Rehoboam
   he enlarges the people, the successor of Solomon on the throne,
   and apparently his only son. He was the son of Naamah "the
   Ammonitess," some well-known Ammonitish princess (1 Kings 14:21;
   2 Chr. 12:13). He was forty-one years old when he ascended the
   throne, and he reigned seventeen years (B.C. 975-958). Although
   he was acknowledged at once as the rightful heir to the throne,
   yet there was a strongly-felt desire to modify the character of
   the government. The burden of taxation to which they had been
   subjected during Solomon's reign was very oppressive, and
   therefore the people assembled at Shechem and demanded from the
   king an alleviation of their burdens. He went to meet them at
   Shechem, and heard their demands for relief (1 Kings 12:4).
   After three days, having consulted with a younger generation of
   courtiers that had grown up around him, instead of following the
   advice of elders, he answered the people haughtily (6-15). "The
   king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the
   Lord" (comp. 11:31). This brought matters speedily to a crisis.
   The terrible cry was heard (comp. 2 Sam. 20:1):
   
     "What portion have we in David?
   
     Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse:
   
     To your tents, O Israel:
   
     Now see to thine own house, David" (1 Kings 12:16).
   And now at once the kingdom was rent in twain. Rehoboam was
   appalled, and tried concessions, but it was too late (18). The
   tribe of Judah, Rehoboam's own tribe, alone remained faithful to
   him. Benjamin was reckoned along with Judah, and these two
   tribes formed the southern kingdom, with Jerusalem as its
   capital; while the northern ten tribes formed themselves into a
   separate kingdom, choosing Jeroboam as their king. Rehoboam
   tried to win back the revolted ten tribes by making war against
   them, but he was prevented by the prophet Shemaiah (21-24; 2
   Chr. 11:1-4) from fulfilling his purpose. (See JEROBOAM.)
   
     In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, Shishak (q.v.), one of
   the kings of Egypt of the Assyrian dynasty, stirred up, no
   doubt, by Jeroboam his son-in-law, made war against him.
   Jerusalem submitted to the invader, who plundered the temple and
   virtually reduced the kingdom to the position of a vassal of
   Egypt (1 Kings 14:25, 26; 2 Chr. 12:5-9). A remarkable memorial
   of this invasion has been discovered at Karnac, in Upper Egypt,
   in certain sculptures on the walls of a small temple there.
   These sculptures represent the king, Shishak, holding in his
   hand a train of prisoners and other figures, with the names of
   the captured towns of Judah, the towns which Rehoboam had
   fortified (2 Chr. 11:5-12).
   
     The kingdom of Judah, under Rehoboam, sank more and more in
   moral and spiritual decay. "There was war between Rehoboam and
   Jeroboam all their days." At length, in the fifty-eighth year of
   his age, Rehoboam "slept with his fathers, and was buried with
   his fathers in the city of David" (1 Kings 14:31). He was
   succeeded by his son Abijah. (See EGYPT.)

	

	Rehoboam, who sets the people at liberty