2 chronicles 10 commentary

2 CHRO ICLES 10 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Israel Rebels Against Rehoboam
1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had
gone there to make him king.
CLARKE, "Rehoboam went to Shechem - This chapter is almost word for word
the same as 1 Kings 12:1-19, to the notes on which the reader is referred.
HE RY 1-11, "We may observe here, 1. The wisest and best cannot give every body
content. Solomon enriched and advanced his kingdom, did all (one would think) that
could be done to make then happy and easy; and yet either he was indiscreet in
burdening them with the imposition of taxes and services, or at least there was some
colour of reason to think him so. No man is perfectly wise. It is probable that it was
when Solomon had declined from God and his duty that his wisdom failed him, and God
left him to himself to act in this impolitic manner. Even Solomon's treasures were
exhausted by his love of women; and probably it was to maintain them, and their pride,
luxury, and idolatry, that he burdened his subjects. 2. Turbulent and ungrateful spirits
will find fault with the government, and complain of grievances, when they have very
little reason to do so. Had they not peace in Solomon's time? They were never plundered
by invaders, as formerly, never put in fear by the alarms of war, nor obliged to hazard
their lives in the high places of the field. Had they not plenty - meat enough, and money
enough? What would they more? O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint! - O happy, if
they knew their happy state! And yet they complain that Solomon made their yoke
grievous. If any complain thus of the yoke of Christ, that they might have a pretence to
break his bands in sunder and cast away his cords from them, we are sure that he never
gave them any cause at all for the complaint, whatever Solomon did. His yoke is easy,
and his burden is light. He never made us serve with an offering, nor wearied us with
incense. 3. Many ruin themselves and their interests by trampling upon and provoking
their inferiors. Rehoboam thought that because he was king he might assume as much
authority as his father had done, might have what he would, and do what he would, and
carry all before him. But, though he wore his father's crown, he wanted his father's
brains, and ought to have considered that, being quite a different man from what his
father was, he ought to take other measures. Such a wise man as Solomon may do as we
will, but such a fool as Rehoboam must do as he can. The high-mettled horse may be

kicked and spurred by him that has the art of managing him; but, if an unskilful
horseman do it, it is at his peril. Rehoboam paid dearly for threatening, and talking big,
and thinking to carry matters with a high hand. It was Job's wisdom, as well as his
virtue, that he despised not the cause of his man-servant or maid-servant, when they
argued with him (Job_31:13), but heard them patiently, considered their reasons, and
gave them a soft answer. And a similar tender consideration of those in subjection, and a
forwardness to make them easy, will be the comfort and praise of all in authority, in the
church, in the state, and in families. 4. Moderate counsels are generally wisest and best.
Gentleness will do what violence will not do. Most people love to be accosted mildly.
Rehoboam's old experienced counsellors directed him to this method (v. 7): “Be kind to
this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, and thou art sure of them
for ever.” Good words cost nothing but a little self-denial, and yet they purchase good
things. 5. God often fulfils the counsels of his own wisdom by infatuating men, and
giving them up to the counsels of their own folly. No more needs to be done to ruin men
than to leave them to themselves, and their own pride and passion.
JAMISO , "2Ch_10:1-15. Rehoboam refusing the old men’s good counsel.
Rehoboam went to Shechem — (See on 1Ki_12:1). This chapter is, with a few
verbal alterations, the same as in 1Ki_12:1-19.
K&D, "This event is narrated in our chapter, except in so far as a few unessential
differences in form are concerned, exactly as we have it in 1 Kings 12:1-19; so that we
may refer for the exposition of it to the commentary on 1 Kings 12, where we have both
treated the contents of this chapter, and have also discussed the deeper and more latent
causes of this event, so important in its consequences.
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 10:1. Rehoboam, went to Shechem, &c. — See 1 Kings 12.,
where this chapter is explained, so that little need be added here.
ELLICOTT, "(iii) HISTORY OF THE KI GS WHO REIG ED I JERUSALEM,
FROM REHOBOAM TO THE EXILE (2 Chronicles 10:1-19).
(1) The Revolt of the Ten Tribes. The Reign of Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 10-12.).
(a) The Revolt of the Ten Tribes against the Dynasty of David (2 Chronicles 10:1 to
2 Chronicles 11:4). Comp. the parallel narrative in 1 Kings 12:1-24.
Considered by itself, this section might be pronounced a transcript of 1 Kings 12:1-
24. Such differences as appear in the Hebrew text are mostly unimportant,
consisting of merely verbal modifications and omissions not affecting the general
sense. (See Intro.
Verse 1
(1) To Shechem.—Sh’kémah, with accusative ending; Kings, Sh’kem. “Were come,”
pf. plural; Kings, singular.

COKE, "All Israel intreat Reboboam to lighten the yoke laid upon them by
Solomon. Rehoboam, despising the court of the old men, follows that of the young
ones. Ten tribes separate themselves from him.
Before Christ 975.
REFLECTIO S.—1st, After what has been said on this chapter in 1 Kings 12 we
have only to add, (1.) That men are readier to complain of the least expence which
the wants of government call for, than to acknowledge how much indebted they are
for the mercies and protection that they enjoy. (2.) Young heads are too hot to be
wise counsellors. (3.) A soft answer disarms those whom opposition makes only
more furious.
2nd, The ill effects of Rehoboam's severity appear in the revolt of the ten tribes.
They who drive too furiously overturn themselves. He rejected good advice, and
deserved to be given up to his folly. God's counsel thus was fulfilled, though
Rehoboam had only himself to blame for his lost. It was a mercy that God left him
yet a part of his father's dominions, and that all had not revolted. But God in wrath
still remembers mercy, and does not give us all the chastisements which our
iniquities deserve.
POOLE, "Rehoboam made king. The Israelites by Jeroboam request a relaxation, 2
Chronicles 10:1-5. Rehoboam refusing the old men’s counsel, by the advice of young
men, answereth them roughly, 2 Chronicles 10:6-15. Ten tribes revolting, kill
Hadoram, and make Rehoboam to flee, 2 Chronicles 10:16-19.
The contents of this chapter are in 1Ki 12$, where see the note
EBC, "Verses 1-19
REHOBOAM A D ABIJAH: THE IMPORTA CE OF RITUAL
2 Chronicles 10:1-19; 2 Chronicles 11:1-23; 2 Chronicles 12:1-16; 2 Chronicles 13:1-
22
THE transition from Solomon to Rehoboam brings to light a serious drawback of
the chronicler’s principle of selection. In the history of Solomon we read of nothing
but wealth, splendor, unchallenged dominion, and superhuman wisdom; and yet the
breath is hardly out of the body of the wisest and greatest king of Israel before his
empire falls to pieces. We are told, as in the book of Kings, that the people met
Rehoboam with a demand for release from "the grievous service of thy father," and
yet we were expressly told only two chapters before that "of the children of Israel
did Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and chief of
his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen." (2 Chronicles 8:9)
Rehoboam apparently had been left by the wisdom of his father to the

companionship of headstrong and featherbrained youths; he followed their advice
rather than that of Solomon’s grey-headed counselors, with the result that the ten
tribes successfully revolted and chose Jeroboam for their king. Rehoboam
assembled an army to re-conquer his lost territory, but Jehovah through the
prophet Shemaiah forbade him to make war against Jeroboam.
The chronicler here and elsewhere shows his anxiety not to perplex simple minds
with unnecessary difficulties. They might be harassed and disturbed by the
discovery that the king, who built the Temple and was specially endowed with
Divine wisdom, had fallen into grievous sin and been visited with condign
punishment. Accordingly everything that discredits Solomon and detracts from his
glory is omitted. The general principle is sound; an earnest teacher, alive to his
responsibilities, will not wantonly obtrude difficulties upon his hearers; when
silence does not involve disloyalty to truth, he will be willing that they should
remain in ignorance of some of the more mysterious dealings of God in nature and
history. But silence was more possible and less dangerous in the chronicler’s time
than in the nineteenth century. He could count upon a docile and submissive spirit
in his readers; they would not inquire beyond what they were told: they would not
discover the difficulties for themselves. Jewish youths were not exposed to the
attacks of eager and militant skeptics, who would force these difficulties upon their
notice in an exaggerated form, and at once demand that they should cease to believe
in anything human or Divine.
And yet, though the chronicler had great advantages in this matter, his own
narrative illustrates the narrow limits within which the principle of the suppression
of difficulties can be safely applied. His silence as to Solomon’s sins and misfortunes
makes the revolt of the ten tribes utterly inexplicable. After the account of the
perfect wisdom, peace, and prosperity of Solomon’s reign, the revolt comes upon an
intelligent reader with a shock of surprise and almost of incredulity. If he could not
test the chronicles narrative by that of the book of Kings and it was no part of the
chronicler’s purpose that his history should be thus tested-the violent transition
from Solomon’s unbroken prosperity to the catastrophe of the disruption would
leave the reader quite uncertain as to the general credibility of Chronicles. In
avoiding Scylla, our author has fallen into Charybdis; he has suppressed one set of
difficulties only to create others. If we wish to help intelligent inquirers and to aid
them to form an independent judgment, our safest plan will often be to tell them all
we know ourselves and to believe that difficulties, which have no way marred our
spiritual life, will not destroy their faith.
In the next section the chronicler tells how for three years Rehoboam administered
his diminished kingdom with wisdom and success; he and his people walked in the
way of David and Solomon, and his kingdom was established, and he was strong. He
fortified fifteen cities in Judah and Benjamin, and put captains in them, and store of
victuals, and oil and wine, and shields and spears, and made them exceeding strong.
Rehoboam was further strengthened by deserters from the orthern Kingdom.
Though the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua assigned to the priests and Levites
cities in the territory held by Jeroboam, yet their intimate association with the

