And Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
Solomon has died, and his son arrives at Shechem, where the whole nation has gathered to crown him. The chapter that follows splits the kingdom in two. So the opening verse presses one question: why did the new king meet his people at Shechem and not at Jerusalem?
The choice of meeting place was not neutral. One commentator contrasts it with the way the tribes once came to David, and reads the new king's movements as a sign of who was really in charge.
The very first word shows the state of the king and the state of the people. Why to Shechem? What brought them there? What business had they there? Why not come to Jerusalem? When David was coming to the throne the tribes of Israel came to Hebron because Hebron was where the king lived... and the people came to the king, as was right. Rehoboam heard that the foundations were coming loose and about to be destroyed, for the king goes to Shechem. It was there that the people chose to go, and there the king follows because he must. He was a fool; he did not understand how to reign; he did not own his place from God.
Shechem sat in the territory of one particular tribe, and that tribe had long felt it deserved first place. The gathering revived a rivalry that the previous two reigns had only covered over.
There were two great tribes, Ephraim and Judah. More than once Ephraim showed a spirit of rivalry and jealousy, if not Judah as well. God allowed this old rivalry to reappear. The splendour of David's and Solomon's reigns had held it down, but had not put it out. Rehoboam's folly brought it to the surface, as bitter as in the old days... Shechem and Shiloh were places of renown and of resort for all Israel, and these places were in their territory.
Solomon feared leaving everything he had built to a fool. One writer sets that fear beside what his son then did.
Solomon's wisdom and glory were so famous that kings came from far away to bow gladly at his feet... While he prospered, one painful thought troubled him: the heir to it all might turn out to be a fool... As the royal philosopher feared, so it happened. Rehoboam refused to listen to the reasonable complaints of his people. He drove ten of Israel's twelve tribes into revolt against the house of David, and to this day that damage stands unrepaired.
One writer traces the break back to Solomon's many wives, and forward to a King still to come.
The black cloud, still far off, began in Rehoboam's reign. Its dark shadow began, morally, when Solomon took many wives... This folly was the immediate cause of the revolt of the ten tribes. It was the fruit of Solomon's sin, and the first public showing of divine wrath... A breach opens in Israel that will only be healed when the true and wise King comes and sits on the throne.
He gave way where he should have stood, and dug in where he should have bent. One writer turns that double mistake into a rule for anyone who leads.
God had not made Shechem the centre or the right place for king or people. The people chose to go there, and Rehoboam followed them, and that was how his reign began. It was an ominous beginning, but a beginning that suited Rehoboam's character well. Where Rehoboam ought to have been firm he was loose, and where he ought to have been yielding he was obstinate; and these two things unfit any man to govern. The great secret of governing well is always knowing when to be firm and when to yield, and doing so in the fear of God. Be perfectly sure what is a divine principle, and there be as firm as a rock. Know, on the other hand, what is only a matter of no importance, and there be as yielding as possible.
One writer notes what this book records about the split, and what it leaves out.
Next Rehoboam throws away all but Judah and Benjamin, and Israel rebelled against David's house. But here the contrast with the earlier books is striking: we are told only about what stayed loyal and in faith.
- Place — The new king went where the people chose. He did not call them to Jerusalem, and the meeting place alone showed that he did not hold his throne from God.
- Past — Shechem lay in Ephraim's land. David and Solomon had held down the old jealousy between Ephraim and Judah; at Shechem it broke out again.
- Parent — The son's folly was the immediate cause. The deeper cause was Solomon's sin, and the split was the first public sign of divine anger.
- Pattern — He was loose where he should have been firm, and stubborn where he should have yielded. Knowing the difference, in the fear of God, is the secret of ruling well.
- Promise — No one has ever repaired the damage. The breach in Israel waits for the true and wise King to take the throne.
And it came to pass when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard it (now he was in Egypt, whither he had fled from the presence of king Solomon) that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.
Jeroboam had fled from King Solomon and was living in Egypt. The moment Solomon's son took the throne, the exile came home — which raises two questions: why was he in Egypt at all, and who arranged the timing of his return?
The writer of Chronicles assumes a story he never tells. One commentator fills in the gap from Kings.
Chronicles does not record what followed Solomon's fall, when he turned away from the Lord who had graciously appeared to him twice. 1 Kings 11:9-43 contains these events. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had lifted up his hand against Solomon. He secretly planned a revolt against the king. When he went out of Jerusalem, most likely to carry out his plans, the prophet Ahijah met him. Ahijah tore his own garment into ten pieces and announced that God would take the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give the ten tribes to Jeroboam. Then Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, and he fled into Egypt, and was in Egypt until Solomon died. It is here that the account in Chronicles comes in.
The promise to Jeroboam had a stated timetable, and he ignored it. One writer blames his flight on his own scheming, not on innocent self-defence.
But Jeroboam knew nothing of faith. He had secretly wanted power over his brothers. He probably tried to bring about Ahijah's prophecy with pride's feverish haste, and that is why he had to seek shelter in Egypt. There Shishak protected him — a king who had only recently overthrown the ruling family that Solomon had wrongly married into. Ahijah had said plainly that Solomon would be prince all the days of his life. The kingdom would pass to Jeroboam only out of his son's hand. But like a wilful, impatient child, he could not wait, and had to take the case out of God's hand and manage it himself.
Knapp's contrast is David, the man of faith who waited for God's time and way. A prophet had anointed David to replace Saul, yet David "would not injure a hair of the condemned king's head."
Jeroboam hears, and Jeroboam returns. But he was not the one who arranged the timing.
When the time came for Jeroboam to take the throne, God was already working. At the same time that he heard of King Solomon's death, messengers reached him, begging him to return. So when Rehoboam followed the foolish advice of his young friends and spoke harshly to the people's representatives, they turned at once to Jeroboam and made him king over the northern kingdom.
Ten tribes do not abandon a dynasty overnight because one exile comes home. God's earlier sentence explains the speed.
This explains how ten tribes so suddenly, and as with one mind, shook off their allegiance to the house of David. A runaway servant blows his trumpet, and at once they follow him. It was the judgment of the Lord, pronounced in Solomon's day and carried out in the days of his son.
That same judgment also left Jeroboam without excuse. More than anyone, he knew "the cause of the delay" between the promise of the kingdom at Jerusalem and his receiving it at Shechem. He also knew "the terms on which he could retain" the kingdom for himself and his family (The Bible Treasury).
Jeroboam came back to face Rehoboam, and the meeting place itself was a warning sign.
God had not made Shechem the centre or the right place for king or people. The people chose to go there, and Rehoboam followed them. That was how his reign began. It was an ominous beginning, but a beginning remarkably suited to Rehoboam's character. Where Rehoboam should have been firm he was loose. Where he should have yielded he was stubborn. These two things make any man unfit to govern.
The rivalry between the tribes was older than Rehoboam, and it had stayed quiet under David and Solomon. One writer names the only thing that will end it.
It was the folly of Rehoboam that gave this jealousy the chance to reappear. It will never depart till the true and wise King comes. He will unite in His own Person the power of the Ruler and the privileges and glory belonging to the birthright.
- Cause — Solomon turned away from God, and God announced the judgment then. Jeroboam's return only carried it out.
- Impatience — Jeroboam had a real promise from God. He would not wait for God's time, and his haste drove him into exile.
- Timing — the news of Solomon's death and the call home reached him together. God was at work before Jeroboam moved.
- Responsibility — Jeroboam knew God's terms better than anyone. That left him no excuse for what he did later.
- Cure — the division stays open until the true and wise King comes. He alone unites rule and blessing in Himself.
