by [[William F. Albright]] and [[931 B.C.E.]]-[[913 B.C.E.]] by [[E. R. Thiele]]. The Bible is the only historical source for his reign. His story is told in the Books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles.
-==Early reign==
+When Rehoboam refused to lighten Solomon's policy of heavy taxation and forced labor, the northern tribes seceded from his kingdom, proclaiming Jeroboam I as their king.  Only the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained under Rehoboam in what became known as the [[Kingdom of Judah]]. The Egyptian king Shishak pillaged Jerusalem in the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign and Judah became a tributary to Egypt.
-Rehoboam ascended the throne at the age of 41, and he reigned seventeen years. Under his father, [[Solomon]], the people were taxed heavily to pay for all the building projects undertaken during that reign. [[Solomon]]'s act of building a place over the ''Millo'', formerly an open area providing convenient access to the Temple for those coming from the north, may have been perceived as apathy for the tribes of the north. Therefore, there was great unease immediately after the death of [[Solomon]—people were afraid that he would pursue a high-taxation, (supposedly) pro-southern policy like his father.
-[[Solomon]] had also accumulated several prominent enemies during his later reign, notably Hadad, the Egyptian-backed heir to the Edomite throne; Rezon, the son of an Aramean army captain, now the ''de facto'' ruler of Damascus; and Jeroboam, a rising young Ephraimite who, encouraged by the prophet [[Ahijah]], was increasingly outspoken against Solomonic policy.
+==The Kingdom divided==
-The nation demanded that the coronation ceremony be held at [[Shechem]], a decidedly pro-northern stronghold, to crown Rehoboam. The weak [[Rehoboam]] complied, and the people immediately demanded relief from heavy tax burdens. Rehoboam asked and was granted three days to receive counsel before announcing his decision to the masses. The elder counselors formerly of Solomon's kingship advised that he lower taxes to gain favor among the people, while the younger counselors, cronies of the new king, exhorted that he raise taxes to express his authority. Rehoboam sided with the young counselors and said to the people, "my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." <ref>{{bibleverse-lb|1|Kings|12:1-14|HE}}</ref>
+===Background===
-The northerners retracted their recognition of the legitimacy of the rule of the [[House of David]] and declared independence. [[Jeroboam I]] was appointed as king over them, and their breakaway state became known as the [[Kingdom of Israel]].
+Rehoboam ascended the throne at the age of 41, and he reigned seventeen years. Although the biblical account holds Solomon's toleration of the religions of his foreign wives responsible for his kingdom's division in Rehoboam's time, the immediate cause of the north's rebellion was Rehoboam's labor and taxation policies. Under his father, the people were taxed heavily to pay for the Solomon's building projects, and forced labor was also mandated. Moreover, Jeroboam, a rising young Ephraimite encouraged by the prophet [[Ahijah]], had increasingly outspoken against Solomonic policy. Forced into exile under Solomon, he had recently returned. [[Solomon]] had also accumulated several prominent enemies during his later reign, notably Hadad, the Egyptian-backed heir to the Edomite throne; Rezon, the son of an Aramean army captain, now the ''de facto'' ruler of Damascus.
+In an apparent gesture to the northern tribes, Rehoboam traveled to Schechem to be crowned, rather than holding his coronation ceremony in Jerusalem. (1 Kings 12:1). There, he was confronted by a large delegation, "the whole assembly of Israel," with the complaint:
+:Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.
+Rehoboam asked for three days to consider the issue. He first consulted the elders who had advised Solomon, and these men counseled him: "If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants." (12:7)
+Rehoboam, however, prefered the advice of younger men, who exhorted him to express his authority by refusing to compromise. Rehoboam thus declared to the Israelites: Mmy father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions." (1 Kings
+The northerners then retracted their recognition of [[House of David]] and declared independence. The [[Bible]] preserves the political slogan of their movement:
+::What share do we have in David,
+::what part in Jesse's son?
+::To your tents, O Israel!
+::Look after your own house, O David!"
+Testing the Israelites' determination, Rehoboam he dispatched Adoram, his minister of forced labor, to conscript Israelite men. Adoram, however, was  stoned stoned to death, and Rehoboam fled in haste to Jerusalem.
+[[Jeroboam I]] was appointed king of the northern tribes, and their breakaway state became known as the [[Kingdom of Israel]]. Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem as king over what later became know as the [[Kingdom of Judah]], consisting of only the areas alotted to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
 == Wars ==
-Rehoboam did not take the northerners seriously, and he dispatched Adoram (possibly identical with the Adoniram of Solomon's reign), the chief tax collector, to collect taxes from the north. Adoram was stoned, and Rehoboam, who had apparently followed him throughout his journey, had to flee in haste to Jerusalem.
-Rehoboam returned to Jerusalem and organized a sizeable army to suppress what he still saw as a rebellion against the crown. Its size is given as 180 000 men by I Kings and by II Chronicles. Shemaiah the prophet proclaimed that it was God's will that the United Monarchy be divided, and Rehoboam immediately abandoned his plans. Nevertheless, Rehoboam skirmished against the forces of [[Jeroboam I]] throughout the remainder of his reign. A vast majority of the [[Levites]] left the [[Kingdom of Israel]] for the [[Kingdom of Judah]] because they were being recruited as pagan priests by [[Jeroboam I]].
+Rehoboam organized a sizeable army to suppress the rebellion. Its size is given as 180,000 men by I Kings and by II Chronicles. However a prophet named Shemaiah proclaimed God's words as: "Do not go up to fight against your brothers, the Israelites." Rehoboam immediately abandoned his plans for a full scale invasion. However, he skirmished against the forces of [[Jeroboam I]] throughout the remainder of his reign.
+In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, Pharaoh [[Shishak]] and his allies, including the Ethiopians, invaded Judah. The biblical narrative indicates widespread defeats for the Judahites. Jerusalem, too, was taken, and both the [[Temple of Jerusalem|Temple]] and the royal palace were looted. (2 Chronicles11:5-12)
-In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, Pharaoh [[Shishak]] and his allies, including the Ethiopians, invaded. The entire [[Kingdom of Judah]] (as opposed to the [[Kingdom of Israel]], made up of all except tribes Judah and Benjamin, in the north) was looted, even the Temple and the royal palace, and the decorative gold shields made by [[Solomon]] were taken. Rehoboam replaced them with bronze ones. A remarkable memorial of this invasion has been discovered at [[Karnak]], 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. <ref>{{bibleverse-lb|2|Chronicles|11:5-12|HE}}</ref>
+A remarkable memorial of this invasion has been discovered at [[Karnak]], 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.
 Rehoboam fortified the heart of the kingdom, and thus most of the approaches to Jerusalem were flanked by major fortresses. However, the ascents from the [[Judean Desert]] in the east and from the [[Kingdom of Israel]] in the north were not covered by the defensive works. The [[Judean Desert]] was a ground to which enemies were to be lured and ambushed, and the Judah-Israel border was not guarded because Rehoboam did not recognize the [[Kingdom of Israel]] as an independenent state.