Temple rendered it impossible for them to remain citizens of a state hostile to
Jerusalem. The chronicler indeed tells us that "Jeroboam and his sons cast them off,
that they should not execute the priest’s office unto Jehovah, and appointed others
to be priests for the high places and the he-goats and for the calves which he had."
It is difficult to understand what the chronicler means by this statement. On the face
of it, we should suppose that Jeroboam refused to employ the house of Aaron and
the tribe of Levi for the worship of his he-goats and calves, but the chronicler could
not describe such action as casting "them off that they should not execute the
priest’s office unto Jehovah." The passage has been explained to mean that
Jeroboam sought to hinder them from exercising their functions at the Temple by
preventing them from visiting Judah; but to confine the priests and Levites to his
own kingdom would have been a. strange way of casting them off. However,
whether driven out by Jeroboam or escaping from him, they came to Jerusalem and
brought with them from among the ten tribes other pious Israelites, who were
attached to the worship of the Temple. Judah and Jerusalem became the home of all
true worshippers of Jehovah; and those who remained in the orthern Kingdom
were given up to idolatry or the degenerate and corrupt worship of the high places.
The chronicler then gives us some account of Rehoboam’s harem and children, and
tells that he dealt wisely, and dispersed his twenty-eight sons "throughout all the
lands of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fenced city." He gave them the means of
maintaining a luxurious table, and provided them with numerous wives, and trusted
that, being thus happily circumstanced, they would lack leisure, energy, and
ambition to imitate Absalom and Adonijah.
Prosperity and security turned the head of Rehoboam as they had done that of
David: "He forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him." "All Israel" means
all the subjects of Rehoboam; the chronicler treats the ten tribes as cut off from
Israel. The faithful worshippers of Jehovah in Judah had been reinforced by the
priests, Levites, and all other pious Israelites from the orthern Kingdom; and yet
in three years they forsook the cause for which they had left their country and their
father’s house. Punishment was not long delayed, for Shishak, king of Egypt,
invaded Judah with an immense host and took away the treasures of the house of
Jehovah and of the king’s house.
The chronicler explains why Rehoboam was not more severely punished. Shishak
appeared before Jerusalem with his immense host: Ethiopians, Lubim or Lybians,
and Sukiim, a mysterious people only mentioned here. The LXX and Vulgate
translate Sukiim "Troglodytes," apparently identifying them with the cave-dwellers
on the western or Ethiopian coast of the Red Sea. In order to find safety from these
strange and barbarous enemies, Rehoboam and his princes were gathered together
in Jerusalem. Shemaiah the prophet appeared before them and declared that the
invasion was Jehovah’s punishment for their sin, whereupon they humbled
themselves, and Jehovah accepted their penitent submission. He would not destroy
Jerusalem, but the Jews should serve Shishak, "that they may know My service and
the service of the kingdoms of the countries." When they threw off the yoke of
Jehovah, they sold themselves into a worse bondage. There is no freedom to be
gained by repudiating the restraints of morality and religion. If we do not choose to

be the servants of obedience unto righteousness, our only alternative is to become
the slaves "of sin unto death." The repentant sinner may return to his true
allegiance, and yet he may still be allowed to taste something of the bitterness and
humiliation of the bondage of sin. His Shishak may be some evil habit or propensity
or special liability to temptation, that is permitted to harass him without destroying
his spiritual life. In time the chastening of the Lord works out the peaceable fruits of
righteousness, and the Christian is weaned forever from the unprofitable service of
sin.
Unhappily the repentance inspired by trouble and distress is not always real and
permanent. Many will humble themselves before the Lord in order to avert
imminent ruin, and will forsake Him when the danger has passed away. Apparently
Rehoboam soon fell away again into sin, for the final judgment upon him is, "He did
that which was evil, because he set not his heart to seek Jehovah." David in his last
prayer had asked for a "perfect heart" for Solomon, but he had not been able to
secure this blessing for his grandson, and Rehoboam was "the foolishness of the
people, one that had no understanding, who turned away the people through his
counsel." (Sirach 47:23)
Rehoboam was succeeded by his son Abijah, concerning whom we are told in the
book of Kings that "he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before
him; and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as the heart of David his
father." The chronicler omits this unfavorable verdict; he does not indeed classify
Abijah among the good kings by the usual formal statement that "he did that which
was good and right in the eyes of Jehovah," but Abijah delivers a hortatory speech
and by Divine assistance obtains a great victory over Jeroboam. There is not a
suggestion of any evil-doing on the part of Abijah; and yet we gather from the
history of Asa that in Abijah’s reign the cities of Judah were given up to idolatry,
with all its paraphernalia of "strange altars, high places, Asherim, and sun-images."
As in the case of Solomon, so here, the chronicler has sacrificed even the consistency
of his own narrative to his care for the reputation of the house of David. How the
verdict of ancient history upon Abijah came to be set aside we do not know. The
charitable work of whitewashing the bad characters of history has always had an
attraction for enterprising annalists; and Abijah was a more promising subject than
ero, Tiberius, or Henry VIII The chronicler would rejoice to discover one more
good king of Judah; but yet why should the record of Abijah’s sins be expunged,
while Ahaziah and Amon were still held up to the execration of posterity?
Probably the chronicler was anxious that nothing should mar the effect of his
narrative of Abijah’s victory. If his later sources had recorded anything equally
creditable of Ahaziah and Amon, be might have ignored the judgment of the book of
Kings in their case also.
The section to which the chronicler attaches so much importance describes a
striking episode in the chronic warfare between Judah and Israel. Here Israel is
used, as in the older history, to mean the orthern Kingdom, and does not denote
the spiritual Israel-i.e., Judah-as in the previous chapter. This perplexing variation

in the use of the term "Israel" shows how far Chronicles has departed from the
religious ideas of the book of Kings, and reminds us that the chronicler has only
partially and imperfectly assimilated his older material.
Abijah and Jeroboam had each gathered an immense army, but the army of Israel
was twice as large as that of Judah: Jeroboam had eight hundred thousand to
Abijah’s four hundred thousand. Jeroboam advanced, confident in his
overwhelming superiority and happy in the belief that Providence sides with the
strongest battalions. Abijah, however, was nothing dismayed by the odds against
him; his confidence was m Jehovah. The two armies met in the neighborhood of
Mount Zemaraim, upon which Abijah fixed his camp. Mount Zemaraim was in the
hill-country of Ephraim, but its position cannot be determined with certainty; it was
probably near the border of the two kingdoms. Possibly it was the site of the
Benjamite city of the same name mentioned in the book of Joshua in close
connection with Bethel. [Joshua 18:22] If so, we should look for it in the
neighborhood of Bethel, a position which would suit the few indications of place
given by the narrative.
Before the battle, Abijah made an effort to induce his enemies to depart in peace.
From the vantage-ground of his mountain camp he addressed Jeroboam and his
army as Jotham had addressed the men of Shechem from Mount Gerizim. [ 9:8]
Abijah reminded the rebels-for as such he regarded them-that Jehovah, the God of
Israel, had given the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his
sons, by a covenant of salt, by a charter as solemn and unalterable as that by which
the heave-offerings had been given to the sons of Aaron. [ umbers 18:19] The
obligation of an Arab host to the guest who had sat at meat with him and eaten of
his salt was not more binding than the Divine decree which had given the throne of
Israel to the house of David. And yet Jeroboam the son of ebat had dared to
infringe the sacred rights of the elect dynasty. He, the slave of Solomon, had risen
up and rebelled against his master.
The indignant prince of the house of David not unnaturally forgets that the
disruption was Jehovah’s own work, and that Jeroboam rose up against his master,
not at the instigation of Satan, but by the command of the prophet Abijah. [2
Chronicles 10:15] The advocates of sacred causes even in inspired moments are apt
to be one-sided in their statements of fact.
While Abijah is severe upon Jeroboam and his accomplices and calls them "vain
men, sons of Belial," he shows a filial tenderness for the memory of Rehoboam. That
unfortunate king had been taken at a disadvantage, when he was young and tender-
hearted and unable to deal sternly with rebels. The tenderness which could threaten
to chastise his people with scorpions must have been of the kind-
"That dared to look on torture and could not look on war";
it only appears in the history in Rehoboam’s headlong flight to Jerusalem. o one,
however, will censure Abijah for taking an unduly favorable view of his father’s

character.
But whatever advantage Jeroboam may have found in his first revolt, Abijah warns
him that now he need not think to withstand the kingdom of Jehovah in the hands
of the sons of David. He is no longer opposed to an unseasoned youth, but to men
who know their overwhelming advantage. Jeroboam need not think to supplement
and complete his former achievements by adding Judah and Benjamin to his
kingdom. Against his superiority of four hundred thousand soldiers Abijah can set a
Divine alliance, attested by the presence of priests and Levites and the regular
performance of the pentateuchal ritual, whilst the alienation of Israel from Jehovah
is clearly shown by the irregular orders of their priests. But let Abijah speak for
himself:
"Ye be a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam
made you for gods." Possibly Abijah was able to point to Bethel, where the royal
sanctuary of the golden calf was visible to both armies: "Have ye not driven out the
priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron and the Levites, and made for yourselves
priests in heathen fashion? When any one comes to consecrate himself with a young
bullock and seven rams, ye make him a priest of them that are no gods. But as for
us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken Him; and we have priests, the
sons of Aaron, ministering unto Jehovah, and the Levites, doing their appointed
work: and they burn unto Jehovah morning and evening burnt offerings and sweet
incense: the shewbread also they set in order upon the table that is kept free from all
uncleanness; and we have the candlestick of gold, with its lamps, to burn every
evening; for we observe the ordinances of Jehovah our God; but ye have forsaken
Him. And, behold, God is with us at our head, and His priests, with the trumpets of
alarm, to sound an alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against
Jehovah, the God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper."
This speech, we are told, "has been much admired. It was well suited to its object,
and exhibits correct notions of the theocratical institutions." But like much other
admirable eloquence, in the House of Commons and elsewhere, Abijah’s speech had
no effect upon those to whom it was addressed. Jeroboam apparently utilized the
interval to plant an ambush in the rear of the Jewish army.
Abijah’s speech is unique. There have been other instances in which commanders
have tried to make oratory take the place of arms, and, like Abijah, they have
mostly been unsuccessful; but they have usually appealed to lower motives.
Sennacherib’s envoys tried ineffectually to seduce the garrison of Jerusalem from
their allegiance to Hezekiah, but they relied on threats of destruction and promises
of "a land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil olive and
honey." There is, however, a parallel instance of more successful persuasion. When
Octavian was at war with his fellow-triumvir Lepidus, he made a daring attempt to
win over his enemy’s army. He did not address them from the safe elevation of a
neighboring mountain, but rode openly into the hostile camp. He appealed to the
soldiers by motives as lofty as those urged by Abijah, and called upon them to save
their country from civil war by deserting Lepidus. At the moment his appeal failed,

