Israel Revolts Against Rehoboam
Rehoboam is asked to lighten his father's yoke. He takes his friends' advice over the elders', promises scorpions instead of whips, and ten tribes walk away. The narrator notes that this turn came from our Father, fulfilling the word spoken to Jeroboam.
10 1Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it—he was in Egypt, having fled from King Solomon—Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3So they sent for him, and Jeroboam and all Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4"Your father made our yoke heavy. Now lighten your father's hard service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you."
5He said to them, "Come back to me in three days." So the people went away.
6Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime: "How do you advise me to answer these people?"
7They replied, "If you are good to these people, please them, and speak kindly, they will always be your servants."
8But he rejected the elders' advice and consulted the young men who grew up with him and served him. 9He asked them, "What do you advise? How should we answer these people asking me to lighten the yoke my father put on us?"
10The young men who grew up with him replied, "Tell the people who told you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy; lighten it for us' — tell them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.' 11My father put a heavy yoke on you; I'll add to it. My father disciplined you with whips; I will discipline you with scorpions.'" a a v11 Scorpions: a type of barbed or metal-tipped whip, far more painful than an ordinary whip.
12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had said, "Come back to me on the third day." 13The king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders, 14and spoke to them as the young men advised: "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it heavier. My father disciplined you with whips; I will discipline you with scorpions."
15So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn came from our Father, to fulfill the word our Father spoke through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
16When all Israel saw the king would not listen to them, the people answered him: "What share do we have in David? No inheritance in Jesse's son! To your tents, Israel! Look to your own house, David!" So all Israel went home to their tents. b b v16 "To your tents" was an ancient rallying cry meaning "go home and withdraw your allegiance from the king."
17But Rehoboam still reigned over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah. 18Then King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, in charge of the forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam himself jumped into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. 19So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