And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam saying,
Rehoboam has gone to Shechem, where Israel will make him king. Their first act is to send for a man living in exile in Egypt. Why did Israel want Jeroboam as their spokesman, and was their complaint about the yoke a fair one?
Jeroboam was no stranger. A prophet had marked him out, he had tried to seize the kingdom early, and he had fled for his life.
Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, had lifted up his hand against Solomon (1 Kings 11:27). He planned a revolt against the king in secret. When he went out of Jerusalem, most likely to carry out his plans, the prophet Ahijah met him. Ahijah tore his own garment into ten pieces and announced that God would take the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and give the ten tribes to Jeroboam. Then Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, and he fled to Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died... Jeroboam had returned from Egypt and appeared on the scene, sent by the people to conduct negotiations on their behalf.
The tragedy is that God had promised him the throne anyway. He would not wait for it.
But Jeroboam knew nothing of faith. He had secretly longed for power over his brothers. The words "according to all that your soul desires" show it. He probably tried to hurry Ahijah's prophecy along with pride's feverish haste, and that is what drove him to seek shelter in Egypt... Ahijah had plainly said that Solomon should be "prince all the days of his life." Only out of his son's hand would the kingdom pass to Jeroboam. But like a wilful, impatient child, he could not wait, and had to take the case out of God's hand and act for himself.
One writer hears rebellion in how they speak, and notes that nothing of God drew them to Shechem.
There was no association now of divine grace, or truth, or purpose, or anything else at Shechem; it was simply that Israel went there and he followed... You see the rebellious spirit from the very beginning. It is now in their language, as it was in their act before.
Their wording also admits something about the past — the yoke had not always been heavy.
Jeroboam is there, called by the people to be their spokesman before the king. These men complain to the king about the yoke his father had laid on them: "Your father made our yoke heavy." That wording shows it had not always been so. Christ's yoke will never be heavy on His people.
Commentators differ here. One takes the charge at face value as a real indictment of Solomon:
What a sad comment on the character of Solomon! He was a king of great wealth. But wealthy rulers will nearly always use strong methods to increase their wealth instead of using it to ease the hardships of the people. Solomon records that his mother told him to "open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the rights of the poor and needy" (Proverbs 31:9). But he not only ignored his mother's counsel: he went so far as to oppress the poor and needy.
Another is more cautious, and points out who was standing beside them as they said it:
There is no certain evidence that this was really so. Their labour went to the glory and security of the kingdom, and everyone was supposed to profit from its prosperity... It is possible, though, that their work served nothing but self-gratification. When men leave the right way, as Solomon did, they soon become oppressive. That would give some ground for their discontent, and Jeroboam, certainly, would take no trouble to calm it.
A grievance, an exile, and a proud young king: through all three, God was carrying out a word He had already spoken.
The Word of God is fulfilled by means of feelings in the depths of the heart of man that drive him to his own ruin.
The break had a root behind it, and it has a cure ahead of it.
Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause and occasion of the revolt of the ten tribes. But it is itself the consequence and fruit of Solomon's sin, and the beginning of the public display of divine wrath... A prophet had told Jeroboam that he should rule over them. This man is the one appointed to carry out God's judgment. A breach opens in Israel, and it will close only when the true and wise King comes and sits on the throne.
- Sent for — Israel calls back from Egypt a man who had already raised his hand against the throne. The choice of spokesman said everything.
- Unwilling to wait — God promised Jeroboam the ten tribes, yet he grabbed at them early. Faith waits for God's time, and he "knew nothing of faith."
- Spoken against — the complaint of a heavy yoke admits it had not always been heavy. Writers differ over whether the grievance was justified.
- Traced back — Rehoboam's folly was the immediate occasion. The deeper root was Solomon's sin, and God was carrying out His own word through feelings that drove men to ruin.
- Waiting still — the breach opened at Shechem closes only when the true and wise King reigns. His yoke is never heavy on His people.
Thy father made our yoke grievous; and now lighten the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee.
Rehoboam came to Shechem to be crowned king, and the northern tribes met him with a bargain instead of a welcome. Everything that follows in Israel's history turns on his answer — but first the verse asks us to weigh the complaint itself.
The tribes are not refusing to serve. They name a condition and offer their loyalty in return.
Jeroboam and others with him asked Rehoboam to lighten the heavy service Solomon had laid on them. If he did, they would gladly serve Rehoboam. This was certainly a reasonable request.
But was the yoke really that heavy? One writer is not sure:
They clearly resented this forced labour. Afterwards they said to Rehoboam, "Your father made our yoke heavy." There is no certain evidence that this was really so. Their labour served the glory and security of the kingdom, and all the people were meant to share in its prosperity.
The complaint reaches back to the day Israel first asked for a king.
When the people asked for a king, Samuel gave them the Lord's message about what a man in power is. Six times over come the words "he will take." Their sons would go to the army, their daughters would become his cooks, and the produce of their fields and flocks would support the king. How else could the dignity and majesty of the kingdom be kept up? In the highest days of Israel's prosperity this became unbearable. So we hear them saying to the son of Solomon, "Your father made our yoke heavy." The greater the glory of the kingdom, the greater the burden on the people must be.
The same writer traces that burden to Solomon's building work and its cost.
Solomon built new cities and rebuilt others. But all this meant heavy taxation. In time the people groaned under the burden, and Solomon groaned with disappointment of heart. That load of taxation is probably what made the people ask Rehoboam to make their service less hard and their yoke less heavy.
The wording of the complaint carries a hint of better days: a yoke made heavy was once light.
These men complain to the king about the yoke his father had put on them: "Your father made our yoke heavy." The wording shows that it had not always been that way. Christ's yoke will never be heavy on His people. To His own He will always stay what they have known Him to be in the day of suffering and of grace: "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Commentators differ on where the blame falls. One traces the revolt back to Solomon's sin:
His first act was one of extreme folly. It looked more like the cruel tyranny of an eastern ruler than the wisdom that should have marked the son of Solomon. That folly was the immediate cause of the revolt of the ten tribes. But the folly itself was the fruit of Solomon's sin.
Another notes that Chronicles keeps the spotlight on the son.
Here the Word leaves out Solomon's sins at the end of his career. It even leaves out their consequences… It presents Jeroboam's rise to the throne and the division of the kingdom as the result of Rehoboam's sin, not his father's. In the same way, Ahijah's prophecy to Jeroboam comes true, not because Solomon sinned, but because Rehoboam "did not listen to the people."
Rehoboam refused the request, and the split that followed outlasted every king who came after.
There were two great tribes, Ephraim and Judah, and Ephraim had shown a spirit of rivalry and jealousy more than once. God allowed that old rivalry to reappear. The splendour of the reigns of David and Solomon had held it down, but had not put it out. Rehoboam's folly brought it to the surface, as bitter as in the old days… never to depart until the true and wise King comes, who will unite in His own Person the power of the Ruler and the privileges and glory belonging to the birthright.
- The ask — the tribes offered service in return for relief. Writers call the request fair. One adds that nothing in the record proves the yoke was as heavy as they claimed.
- The cost — Solomon's subjects paid for the glory of his kingdom. The grander the reign, the heavier the load underneath it.
- The contrast — a yoke made heavy was once light. Christ's yoke stays easy and His burden light.
- The cause — commentators differ. Some trace the split back to Solomon's sin. Chronicles lays it at Rehoboam's door.
- The consequence — a refused request opened a split in Israel. No later king healed it. Only the true and wise King will close it.
And he said to them, Come again to me after three days. And the people departed.
Three days stand between the people's demand for a lighter yoke and the answer that split the kingdom. Those days gave Rehoboam time to think, time to take advice, and time to seek God.
