Rebellion against Rehoboam
(2 Chronicles 10:1–15)
Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. 2Ch 10:1-19Jdg 9:61Ki 11:43Gen 12:6Gen 33:18-19Jdg 9:1Jos 20:7Jos 24:1 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about this, he was still 1in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since. 1Ki 11:401Ki 11:26-312Ch 10:2-3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel came to Rehoboam and said, “Your father put a heavy yoke on us. But now you should lighten the burden of your father’s service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.” 1Sa 8:11-181Ki 4:7Mat 11:29-301Ki 4:20-252Ch 10:4-5Mat 23:41Jn 5:31Ki 9:15
Rehoboam answered, “Go away for three days and then return to me.” So the people departed. 1Ki 12:12
Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked. Job 12:12Job 32:71Ki 4:22Sa 16:202Sa 17:5Jer 42:2-5Jer 43:2Pro 27:10
They replied, “If you will be a servant to these people and serve them this day, and if you will respond by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.” Pro 15:11Ki 12:132Ch 10:6-72Sa 15:3-6Ecc 10:4Mrk 10:43-44Php 2:7-11Zec 1:13
But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders; instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him. Pro 19:202Ch 10:82Ch 25:15-16Ecc 10:2-3Pro 1:2-5Pro 1:25Pro 1:30Pro 25:12 He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to these people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?” 1Ki 22:6-82Ch 10:92Ch 18:5-72Sa 17:5-6
The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is how you should answer these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you should make it lighter.’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! 2Ch 10:10-112Sa 17:7-13Isa 47:6Pro 10:14Pro 18:6-7Pro 28:25Pro 29:23 Whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.’” 1Ki 12:141Sa 8:182Ch 16:10Exo 1:13-14Exo 5:18Exo 5:5-9Ezk 2:6Isa 58:6
After three days, Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, since the king had said, “Come back to me on the third day.” 1Ki 12:52Ch 10:12-14 And the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the elders Ecc 10:12Jas 3:17Pro 10:11Pro 10:32Pro 13:20Pro 18:231Ki 20:6-111Sa 20:10 and spoke to them as the young men had advised, saying, “Whereas my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.” 1Ki 12:10-11Exo 5:16-18Exo 5:5-92Ch 22:4-5Dan 6:7Ecc 7:8Est 1:16-21Est 2:2-4
So the king did not listen to the people, and indeed this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill the word He had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite. 1Ki 11:29-381Ki 12:242Ch 25:20Deu 2:30Jdg 14:41Ki 11:112Ch 10:152Ch 22:7
The Kingdom Divided
(2 Chronicles 10:16–19)
When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: 2Sa 20:11Ki 22:171Ki 22:362Ch 10:16Jer 23:5-6Jer 33:15-16Jer 33:211Ki 11:13
“What portion do we have in David,
and what inheritance in the son of Jesse?
To your tents, O Israel!
Look now to your own house, O David!”
So the Israelites went home, but Rehoboam still reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah. 1Ki 11:131Ki 11:362Ch 10:172Ch 11:13-17
Then King Rehoboam sent out Adoram, 2 who was in charge of the forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. And King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste and escaped to Jerusalem. 1Ki 4:61Ki 5:142Sa 20:24Act 7:57-581Ki 20:18-202Ch 10:182Ch 24:21Act 5:26 So to this day Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David. 2Ki 17:212Ch 10:191Sa 10:192Ch 13:172Ch 13:5-7Heb 6:6Isa 7:17Jos 4:9
Shemaiah’s Prophecy
(2 Chronicles 11:1–4)
When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David. 1Ki 11:131Ki 11:321Ki 11:361Ki 12:171Sa 10:24Hos 8:4Hos 11:12
And when Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—180,000 chosen warriors—to fight against the house of Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. 2Ch 11:1-31Ch 21:52Ch 14:112Ch 14:82Ch 17:14-19Pro 21:30-31
But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: 2Ch 11:21Ki 13:11Ki 13:111Ki 13:4-51Ki 17:181Ki 17:241Ti 6:112Ch 12:5-7 “Tell Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people 1Ki 12:17 that this is what the LORD says: ‘You are not to go up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you must return home, for this word is from Me.’” 1Ki 11:29-381Ki 12:152Ch 11:42Ch 25:7-8Num 14:422Ch 25:10Hos 8:42Ch 28:9-15
So they listened to the word of the LORD and turned back according to the word of the LORD.
Jeroboam’s Idolatry
Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And from there he went out and built Penuel. 3 Jdg 8:17Jdg 8:8Gen 32:30-31Jdg 9:45-491Ki 12:11Ki 15:171Ki 16:241Ki 9:15
Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom might revert to the house of David. 1Ki 11:381Sa 27:12Ch 20:20Act 4:16-17Isa 7:9Jer 38:18-21Jhn 11:47-50Jhn 12:10-11 If these people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, their hearts will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah; then they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” Deu 12:14Deu 12:5-7Deu 16:6Pro 29:251Co 1:19-201Ki 11:321Ki 8:29-301Ki 8:44
After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, 4 “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” Exo 32:42Ki 10:292Ki 17:16Exo 32:82Ch 11:15Hos 8:4-71Ki 12:8-92Pe 2:19
One calf he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. Gen 28:19Jdg 18:27-312Ki 10:29Amo 8:14Deu 34:1Gen 12:8Gen 14:14Gen 35:1 And this thing became a sin; the people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves. 5 2Ki 17:211Ki 13:342Ki 10:31
Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites. 1Ki 13:32-332Ch 13:92Ki 17:322Ch 11:14-15Num 3:101Ki 13:24Deu 24:15Ezk 16:25 And Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, 6 like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up, and he installed priests in Bethel for the high places he had set up. 1Ki 8:21Ki 8:5Amo 7:10-13Num 29:12-40Ezk 43:8Lev 23:33-44Mat 15:8-9
On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel. So he ordained a feast for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense. 1Ki 13:1Num 15:391Sa 13:122Ch 26:6Isa 29:13Mat 15:6Mrk 7:13Psa 106:39