and he only escaped with a wound in his breast; but after a while his enemy’s
soldiers came over to him in detachments, and eventually Lepidus was compelled to
surrender to his rival. But the deserters were not altogether influenced by pure
patriotism. Octavian had carefully prepared the way for his dramatic appearance in
the camp of Lepidus, and had used grosser means of persuasion than arguments
addressed to patriotic feeling.
Another instance of a successful appeal to a hostile force is found in the history of
the first apoleon, when he was marching on Paris after his return from Elba. ear
Grenoble he was met by a body of royal troops. He at once advanced to the front,
and exposing his breast, exclaiming to the opposing ranks, "Here is your emperor; if
any one would kill me, let him fire." The detachment, which had been sent to arrest
his progress, at once deserted to their old commander. Abijah’s task was less
hopeful: the soldiers whom Octavian and apoleon won over had known these
generals as lawful commanders of Roman and French armies respectively, but
Abijah could not appeal to any old associations in the minds of Jeroboam’s army;
the Israelites were animated by ancient tribal jealousies, and Jeroboam was made of
sterner stuff than Lepidus or Louis XVIII Abijah’s appeal is a monument of his
humanity, faith, and devotion; and if it failed to influence the enemy, doubtless
served to inspirit his own army.
At first, however, things went badly with Judah. They were outgeneraled as well as
outnumbered: Jeroboam’s main body attacked them in front, and the ambush
assailed their rear. Like the men of Ai, "when Judah looked back, behold, the battle
was before and behind them." But Jehovah, who fought against Ai, was fighting for
Judah, and they cried unto Jehovah; and then, as at Jericho, "the men of Judah
gave a shout, and when they shouted, God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before
Abijah and Judah." The rout was complete, and was accompanied by terrible
slaughter. o fewer than five hundred thousand Israelites were slain by the men of
Judah. The latter pressed their advantage, and took the neighboring city of Bethel
and other Israelite towns. For the time Israel was "brought under," and did not
recover from its tremendous losses during the three years of Abijah’s reign. As for
Jeroboam, Jehovah smote him, and he died; but "Abijah waxed mighty, and took
unto himself fourteen wives, and begat twenty-and-two sons and sixteen daughters."
His history closes with the record of these proofs of Divine favor, and he "slept with
his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David, and Asa his son reigned in his
stead."
The lesson which the chronicler intends to teach by his narrative is obviously the
importance of ritual, not the importance of ritual apart from the worship of the true
God; he emphasizes the presence of Jehovah with Judah, in contrast to the Israelite
worship of calves and those that are no gods. The chronicler dwells upon the
maintenance of the legitimate priesthood and the prescribed ritual as the natural
expression and clear proof of the devotion of the men of Judah to their God.
It may help us to realize the significance of Abijah’s speech, if we try to construct an
appeal in the same spirit for a Catholic general in the Thirty Years’ War addressing

a hostile Protestant army. Imagine Wallenstein or Tilly, moved by some unwonted
spirit of pious oratory, addressing the soldiers of Gustavus Adolphus:-
"We have a pope who sits in Peter’s chair, bishops and priests ministering unto the
Lord, in the true apostolical succession. The sacrifice of the Mass is daily offered;
matins, lauds, vespers; and compline are all duly celebrated; our churches are
fragrant with incense and glorious with stained glass and images; we have
crucifixes, and lamps, and candles; and our priests are fitly clothed in ecclesiastical
vestments; for we observe the traditions of the Church, but ye have forsaken the
Divine order. Behold, God is with us at our head; and we have banners blessed by
the Pope. O ye Swedes, ye fight against God; ye shall not prosper."
As Protestants we may find it difficult to sympathies with the feelings of a devout
Romanist or even with those of a faithful observer of the complicated Mosaic ritual.
We could not construct so close a parallel to Abijah’s speech in terms of any
Protestant order of service, and yet the objections which any modern denomination
feels to departures from its own forms of worship rest on the same principles as
those of Abijah. In the abstract the speech teaches two main lessons: the importance
of an official and duly accredited ministry and of a suitable and authoritative ritual.
These principles are perfectly general, and are not confined to what is usually
known as sacerdotalism and ritualism. Every Church has in practice some official
ministry, even those Churches that profess to owe their separate existence to the
necessity for protesting against an official ministry. Men whose chief occupation is
to denounce priestcraft may themselves be saturated with the sacerdotal spirit.
Every Church too, has its ritual. The silence of a Friends’ meeting is as much a rite
as the most elaborate genuflection before a highly ornamented altar. To regard
either the absence or presence of rites as essential is equally ritualistic. The man
who leaves his wonted place of worship because "Amen" is sung at the end of a
hymn is as bigoted a ritualist as his brother who dare not pass an altar without
crossing himself. Let us then consider the chronicler’s two principles in this broad
sense. The official ministry of Israel consisted of the priests and Levites, and the
chronicler counted it a proof of the piety of the Jews that they adhered to this
ministry and did not admit to the priesthood any one who could bring a young
bullock and seven rams. The alternative was not between a hereditary priesthood
and one open to any aspirant with special spiritual qualifications, but between a
duly trained and qualified ministry on the one hand and a motley crew of the
forerunners of Simon Magus on the other. It is impossible not to sympathies with
the chronicler. To begin with, the property qualification was too low. If livings are
to be purchased at all, they should bear a price commensurate with the dignity and
responsibility of the sacred office. A mere entrance fee, so to speak, of a young
bullock and seven rams must have flooded Jeroboam’s priesthood with a host of
adventurers, to whom the assumption of the office was a matter of social or
commercial speculation. The private adventure system of providing for the ministry
of the word scarcely tends to either the dignity or the efficiency of the Church. But,
in any case, it is not desirable that mere worldly gifts, money, social position, or even
intellect should be made the sole passports to Christian service; even the traditions
and education of a hereditary priesthood would be more probable channels of

spiritual qualifications.
Another point that the chronicler objects to in Jeroboam’s priests is the want of any
other than a property qualification. Any one who chose could be a priest. Such a
system combined what might seem opposite vices. It preserved an artificial ministry;
these self-appointed priests formed a clerical order; and yet it gave no guarantee
whatever of either fitness or devotion. The chronicler, on the other hand, by the
importance he attaches to the Levitical priesthood, recognizes the necessity of an
official ministry, but is anxious that it should be guarded with jealous care against
the intrusion of unsuitable persons. A conclusive argument for an official ministry is
to be found in its formal adoption by most Churches and its uninvited appearance
in the rest. We should not now be contented with the safeguards against unsuitable
ministers to be found in hereditary succession; the system of the Pentateuch would
be neither acceptable nor possible in the nineteenth century: and yet, if it had been
perfectly administered, the Jewish priesthood would have been worthy of its high
office, nor were the times ripe for the substitution of any better system. Many of the
considerations which justify hereditary succession in a constitutional monarchy
might be adduced in defense of a hereditary priesthood. Even now, without any
pressure of law or custom, there is a certain tendency towards hereditary succession
in the ministerial office. It would be easy to name distinguished ministers who were
inspired for the high calling by their fathers’ devoted service, and who received an
invaluable preparation for their life-work from the Christian enthusiasm of a
clerical household. The clerical ancestry of the Wesleys is only one among many
illustrations of an inherited genius for the ministry.
But though the best method of obtaining a suitable ministry varies with changing
circumstances, the chronicler’s main principle is of permanent and universal
application. The Church has always felt a just concern that the official
representatives of its faith and order should commend themselves to every man’s
conscience in the sight of God. The prophet needs neither testimonials nor official
status: the word of the Lord can have free course without either; but the
appointment or election to ecclesiastical office entrusts the official with the honor of
the Church and in a measure of its Master.
The chronicler’s other principle is the importance of a suitable and authoritative
ritual. We have already noticed that any order of service that is fixed by the
constitution or custom of a Church involves the principle of ritual. Abijah’s speech
does not insist that only the established ritual should be tolerated; such questions
had not come within the chronicler’s horizon. The merit of Judah lay in possessing
and practicing a legitimate ritual, that is to say in observing the Pauline injunction
to do all things decently and in order: The present generation is not inclined to
enforce any very stringent obedience to Paul’s teaching, and finds it difficult to
sympathize with Abijah’s enthusiasm for the symbolism of worship. But men today
are not radically different from the chronicler’s contemporaries, and it is as
legitimate to appeal to spiritual sensibility through the eye as through the ear;
architecture and decoration are neither more nor less spiritual than an attractive
voice and impressive elocution. ovelty and variety have, or should have, their