Asking for three days was not the mistake.
This was certainly a reasonable request. At the time Rehoboam wisely asked them to come back in three days for an answer. It was right that he should discuss this suggestion with his council.
The older men pressed one thing on him: kindness. One writer links their advice to what the New Testament asks of believers toward one another.
The old men, rich in experience, advise Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10:7). Does this not turn our thoughts to Romans 15:1-4? In the first verse of that passage we have the "kindness" that bears "the infirmities of the weak" instead of laying heavy yokes on them. In verses 2 and 3 we have the pleasing of one another for "good to edification" instead of pleasing ourselves. And in verse 4 we have the "good words" of Scripture for our comfort and hope.
He also called in the men his own age. One writer shows why their answer was no second opinion at all.
Rehoboam turns away from wise counsel to follow the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him. They could only mirror and reflect their master's thoughts. If he had stood before his father himself and listened to the wise proverbs he spoke, he could have passed some of that wisdom on to others. He would have known what was fitting for a king. He would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Prov. 15:1); that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18)... But no, those who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. The counsel of the young men in the end is simply that of his own heart.
Another writer weighs what this son inherited from his father, and what he did not.
Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, does not inherit his father's wisdom, but instead whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. For Rehoboam took counsel not with the men of experience who might have helped his youth, but with the young men who only urged on his rashness.
Three days of asking men produced a decision that cost him ten of the twelve tribes. Scripture's own verdict points to something deeper than bad advisers.
It is said of King Rehoboam, "And his mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite. And he did evil, for he did not set his heart to seek the LORD" (2 Chr. 12:13-14). He refused the advice of the old men of wisdom and took the counsel of the foolish young men. He answered like a blind fool with a mad heart, and lost ten tribes out of twelve.
The story does not end with one man's foolishness. One writer warns that judging the split by Rehoboam's blunder alone misses what God was doing.
People of that day, looking at the bare facts of the case, might have concluded that the division was wholly owing to the folly of Rehoboam... But however reasonable such arguments might appear to the natural mind, they would have been false. It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the King, and the mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the King. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart, and behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
Two truths stand together: the king was guilty, and God was at work.
- Pause. Sending the people away for three days was wise. What they asked was fair, and a new king was right to take counsel.
- Counsel. The older men offered the one thing that would have held the kingdom: kindness and good words to the people.
- Mirror. His friends' advice only mirrored his own thoughts. Flattery won because pride was already in charge.
- Root. The real failure was not a bad meeting but an unprepared heart. He did not set his heart to seek the LORD, and folly followed.
- Government. His folly was the immediate cause of the split. Yet God had spoken judgment long before. The feeble hand of the king moved under the mighty hand of God.
And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, How do ye advise to return answer to this people?
The people have just asked Solomon's son to lighten the burden his father laid on them, and he buys himself three days before answering. His first move looks right: he turns to the men who had served in his father's court and asks them how to reply.
The wording of the verse marks these advisers out by where they had stood. One writer notes what that closeness gave them, and what Rehoboam missed:
Rehoboam consults the old men who had stood before Solomon to drink at the source of wisdom… If only he had stood before his father himself and heard the wise proverbs that fell from his lips! Then he could have passed on some of this wisdom to others. He would have known what suits a king. He would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Prov. 15:1); that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18), and many other precepts.
Their value was not just their age. They had watched this people for years, and they could see that the request was not outrageous:
From long experience they knew the mood of the people well. In asking for their burdens to be lightened, the people were only doing what any people not reduced to slavery might have asked. Suppose the newly crowned king had granted their reasonable request, and been "kind to them," and "pleased" them, and spoken "good words" to them. Then, as those old counsellors said, they would have been his loyal subjects forever.
One writer ties their answer to the way Christians are told to treat each other. He works from an older translation, which reads "be kind to this people":
The old men are rich in experience. They tell Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10:7). Does this not carry our thoughts to Romans 15:1-4? In the first verse of that passage we have the "kindness" that bears "the failings of the weak" instead of putting heavy yokes on them. In verses 2 and 3 we have pleasing one another for "good, to build him up," instead of pleasing ourselves. In verse 4 we have the "good words" of Scripture for our comfort and hope.
Rossier adds that their counsel matches what Jesus told His disciples: "let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves" (Luke 22:26).
The verse records a good question. What follows shows that asking and heeding are two different things.
Rehoboam the king, Solomon's son, does not inherit his father's wisdom. He inherits whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. He did not take advice from the men of experience who might have helped his youth. He took it from the young men, who only urged him on in his rashness.
The young men had grown up with him and stood before him, so they could only mirror his own thinking. The ones who flattered his pride won his approval. Their advice was in the end nothing but the advice of his own heart. The same trap waits for anyone who asks around:
A wise man distrusts himself and listens to advice. He does not cheat God and his conscience by asking advice from the weak and easy-going. He asks the godly.
The three-day consultation ends in a rough answer and a split kingdom. Yet the account does not end with Rehoboam's folly.
It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart, and behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
- Stand first. The old men were worth hearing because they had stood before Solomon. Rehoboam had not, so he had no wisdom of his own.
- Ask well. Their advice was to be good to the people, please them, and speak good words. That is bearing with the weak instead of loading them with yokes.
- Choose honestly. A wise man distrusts himself and does not hunt for the easy-going adviser. The young men only mirrored the king's own heart.
- Flattery costs. Pride fed by courtiers produced a rough answer, and the rough answer cost him ten tribes.
- God governs. Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause. But God's word of judgment had already gone out, and the low state of the people lay behind His discipline.
And they spoke to him saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever.
Rehoboam has just inherited his father Solomon's throne, and the people meet him with one request: lighten the load. The older men who had served Solomon give him an answer that costs nothing and could win him everything. What follows turns on whether he takes it.
The advice has three parts. One writer finds each part again in the way Christians are to treat one another. He follows an older translation, which reads "be kind" where the ESV has "be good."
The old men, who are rich in experience, advise Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10:7). Does this not carry our thoughts to Romans 15:1–4? In the first verse of that passage we have the "kindness" that bears with "the failings of the weak" instead of putting heavy yokes on them. In verses 2 and 3 we have pleasing one another for "his good, to build him up," instead of pleasing ourselves. And in verse 4 we have the "good words" of Scripture for our comfort and hope.
The parallel account in Kings puts the same counsel more sharply: the king is to be a servant to the people. One writer hears in it the very principle Jesus laid down for His followers.
Rehoboam consults the old men who had stood before Solomon and drunk at the very source of wisdom. Their counsel is the counsel Jesus gave His disciples: "let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves" (Luke 22:26)… Rehoboam turns away from wise counsel and follows the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him (v. 8). So they could only be the mirror and reflection of their master's thoughts.
The young men did not lead Rehoboam astray. They only echoed what was already in him.
Not every writer treats the elders' words as the highest answer. One calls them good policy that still fell short of the best ground a king could have taken.
It was not the noblest ground it is true. It was not the ground that would have left him in both liberty and responsibility… that ought to have been his ground if he meant to be a servant of Jehovah. He would then have served Jehovah by watching over the best interests of Jehovah's people. But they spoke according to their own measure: "If you will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever." It was prudence, it was good policy. I could not say there was faith in it but there was good policy in it, as far as that went.
So commentators differ over how high this counsel reached. It was wisdom worth following. Yet it aimed at keeping a kingdom, not at serving God.
The people asked for relief, not rebellion. The elders had lived through those years, so they knew the mood of the nation.
