Rebellion against Rehoboam

Rehoboam comes to Shechem to receive the kingdom, and Jeroboam returns to stand with Israel before him. The people ask for relief from Solomon’s heavy yoke, and Rehoboam sends them away for three days before answering.

T¹hen Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. ²When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about this, he returned from Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. ³So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel came to Rehoboam and said, ⁴“Your father put a heavy yoke on us. But now you must lighten the burden of your father’s service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵Rehoboam answered, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people departed.

Rehoboam first asks Solomon’s elders, who urge kindness and gentle speech if he wants lasting loyalty. He refuses them, turns to the young men around him, and receives counsel to answer with greater severity and open menace.

⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. “How do you advise me to respond to these people?” he asked. ⁷They replied, “If you will be kind to these people and please them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.” ⁸But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders; instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him. ⁹He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to these people who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?” ¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him replied, “This is how you should answer these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must make it lighter.’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! ¹¹Whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.’”

When the people return, Rehoboam repeats the harsher counsel and promises a heavier yoke still. The king does not listen, and the chapter says this outcome comes from God so that the word spoken through Ahijah to Jeroboam may stand.

¹²After three days, Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, since the king had said, “Come back to me on the third day.” ¹³And the king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders ¹⁴and spoke to them as the young men had advised, saying, “Whereas my father made your yoke heavy, I will add to your yoke. Whereas my father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions.” ¹⁵So the king did not listen to the people, and indeed this turn of events was from God, in order that the LORD might fulfill the word that He had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.