legitimate place in public worship; but the Church has its obligations to those who
have more regular spiritual wants. Most of us find much of the helpfulness of public
worship in the influence of old and familiar spiritual associations, which can only be
maintained by a measure of permanence and fixity in Divine service. The symbolism
of the Lord’s Supper never loses its freshness, and yet it is restful because familiar
and impressive because ancient. On the other hand, the maintenance of this ritual is
a constant testimony to the continuity of Christian life and faith. Moreover, in this
rite the great bulk of Christendom finds the outward and visible sign of its unity.
Ritual, too, has its negative value. By observing the Levitical ordinances the Jews
were protected from the vagaries of any ambitious owner of a young bullock and
seven rams. While we grant liberty to all to use the form of worship in which they
find most spiritual profit, we need to have Churches whose ritual will be
comparatively fixed. Christians who find themselves most helped by the more quiet
and regular methods of devotion naturally look to a settled order of service to
protect them from undue and distracting excitement.
In spite of the wide interval that separates the modern Church from Judaism, we
can still discern a unity of principle, and are glad to confirm the judgment of
Christian experience from the lessons of an older and different dispensation. But we
should do injustice to the chronicler’s teaching if we forgot that for his own times
his teaching was capable of much more definite and forcible application.
Christianity and Islam have purified religious worship throughout Europe,
America, and a large portion of Asia. We are no longer tempted by the cruel,
loathsome rites of heathenism. The Jews knew the wild extravagance, gross
immorality, and ruthless cruelty of Phoenician and Syrian worship. If we had lived
in the chronicler’s age and had shared his experience of idolatrous rites, we should
have also shared his enthusiasm for the pure and lofty ritual of the Pentateuch. We
should have regarded it as a Divine barrier between Israel and the abominations of
heathenism, and should have been jealous for its strict observance.
PARKER 1-3, "1. And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for to Shechem [the chief city
of Ephraim, of ancient dignity, even from patriarchal times, as of singular beauty
and position] were all Israel come to make him king.
2. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of ebat, who was in Egypt, whither
he had fled from the presence of Solomon the king, heard it, that Jeroboam
returned out of Egypt.
3. And they sent [i.e, "they had sent." This is given as the reason why he had
returned] and called him [to the assembly. (Comp. 1 Kings 12:20)]. So Jeroboam
and all Israel came and spake to Rehoboam, saying,
PARKER, "Rehoboam
"And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for to Shechem were all Israel come to make
him king. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of ebat, who was in Egypt,

whither he had fled from the presence of Solomon the king, heard it, that Jeroboam
returned out of Egypt. And they sent and called him. So Jeroboam and all Israel
came and spake to Rehoboam, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous; now
therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy
yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee" ( 2 Chronicles 10:1-4).
A CAUSE so stated must succeed. There will be difficulty, but the end is assured.
The reasonable always triumphs, due time being given for the elucidation of its
purposes, and the manifestation of its real spirit. Violence can have but a short day;
the tempest cries itself to rest. The speech of this man was a speech strong in
reason.—"Ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy
yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee." They wanted ease for service, for
loyalty. Where there is no ease how can there be homage, thankfulness, devotion, or
any of the high qualities of patriotism? How tempted men are, who are not
themselves disquieted, to tell other people to bear their burdens uncomplainingly!
We ought to hear what they have to say who feel the iron. Our inquiry should be,
How does it suit you? What is the effect of the piercing iron upon the soul? How
does manhood bear the heel of oppression? The sufferers should sometimes be
admitted to the witness-box. There is a danger lest our personal comfortableness
should disqualify us for judging the case of downtrodden men. Wherever there is
weakness the Christian Church should be found; wherever there is reasonableness
the Christian sanctuary should offer hospitality. The Christian sanctuary ceases to
be the tabernacle of God amongst men when it shuts its door upon the cries of
reason, the petitions of weakness, the humble supplications of those who ask for
nothing exaggerated, but simply ask to have their misery mitigated somewhat, that
their loyalty may be of a larger and better quality. The names are ancient, but the
circumstances may be painfully modern. It is the peculiarity of the Bible that it is
always getting in our way. It has a word upon every subject. Is there anything more
detestable than that a man who has his own way seven days a week, whose footsteps
are marked by prosperity, whose very breathing is a commercial success, should
stand up and tell men who are bleeding at every pore to be quiet and contented, and
not create disturbance in the body politic? If Jeroboam had come with a petition
conceived in another tone it ought to have been rejected; it would have been
irrational, violent, contemptuous: but the reasonableness of the request will insure
its victory in the long run. How easy it is to think of Rehoboam as the foolish son of
a wise father! But are we not unjust to the son in so regarding him? Was Solomon
the wise man he is often made out to be? The answer would be Yes—and o. There
was no greater fool than Solomon; and he attained his supremacy in folly because
there was no man so wise. "If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that
darkness!" "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" If he
had not been son of the morning some shallow pit might have held him; but being
son of the morning, and detaching himself from the gravitation of God, the pit into
which he falls is bottomless. Pliny says no man can be always wise. That is true
philosophically, and experimentally; for all men have vulnerable heels, or are
exposed to temptations to lightness of mind, amounting in some instances almost to
frivolity; they are also the subjects of a singular rebound, which makes them appear
the more frivolous because when we last saw them they were absorbed in the

solemnity of prayer. Solomon himself is not wise in this matter of government. The
history shows that the people were appealing, not against Rehoboam, who had yet
had no opportunity of proving his quality as a king, but against his father—"Thy
father made our yoke grievous." We are prone to copy the defects of our ancestors
and our idols rather than their excellences. We are tempted in wrong directions.
Folly has often more charms for us than wisdom. When Diogenes discoursed of
philosophy the people turned away from him—but when he began to play frivolous
music, or to sing frivolous Song of Solomon , the crowds thronged upon him, and he
said, "Ye gods! how much more popular is folly than wisdom!" Even there he spoke
as a philosopher. A man may crowd the hugest building on the earth by folly: it is
impossible in the overwhelming majority of cases to fill a church with a prayer-
meeting. "Ye gods! how much more popular is folly than wisdom!" must be the
verdict of many a sad-hearted Prayer of Manasseh , whose words are light, whose
discourses are Revelation , but who is not listened to by the folly-adoring mob.
Rehoboam made a cautious reply, and therein he began well; he said to the
petitioners: "Come again unto me after three days." This looked hopeful. King
Rehoboam utilised the interval by taking "counsel with the old men that had stood
before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel give ye me to
return answer to this people? And they spake unto him,"—as old men ought to
speak, with a quaintness that amounted to pathos,—"saying, If thou be kind to this
people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants
for ever." Rich is the king whose old men talk in such a strain! They were patriots
and philanthropists and philosophers; they were Christians before the time.
Marvellous is the power of kindness. They will do most in life who are most
considerate. They may be charged with sentimentalism by those who do not
understand the power of human feeling, but they will be credited with philosophy
by men who understand the genius of sympathy. What a message would this have
been to return to the complaining people! When a king speaks "good words" they
seem to be better than if spoken by other lips; when a king is kind he seems to add
to his kindness by his very kingliness; the stoop of his condescension redoubles the
value of his benefaction. If, when the people returned after three days, Rehoboam
had spoken Song of Solomon , the welkin would have rung with the resonant cheers
of a delighted, thankful, because emancipated, people. We have opportunities of this
kind: let every man know that in proportion to his kindness will be the quality and
the durableness of his influence. Kindness is not weakness. It takes omnipotence to
be merciful, in the largest degree and fullest quality of the term. He to whom power
belongs holds in his other hand the angel whose name is Mercy.
GUZIK, "2 CHRO ICLES 10 - THE REIG OF REHOBOAM
A. Rehoboam and the nation at Shechem.
1. (2 Chronicles 10:1-5) The elders of Israel offer Rehoboam the throne of Israel.
And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him

king. So it happened, when Jeroboam the son of ebat heard it (he was in Egypt,
where he had fled from the presence of King Solomon), that Jeroboam returned
from Egypt. Then they sent for him and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel
came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, “Your father made our yoke heavy; now
therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which
he put on us, and we will serve you.” So he said to them, “Come back to me after
three days.” And the people departed.
a. Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him
king: This was a logical continuation of the Davidic dynasty. David was succeeded
by his son Solomon, and now Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was assumed to be the
next king.
i. Rehoboam was the only son of Solomon that we know by name. Solomon had 1000
wives and concubines, yet we read of one son he had to bear up his name, and he
was a fool. This demonstrates that sin is a bad way of building up a family.
ii. “It is difficult to believe that he had no other sons; yet it is a fact that Rehoboam
is the only one mentioned (1 Chronicles 3:10).” (Knapp)
iii. Shechem was a city with a rich history. Abraham worshipped there (Genesis
12:6). Jacob built an altar and purchased land there (Genesis 33:18-20). Joseph was
buried there (Joshua 24:32). It was also the geographical center of the northern
tribes. All in all, it showed that Rehoboam was in a position of weakness, having to
meet the ten northern tribes on their territory, instead of demanding that
representatives come to Jerusalem.
b. When Jeroboam the son of ebat heard it: Jeroboam was mentioned previously
in 1 Kings 11:26-40. God told him through a prophet that he would rule over a
portion of a divided Israel. aturally, Jeroboam was interested in Solomon’s
successor. He was specifically part of the group of elders that addressed Rehoboam.
c. Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service
of your father: Solomon was a great king, but he took a lot from the people. The
people of Israel wanted relief from the heavy taxation and forced service of
Solomon’s reign, and they offered allegiance to Rehoboam if he agreed to this.
i. God warned Israel about this in 1 Samuel 8:10-19, when through Samuel He
spoke of what a king would take from Israel. After the warning the people still
wanted a king, and now they knew what it was like to be ruled by a taking king.
ii. Sadly, the elders of Israel made no spiritual demand or request on Rehoboam.
Seemingly, the gross idolatry and apostasy of Solomon didn’t bother them at all.
PULPIT, "This chapter begins the fourth and last great division of the work once
called in its unity, "The Chronicles." This fourth and last division, therefore, will