He might have calmed the discontent caused by his father's forced labor… if he had wisely and humbly taken the advice of the old men who had been his father's honored counselors. Long experience had taught them the mood of the people well. In asking for lighter burdens, the people were only asking what any people who had not been reduced to slavery or serfdom might ask. And if the newly crowned king had granted their reasonable demands, and been "kind to them," and "pleased" them, and spoken "good words" to them, they would have been his loyal subjects for ever — just as those old counselors said.
The young men's advice looked strong and firm. That was its appeal.
That is the spiritual advice of the old men. The counsel of nature, given by the "young men," is very different. They advise Rehoboam to take a course that nature admires: he is to take a strong line and to keep up his authority and the majesty of the kingdom. Sadly, Rehoboam follows the advice of nature. He takes an overbearing and unreasonable attitude, and he threatens the protesters with violent and extreme punishment.
- Kindness offered. Three things cost Rehoboam nothing: be good to the people, please them, speak good words. It is the same pattern as bearing with the weak, building others up, and comforting with the good words of Scripture.
- Kindness is service. The counsel asked the king to serve his people, matching the Lord's rule that the leader is the one who serves.
- Kindness wins. Serve them once, said the elders, and they are yours for ever. What they asked was reasonable. Granting it would have kept them loyal for life.
- Kindness refused. Rehoboam chose the counsel of nature, which looked like strength and majesty. His young advisers were only a mirror of his own thoughts.
- Kindness lost. He refused the elders and threatened the people instead. So he lost the lasting loyalty they had promised him.
But he forsook the advice of the old men which they had given him, and consulted with the young men, who had grown up with him, that stood before him.
Rehoboam has just inherited his father's throne. The northern tribes ask him to lighten the burden Solomon laid on them, and the advice he takes will split the kingdom in two.
The tragedy of the verse is not that Rehoboam lacked good advice. He had it, heard it, and set it aside for the voices of his own age group.
In 2 Chronicles 10 we find what, sadly, is in all human types — failure. Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, does not inherit his father's wisdom. He inherits whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. He took counsel not with the men of experience who might have helped his youth, but with the young men who only urged on his rashness.
The old men had told him that if he would serve the people and speak good words to them, they would be his servants forever. One writer notes where those men had learned it, and how closely their advice matches what Jesus later told His followers — that the greatest should become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.
Rehoboam consults with the old men who had stood before Solomon and drunk wisdom at its source. Their counsel is the counsel of Jesus to His disciples: "let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves" (Luke 22:26). The old men say, "If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever" (1 Kings 12:7). Rehoboam abandons the counsel of wisdom to follow that of the young men who had grown up with him, and who stood before him.
Why did the second group persuade him so easily? Because they had been formed by him. The same writer traces the failure back a generation: a son who had never sat and listened to his father could pass nothing on.
They could only mirror and reflect their master's own thoughts. Suppose he had stood before his father himself, listening to the wise proverbs that fell from his lips. He could then have passed on some of that wisdom to others. But no. The men who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. The counsel of the young men, in the end, is only the counsel of his own heart.
The advice of the young men was not obviously stupid at the time. It had the ring of firmness, and that is exactly what made it dangerous.
That is the spiritual advice of the old men. The counsel of nature, given by the "young men", is very different. They advise Rehoboam to take a course that nature admires. It looks like taking a strong line, and like keeping up the authority and majesty of the kingdom. Sadly, Rehoboam follows the advice of nature.
The old advisers knew the people well, and they judged their plea to be fair. The men Rehoboam turned to instead had a different instinct.
From long experience these men knew the mood of the people well. In asking for their burdens to be lightened, the people were only doing what any nation not reduced to slavery might have asked. But he abandoned their wise counsel. A handful of inexperienced young court favourites had his ear. Like himself, they thought more of the rights of the king than of his duty to govern righteously. So he answered with as reckless and insolent a speech as was perhaps ever spoken from a throne to a civilised nation.
Judging the division by Rehoboam's folly alone misses the point. His guilt stands, and so does the state of the nation behind it.
It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart, and behind the discipline of God lay the low condition of the people.
So the outcome had been foretold. Did that excuse the men who brought it about?
A prophecy is in no way God's approval of what it predicts. Prophecy takes in the most horrible acts that the proud, corrupt, or murderous will of man has ever done.
The verse warns the young, but one writer — himself old — refuses to let the old use it as a weapon.
Young men should never despise the counsel of the aged, and the aged should never discourage the zeal of the young. Let us help one another to a better understanding of the will of the Lord.
- Offered. Wisdom was within reach. Experienced men told Rehoboam to serve the people and speak good words, and they would be loyal for life.
- Refused. He walked past it, choosing men who had grown up with him and could only echo what he already thought.
- Flattered. Their advice won because it fed his pride; in the end it was his own heart's counsel coming back to him.
- Mistaken for strength. Nature calls harshness firmness. The course that looked like majesty ruined the kingdom.
- Governed. Behind the king's folly stood God's judgment, announced long before. Yet prophecy never excused the man who fulfilled it.
And he said to them, What advice give ye that we may return answer to this people, who have spoken to me saying, Lighten the yoke which thy father put upon us?
The people have just asked Rehoboam for a lighter yoke, and his father's old advisers have already told him what to say. Here he asks a second group — the friends he grew up with — and their answer will split the nation.
One writer sets the king's choice of advisers at the centre of the failure:
In this chapter we find what, sadly, is in all human types — failure. Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, did not inherit his father's wisdom. He inherited whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. He turned not to the men of experience who might have helped his youth, but to the young men, who only encouraged his rashness.
One writer hears in the elders' advice the same note as Romans 15:
There had been a long history of harsh actions and heavy bondage, and now a portion of the people rise up in protest. How does the leader of the day meet this? The old men, rich in experience, advise Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them." Does this not carry our thoughts to Romans 15:1-4? In the first verse of that passage we have the "kindness" that bears "the failings of the weak" instead of putting heavy yokes on them. In verses 2 and 3 we have pleasing one another for "good, to build him up," instead of pleasing ourselves. In verse 4 we have the "good words" of Scripture for our comfort and hope.
One writer says the young men could only give back what Rehoboam already thought:
Rehoboam forsakes the counsel of wisdom to follow that of the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. They could be nothing other than the mirror and reflection of their master's thoughts... But no, those who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. The counsel of the young men is, in the end, only the counsel of his own heart. Pride goes hand in hand with despising one's neighbour. This lowly people counts for nothing in the eyes of a king who exalts himself.
The yoke was the forced labour Solomon had imposed, and the older men knew the people's complaint was fair:
He might have quieted the discontent caused by his father's forced labour, if he had wisely and humbly listened to the aged men who had been his father's honoured advisers. They, from long experience, knew the temper of the people well. In asking for lighter burdens, the people were only doing what any people not reduced to slavery might have asked... But he forsook their wise counsel. A handful of inexperienced beginners and young court favourites swayed him. Like himself, they thought more of the rights of the king than of his responsibility to govern righteously. So he replied with a speech as rash and insolent as perhaps any ever spoken from a throne to a civilised nation.
One writer calls Rehoboam's folly the immediate cause, but not the whole story:
People of that day, looking only at the bare facts, might have thought that the division was entirely due to the folly of Rehoboam... Such arguments might seem reasonable to the natural mind, but they would have been false. It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart. Behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
One writer traces the split back to Solomon, and on to the King who will heal it:
Solomon in his later years made Israel's yoke heavy; he punished them with whips. But Rehoboam's foolish decision brought their discontent to a head, and the sleeping jealousy between the tribes now blazes out with fresh bitterness... A prophet had told Jeroboam that he would rule over the ten tribes. This man is the appointed executor of God's judgment. A breach is made in Israel, and only the coming of the true and wise King to the throne will heal it.
