2 Chronicles · chapter 10 of 36
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2 Chronicles 10 tells how Rehoboam goes to Shechem to be made king, and the people, with Jeroboam, ask him to lighten the heavy yoke Solomon placed on them. Rehoboam rejects the elders' counsel, follows that of the young men and answers harshly. Ten tribes rebel, stone his taskmaster Hadoram and Rehoboam flees to Jerusalem, so the kingdom is left divided.
With Solomon's death, the period of unity in the kingdom of Israel ends. From here the chronicler follows the story of the kings of Judah, descendants of David, and does not dwell on the details of the northern kingdom. Chapter 10 shows how a poor decision by a young king, advised by his friends, opens the division that will mark the rest of the history.
Rehoboam goes to Shechem because all Israel had gathered there to make him king. Jeroboam, son of Nebat, who had fled to Egypt for fear of Solomon, returns. The people and Jeroboam ask Rehoboam to lighten the hard yoke and heavy burden Solomon had placed on them, and promise to serve him. Rehoboam tells them to come back in three days.
He first consults the elders who had served Solomon. They advise him to be kind to the people and speak good words to them, and they will serve him always. Rehoboam rejects that counsel and consults the young men he had grown up with, who tell him to answer harshly: that his little finger will be thicker than his father's thighs, that his father disciplined them with whips and he will with scorpions.
On the third day, Rehoboam answers the people roughly and follows the young men's advice. The chronicler notes that this was a turn from God, to fulfill the word he had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam. When the people see that the king will not listen to them, they answer that they have no portion in David and no inheritance in the son of Jesse, and go back to their tents. Rehoboam sends Hadoram, who was in charge of forced labor, but the people stone him and he dies. The king mounts his chariot and flees to Jerusalem. Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The elders advise Rehoboam to be kind, to please the people and speak good words to them, and they will be his servants forever. It is the counsel of humility and service, and it is the one the king rejects.
The king answers roughly and follows the young men's advice, announcing a heavier yoke. Pride and a refusal to listen are the human cause of the break.
The chronicler notes that the turn came from God, to fulfill what was said through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam. Rehoboam's decision is his own responsibility, but God works even through poor human decisions.
The people declare that they have no portion in David and no inheritance in the son of Jesse, and they leave. With those words they reject the house of David, and the division between north and south begins.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Because all Israel had gathered there to make him king. — 2 Chronicles 10:1
Answer: That he lighten the hard yoke and heavy burden Solomon had placed on them. — 2 Chronicles 10:3-4
Answer: To be kind to the people and speak good words to them, and they would be his servants forever. — 2 Chronicles 10:6-7
Answer: To answer harshly and tell the people that his yoke would be heavier. — 2 Chronicles 10:8-11
Answer: It was a turn from God to fulfill the word spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite. — 2 Chronicles 10:15
Answer: The people stoned Hadoram and he died, and Rehoboam mounted his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. — 2 Chronicles 10:18
The chapter is a warning for anyone with authority in the family, the church or the workplace. Rehoboam had the seasoned counsel of the elders at hand, but he preferred that of those who told him what he wanted to hear. In a Sunday school class we can ask whom we listen to and whether around us there are people free to tell us what we do not want to hear.
It also shows that Christian leadership is service. The elders told Rehoboam that if he served the people, they would serve him always. Jesus taught something similar: whoever wants to be great among you must be servant of all. A boss, a pastor or a parent who serves gains loyalty; one who imposes loses it.
2 Chronicles 10 ends with a divided kingdom and a king fleeing to Jerusalem. In 2 Chronicles 11 Rehoboam gathers an army to recover the northern tribes, but a prophet stops him in the name of the Lord.
The immediate cause was Rehoboam's harsh answer to the people's request. The chronicler adds that God allowed that turn to fulfill what he had told Jeroboam through the prophet Ahijah, as told in 1 Kings 11. Behind it were also Solomon's sins and the burden of building projects and taxes.
It is a figure of speech meaning that Rehoboam would be harsher than Solomon. What the young men advise is boasting of greater strength to intimidate the people. The example of whips and scorpions speaks of even worse punishments.
He was a man of the tribe of Ephraim, a servant of Solomon, to whom the prophet Ahijah had announced that he would reign over ten tribes. He fled to Egypt for fear of Solomon and returned after his death. Later the text will present him as the first king of the northern kingdom.