Rehoboam (; , , ; , ; ) was, according to the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

after the split of the united Kingdom of Israel. He was a son of and the successor to

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

and a grandson of

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

. In the account of I Kings and II Chronicles, Rehoboam saw his rule limited to only the Kingdom of Judah in the south following a rebellion by the ten northern tribes of Israel in 932/931 BCE, which led to the formation of the independent Kingdom of Israel under the rule of

Jeroboam Jeroboam I (; Hebrew language, Hebrew: ''Yārŏḇʿām''; ), frequently cited Jeroboam son of Nebat, was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Kingdom of Israel following a Jeroboam's Revol ...

in the north. Extrabiblical evidence for Judah’s stability under Rehoboam is limited, with indications that the biblical accounts of Rehoboam and Jeroboam may be retrojections.

Background

According to the '' Jewish Encyclopedia'', "Solomon's wisdom and power were not sufficient to prevent the rebellion of several of his border cities.

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

under Rezon secured its independence romSolomon; and Jeroboam, a superintendent of works, his ambition stirred by the words of the prophet Ahijah, fled to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Thus, before the death of Solomon, the apparently unified kingdom of David began to disintegrate. With Damascus independent and a powerful man of Ephraim, the most prominent of the Ten Tribes, awaiting his opportunity, the future of Solomon's kingdom became dubious".Rehoboam
. ''Jewish Encyclopedia''. 1906. According to First Book of Kings 11:1–13, Solomon had broken the mandate of the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

by marrying foreign wives and being influenced by them, worshipping and building shrines to the

Moab Moab () was an ancient Levant, Levantine kingdom whose territory is today located in southern Jordan. The land is mountainous and lies alongside much of the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. The existence of the Kingdom of Moab is attested to by ...

ite and

Ammon Ammon (; Ammonite language, Ammonite: 𐤏𐤌𐤍 ''ʻAmān''; '; ) was an ancient Semitic languages, Semitic-speaking kingdom occupying the east of the Jordan River, between the torrent valleys of Wadi Mujib, Arnon and Jabbok, in present-d ...

ite gods: Rehoboam's mother, Naamah, was an Ammonitess, and thus one of the foreign wives whom Solomon married. In the Revised Version she is referred to as "the Ammonitess".

Reign

Accession to the throne

Conventional biblical chronology dates the start of Rehoboam's reign to the mid-10th century BC. His reign is described in 1 Kings 12 and 1 Kings 14:21–31 and in 2 Chronicles in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' 3 Kings in the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

) when he ascended the throne. The divided kingdom

The ten northern tribes assembled at Shechem to proclaim Rehoboam King of Israel. At the assembly, the tribes requested certain reforms in the policy followed by Rehoboam's father, Solomon. The reforms requested would materially reduce the royal exchequer and hence its power to continue the magnificence of Solomon's court. The older men counselled Rehoboam at least to speak to the people in a civil manner (it is not clear whether they counselled him to accept the demands). However, the new king sought the advice from the young men with which he had grown up, who advised the king to show no weakness to the people, and to tax them even more, which Rehoboam did. Although the ostensible reason was the heavy burden laid upon Israel because of Solomon's great outlay for buildings and for luxury of all kinds, the other reasons include the historical opposition between the north and the south. The two sections had acted independently until David, by his victories, succeeded in uniting all the tribes, though the Ephraimitic jealousy was ever ready to develop into open revolt. Religious considerations were also operative. The building of the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

was a severe blow for the various sanctuaries scattered through the land, and the priests of the high places probably supported the revolt.

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

(Ant., VIII., viii. 3) has the rebels exclaim: "We leave to Rehoboam the Temple his father built." Jeroboam and the people rebelled, with the ten northern tribes breaking away and forming a separate kingdom. The new breakaway kingdom continued to be called Kingdom of Israel and was also known as

Samaria Samaria (), the Hellenized form of the Hebrew name Shomron (), is used as a historical and Hebrew Bible, biblical name for the central region of the Land of Israel. It is bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The region is ...

, or Ephraim or the northern kingdom. The realm Rehoboam was left with was called

Kingdom of Judah The Kingdom of Judah was an Israelites, Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands to the west of the Dead Sea, the kingdom's capital was Jerusalem. It was ruled by the Davidic line for four centuries ...

. During Rehoboam's 17-year reign, he retained

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

as Judah's capital but

Civil war

Rehoboam went to war against the new Kingdom of Israel with a force of 180,000 soldiers. However, he was advised against fighting his brethren and so returned to Jerusalem. The narrative reports that Israel and Judah were in a state of war throughout his 17-year reign.

Egyptian invasion

In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign,

Shishak Shishak, also spelled Shishaq or Susac (, Tiberian: , ), was, according to the Hebrew Bible, an Egyptian pharaoh who sacked Jerusalem in the 10th century BC. He is usually identified with the pharaoh Shoshenq I.Troy Leiland Sagrillo. 2015.Shoshe ...