- Counsel given. The elders told him to be good to the people and speak good words to them — kindness, not heavy yokes.
- Counsel re-sought. He had a clear answer, and he asked again. He wanted a different reply, not guidance.
- Counsel mirrored. The young men only mirrored their master. Their advice was his own heart flattering his pride.
- Counsel misjudged. He and his friends thought more about a king's rights than about his duty to rule justly.
- Counsel overruled. His folly was the immediate cause. But God's word of judgment had already gone out, and the breach waits for the true and wise King.
And the young men that had grown up with him spoke to him saying, Thus shalt thou say to the people who have spoken to thee saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, and lighten thou it for us, -- thus shalt thou say to them My little [finger] is thicker than my father's loins;
Israel has asked Rehoboam for a lighter yoke. He turns to two very different groups for an answer. The older men advise kindness. His own generation hands him a boast about his little finger, and the words he chooses here split the kingdom for good.
The men Rehoboam turned to had grown up beside him and stood in his court. One writer points out that such men could only mirror him. He traces the boast of this verse back to the king's own heart, and names the wisdom Rehoboam never learned.
Rehoboam turns away from the counsel of wisdom and follows the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. They could only be the mirror and reflection of their master's thoughts. Had he stood before his father and heard the wise proverbs that fell from his lips, he could have passed some of that wisdom on to others. He would have known what suits a king. He would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Proverbs 15:1), and that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). But no — the men who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. In the end, the counsel of the young men is only the counsel of his own heart. Pride goes hand in hand with despising one's neighbour. This lowly people counts for nothing in the eyes of a king who exalts himself. Great Solomon, his father, even seems small next to his own greatness.
Solomon was famous for wisdom, but wisdom is not passed down with a throne. The contrast between father and son is the point of the chapter.
Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, does not inherit his father's wisdom. He inherits whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. For Rehoboam took counsel not with the men of experience who might have helped his youth, but with the young men who only urged him on in his rashness.
One commentator gives the older men's advice a mixed verdict.
It was not the noblest ground, it is true… But they said, according to their measure, "If you will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants for ever." It was prudence, it was good policy. I could not say there was faith in it, but there was good policy in it, as far as that went.
Another writer calls the old men's counsel spiritual. Commentators differ, then, on how high it reached.
Why did the young men's answer sound so attractive? Because it flattered the instinct to look firm.
Such is the spiritual advice of the old men. The counsel of nature, given by the "young men", is very different. They advise Rehoboam to take a course that nature finds admirable: taking a strong line, and keeping up the authority and majesty of the kingdom. Alas, Rehoboam follows the advice of nature. He takes an overbearing and unreasonable attitude, and threatens the protesters with violent and extreme discipline. The people meet the king's violence with violence of their own. They stone the king's officer, and the division is complete.
It would be easy to read the split as nothing more than one young man's arrogance. The same writer warns against stopping there.
It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart. Behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
Rehoboam misread the people, and the boast did not last.
Rehoboam found it hard to believe that the ten tribes had truly refused his yoke. He no doubt flattered himself that they would not dare to rebel against his authority… The king had boasted so proudly that his "little finger" would be "thicker than his father's thighs." Now, to his shame, he hurried to get into his chariot and flee to Jerusalem.
- Pride asks. Rehoboam consulted men who only mirrored his own thoughts. Their counsel was the counsel of his own heart.
- Pride flatters. The boast about the little finger measured him against Solomon. Even his great father seemed small next to him.
- Pride sounds strong. A hard line looks like authority, but it is the counsel of nature, not of wisdom.
- Pride divides. The king's violence drew out the people's violence, and the kingdom split in two.
- Pride is not the whole story. Behind the king's feeble hand was the mighty hand of God in discipline. Behind that was the low condition of the people.
and whereas my father laid a heavy yoke upon you, *I* will add to your yoke my father chastised you with whips, but *I* [will chastise you] with scorpions.
A nation asked its new king to lighten its load, and Rehoboam's young advisers handed him a slogan instead: he would add to the yoke and swap his father's whips for scorpions. Why did a son of Solomon show so little of Solomon's wisdom?
Before the young men spoke, the older advisers had offered another way. One writer links their counsel to the kindness that bears with weakness:
For years the people had suffered harsh actions and heavy oppression, and now part of the people rise up in protest. How does the leader of the day meet this? The old men, who are rich in experience, advise Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be good to this people and please them and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10:7). Does this not turn our thoughts to Romans 15:1-4? In the first verse of that passage we see the kindness that bears with "the failings of the weak" instead of putting heavy yokes on them.
The young men did not give Rehoboam a new idea. They gave him back his own.
Rehoboam turns away from the counsel of wisdom to follow the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him (v. 8). So they could be nothing but the mirror and reflection of their master's thoughts. If he had stood before his father and heard the wise proverbs that fell from his lips, he could have passed some of that wisdom on to others... he would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Prov. 15:1); that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18)... But no, the men who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. In the end, the counsel of the young men is only the counsel of his own heart.
Threatening scorpions looked like firm leadership. One writer calls it the advice of nature, and follows where it led.
They advise Rehoboam to take a course that looks very commendable to nature. It seems to take a strong line and to keep up the authority and majesty of the kingdom. Sadly, Rehoboam follows the advice of nature. He takes an overbearing and unreasonable attitude, and he threatens the protesters with violent and extreme punishment (1 Kings 12:12-15). The people answer the king's violence with violence of their own. They stone the king's officer, and the division is complete (1 Kings 12:16-19).
Even by his father's standards the words went too far:
Though Solomon had been demanding, he was wiser than to speak in this cruel way to the people. But Rehoboam did not have the wisdom of his father. He and the young men ought to have realized they could not get away with such arrogant treatment of the people.
Rehoboam did not invent the heavy yoke. One writer traces the crisis back to Solomon's sin and to the household Rehoboam grew up in.
Surrounded by such a crowd of foreign wives, is it any wonder that Rehoboam turns out to be a foolish son?... His first act was an act of extreme folly. It looked more like the cruel rule of a tyrant than the wisdom that should have marked the son of Solomon. This folly was the immediate cause and occasion of the revolt of the ten tribes, but it was the consequence and fruit of Solomon's sin... In his later years Solomon made Israel's yoke heavy and disciplined them with whips, but Rehoboam's foolish decision brought their discontent to a head.
Scripture says the turn of events came from God (v. 15). That does not move the blame off anyone who acted.
"So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD, that He might fulfill His word, which He spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam." Did that excuse Jeroboam? This is a very important principle, and you will find it again and again in the word of God. A prophecy is in no way approval of what it predicts. Prophecy takes in the most terrible acts the proud, corrupt, or murderous will of man has ever done.
Israel's leaders wanted a strong king. One writer sets this verse beside the words of another son of David.
The man they wanted was a strong, proud king — a kind of superman!... The leaders could hardly be unaware that He was the direct descendant of David and the heir to Israel's throne. But He spoke in the very opposite way to another of David's sons, who said, "whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke." Now they heard Christ saying, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light!"
- Yoke of pride. The advisers Rehoboam chose only echoed his own thoughts. Flattery won his ear, and the scorpion threat was his own pride spoken aloud.
- Yoke added. The people asked him to lighten the load. He promised to increase it, and called cruelty strong leadership.
- Yoke refused. Harsh words drew a harsh answer. The people stoned the king's officer, and the kingdom split.
- Yoke inherited. The folly grew out of Solomon's sin. One rash speech brought years of discontent to a head.
- Yoke reversed. God had foretold the division, yet prophecy excuses no one. David's greater Son offers a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light.
And Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed saying, Come again to me on the third day.
Rehoboam had told the people to come back in three days, and now they are back. Jeroboam and the whole nation stand before the new king to hear how he will rule, and behind his answer stands a word God had already spoken.
A long build-up of grievance had come to a head, and it met Rehoboam at the very start of his reign.
1 Kings 12 and 2 Chronicles 10 give the history. King Solomon dies and his son Rehoboam comes to the throne. At once a crisis arises. For years the people had faced harsh treatment and heavy bondage, and now some of them rise up in protest. How does the leader of the day meet this? The old men, who are rich in experience, advise Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10:7).
The verse names Jeroboam first, and that name carries a history. He came back to the king already knowing what a prophet had said about him.
"So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day." He was in the plot. He knew the prophecy well, and now he had a chance to take advantage of it… "For the cause was from the LORD, that He might fulfil His word, which the LORD spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat." Did that excuse Jeroboam? This is a very important principle, and you will find it all through the word of God. A prophecy is in no way an approval of what is predicted.
Their complaint about the yoke was not rebellion for its own sake, and a generous reply would have won them for life.
The old men who had been his father's honoured counsellors knew the temper of the people well from long experience. In asking for lighter burdens, the people were only doing what any people not reduced to slavery might have asked. Suppose the new king had granted their reasonable demands. Suppose he had been "kind to them," and "pleased" them, and spoken "good words" to them. Then, as those old counsellors said, they would have been his loyal subjects forever.
One writer sets the yoke the people complained about against the yoke of Christ.
These men complain to the king about the yoke his father had put on them: "Your father made our yoke grievous." The words show that it had not always been so. Christ's yoke will never be grievous on His people. To His own He will always remain the same as they have known Him in the day of suffering and of grace: "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Rehoboam spent the three days taking advice, but he preferred the advisers who echoed him back to himself.
Rehoboam turns from the counsel of wisdom to follow that of the young men who had grown up with him and who stood before him (v. 8). They could only be the mirror and reflection of their master's own thoughts… But no, those who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. In the end, the counsel of the young men is only the counsel of his own heart.
The kingdom broke apart through the king's own folly, yet God had already spoken of it.
The history of Rehoboam shows us the swift fall of the royal power which God had established. The king's folly brought it about, but it was only the fulfilment of the Lord's word through Ahijah.
The split that began on this third day never closed. One writer points to where the healing comes.
Rehoboam's foolish resolve brought their discontent to a head, and the tribal jealousy that had been sleeping now bursts into flame… A prophet had told Jeroboam that he would rule over them. This man is the one appointed to carry out God's judgment. A split opens in Israel, and only the true and wise King will heal it when He comes and sits on the throne.
- The appointment — the three-day pause was a real chance to answer well. Kindness then would have won loyal subjects forever.
- The assembly — Jeroboam comes back at the head of the people, knowing the prophecy about himself. A prophecy is never God's approval of the act that fulfils it.
- The answer — his chosen advisers mirrored his own thoughts back to him, so the counsel he took was his own pride.
- The division — the king's folly caused the break. It also fulfilled the word God spoke through Ahijah.
- The healing — the heavy yoke of a foolish king points us to the King whose yoke is easy. The split waits for Him to take the throne.
And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the advice of the old men,
Rehoboam is newly king, and the nation has waited three days for his reply to one fair plea: lighten the load your father laid on us. His answer decides the fate of the kingdom, and it raises two questions: why did he speak this way, and why did God let it stand?
The trouble was not that Rehoboam lacked advisers. He had two sets, and he took the wrong one.
Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, does not inherit his father's wisdom. He inherits whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. He did not take advice from the men of experience who might have helped his youth. He took it from the young men, who only urged on his rashness.
His harsh answer was not a slip of temper. The young men only handed back to him what was already in his heart.
If he had stood before his father himself, listening to the wise proverbs that fell from his lips, he could have passed on some of this wisdom to others. He would have known what suits a king. He would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Prov. 15:1). He would have known too that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18), and many other precepts. But no, those who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. The counsel of the young men is, in the end, only the counsel of his own heart. Pride goes hand in hand with looking down on your neighbour. This lowly people counts for nothing in the eyes of a king who exalts himself.
One writer hears in the old men's advice the same note the New Testament strikes for anyone who leads God's people.
The old men, who are rich in experience, tell Rehoboam that all will be well if he will "be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them" (2 Chron. 10:7). Does this not carry our thoughts to Romans 15:1-4? In the first verse of that passage we have the "kindness" that bears "the weaknesses of the weak" instead of putting heavy yokes upon them. In verses 2 and 3 we have pleasing one another for "good, to build him up," instead of pleasing ourselves. In verse 4 we have the "good words" of Scripture for our comfort and hope.
The same writer names what replaced it. The other advice looked strong and responsible.
Such is the spiritual advice of the old men; the counsel of nature, as given by the "young men," is very different. They advise Rehoboam to take a course that looks very commendable to nature — take a strong line, and keep up authority and the majesty of the kingdom. Sadly, Rehoboam follows the advice of nature. He takes a proud and unreasonable stand. He threatens the protesters with violent and extreme discipline. The people answer the king's violence with their own violence. They stone the king's officer, and the result is division.
Commentators agree that this speech triggered the split. But they trace the crack further back. One points to Solomon's sin, another to the state of the people.
This folly was the immediate cause and occasion of the revolt of the ten tribes. Yet it was also the consequence and fruit of Solomon's sin, and the beginning of the public display of divine wrath. In his later years Solomon made Israel's yoke heavy and disciplined them with whips. But Rehoboam's foolish decision brought their discontent to a head.
It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart, and behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
God's hand was behind the king's harsh words. Does that excuse the men who acted? One writer answers directly.
A prophecy in no way approves what it predicts. Prophecy takes in the most terrible acts that the proud, corrupt, or murderous will of man has ever done.
- Word. The people asked for kind words. One harsh reply cost Rehoboam ten tribes.
- Heart. The word only voiced what was already inside; the flatterers he chose were the mirror of his own pride.
- Root. The harsh word broke a kingdom already cracked — by Solomon's sin and by the low state of the people.
- Hand. Behind the king's weak hand was God's mighty hand in discipline, carrying out a judgment spoken long before.
- Blame. God's purpose behind an act never makes the act right. Prophecy foretells evil; it never approves it.
and spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but *I* will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but *I* [will chastise you] with scorpions.
Rehoboam had just heard two opposite pieces of advice about the people's plea for a lighter burden. This verse gives his answer — a heavier load and a harsher punishment — and that one speech broke up the kingdom of Israel.
Rehoboam asked two sets of advisers. One writer explains why the second set could tell him nothing new.
The young men could not be anything other than the mirror and reflection of their master's thoughts. Suppose he had stood before his father himself, listening to the wise proverbs that fell from his lips. Then he could have passed on some of this wisdom to others. He would have known what suits a king. He would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Prov. 15:1), and that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18), along with many other teachings. But no, those who flatter his pride are the ones who win his approval. The counsel of the young men is in the end only the counsel of his own heart. Pride goes hand in hand with despising one's neighbour; this lowly people counts for nothing in the eyes of a king who exalts himself.
The problem was not a lack of wise voices at court.
Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, did not inherit his father's wisdom, but whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. He took counsel not with the experienced men who might have helped his youth. He turned to the young men, who only pushed him on in his rashness.
Another writer weighs the reply against Solomon's own record.
Though Solomon had been demanding, he was wiser than to speak in this cruel way to the people. Rehoboam and the young men ought to have realized they could not get away with such arrogant treatment of the people.
