Who is King Rehoboam in the Bible?

Quick facts

Father: King Solomon, 2Ch 9:31
Mother: Naamah, 2Ch 12:13
Predecessor: King Solomon, 2Ch 9:31
Succession: 1st king
Length of reign: 17 years, 2Ch 12:13
Successor: King Abijah, 2Ch 12:16
Age at death: 41years, 2Ch 12:13
Kingdom: Kingdom of Judah
Reign: 932 BC – 915 BC  
Age when he died: 58 years, 2Ch 12:13
Morality: evil king, 2Ch 12:1
Biblical history: 2Ch 10, 11, 12; 1Ki 14:21-31

Rehoboam’s background

Rehoboam was the son and successor of King Solomon, the man reckoned as one of the wisest to ever walk this earth. Yet all of Solomon’s wisdom was not enough to make him adhere to the commandment of God concerning marriage, for he breached God’s commandment to marry many women from idolatrous nations. King Rehoboam was the fruit of the union between Solomon and Naamah, an Ammonitess. Since the Israeli system of inheritance was patrilineal, Rehoboam was recognized as an Israelite. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for 17 years in Jerusalem, the city of God. However, he was no good king because he practiced idolatry.

King Rehoboam took 18 wives and 60 concubines and fathered 28 sons and 60 daughters. Three of his wives were his relatives; they were Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse, and Maacah the daughter of Absalom the son of David. Some of his sons were – Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham – Abihail’s sons; and Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith – sons of Maacah.

The ten tribes rebel to divide the Kingdom

The events that would mar the reign of King Rehoboam began during the reign of King Solomon. One of Solomon’s officials called Jeroboam, inspired by Ahijah’s prophecy, rebelled against Solomon in an attempt to usurp the throne. Unsuccessful, he ran away to Egypt, where he remained for some time awaiting his opportunity.

After the death of King Solomon, Rehoboam went to Shechem, where they would enthrone him as king of all Israel. When Jeroboam heard Rehoboam was going to be enthroned, he returned from Egypt to Israel. At Shechem, Jeroboam led the people to ask a favor of Rehoboam that he should reduce the heavy tax burden his father King Solomon put on them. Rehoboam told them to return in three days for his reply.

Then Rehoboam sought the advice of the old men who were Solomon’s advisors. And they advised him to grant the people their request, for by so doing, they would be loyal to him forever. However, Rehoboam threw off their advice. Rather, he conferred with his friends and age mates who gave him bad advice. On the third day, Jeroboam and the people came to Rehoboam for the answer to their request. And Rehoboam, according to the advice of his friends, answered them harshly saying,

“My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”

By this answer, Rehoboam denied the people’s request. Right from there, ten tribes of Israel rebelled against him, became independent, and took Jeroboam as their king. These ten tribes became one kingdom which the Bible still referred to as Israel (The Northern Kingdom).

However, Rehoboam reigned over two tribes, Judah and Benjamin: the Bible referred to this kingdom as Judah (The Southern Kingdom).  The division of the kingdom was the fulfillment of the word of Prophet Ahijah.

Rehoboam’s attempt to war against Jeroboam

When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he raised an army of 180,000 out of Judah and Benjamin, to fight against Israel, to restore the kingdom to himself. But Prophet Shemaiah, sent by God, came to tell Rehoboam that they should not go to war against the ten tribes because it was the Lord who had caused the kingdom to split in two. So they listened to God’s word and did not go to war against Jeroboam.

Priests and Levites come to Jerusalem

Jeroboam the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel forsook the Lord and founded the religion of the golden calves. Moreover, he forsook the priests, the descendants of Aaron, and he ordained ordinary people as priests for his new religion’s places of worship such as the high places and the shrine of the golden calves.

Therefore the priests of God, the sons of Aaron, who were living among the ten tribes of Israel came to Judah and Jerusalem to serve as priests there because Jeroboam denied them from serving as priests of the Lord in the Northern Kingdom. Apart from the priests, other people whose hearts sought the true God of Israel still used Jerusalem as their place of worship and as the place for all their religious activities. The worship of the one true God in Jerusalem brought a large influx of people from the northern kingdom to strengthen the kingdom of Judah and secure the reign of King Rehoboam.

Egypt invades the Kingdom of Judah

After three years of serving God, when King Rehoboam saw that his reign was well-established, he forsook the Lord and led the kingdom into apostasy. In the 5th year of King Rehoboam’s reign, because of their unfaithfulness to the Lord, Shishak king of Egypt invaded the Kingdom of Judah with a large army which included 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. Shishak’s army was vast, comprising Libyans, Sukkiims, and Ethiopians.

Shishak’s army took the fortified cities of Judah including Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the Temple of Solomon and the treasures of the king’s palace. He also took away the shields of gold that Solomon had made, and King Rehoboam made in their place shields of bronze and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house.

God sent his prophet Shemaiah to rebuke King Rehoboam and his officials that it was their apostasy that had brought the Egyptian invasion upon them. King Rehoboam and his officials humbled themselves and accepted their faults and because of that God relented from destroying his kingdom by the hand of Shishak and delivered them. However, God caused Shishak to reduce King Rehoboam to a vassal king and the kingdom of Judah to a vassal kingdom.

Notable contemporaries of Rehoboam

  • King Jeroboam, who became the king of the ten northern tribes, was an enemy of Rehoboam.
  • Shishak, king of Egypt, invaded Judah and made Rehoboam a vassal king.
  • Prophet Shemaiah was the prophet through whom God spoke to Rehoboam.

Achievements of Rehoboam

  • He fortified the cities of Judah and Benjamin such as Etam, Tekoa, Beth-zur, Soco, Adullam, Gath, Mareshah, Ziph, Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah, Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron.
  • He put army commanders in the cities he fortified.
  • He also built stores of food, oil, and wine in the cities he fortified. (2 Chronicles 11:5-12)

Rehoboam’s successor

King Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and concubines. And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah as crown prince so that he would succeed him. He acted wisely, dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities of his kingdom. He gave them abundant provisions and got many wives for them. (2 Chronicles 11:18-23). When King Rehoboam died, Abijah his son reigned in his place.

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