see us to the end of our 2 Chronicles 36:1-23; where we find, by an historical
anticipation of above fifty years, the memorable proclamation of Cyrus, which
authorized the return of the captive Jews, and sanctioned the rebuilding of the
temple. This stretch of history, divided in our Authorized Version into twenty-seven
chapters, covers, therefore, a period of about four hundred and fifty years; it
ignores almost totally the career of Israel, and, in clearest accord with its post-
captive and prophetic objects, abides uninterruptedly by that of the sacred dynasty
of Judah. The kings are in number twenty, beginning with Rehoboam, ending with
Zedekiah, of whom, however, the last four can be credited with but little semblance
of independent authority, for they were the alternate vassals of the rival and
antagonistic powers of Egypt and Assyria. The longest reigns of the twenty were
those of Manasseh; of Uzziah or Azariah; of Asa; of Jehoash; of Josiah; of
Hezekiah; of Amaziah (twenty-nine years, b.c.838-809); of Jehoshaphat; and of
Rehoboam. The last of the mournful procession was Zedekiah, who was mocked
with the title for eleven years. In the dates of this chronology, though slight
differences are found, there is little room for variation when once the initial and, in
consequence, final dates are fixed. The line of succession is hereditary throughout,
and almost entirely of strict lineal descent, i.e. from father to son, if we except, first,
the interruption caused by the Queen Athaliah, mother of her predecessor Ahaziah;
secondly, Joash, her grandson and successor, who was son of Ahaziah; thirdly,
Jehoiachim (so named by the King of Egypt, but formerly named Eliakim), who was
brother of his predecessor Jehoahaz; and, fourthly, Zedekiah (or Mattaniah), who
was the paternal uncle (2 Kings 24:17) of his predecessor Jehoiachin, and who was
put on the throne by ebuchadnezzar, against whom he in due time rose in
rebellion, and by whom he was sent captive to Babylon, after seeing his sons slain,
and having thereupon his own eyes put out. After him them was no more a king in
Judah. It will be obvious that, if the years marking the duration of the succeeding
reigns be summed up, we shall obtain too large a result, as they often or always
overlapped one another, and, of course, did not fall into exact years. The initial date
we take as b.c. 979, and the final date at the end of Zedekiah's eleven years,
culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem, as b.c. 587. Some chronologies quote
these dates, however, b.c. 975-588. Side by side with these preliminary notes
respecting Judah, it may be stated that the initial and final dates for the separate
kingdom of the ten tribes, Israel, with their nineteen kings, were b.c. 979 (975) to the
date of Samaria taken, b.c. 719, or (as some would date the overthrow of Israel) b.c.
722 or 721. It need scarcely be said that, if forty years are added for the reign of
Solomon, and forty years for that of David, we shall be conducted to the date of
either b.c. 1059 or 1055 as the beginning of the Davidic royal line, and may count
the duration of that royal line as numbering about 472 years. An interesting table,
showing some slight differences of date, may be found in pp. 53, 54 of the second
edition of Conder's 'Handbook to the Bible.'
The verses of this chapter, nineteen in number, correspond with those of 1 Kings
12:1-19. They so correspond as to convince us that both writers took from one
original, or, at any rate, one former source. But they are particularly instructive also
in another direction. Our 1 Kings 12:2 and 1 Kings 12:3 are in order, and quite
intelligible. 1 Kings 12:2 and 1 Kings 12:3 of the parallel are not so, and convince us

either that the carelessness of copyists was more than usual (even when our
Authorized Version "of it" is cancelled) or, which is a by far less acceptable
supposition, that the carelessness of the compiler or writer was great. Though these
two lengths of nineteen verses each so closely correspond as to show both indebted
to one former source, they also evince clearly that neither writer absolutely bound
himself by the exact words of his pattern, but took the meaning, and slightly altered,
so to say, grammar and syntax of sentences.
2 Chronicles 10:1
This verse would have been far better placed last in the previous chapter, but now,
left without note of time, it purports to tell us that (whereas by the last clause of the
previous chapter "Rehoboam reigned in his" father Solomon's "stead," and had
been presumably accepted as his heir and successor in Jerusalem and all Judaea)
Rehoboam, now somewhat later on, repairs to Shechem (the ancient capital, and the
prized position of the high-spirited tribe of Ephraim) to receive some final
recognition as king from "all Israel." Rehoboam. Solomon's son by aaraah; an
Ammonite princess (1 Kings 14:21, 1 Kings 14:31). Eurydemus may be considered
as a close reproduction in Greek of the Hebrew name Rehoboam. To his son Abijah,
by his favourite wife Maachah, who was the third of the wives that belonged to the
house of Jesse, he bequeathed the kingdom. Wanting any positive Scripture
statement of the matter of Rehoboam going to Shechem, we believe the explanation
given above is the most probable, and that it was not any designed stroke of policy,
with the view of conciliating or flattering Ephraim. Though no formal statement of
it be made here, yet it is quite intelligible that the opinions, feelings, and readiness to
express them on the part of Ephraim and "Israel" were well enough known, and
had to be reckoned for. Shechem. For many reasons one of the most interesting
geographical names in all the Old Testament. It was the ancient capital, as Shiloh,
near to it, was the ancient seat of the national worship. It was situate in Ephraim,
with Ebal to the immediate north, and Gerizim to the immediate south. Its upper
slopelands (its position on which is possibly the origin of the name, ‫ֶם‬‫כ‬ ֶ‫,שׁ‬ "a
shoulder" commanded a view of the Mediterranean. It was the half-way resting-
place, at the end of the second day's journey, for travellers from Galilee to
Jerusalem, and hence bore the name in later times, it is thought, of Mabertha, or
Mabartha ( ‫א‬ָ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ַר‬‫ב‬ֲ‫ע‬ַ‫מ‬ ), Pliny's Mamortha. Vespasian subsequently named it eapolis,
the modern ablous. The Authorized Version synonyms of Shechem appear as
Sichem, Sychem, Sychar (John 4:5, John 4:20). In post-Captivity times, a new
temple on Gerizim was the cathedral of Samaritan worship, which was levelled by
John Hyrcanus, B.C. 129. Jacob's well is a hall: mile south-east, and Joseph's tomb
two miles east (Joshua 24:32). Almost every one of the references to Shechem are of
great interest on one account or another, and to turn to each of them in order is to
read the Scripture narrative of the place. The leading references are subjoined
(Genesis 12:6; Genesis 33:18, Genesis 33:19; Genesis 34:1-31.; Genesis 35:1-4;
Genesis 37:12, Genesis 37:28; Genesis 43:22; Genesis 49:5-7; Deuteronomy 27:11;
Joshua 9:1-27 :33-35; Joshua 20:7; Joshua 21:20, Joshua 21:21; Joshua 24:1, Joshua
24:25, Joshua 24:32; 9:7, 9:22, 9:34-45; 21:1; 2 Kings 17:5, 2 Kings 17:6, 2 Kings
17:24; 2 Kings 18:9; 1 Chronicles 6:67; 1 Chronicles 7:28; Ezra 4:2; Jeremiah 41:5;

John 4:5; Acts 7:16; Acts 8:5). The article "Shechem," by Dr. Hackett, in Dr.
Smith's 'Bible Dictionary,' vol. 3. pp. 1234-1240, is of exceptional interest. All Israel.
o doubt this expression may mean even here the assemblage of the federated
twelve tribes. Considering the immediate recurrence of the expression in verse 3, it
must be, however, that the Jeroboam party of the ten tribes (headed by the strong
and self-conscious Ephraimites) are especially in view; in point of fact, of course, all
the twelve tribes were represented in the gathering of verse 1. There can be no
division of opinion about this, though the meeting be represented as one demanded
or occasioned by the attitude of Israel, in the lesser comprehension of the name.
2 When Jeroboam son of ebat heard this (he was
in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon),
he returned from Egypt.
BAR ES, "
CLARKE, "
GILL, "
HE RY, "
JAMISO , "
K&D, "
ELLICOTT, "(2) Who was in Egypt.—Really a parenthesis, “And it came to pass,
when Jeroboam the son of ebat heard (now he was in Egypt, whither he had fled
from the face of Solomon the king), that Jeroboam returned from Egypt.” The
chronicler has omitted to say he was still in Egypt (‘ôdennû, Kings), because he has
not alluded before to his flight thither. (See 1 Kings 11:26-40.)
That Jeroboam returned out of Egypt.—Kings continues the parenthesis, “and
Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt.” The words dwelt and returned are spelt with the same
letters in Hebrew, the difference being one of pointing only.
HAWKER, "This event is narrated in our chapter, except in so far as a few
unessential differences in form are concerned, exactly as we have it in 1 Kings 12:1-19; so
that we may refer for the exposition of it to the commentary on 1 Kings 12, where we
have both treated the contents of this chapter, and have also discussed the deeper and
more latent causes of this event, so important in its consequences.
PULPIT, "2 Chronicles 10:2, 2 Chronicles 10:3

In these verses the compiler brings up lost time. He has not mentioned before the
name of Jeroboam, just as he has not mentioned the lustful sins of Solomon that led
to idolatry, and these sequel idolatries of his, that heralded the shattering of his
kingdom immediately on his decease. So we are now told all in one how Jeroboam,
in his refuge-retreat in Egypt (1 Kings 11:26-40), "heard" of Solomon's demise, and
apparently (see first clause of our third verse) heard of it in this wise, that "they,"
i.e. the "all Israel" (of our first verse) "had sent and called him" Probably the
growing sense of discontent and the rankling in those tribes that were not closely
breathing the atmosphere of Jerusalem and the one home county, because of their
burdens and taxation, and possibly also Ephraim's ancient and famed rivalry, knew
instinctively that this hour of Solomon's death was the hour, if any, of their
redemption. The lacunae in the history speak for themselves; for though the tribes,
after the long seething of their com-plainings and sufferings, needed but short time
for deliberation, Solomon's death must have been an accomplished fact before they
(whoever the "they" were) sent to Egypt to Jeroboam; and that sending and his
returning or otherwise, at any rate his hearing and consequent returning, must have
taken time. Considering all this, it is remarkable that no note of time is found. But
had only our first verse been placed as the last of the foregoing chapter, the
ambiguity would have been less. For the strange variations on the history of
Jeroboam (a name, together with that of Rehoboam, new to Solomon's time,
meaning "many-peopled," while Rehoboam signifies "increaser of people"), as
found in the Hebrew texts, and additions to it, see the Septuagint Version, 1 Kings
11:43; 1 Kings 12:24; and A. P. Stanley's article, "Jeroboam," in Dr. Smith's 'Bible
Dictionary,' 1. 979, 980; and comp. again 1 Kings 11:26-40; 1 Kings 12:25; 1 Kings
14:13, 1 Kings 14:17, 1 Kings 14:18. Stanley's faith in the Septuagint
notwithstanding, its variations and additions are not reconcileable enough with
either the Hebrew text or themselves to command anything like unfeigned
acceptance. One thing may be considered to come out without much obscurity or
uncertainty—that Jeroboam was the acknowledged rather than tacit leader of an
opposition that was tacit at present rather than acknowledged; nor is it at all
improbable, under all the circumstances, that the Rehoboam party in, knowing well
how the ground really lay, were as content to let the coronation, so to call it, at
Shechem linger awhile for Jeroboam's return, as Jeroboam's opposition party out
desired and perhaps compelled the delay. Of course, Jeroboam knew well, none
better than he, as of old the overseer of the forced labour and taxation of Ephraim
(1 Kings 11:28; 1 Kings 9:15), how grievous the service and how heavy the yoke to
his people, even when he had acquitted himself as the most "industrious" of
taskmasters.
3 So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel
went to Rehoboam and said to him:

JAMISO , "This event is narrated in our chapter, except in so far as a few
unessential differences in form are concerned, exactly as we have it in 1 Kings 12:1-19; so
that we may refer for the exposition of it to the commentary on 1 Kings 12, where we
have both treated the contents of this chapter, and have also discussed the deeper and
more latent causes of this event, so important in its consequences.
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 10:3. And they sent and called him — Or rather, as the
Targum properly translates it, For they sent, assigning a reason why he returned
from Egypt.
ELLICOTT, "(3) And they sent and called him.—To the assembly. (Comp. 1 Kings
12:20.)
All Israel.—Chron. omits assembly of. “Came,” singular; Kings, plural.
4 “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.”
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 10:4. Thy father made our yoke grievous — It is probable,
when Solomon had declined from God, that God left him to himself to act thus
impoliticly.
ELLICOTT, "(4) Made . . . grievous . . . ease thou.—Made hard . . . lighten.
ow therefore.—And now. Kings and the Syriac here, “and thou now”—w’attah
‘attah: an assonance which the chronicler has avoided, at the expense of the proper
emphasis, which lies on thou. (Some Hebrew MSS. and the Vulgate and Arabic
read, and thou.) (Comp. 2 Chronicles 10:10,
PARKER 4-6, "4. Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou
[lighten] somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he

put upon us, and we will serve thee [they were acting within their right. To demand
a removal, or alleviation of their burdens, was perfectly compatible with a loyal
willingness to "serve" the new king].
5. And he said unto them, Come again unto me after three days. And the people
departed.
6. And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that had stood before
Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel give ye me to return
answer to this people?
PULPIT, "The grievous servitude … heavy yoke. These may, for conciseness' sake,
be supposed to correspond with the naturally enough hated "forced labour" (1
Kings 4:6, 1 Kings 4:7; 1 Kings 5:13-16; 1 Kings 11:27, 1 Kings 11:28) and the
burdensome "taxes" (1 Kings 4:19-28) which had not failed to become more odious
to the people as familiarity with them grew. The refreshing ew Testament contrast
to all this (Matthew 11:28-30) will occur to every memory.
5 Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in
three days.” So the people went away.
ELLICOTT, "(5) Come again unto me after three days.—Hob., Yet three days and
return unto me. The verb go ye (Kings) seems to have fallen out before the first
words. The LXX., Syriac, and Arabic have it.
Departed.—Singular; Kings, plural. Contrast 2 Chronicles 10:1.
PULPIT, "This first reply of Rehoboam was not necessarily inauspicious. Yet
sometimes, as it proved now, the caution that takes time to consider heralds fatal
mistake. This is when either a generous, instinctive impulse, asking an instantaneous
obedience, is chilled by some self-regard; or yet worse, when the offended Spirit is
restrained, and no inner guiding voice is heard, as Saul found, to his ruin.

6 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.
ELLICOTT, "(6) Before Solomon.—“Liphnê Sh’lomoh” the common formula for
“‘eth-p’nê Sh’lomoh” (Kings).
To return answer to . . .—Literally, to return to this people a word; Kings, “to
return this people a word” (double accusative)—a construction preserved in 2
Chronicles 10:9 below.
GUZIK, "2. (2 Chronicles 10:6-7) The counsel from Rehoboam’s older advisors.
Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon
while he still lived, saying, “How do you advise me to answer these people?” And
they spoke to him, saying, “If you are kind to these people, and please them, and
speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.”
a. Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still
lived: Wisely, Rehoboam asked the counsel of these older, experienced men. They
seemed to advise Solomon well, so it was fitting that Rehoboam asked for their
advice.
b. If you are kind to these people . . . they will be your servants forever: The elders
knew that Rehoboam was not Solomon, and could not expect the same from the
people that Solomon did. Rehoboam had to relate to the people based on who he
was, not on who his father was. If he showed kindness and a servant’s heart to the
people, they would love and serve him forever. This was good advice.
PULPIT, "The old men who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived.
The first practical step now taken by Rehoboam, if he delay at all, is the right and
far from inauspicious step. O si sic omnia that followed after! The "old men" here
spoken of, and not before distinctly spoken of, need not necessarily be regarded as
professional advisers of Solomon, nor as a privy council of slate; they may designate
those of like age with him, or but little his juniors, and with whom he had chiefly
associated for his own society.

7 They replied, “If you will be kind to these people
and please them and give them a favorable
answer, they will always be your servants.”
JAMISO , "If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak
good words to them — In the Book of Kings [1Ki_12:7], the words are, “If thou wilt be
a servant unto this people, and wilt serve them.” The meaning in both is the same,
namely, If thou wilt make some reasonable concessions, redress their grievances, and
restore their abridged liberties, thou wilt secure their strong and lasting attachment to
thy person and government.
SBC, "If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good
words to them — In the Book of Kings [1Ki_12:7], the words are, “If thou wilt be a
servant unto this people, and wilt serve them.” The meaning in both is the same, namely,
If thou wilt make some reasonable concessions, redress their grievances, and restore
their abridged liberties, thou wilt secure their strong and lasting attachment to thy
person and government.
BE SO , "2 Chronicles 10:7. If thou be kind to this people — Moderate counsels
are generally best. Gentleness will do what violence will not do. Good words cost
nothing but a little self-denial, and yet they purchase great things.
ELLICOTT, "(7) If thou be kind to this people.—A free paraphrase of, “If to-day
thou become a servant to this people and serve them” (Kings)—words which may
have seemed inappropriate to the redactor, in connection with the king, but which
form a pointed antithesis to the last clause of the verse, “they will be thy servants for
ever.”
And please them.—Be propitious to them, receive them graciously (raçah). (Genesis
33:10.) Kings, “answer them.”
PARKER 7-9, "7. And they spake unto him, saying, If thou be kind to this people,
and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be thy servants for ever.

8. But he forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the
young men that were brought up with him, that stood before him.
9. And he said unto them, What advice give ye that we may return answer to this
people, which have spoken to me, saying, Ease somewhat the yoke that thy father
did put upon us?
PULPIT, "2 Chronicles 10:7, 2 Chronicles 10:8
Rehoboam was now (1 Kings 14:21; 2 Chronicles 12:13; but cf. 2 Chronicles 13:7)
forty-one years of age; he was just too old to find any excuse for inability to gauge
either the experience, and value of it, of the "old," or the inexperience, and
foolishness of it, of the immature human heart. According to the modern phrase, he
was just ripe to have known and bethought himself of this. But all rashly Rehoboam
casts the die. The sound judgment, real knowledge, opportune and practical advice
of the "old men," uttered evidently off so kind a tongue, should have been indeed
now "as good as an inheritance; yea, better too". The reading of the parallel is well
worthy to be noted (1 Kings 11:7), with its manifestly pleasantly and skilfully
worded antithesis, "If thou this day will be a servant to this people … then they will
be thy servants for ever." Our words, however, have their own exquisite beauty
about them, If thou wilt be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good
words to them. One might fancy that Saul, and David, and Solomon, and angels
themselves bended over the scene, and looked and listened and longed for wisdom
and love and right to prevail. The young men that had grown up with him. While
this expression throws light as above on that which speaks of Rehoboam's old men
counsellors, it wakens the question how men of forty-one years of age can be called
"young," as Rehoboam was not living in patriarchal aged times. And the question is
emphasized by the language applied to Rehoboam in 2 Chronicles 13:7, where he is
described as "young and tenderhearted," and unable, for want of strength of
character and of knowledge, to "withstand vain men" (as he surely shows too
clearly now). It has been suggested ('Speaker's Commentary,' 2.562, ote C) that ‫כא‬
)21 ) should be read for ‫מא‬)41 ) in the two passages quoted above (1 Kings 14:21; 2
Chronicles 12:13). The suggestion seems good, and it is certainly reasonable for the
requirements of both matter and manner.
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders
gave him and consulted the young men who had
grown up with him and were serving him.

SBC, "If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good
COFFMA , ""The young men that had grown up with him" (2 Chronicles 10:8).
This whole chapter is virtually identical with 1 Kings 12:1-20; and in both accounts,
mention is made of Rehoboam's associates, referring to them in these words. This is
the only hint in the Bible that Solomon had any other sons besides Rehoboam.
Evidently these were other children brought up in Solomon's godless harem.
PARKER 8-11, ""But he [Rehoboam] forsook the counsel which the old men gave
him, and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him, that
stood before him. And he said unto them, What advice give ye that we may return
answer to this people, which have spoken to me, saying, Ease somewhat the yoke
that thy father did put upon us?" [Showing that he understood the message of the
people perfectly: he correctly represented the popular will, and therefore he
increased his own responsibility, because he was not the victim of ignorance.] "And
the young men that were brought up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt
thou answer the people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke
heavy, but make thou it somewhat lighter for us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My
little finger shall be thicker than my father"s loins. For whereas my father put a
heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: my father chastised you with
whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions" ( 2 Chronicles 10:8-11).
Woe to the nation whose young men talk so! A young oppressor is an infant devil.
Young men talking so will ruin any occasion. This may appear to be a very
advanced policy, a very spirited policy, home and foreign. It is a spirited policy: but
what is the name of the spirit that inspires it? There are many spirits. "Beloved,
believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God." Yet there is
something inspiring about this tone of the young men. This is making the nation
take its proper place at the council-board of empires; this is making the country
bloated in its ambition. What will the end be? Does a controversy of this kind begin
in a question, and end in an answer? Or is there a reply? Are there such things in
history as retorts, reprisals, rebounds, consequences? Let it be known, and laid
down as the basis-principle of all action, social, ecclesiastical, and imperial, that
there is no right of tyranny. Oppression has no veritable and reputable credentials.
Men are not at liberty to take counsel whether they shall be gentle or ungentle. The
law is unwritten, because eternal, that even righteousness must be administered in
mercy. It might be supposed that the king had taken a most patriotic course in