The older men had advised something quite different. One writer sets their counsel beside the Lord's words to His disciples.
Rehoboam consults with the old men who had stood before Solomon to drink at the source of wisdom. Their counsel is that of Jesus to His disciples: "let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves" (Luke 22:26).
This speech was not a single accident. One writer traces its root back to Solomon.
His first act was one of extreme folly, more like the cruel despotism of an eastern tyrant than the wisdom that should have marked the son of Solomon. This folly was the immediate cause of the revolt of the ten tribes. But it is also the fruit of Solomon's sin, and the beginning of the public display of divine wrath. Solomon in his later years made Israel's yoke heavy; he disciplined them with whips. Rehoboam's foolish decision brought their discontent to a head. The tribal jealousy that had been quietly burning now blazes out with greater force.
Commentators then face a further question: did God's hand in these events excuse the men who acted?
Did that excuse Jeroboam? A prophecy is in no way a sanction of the act it predicts. Prophecy takes in the most terrible acts that have ever been done by the proud, corrupt, or murderous will of man.
Another writer holds both sides together.
Certainly it was not pleasing to God that Rehoboam should answer the people in the cruel way he did, but God was sovereignly working for His own glory.
The word "yoke" comes back later, in the mouth of another descendant of David.
He spoke in quite the opposite way to another of David's sons, who said: "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to it." Now they heard Christ saying, "my yoke is easy, and my burden is light!" Why was His yoke easy? The answer lies in Himself.
- Yoke asked — The people asked for a lighter load, and the older advisers pointed the king to the place of a servant.
- Yoke doubled — Rehoboam picked advisers who echoed his own heart. Pride, not policy, chose his words.
- Yoke inherited — The harshness did not begin with him; it was the fruit of Solomon's sin coming into the open.
- Yoke broken — The kingdom split, and God carried out His purpose. Yet foretelling an act never excuses the one who does it.
- Yoke easy — A later Son of David reverses the sentence, and the reason lies in who He Himself is.
So the king hearkened not to the people; for it was brought about by God, that Jehovah might give effect to his word, which he spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
Rehoboam's harsh answer to the people cost him ten tribes. Yet the verse traces the whole turn of events to God, who was making good a word spoken earlier through the prophet Ahijah.
If God brought this about, what was Rehoboam guilty of? The verse gives a second cause behind the one everybody saw. Judge the split by the king's folly alone and you have the facts right and the reason wrong.
It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart, and behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
The verse says God brought the turn of events about. It does not say He approved the king's cruelty.
But we know that God in His great wisdom was directing matters this way to carry out the truth of His word to Jeroboam (v.15). Certainly it was not pleasing to God that Rehoboam should answer the people in the cruel way he did, but God, as sovereign, was working for His own glory.
Jeroboam knew what Ahijah had said. Knowing it did not excuse him.
Did that excuse Jeroboam? This is a very important principle that you will find constantly in the word of God. A prophecy is in no way a sanction of what is predicted. Prophecy takes in the most abominable acts that have ever been done by the proud, corrupt, or murderous will of man.
What the prophecy did give him was nerve. It confirmed the ambition already sitting in his heart.
Still, to a crafty and ambitious man like Jeroboam, the prophecy gave him the hint, and it gave him confidence to go on according to what was in his own heart.
reason: "returned exile" is an unsupported claim; explains "Shilonite"; removes passive and hard sentences
This explains how it was that ten tribes so suddenly shook off allegiance to the house of David, as with one mind. A runaway servant no sooner blows his trumpet than they follow him. It was the judgment of the Lord, pronounced in Solomon's day, carried out in the days of his son. "But I will take the kingdom out of his son's [Rehoboam's] hand and will give it to you [Jeroboam], even ten tribes" (1 Kings 11:35).
A division does not create the rot; it shows it. Writers here apply that beyond Israel.
Though the folly of Rehoboam brought on the break, God was behind it. He was exposing the disunity that already existed in Israel. God often exposes the same evil in the church of God — evil that people try to cover up, but which in the end causes public divisions. This is to our shame, but God is perfectly righteous to show any condition for what it really is.
Rehoboam's next thought was to fight and pull the tribes back. This verse is why he had to drop it: the split was God's act, not just his own blunder.
Under the government of God this division of the kingdom was the punishment of the sins of Solomon (1 Kings 11:33), brought on by the folly of Rehoboam. It must therefore stand. To fight, then, to bring back the unity of the nation — good as the purpose might seem — was to fight against God. Rehoboam ought to have been thankful that God's love to David had left him even two tribes.
- Cause: Rehoboam's rough words were the immediate cause of the split. God's hand in discipline worked behind the king's.
- Word: God announced this judgment through Ahijah in Solomon's lifetime and carried it out in his son's. That is why ten tribes fell away at once.
- Responsibility: A prophecy approves nothing. It told Jeroboam what would happen, and he acted on the ambition already in his heart.
- Exposure: God used the break to bring an existing disunity into the open. Writers see the same pattern among Christians.
- Submission: The division came from God. To undo it by force, however good the aim looked, was to fight God.
And all Israel saw that the king hearkened not to them; and the people answered the king saying, What portion have we in David? and [we have] no inheritance in the son of Jesse every man to your tents, O Israel. Now see to thine own house, David! And all Israel went to their tents.
The revolt recorded here begins with a slogan, not a sword. Ten tribes disown the family God had set on the throne and walk away. The words sound sudden. But commentators trace them back through years of jealousy, and to a seed sown long before.
The tribes did not invent this cry. Almost the same words had been shouted in David's own reign. One writer traces the line from that day to this:
David, God's anointed, held Judah and Israel together in practical oneness. They shared alike in the blessings secured in him for the nation. But even in his days the divisive spirit showed itself in "a worthless man." He blew the trumpet and said, "We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!" (2 Samuel 20:1). The seed was sown that day. Though the evil work was stopped there and then, it bore its bad fruit long after.
One writer sets the cry in a longer chain of failure — David's, then Solomon's, then Rehoboam's:
David's sin, and his son's wicked conduct, brought upheavals in the kingdom. In the same way, Solomon departed from God and oppressed His people. So at his death the people found occasion to make demands on the new king coming to his father's throne. His insolent and foolish answer brings about the crisis in which the unthankful and heartless cry is heard, "What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Each of you to your tents, O Israel!" Ephraim, led by Jeroboam — an Ephraimite — then takes leadership of the ten tribes that have revolted from the house of David. A new kingdom is formed, and every one of its nineteen kings turns away from the LORD.
Rehoboam's harsh answer triggered the walkout. Yet Scripture also traces the turn of events to God. One writer points to the speed and the unity of the break:
"This thing is done of me." This explains how ten tribes, as with one mind, threw off allegiance to the house of David so suddenly. As soon as a runaway servant blows his trumpet, they follow him. It was the judgment of the Lord, announced in Solomon's day and carried out in the days of his son.
Another writer looks deeper than Rehoboam for the cause:
Here then we discover the root of division in Israel. May we not also say it is the root of all divisions among the people of God? First, worldliness left unjudged, which robs the people of true devotedness. Second, disobedience to the Word of God.
Ephraim's grudge against Judah went back much further:
There were two great tribes, Ephraim and Judah. More than once Ephraim showed a spirit of rivalry and jealousy, even if Judah did not. God allowed this old rivalry to reappear. The splendour of the reigns of David and Solomon had held it down, but had not put it out. Rehoboam's folly brought it back to the surface, as bitter as in former times.
One writer says this break still waits for Christ to mend it:
The king's reply was harsh. No wonder the people rebelled at once, saying, "What portion have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse" (v. 16). So they declared their immediate separation from Judah. That separation has never been repaired. It never will be until the Lord Jesus returns to Israel at the end of their Great Tribulation.
