"Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his name. His mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite." (1 Kings 14:21) We learn here that Rehoboam will only live to be fifty-eight years old. His father Solomon is estimated to have lived only to the age of fifty-eight to sixty, in comparison to David's age of seventy at death. David's longer life may be attributed in part to his faithfulness to God and also to more physical activity (he was a warrior until late in his life when his reaction time in battle became a bit too slow for safety in 2 Samuel 21) and perhaps less indulgence in rich foods and wines.
Solomon loved foreign women and Rehoboam's mother was one of them: an Ammonite. We've already learned that Solomon did nothing to discourage his foreign wives from continuing to worship false gods; sadly, he encouraged their continuing worship of false gods by building pagan altars to please the foreign women he loved. Growing up in a household with a father who worshiped the one true God but dabbled in idolatry, and with a mother who likely worshiped the gods of the Ammonites, must have contributed to Rehoboam's casual attitude toward the God of Israel. Though his chief wives are Israelite women and not foreign idolaters, as we'll learn momentarily, he will not cling in faith to the God of his grandfather David but will drift into apostasy, as will many people of his kingdom.
"Rehoboam married Mahalath, who was the daughter of David's son Jerimoth and of Abihail, the daughter of Jesse's son Eliab. She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham." (2 Chronicles 11:18-19) Rehoboam, as many ancient kings did, marries back into the royal family to strengthen his claim and his descendants' claims to the throne. His first wife is his cousin.
His second wife, who will become his favorite wife, is also his cousin. "Then he married Maakah daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith. Rehoboam loved Maakah daughter of Absalom more than any of his other wives and concubines. In all, he had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters." (2 Chronicles 11:20-21) Rehoboam doesn't take as many wives as his father did. He may have wanted to but finances are a hindrance. Because he is ruling over a divided kingdom, he is only able to tax only two tribes of Israel instead of all twelve as Solomon did. I assume he is not receiving tribute from as many foreign tribes and nations as Solomon did either, since he would only be able to control those peoples whom the tribes of Judah and Benjamin had subdued.
"Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maakah as crown prince among his brothers, in order to make him king." (2 Chronicles 11:22) It's interesting to note that both King Rehoboam and King Jeroboam had a son and crown prince named Abijah. In Jeroboam's case, Abijah was his firstborn son. Jeroboam's son passed away in yesterday's text before reaching adulthood. In Rehoboam's case, his son Abijah is almost certainly not his firstborn since he belonged to Rehoboam's second wife. But Rehoboam's second wife was his favorite wife so he chose her firstborn son to be heir to the throne. This Abijah will survive to adulthood and will succeed his father as king of Judah.
Rehoboam's older sons may have felt slighted at not being considered as his primary heir but he did at least deal bountifully with them. He appointed them as leaders throughout the major cities of his kingdom and provided them with every luxury imaginable and with many wives to provide them with many children. "He acted wisely, dispersing some of his sons throughout the districts of Judah and Benjamin, and to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and took many wives for them." (2 Chronicles 11:23) This prestige and wealth may have been intended to help pacify any resentment they felt toward him and toward the crown prince Abijah. Their dispersal throughout the kingdom may have been intended to keep them from forming a rebellion against his chosen crown prince. If all his sons had united together in a conspiracy against his chosen heir, they could have taken Abijah's life---and even Rehoboam's!---and placed his firstborn son (who was probably Jeush) on the throne. Or perhaps they would have warred with each other after removing Abijah from the earth, causing the whole family to fall apart, weakening the nation and exposing it to enemy invaders who would have regarded this as an opportune time to strike.
We were told earlier in our study that after the kingdom split, Rehoboam set to work building up and fortifying the nation of Judah. Rehoboam should have been busy fortifying his heart against idolatry while he was fortifying his nation against enemy attacks. The Lord would have protected him if his heart had been faithful. But because his heart is wayward and because the hearts of the people have grown wayward, the Lord will allow Pharaoh Shishak of Egypt to attack Jerusalem during the fifth year of King Rehoboam's reign. The Lord allows this for the people's own good to correct their waywardness and to cause them to repent and turn back in faith to Him.
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