consulting the old and the young. He had done nothing of the kind: he had omitted
to consult him who had called his house to the royalty. Rehoboam should have
consulted the Kingmaker whose throne is on the circle of the earth, and whose
sceptre toucheth the horizon, and whose will is the law of monarchy and
commonwealth. All human consultation is a species of under-counsel, valuable
within proper limits, and right as recognising the education, the intelligence, and the
political instinct of the times; but all consultation to result in profoundest wisdom
must be intensely, almost exclusively, religious. Kings should talk to their King. The
greater the man the nearer should he stand to God; yea, he should be within
whisper-reach of the Lord of lords, asking him in every crisis of national history
what Israel ought to do, what the country ought to answer, what is the will of
heaven. Rehoboam answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old
men—"So the king hearkened not unto the people." The gospel never gives liberty
to oppression. Employers may adopt this course if they please, but they will find it
end in ruin. We must recognise the difference between employing cattle and
employing men. A parent may adopt this course if he pleases, but his children will
chastise him, sting him, with many a disappointment; or if he live not to see the
wreck of their manhood, they will execrate his unfragrant memory. We ought to
admit nothing into our policy, social, commercial, ecclesiastical, national, that does
not live by virtue of its righteousness and nobleness; then we may face the light of
day, and abide the coming of the great audit with perfect calmness, knowing that
with what judgment we have judged we shall be judged. If we were in circumstances
such as Jeroboam represented, if we were bearing heavy yokes, if we were steeping
our pillows in our tears, if sleep forsook us because of pain, and if we heard that
Christian ministers had been made aware of our distress, and had risen to say, We
will inquire for you, and sympathise with you, and do what we can to mitigate your
pain,—should we answer, Keep to your praying and your hymn-singing, and let our
sufferings alone? ever! We would thank God that Christian ministers were so like
their Master who came to undo heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free. The
Christian minister who meddles with every thing but humanity is—a phenomenon.
GUZIK, "3. (2 Chronicles 10:8-11) The counsel from Rehoboam’s younger advisors.
But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the young
men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. And he said to them,
“What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to
me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke which your father put on us’?” Then the young men
who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, “Thus you should speak to the
people who have spoken to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you
make it lighter on us’; thus you shall say to them: ‘My little finger shall be thicker
than my father’s waist! And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will
add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with
scourges!’”
a. But he rejected the advice which the elders had given him, and consulted the
young men: Before Rehoboam ever consulted with the younger men he rejected the

advice of the elders.
i. This is a common phenomenon today - what some call “advice shopping.” The
idea is that you keep asking different people for advice until you find someone who
will tell you what you want to hear. This is an unwise and ungodly way to get
counsel. It is better to have a few trusted counselors you will listen to even when
they tell you what you don’t want to hear.
b. And consulted the young men who had grown up with him: These men were
much more likely to tell Rehoboam what he already thought. By turning to those
likely to think just as he did, it shows that Rehoboam only asked for advice for the
sake of appearances
i. Their unwise advice shows the wisdom of seeking counsel from those outside our
immediate situation and context. Sometimes an outsider can see things more clearly
than those who share our same experiences.
ii. “The ‘young men’ to who Rehoboam preferred to turn were probably some of
Solomon’s many sons, rendered callous by upbringing in the luxurious harem and
court at Jerusalem.” (Payne)
c. And now, whereas my father put a heavy yoke on you, I will add to your yoke:
The younger men offered the opposite advice to the elders. They suggested an
adversarial approach, one that would make Rehoboam more feared than Solomon
was.
i. Solomon asked a lot of Israel, in both taxes and service. Yet we don’t have the
impression that Israel followed Solomon out of fear, but out of a sense of shared
vision and purpose. They believed in what Solomon wanted to do, and were willing
to sacrifice to accomplish it. Rehoboam did not appeal to any sense of shared vision
and purpose - he simply wanted the people to follow his orders out of the fear of a
tyrant.
ii. “He attempted to continue the despotism of his father, though he lacked his
father’s refinement and ability to fascinate.” (Morgan)
iii. “With a dozen rash words, Rehoboam, the bungling dictator, opened the door
for four hundred years of strife, weakness, and, eventually, the destruction of the
entire nation.” (Dilday)
iv. My little finger shall be thicker than my father’s waist! A targum translates this,
“My weakness shall be stronger than the might of my father.” (Clarke)

9 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’?”
10 The young men who had grown up with him
replied, “The people have said to you, ‘Your
father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke
lighter.’ ow tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker
than my father’s waist.
CLARKE, "If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good
ELLICOTT, "(10) Spake unto him.—Heb., with him; probably a mistaken
repetition. Kings, “unto him,” and so LXX.; but Syriac, “with him.”
Answer.—Say to.
The people.—This people (Kings).
But make thou it somewhat lighter for us.—Literally, And thou lighten from upon
us. LXX., well: καὶ σὺ ἄφες ἀφ᾿ ἡµῶν.
Thus shalt thou say.—Kings, “speak.”
My little finger.—The word “finger” should not be italicised. The word qôten means
“little finger.”
PARKER 10-12, "10. And the young men that were brought up with him spake unto
[Heb. with] him, saying, Thus shalt thou answer [The advice of the young men is the
language of the arrogant self-confidence which mistakes obstinacy for vigour] the
people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make
thou it somewhat lighter for us [Literally, "And thou lighten from upon us"]; thus

shalt thou say [speak] unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father"s
loins.
11. For whereas my father put a heavy yoke [Heb. laded] upon you, I will put more
to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with
scorpions [Probably (like the Roman flagellum) a whip, the lash of which is loaded
with weights and sharp points].
12. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king
bade, saying, Come again to me on the third day.
11 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.’”
ELLICOTT, "(11) For whereas . . .—Literally, And now, my father . . . and I, I will
add to your yoke.
Whips . . . scorpions.—The whips . . . the scorpions.
I will chastise you.—These words are found in the text of Kings, both here and in 2
Chronicles 10:14.
12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people
returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said,
“Come back to me in three days.”

HE RY 12-19, "We may learn here, 1. That when public affairs are in a ferment
violent proceedings do but make bad worse. Rough answers (such as Rehoboam here
gave) do but stir up anger and bring oil to the flames. The pilot has need to steer steadily
in a storm. Many have been driven to the mischief they did not intend by being too
severely dealt with for what they did intend. 2. That, whatever the devices and designs of
men are, God is, by all, doing his own work, and fulfilling the word which he has spoken,
no iota or tittle of which shall fall to the ground. The cause of the king's obstinacy and
thoughtlessness was of God, that he might perform the word which he spoke by Ahijah,
2Ch_10:15. This does not at all excuse Rehoboam's folly, nor lessen the guilt of his
haughtiness and passion, that God was pleased to serve his own ends by them. 3. That
worldly wealth, honour, and dominion, are very uncertain things. Solomon reigned over
all Israel, and, one would think, had done enough to secure the monarchy entire to his
family for many ages; and yet he is scarcely cold in his grave before ten of the twelve
tribes finally revolt from his son. All the good services he had done for Israel were now
forgotten: What portion have we in David? Thus is the government of Christ cast off by
many, notwithstanding all he has done to bind the children of men for ever to himself;
they say, We will not have this man to reign over us. But this rebellion will certainly be
their ruin. 4. That God often visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children.
Solomon forsakes God, and therefore not he, but his son after him, is forsaken by the
greatest part of his people. Thus God, by making the penal consequences of sin to last
long and visibly to continue after the sinner's death, would give an indication of its
malignity, and perhaps some intimation of the perpetuity of its punishment. He that sins
against God not only wrongs his soul, but perhaps wrongs his seed more than he thinks
of. 5. That, when God is fulfilling his threatenings, he will take care of that, at the same
time, promises do not fall to the ground. When Solomon's iniquity is remembered, and
for it his son loses ten tribes, David's piety is not forgotten, nor the promise made to
him; but for the sake of that his grandson had two tribes preserved to him. The failings
of the saints shall not frustrate any promise made to Christ their Head. They shall be
chastised, but the covenant not broken, Psa_89:31-34.
GUZIK, "4. (2 Chronicles 10:12-15) Rehoboam answers Jeroboam and the elders of
Israel harshly.
So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had
directed, saying, “Come back to me the third day.” Then the king answered them
roughly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, and he spoke to them
according to the advice of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke
heavy, but I will add to it; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise
you with scourges!” So the king did not listen to the people; for the turn of events
was from God, that the LORD might fulfill His word, which He had spoken by the
hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of ebat.
a. So the king did not listen to the people: In this case, Rehoboam clearly should
have listened to the people. This is not to say that a leader should always lead by
popular vote, but a leader needs the wisdom to know when what the people want is
best for them.