The same writer finds the contradiction repeated among Christians:
In the counsels of God, Israel is one nation that cannot be divided. But in practice the nation has been completely inconsistent with God's plan for her. Sadly the same has been true in the history of the Church of God on earth. Though there is only "one body" (Ephesians 4:4), yet in practical testimony there are many bodies of professing Christians, which is a shameful contradiction of our perfect unity "in Christ."
- Seed. A worthless man first raised this cry in David's day. It was stopped then, but the seed bore fruit long after.
- Root. Division grew from worldliness that was never judged, and from disobedience to God's Word.
- Occasion. Rehoboam's harsh reply set it off. But the speed and unity of the break show the Lord carrying out the sentence He announced in Solomon's day.
- Surface. Royal splendour had covered Ephraim's jealousy of Judah, not killed it. Rehoboam's folly let it out again.
- Cure. Only Christ's return will heal Israel's split. The same contradiction shames believers who are one body in Him yet act as many.
But as for the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
The ten tribes have just walked out on David's house. This short verse records all that was left to Solomon's son, and it raises two questions: why did God leave him anything, and what was he to do with it?
Rehoboam now ruled far less than his father had. One commentator calls this small kingdom a mercy, and points to one thing it had that the bigger kingdom never did.
What mercy! "a light always." The kingdom was much reduced — reduced in size and in glory. But there was one very marked difference between it and the ten tribes, the much larger part that went to the other king. They would shift their loads from time to time. Their ruling family changed again and again, and one man after another rose up. If it began with a rebellious servant, it would not end with him. Many a rebellious servant would rise up against the king of Israel, so the ruling family would change over and over again. Not so with Judah. God calls it only one tribe, to state their utter loss of glory in the strongest possible way. Still, there the light shall be always.
The verse still calls Rehoboam's subjects "the people of Israel," though the ten tribes had left. One writer asks why the old national name sticks to the smaller group.
Why does it say here, "all Israel with him," when the ten tribes had abandoned the law and the temple and followed Jeroboam's priests? May it not be that Judah bears the name Israel because it stayed true to David's house, and so far stood on covenant ground? The ten tribes had abandoned that house, and in a moral sense they were no longer Israel. The name here covers only the two tribes that clung to the house of David and to the temple.
Rehoboam wanted to win the other tribes back by force. A prophet stopped him and gave him God's reason.
He has to learn, and all Israel with him, that despite the division the ten tribes are still their "brothers," and they are not to "go up nor fight against" them. Shemaiah, the man of God, also tells Rehoboam why they must stop. It is because God says, "This thing is done by Me." God had rebuked Solomon for his worldliness and disobedience to the Word of God, and said to him, "Since this has been done by you … I will tear the kingdom from you." Now that the blow has fallen, God can say to Rehoboam, "This thing is done by Me." To seek to undo the evil of Solomon may be right. To ignore the governmental acts of God is certainly wrong.
With war ruled out, one task remained for the king. It looked hopeless, since the evil inside his kingdom was already past repair.
From then on Rehoboam's only task was to build a system of defence against the enemies outside. These enemies were his own people, and they had once been under his rule. Rehoboam surrounds the territory of Judah and Benjamin with fortresses. His only duty was to preserve what was left to him. But how could he do so when evil was already inside the kingdom and tearing it apart? Yet evil beyond repair did not lessen his responsibility to guard the people.
One writer traces Judah's survival past Rehoboam altogether. The glory had gone, but God's purpose had not.
Now for a season Israel's glory is gone. Satan had succeeded in causing it to depart, but could not annul God's purpose concerning Christ. So God preserves Judah and sends prophets, if they have ears to hear. Ephraim rebelled against David's house; Judah rejected Christ, the greater Son of David.
The split itself has never been healed.
So the ten tribes declared their immediate separation from Judah. That separation has never been repaired, and it never will be until the Lord Jesus returns to Israel at the end of their Great Tribulation.
- Cause — God's word to Rehoboam was, "This thing is done by Me." Undoing Solomon's evil may be right; ignoring God's own dealings is wrong.
- Gift — What remained was small, but its light never went out. The larger kingdom changed ruling families again and again.
- Name — Those who stayed true to David's house and the temple keep the name Israel. Loyalty marked covenant ground, not numbers.
- Duty — A smaller sphere still carries full duty. Rehoboam had to defend and preserve what was left, even though the damage could not be undone.
- Reason — God kept Judah because His purpose in Christ could not be cancelled. The division itself waits for His return to be healed.
And king Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the levy; but the children of Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. And king Rehoboam hastened to mount his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.
Rehoboam's harsh answer had already sent ten tribes home in revolt, and this verse records his one attempt to hold them. Two questions follow: why the crowd killed the officer and not the king, and why the king ended the day in flight.
This officer had held the same post under three kings. He ran the very burden the people had just refused. Scripture gives his name in more than one form.
Chief officer over the tribute in the days of Solomon. He lost his life at the division of the kingdom. 2 Chr. 10:18. Apparently the same as ADORAM in 2 Sam. 20:24, and ADONIRAM in 1 Kings 4:6.
Rehoboam sent this man because he did not believe the revolt would last. One writer traces the whole scene, from that confidence to the king's shameful flight.
Rehoboam found it hard to believe that the ten tribes had really refused his yoke. He flattered himself, no doubt, that they would not dare to rebel against his authority. Surely, he might think, these country people would submit quickly and quietly to his punishment with scorpions. So he confidently sent to them Hadoram to collect the imposed assessment. This unwise act brings matters to a crisis. The angry people stone the old chief tax collector, who had held this office under his father Solomon and his grandfather David. The king had boasted proudly that his "little finger" would be "thicker than his father's waist." Now he shamefully hurried to mount his chariot and flee to Jerusalem.
Another writer names what finally changed the king's mind.
Then Rehoboam realized the rebels were not merely bluffing, and he quickly drove in his chariot to Jerusalem (v. 18), so that he would not suffer the same fate as his servant.
The king had answered protest with threats of violence. His officer paid for that, and so did the kingdom.
The violence of the King is met by the violence of the people who stone the King's officer, and, as a result, division is completed.
The stoning brought the split into the open, but it did not create it. The rebellious spirit was already there, and the seed had been sown earlier.
But this only became the open occasion for the rebellion to show itself. "The people of Israel stoned him to death with stones." … And that rebellion was never healed. Sadly we will find greater evils than this. But here the bitter fruits of wrong were beginning to show, and the man who had sown the wind must reap the whirlwind.
It is easy to blame the whole split on one bad decision. One writer says that view misses what God was doing.
Rehoboam's folly was indeed the immediate cause of the division. But the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the King. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the King. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart. Behind the discipline of God lay the low condition of the people.
No later ruler healed the split. One writer sees God's hand even in Jeroboam, the man who led the ten tribes away, and points to the only King who can heal it.
Jeroboam is the man appointed to carry out God's judgment. A split opens in Israel that will only be healed when the true and wise King comes and sits on the throne.
- Pride. Rehoboam's boast about his little finger set the tone. The same swagger made him sure the ten tribes would never dare to leave.
- Provocation. He sent his officer over the forced labor to collect taxes from a people who had just walked out. That act brought matters to a crisis.
- Price. An official who had served since David's day paid with his life. The crowd answered the king's violence with violence of their own.
- Panic. The king who threatened scorpions ran for his chariot, afraid of dying like his servant.
- Promise. This one blunder was the occasion, not the cause. God's word of judgment had gone out earlier. The split it opened waits for the true and wise King to heal.