, king of Egypt, brought a huge army and took many cities. According to Joshua, son of Nadav, the mention in 2 Chronicles 11, 6 sqq., that Rehoboam built fifteen fortified cities, indicates that the attack was not unexpected. The account in Chronicles states that Shishak marched with 1,200 chariots, 60,000 horsemen and troops who came with him from Egypt: Libyans, Sukkites, and Kushites. Shishak's armies captured all of the fortified towns leading to Jerusalem between Gezer and Gibeon. When they laid siege to Jerusalem, Rehoboam gave Shishak all of the treasures out of the temple as a tribute. The Egyptian campaign cut off trade with south Arabia via Elath and the Negev that had been established during Solomon's reign. Judah became a vassal state of Egypt. This invasion is confirmed by records from the Bubastite Portal in

Karnak The Karnak Temple Complex, commonly known as Karnak (), comprises a vast mix of temples, pylons, chapels, and other buildings near Luxor, Egypt. Construction at the complex began during the reign of Senusret I (reigned 1971–1926 BC) in the ...

and another archaeological find.

is generally identified with the Egyptian

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pr ꜥꜣ, pr ꜥꜣ''; Meroitic language, Meroitic: 𐦲𐦤𐦧, ; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') was the title of the monarch of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty of Egypt, First Dynasty ( ...

Shoshenq I, who invaded Judah. One of the most difficult issues in identifying Shishak with Shoshenq I is the biblical statement that "King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He seized the treasures of the Lord's temple and the royal palace", whereas the Bubastite Portal lists do not include Jerusalem or any city from central Judea among the surviving names in the list of Shoshenq's conquests.

Succession

Rehoboam had 18 wives and 60 concubines. They bore him 28 sons and 60 daughters. His wives included his cousin Mahalath, the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and Abihail, the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. His sons with Mahalath were Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham. After Mahalath he married his cousin

Maacah Maacah (or Maakah; ''Maʿăḵā'', "crushed"; Maacha in the Codex Alexandrinus, Maachah in the KJV) is a non-gender-specific personal name used in the Bible to refer to a number of people. *A child of Abraham's brother Nahor, son of Terah, Nacho ...

, daughter (or grand-daughter) of Absalom, David's son. His sons with Maacah were Abijam, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith. The names of his other wives, sons and all his daughters are not given. Rehoboam reigned for 17 years.Geikie, Cunningham. ''Hours with the Bible: From Rehoboam to Hezekiah''
John B. Alden, New York, 1887 When he died, he was buried beside his ancestors in Jerusalem. He was succeeded by his son Abijah.

Historicity

Extrabiblical evidence for a stable monarchy in Judah during Rehoboam’s reign is scarce, with minimal interest from Shoshenq I and little indication of significant political or economic activity in the region. The similar names of Jeroboam and Rehoboam, along with historical inconsistencies and narrative elements, suggest that their biblical portrayal may be a constructed retrojection.

Rabbinic literature

It was difficult to maintain the Messianic claims of the house of David due to that Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon, was born of an Ammonite woman (I Kings, xiv. 21–31); but it was adduced as an illustration of divine Providence which selected the "two doves," Ruth, the Moabite, and Naamah, the Ammonitess, for honourable distinction (B. Ḳ. 38b). Naamah was one of Solomon's wives and mother of Rehoboam (I Kings xiv. 21, 31; II Chron. xii. 13). In the second Greek account (I Kings xii. 24), Naamah is said to have been the daughter of Hanun (Ἄνα), son of Nahash, a king of Ammon (II Sam. x. 1–4). Naamah is praised, in B. Ḳ. 38b, for her righteousness, on account of which Moses had previously been warned by God not to make war upon the Ammonites (comp. Deut. ii. 19), as Naamah was to descend from them. Rehoboam was the son of an Ammonite woman; and when David praised God because it was permissible to marry Ammonites and Moabites, he held the child upon his knees, giving thanks for himself as well as for Rehoboam, since this permission was of advantage to them both (Yeb. 77a). Rehoboam was stricken with a running sore as a punishment for the curse which David had invoked upon Joab (II Sam. iii. 29) when he prayed that Joab's house might forever be afflicted with

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

and running sores (Sanh. 48b). All the treasures which Israel had brought from Egypt were kept until the Egyptian king Shishak (I Kings xiv. 25, 26) took them from Rehoboam (Pes. 119a).Jewish encyclopedia Rehboam
/ref>

In popular culture

Rehoboam is portrayed by Gino Leurini in '' The Queen of Sheba'' (1952) and by

Dexter Fletcher Dexter Fletcher (born 31 January 1966) is an English film director and actor. He has appeared in Guy Ritchie's '' Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'', as well as in television shows such as the comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by th ...

in ''

'' (1997). In Season 3 of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

show

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction dystopia media franchise that began with the Westworld (film), 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild West, Wild-West-th ...

, the artificial intelligence entity dictating the fate of humans through algorithmic analysis is named “Rehoboam”. It is the successor to a prior version called “Solomon” (which was the successor to “David”.) Like the historical Rehoboam, this AI version coincided with the demise of the rule of its line. In the third episode of season 7 of

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

, titled " Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily", where the Flanders' adopt the Simpson children, and perform emergency baptisms after learning the children are unbaptized, Ned Flanders quizzes the Simpson children on their Bible knowledge, during which he references the “Serpent of Rehoboam”.

References

{{Authority control 10th-century BCE kings of Judah Children of Solomon 10th-century BC births 910s BC deaths Jewish royalty Dethroned monarchs