"Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king." (1 Kings 12:1, 2 Chronicles 10:1) Why did he go up to Shechem to be anointed king? Shechem was centrally located within the northern tribes of Israel, about thirty-five miles from Jerusalem. Why was Rehoboam's coronation ceremony not held in the capital city, which lay within Rehoboam's own tribe of Judah? Based on my background study, it appears that many Bible scholars believe the northern tribes did not automatically want to accept Rehoboam as king. Being Solomon's son didn't mean they naturally saw him as Solomon's successor. While it's true the Lord promised David that the crown would follow his family line, this doesn't necessarily mean that the people of the northern tribes knew or believed that the Lord had spoken this word to David through the prophet Nathan. If the people of the northern tribes were resistant to automatically having Rehoboam declared king, this would explain why Rehoboam had to go up to Shechem to meet with the leaders and elders to gain their endorsement.
One thing we can be certain of, based on the text we'll be studying today, is that the people of the northern territories were sick and tired of high taxes and of having their young able-bodied men conscripted into working on ambitious building projects. The first thing they'll do is ask Rehoboam what he's going to do about what they consider to be (and what probably is) an unreasonable and oppressive way of running the country and building its infrastructure.
We are about to meet back up with a man named Jeroboam from Ephraim who rebelled against Solomon in Chapter 11 after working for him as manager on some of the king's construction projects. The Bible did not explain how and why he rebelled but a number of commentators feel it was because Jeroboam observed labor practices he found unfair and offensive, perhaps because Solomon began pressing Israelites into hard labor after initially conscripting them to only to be overseers and project managers. Earlier in the book of 1 Kings we were told that Solomon conscripted into hard labor the conquered foreigners who had been made subject to Israel. But Solomon may have needed an ever-growing labor force as time went on and he may have begun forcing his own people to do the backbreaking work of cutting and hauling and laying stone, of cutting trees and delivering them to jobsites, or of performing the very menial tasks of carrying water and food and tools to the workers. If Solomon did indeed begin making his own people do such work, we can see why Jeroboam would not want to be an overseer over them, and this may be why he rebelled against Solomon at some point after being promoted to such a job.
Solomon was so wealthy that he could have afforded to pay his foreign allies to send him large bands of captives to work as laborers in his kingdom, which was not unheard of in ancient times, but some Bible scholars think he spent too much money maintaining his 1,000 wives. He was no doubt keeping them in lavish accommodations: providing servants for them, loading them down with fine gifts and the best of clothing and jewels, building altars for their gods, and supplying the offerings they brought to their gods. This might have caused him to run short of money that could have been used to "rent" laborers from his allies when he didn't have enough slaves and foreign subjects of his own to do the work.
Word reaches Jeroboam that Solomon is dead and that Rehoboam is ruling somewhat tenuously in his place. "When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.'" (1 Kings 12:2-4, 2 Chronicles 10:2-4) Jeroboam was told by the prophet Ahijah in Chapter 11 that he would become king over ten tribes of Israel. This prophecy may have been well known, likely because he made it well known, which may be why Solomon sought to kill him in Chapter 11, resulting in Jeroboam's flight to Egypt. The leaders and elders of the northern tribes call for Jeroboam and they go in a group to see Rehoboam in Jerusalem to place their demands before him. If he will accede to their demands, he can reign over a united Israel just as Solomon and David did. But if he will not give them relief, they have selected their own candidate for king and are prepared to secede from the union and place this man over the ten northern tribes.
Does Jeroboam suspect Rehoboam will not agree? Does he think this is his opportunity to rise to power? On thing I think we can be sure of is that he believes the message the prophet gave him. If he did not, I don't think he would have made the prophecy known and I do believe he made the prophecy known since the top officials of the northern territories call for him to go with them to see the king. Jeroboam feels certain that at some point in time---if not now, then later---he will reign over the ten northern tribes, leaving Rehoboam king only over Judah, Benjamin, and Levi combined (Levi because the priests serve at the temple in Jerusalem).
Rehoboam wants some time to think about their demands and to consult with his advisers. "Rehoboam answered, 'Go away for three days and then come back.' So the people went away." (1 Kings 12:5, 2 Chronicles 10:5) Was Rehoboam caught off guard by the appearance of this delegation and the news of the people's unhappiness with his father's tax and labor policies? Did he not realize how unhappy the people were with these policies? Did he grow up in so much wealth and privilege that he never took the time to notice or care how these policies were affecting everyone? If not for his close relations to the people of Judah and Benjamin, they too might have been protesting against the policies his father put in place. They too might have been looking for a different candidate for king.
Rehoboam begins by doing the right thing: speaking with the men of experience who served his father well. "Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. 'How would you advise me to answer these people?' he asked. They replied, 'If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants.'" (1 Kings 12:6-7, 2 Chronicles 10:6-7) If he had followed their advice, I believe he could have reigned over a united Israel. It would have been far easier for the ten northern tribes to have accepted him as king than to secede and form their own kingdom under Jeroboam. In their hearts they may even have preferred to have a man of the family line of David on the throne since they know David was a king chosen by the Lord.
But Rehoboam doesn't follow the wise advice of the elders. The Lord knew this situation was going to come up and He knew what Rehoboam was going to do. This is why He was able to tell Solomon that ten of the tribes would be torn from his successor's hand. This is why He was able to send a prophet to prepare Jeroboam to become king of the northern tribes. Rehoboam rejects the advise of the elders because what they urged him to do isn't what he wants to do. He now asks counsel of rash young men his own age, men who will tell him what he wants to hear. "But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. He asked them, 'What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?" (1 Kings 12:8-9, 2 Chronicles 10:8-9)
Rehoboam has hired a bunch of his buddies as his palace staff. These are the guys who played kickball and tag with him when they were kids. These are the guys he ran around with and got into mischief with when they were all teenagers. These are the guys he partied with in his twenties. These are not the guys to be asking for wise advice. If only Rehoboam, like Solomon, had prayed to the Lord for wisdom to rule the nation! Or if he didn't want to submit to the Lord, at the very least he should have respected the counsel of the men Solomon had always trusted. But instead he consults these "frat boys", to use a modern term, because he knows they think just like he does. He knows their advice will line up with what he wanted to do in the first place. "The young men who had grown up with him replied, 'These people have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.' Now tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.'" (1 Kings 12:10-11, 2 Chronicles 10:10-11)
These young men say something like: "You've got to take a hard line against these people, old pal. They think they can get away with asking for their burden to be lightened because you're a new, inexperienced king. They're trying to take advantage of you and you can't agree to lower taxes or conscript fewer men without looking weak. If you give them an inch they'll take a mile! What you've got to do is say to them, 'If you think my father was tough, wait till you see what I'm capable of. If you think times were hard during his administration, just wait till you see how hard times get with me on the throne. You ain't seen nothing yet!'"
Perhaps these men expected to profit by a successful raising of taxes. They probably thought Rehoboam would reward them for their advice. Not only will their advice backfire on them, it will backfire on the king himself. We will find him losing a united kingdom almost as quickly as he received the kingdom.
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