Get Affordable VMs - excellent virtual server hosting


browse words by letter
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

rehoboam

rehoboam

 

  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Rehoboam 
  he  enlarges  the  people,  the  successor  of  Solomon  on  the  throne, 
  and  apparently  his  only  son.  He  was  the  son  of  Naamah  "the 
  Ammonitess,"  some  well-known  Ammonitish  princess  (1  Kings  14:21; 
  2  Chr.  12:13).  He  was  forty-one  years  old  when  he  ascended  the 
  throne,  and  he  reigned  seventeen  years  (B.C.  975-958).  Although 
  he  was  acknowledged  at  once  as  the  rightful  heir  to  the  throne, 
  yet  there  was  a  strongly-felt  desire  to  modify  the  character  of 
  the  government.  The  burden  of  taxation  to  which  they  had  been 
  subjected  during  Solomon's  reign  was  very  oppressive,  and 
  therefore  the  people  assembled  at  Shechem  and  demanded  from  the 
  king  an  alleviation  of  their  burdens.  He  went  to  meet  them  at 
  Shechem,  and  heard  their  demands  for  relief  (1  Kings  12:4). 
  After  three  days,  having  consulted  with  a  younger  generation  of 
  courtiers  that  had  grown  up  around  him  instead  of  following  the 
  advice  of  elders,  he  answered  the  people  haughtily  (6-15).  "The 
  king  hearkened  not  unto  the  people;  for  the  cause  was  from  the 
  Lord"  (comp.  11:31).  This  brought  matters  speedily  to  a  crisis. 
  The  terrible  cry  was  heard  (comp.  2  Sam.  20:1): 
 
  "What  portion  have  we  in  David? 
 
  Neither  have  we  inheritance  in  the  son  of  Jesse: 
 
  To  your  tents,  O  Israel: 
 
  Now  see  to  thine  own  house,  David"  (1  Kings  12:16). 
  And  now  at  once  the  kingdom  was  rent  in  twain.  Rehoboam  was 
  appalled,  and  tried  concessions,  but  it  was  too  late  (18).  The 
  tribe  of  Judah,  Rehoboam's  own  tribe,  alone  remained  faithful  to 
  him  Benjamin  was  reckoned  along  with  Judah,  and  these  two 
  tribes  formed  the  southern  kingdom,  with  Jerusalem  as  its 
  capital;  while  the  northern  ten  tribes  formed  themselves  into  a 
  separate  kingdom,  choosing  Jeroboam  as  their  king.  Rehoboam 
  tried  to  win  back  the  revolted  ten  tribes  by  making  war  against 
  them  but  he  was  prevented  by  the  prophet  Shemaiah  (21-24;  2 
  Chr.  11:1-4)  from  fulfilling  his  purpose.  (See  {JEROBOAM}.) 
 
  In  the  fifth  year  of  Rehoboam's  reign,  Shishak  (q.v.),  one  of 
  the  kings  of  Egypt  of  the  Assyrian  dynasty,  stirred  up  no 
  doubt,  by  Jeroboam  his  son-in-law,  made  war  against  him 
  Jerusalem  submitted  to  the  invader,  who  plundered  the  temple  and 
  virtually  reduced  the  kingdom  to  the  position  of  a  vassal  of 
  Egypt  (1  Kings  14:25,  26;  2  Chr.  12:5-9).  A  remarkable  memorial 
  of  this  invasion  has  been  discovered  at  Karnac,  in  Upper  Egypt, 
  in  certain  sculptures  on  the  walls  of  a  small  temple  there 
  These  sculptures  represent  the  king,  Shishak,  holding  in  his 
  hand  a  train  of  prisoners  and  other  figures,  with  the  names  of 
  the  captured  towns  of  Judah,  the  towns  which  Rehoboam  had 
  fortified  (2  Chr.  11:5-12). 
 
  The  kingdom  of  Judah,  under  Rehoboam,  sank  more  and  more  in 
  moral  and  spiritual  decay.  "There  was  war  between  Rehoboam  and 
  Jeroboam  all  their  days."  At  length,  in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of 
  his  age,  Rehoboam  "slept  with  his  fathers,  and  was  buried  with 
  his  fathers  in  the  city  of  David"  (1  Kings  14:31).  He  was 
  succeeded  by  his  son  Abijah.  (See  {EGYPT}.) 
 
 
  From  Hitchcock's  Bible  Names  Dictionary  (late  1800's)  [hitchcock]: 
 
  Rehoboam,  who  sets  the  people  at  liberty