i. Rehoboam was a fool. Ironically, his father Solomon worried about losing all he
worked for under a foolish successor: Then I hated all my labor in which I had
toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And
who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in
which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is
vanity. (Ecclesiastes 2:18-19)
ii. “Rehoboam was a fool; and through his folly he lost his kingdom. He is not the
only example on record: the Stuarts lost the realm of England much in the same
way.” (Clarke)
iii. “Livy saith, when a state is ripe for ruin, all wholesome counsels are fatally but
foolishly slighted.” (Trapp)
b. For the turn of events was from God: God managed this whole series of events,
but He did not make Rehoboam take this unwise and sinful action. God simply left
Rehoboam alone and allowed him to make the critical errors his sinful heart wanted
to make.
i. “It seemed to be altogether a piece of human folly and passion; but now we are
suddenly brought into the presence of God, and told that beneath the plottings and
plannings of man He was carrying out His eternal purpose. . . . He makes the wrath
of man to praise Him, and weaves the malignant work of Satan into his plans.”
(Meyer)
ii. “ otice also, dear friends, that God is in events which are produced by the sin
and the stupidity of men. This breaking up of the kingdom of Solomon into two
parts was the result of Solomon’s sin and Rehoboam’s folly; yet God was in it: “This
thing is from me, saith the Lord.” God had nothing to do with the sin or the folly,
but in some way which we can never explain, in a mysterious way in which we are to
believe without hesitation, God was in it all.” (Spurgeon)
PULPIT, "It may be worth observing that the history is silent of what of hope and
fear or other thought and feeling transpired with Jeroboam and his party these
three critical days of suspense, as also it was so silent as to what transpired with
them during the three days, three weeks, three months, before the first interview
with Rehoboam at Shechem.
13 The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the

advice of the elders,
BAR ES, "
CLARKE, "
GILL, "
HE RY, "
JAMISO , "
K&D, "
ELLICOTT, "(13) Them.—Kings, “the people.”
Roughly.—Hardly.
King Rehoboam.— ot in Kings, which adds, “that they counselled him
PARKER 13-16, "13. And the king answered them roughly [hardly]; and king
Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men.
14. And answered them after the advice of the young men, saying, My father made
your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I
will chastise you with scorpions.
15. So the king hearkened not unto the people: for the cause was of God [Literally,
"it was a turning or turning-point (of events) from with God"], that the Lord might
perform his word, which he spake by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam
the son of ebat.
16. ¶ And when all Israel saw [" ow all Israel had seen"] that the king would not
hearken unto them, the people answered [returned] the king, saying, What portion
have we in David? and we have none inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to
your tents [this war cry was not new. ( 2 Samuel 20:1)], O Israel: and now, David,
see to thine own house. So all Israel went to their tents. [In these words, with which
the Benjamite Sheba had proclaimed sedition and rebellion against David in the
land ( 2 Samuel 20:1), is expressed the deep-rooted aversion to the royal house of
David so strongly, that it is manifest the revolt had a deeper cause than the
pretended oppression of Song of Solomon , since it had its proper ground only in the
old jealousy of Judah, suppressed indeed under Song of Solomon , but still not
utterly extinguished, which resulted again from the untheocratic disposition of these
tribes, from their disloyalty to Jehovah.—Keil.]

14 he followed the advice of the young men and
said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will
make it even heavier. My father scourged you
with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”
ELLICOTT, "(14) And answered them.—And spake unto them.
Advice.—Counsel.
My father made your yoke heavy.—The Targum and a large number of Hebrew
MSS. read, “I will make heavy.” This appears to be an error arising out of a fusion
of the two words ‘abî hikhbîd into ’ahhbîd. All the versions have the reading of the
text.
Thereto.—“To your yoke” (Kings).
COFFMA , ""My father chastised you with whips" (2 Chronicles 10:14). This is a
somewhat sour note in that sweet symphony of The Glory of Solomon. Furthermore,
right here is the contradiction of the opinions of many that Solomon did not enslave
any Israelites, but only the foreigners. If Solomon had been whipping only the
descendants of the Canaanites, there is hardly any possibility that Jeroboam and the
other Israelites would have been at all concerned about it.
(See my commentary on 1Kings (pp. 151-158) for further comment on the events of
this chapter.)
15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this
turn of events was from God, to fulfill the word
the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of ebat
through Ahijah the Shilonite.

CLARKE, "For the cause was of God - “For there was an occasion Divinely
given.” - Targum.
JAMISO 15-17, "the king hearkened not unto the people, for the cause
was of God — Rehoboam, in following an evil counsel, and the Hebrew people, in
making a revolutionary movement, each acted as free agents, obeying their own will and
passions. But God, who permitted the revolt of the northern tribes, intended it as a
punishment of the house of David for Solomon’s apostasy. That event demonstrates the
immediate superintendence of His providence over the revolutions of kingdoms; and
thus it affords an instance, similar to many other striking instances that are found in
Scripture, of divine predictions, uttered long before, being accomplished by the
operation of human passions, and in the natural course of events.
K&D, "
ELLICOTT, "(15) The cause was of God.—It was brought about by God. Literally,
it was a turn or turning-point (of events) from with God. The word n’sibbah is
equivalent to sibbah of Kings. Both are isolated in the Old Testament. The latter is
the common word for “cause” in Rabbinic, as sibbath sibbôth—causa causarum.
That the Lord might perform his word.—The chronicler does not deviate from the
text of Kings here, although he has not mentioned Ahijah’s prophecy to Jeroboam
before. (Comp. 2 Chronicles 9:29. )
PARKER, "The world has been educated by oppression. The Lord himself has used
it as an instrument in his hands. A curious expression occurs to this effect in the
fifteenth verse,—
"For the cause was of God." ( 2 Chronicles 10:15)
Rehoboam had not taken him into account, but the Lord took the matter into his
own hand: the Lord sent a strong delusion upon the man that he might believe a lie.
If the Lord were working within four measurable corners the whole proportion of
his ministry upon the earth would be altered, and everything related to it would
undergo appropriate changes; but the Lord is working upon an infinite circle; all
things work, together; the ministry of the universe is a ministry co-operative, and is
not to be understood in parts and sections, but can only be understood by those who
take in the whole circumference on which the Almighty operates: and that cannot be
done here and now, it can only be seen when we are taken to a sufficient altitude,
and he alone can take us to that altitude, and give us the vision we need, in order to
complete our judgment. Meanwhile, here is a history in human development—"the
cause was of God." Joseph was sent down to Egypt by the Lord. The Saviour of the
world was not murdered by the Jews, except in a secondary and transient sense; he
was delivered up from before the foundation of the world that he might make on the

universe an infinite impression and reveal to the universe the law of life and the law
of sacrifice. The Lord sends judicial blindness upon people even now, so that they
claim to be sincere, upright, patriotic: but the Lord is working his own end and
purpose. It is not for us to say who is or is not judicially blinded; there we should
perpetrate a great mistake; it is for us to recognise the operation of the law, and in
proportion as we feel that it may be ourselves who are infatuated, we ought to
pause, and wonder, and pray. There Isaiah , however, one standard by which we
may come to a judgment all but infallible: if we are impelled towards persecution,
towards the impoverishment of others, towards contempt in relation to the weak
and the helpless, we may lay it down as certain that we are not inspired by the spirit
of love, which is the Spirit of God. If our movement is towards trust, liberty,
leniency, philanthropy, beneficence, we are entitled to believe that this is the very
logic of love, the rigorous reasoning of piety itself. This will apply to nations, to
families, to employers, to all men to whom is remitted the question, Shall the policy
be severe, or shall it be clement and hopeful?
Rehoboam will be punished: have no fear of that. "With what measure ye mete, it
shall be measured to you again." You can make your whips thongs of scorpions, but
upon your own back shall the lacerating lash be laid; you can play the fantastic
trick before high heaven and make the angels weep, but the bitterness shall be
yours; the triumphing of such a policy is short, the end of it is everlasting
punishment. What could we do without such laws as these? They are the very ribs of
the universe, the very security of society, the corner-stone on which God"s fabric
rests. We are not the subjects of accidents, the changing whims of statesmen; we are
not dependent upon general elections for the grand issue of things: the Lord
reigneth! Let us be true, and calm. One thing is certain amid all the conflicts of
history, all the attritions and collisions of most vehement controversy, and that
Isaiah , that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ alone can rectify all relations, bring
into rulership and eternal dominion the spirit of truth and love and mercy. We can
but daub the wall with untempered mortar; we can but say, Peace, peace, where
there is no peace. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can get at the heart of things; deal
with causes, fountains, origins, and purify the spring of all life. Here the Saviour is
gentle in his might, mighty in his gentleness; he says, "Marvel not that I said unto
thee, Ye must be born again": you must start afresh; there must not only be new
doings, there must be a new doer; there must not only be an improvement in habit,
there must be a regeneration in soul. When the soul is right the hands will take to
the new policy with skill that might have been learned in heaven and that is inspired
by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ.
PULPIT, "So the king hearkened not … for the cause was of God … his word,
which he spake by … Ahijah (see, as before, 1 Kings 11:29-31, also 9-39). Rehoboam
hearkened not, as Pharaoh hearkened not, but hardened his heart. The Divine word
foretold, as the Divine mind foreknew, the inevitable course of the stream, that took
its source in and from Solomon's faithless heart and life. Solomon "being dead yet"
bears his full share of the responsibility of what Rehoboam was, and shortly came to
show he was. Everything must fall out as God foretells it shall fall out, not because
"the cause is from him" in this sense that he has made it, but in the sense that he has

pronounced it, through knowing it with an absolute knowledge. It were but a thing
to be expected also, that just in the measure that the Bible is the Word of God, it
shall exhibit and pronounce plainly the phenomena of his own ultimate fiats, rather
than linger to track or describe the uncertainties of human morality or conduct. Let
but that result appear, which God has with his sure and abiding Word declared,
and the practical attitude and language of Scripture are that it is vain to fight
against it; for the thing is of God. It was known of him and said of him. And it
carries its punishment or its recompense in it, as of him. It will be noticed, again,
how our compiler refers to the incident of Ahijah, as though he had recorded it,
which he had not done.
16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to
listen to them, they answered the king:
“What share do we have in David,
what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents, Israel!
Look after your own house, David!”
So all the Israelites went home.
CLARKE, "To your tents, O Israel - “To your cities, O Israel.” - Targum.
Now, David, see to thine own house - “Now, David, rule over the men of thy own
house.” - Targum.
HAWKER 16-19, "If we read this spiritually, and with an eye to Jesus, is not the
language of every unawakened man similar to this, We have none inheritance in the son
of Jesse. Alas! how was this fulfilled in the instance of the Jews at the crucifixion of
Jesus! precious Lord Jesus! how did thy prayer bring down mercy to turn many of them
from the error of their ways, when those among them who had been most clamorous,
crying out, Crucify, crucify him! at the day of Pentecost, were pricked at the heart, and
then their language was, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Act_2:37.

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