King Roboam ( Greek : Ῥοβοάμ, Rhoboám; [1] Hebrew : רְחַבְעָם Rekjabám. [2] Sovereign of the kingdom of Judah who ruled around 930 BC to 913 BC He was the inheriting son of King Solomon , last king of the united monarchy, and the first ruler of the kingdom of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin . Although he ascended to the throne while Judah was still in Israel constituted the same kingdom, because of their inflexibility in ruling, ten tribes of Israel revealed themselves and crowned Jeroboam I. Thus arose the kingdom of Israel (ten tribes) and the kingdom of Judah (two tribes). After the death of Roboam around 913 BC he is succeeded by his son Abías .
Summary
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- 1 Etymology
- 1 Statistics of the name in the bible
- 2 History
- 3 Buildings
- 4 Personal life
- 5 References
- 6 Sources
Etymology
The name Roboam comes from the Hebrew word: רְחַבְעָם Rekjabám; which means a town has grown [3] or Widens [Make Spacious] the Town. [4] In English it adopts the Rehoboam spelling that is only used in Spanish by the Bible version of Jehovah’s Witnesses ( New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures ). [5] Another peculiar form is shown by Diego Ascunce’s Kadoch Israelite Messianic Translation (2003), which he writes, Rejaveam. The form, Rexav´am is also used by the Orthodox Jewish BritXadasha (1999). The other versions of the bible show Roboam [6] or Roboan. [7]
Statistics of the name in the bible
Roboam’s name appears 42 times in the Bible , 41 in the Old Testament and only once in the New Testament . The following list is a complete presentation:
| 1. (1Ke 11:43) 2. (1Ke 12: 1) 3. (1Ke 12: 3 4. (1Ke 12: 6) 5. (1Ke 12:12) 6. (1Ke 12:17) 7. (1K 12:18) 8. (1K 12:21) 9. (1K 12:23) 10. (1K 12:27) 11. (1K 14:21) 12. (1K 14:25) 13. (1K 14:27) 14. (1Re 14:29) 15. (1Re 14:30 | 16. (1Ki 14:31) 17. (1Ki 15: 6) 18. (1Cr 3:10) 19. (2Cr 9:31) 20. (2Cr 10: 1) 21. (2Cr 10: 3) 22. (2Cr 10: 6) 23. (2Cr 10:12) 24. (2Cr 10:13) 25. (2Cr 10:17) 26. (2Cr 10:18) 27. (2Cr 11: 1) 28. (2Cr 11: 3) 29. (2Cr 11: 5) 30. (2Cr 11:17) | 31. (2Cr 11:18) 32. (2Cr 11:21) 33. (2Cr 11:22) 34. (2Cr 12: 1) 35. (2Cr 12: 2) 36. (2Cr 12: 5) 37. (2Cr 12:10) 38. (2Cr 12:13) 39. (2Cr 12:15) 40. (2Cr 12:16 41. (2Cr 13: 7) 42. (Mat 1: 7) |
History
Roboam’s mother’s name was Naama (Ammonite) and her father King Solomon . After Solomon’s death, his son Roboam began to reign when he was 41 years old. But Jeroboam, who was in Egypt, hiding from Solomon, when he heard that Roboam was crowned in Shechem, went to ask him, along with all the people, to decrease the yoke that his father had imposed on him. Roboam asks for three days to meditate on the petition and due to the influence of the young people who had grown up with him, he decides to reject the people’s plea. And he replied:
“My father made your yoke worse, but I will add to your yoke; my father punished you with lashes, but I will punish you with scorpions. Roboam [8]
After these words, Roboam sends a tax collector and is stoned by all the people. Then the king was forced to flee to Jerusalem, while ten tribes of Israel, crowned Jeroboam . The indignant son of Solomon assembles a large army of 180,000 men to reestablish dominance over a unified Israel; but through the prophet Semaiah (Semaya), the biblical God , Jehovah , warns them not to fight their brothers and all obey. [9]
In the fifth year of Roboam’s reign, Pharaoh Sheshonq I (Sisac) invaded the kingdom of Judah. With an army made up of Egyptians, Libyans, Nubians, and with 1,200 chariots, with 60,000 horsemen and a large number of infantry, he attacked the kingdom of Roboam; He even reached Jerusalem . Sisac took the treasures of the temple of the Jews, the treasures of the king’s house and the golden shields that Solomon had made. He then withdrew from Palestine leaving the kingdom of Judah as a vassal. [10] Finally, he dies at the age of fifty-eight in 930 BC, and his son Abijah ascends to the throne. According to the Bible, he acted incorrectly and did not have Jehovah’s approval .
Buildings
Rehoboam, the first king of Judah, stood out as a builder among the kings of Israel and Judah. Some of his works were the rebuilding of Bethlehem, Etam, Teqoa, Bet-zur, Socó, Adulam, Gat, Maresah, Zif, Adoraim, Lakís, Azeqá, Zorá, Ayalón and Hebrón. It also reinforced and provisioned the fortified places. [eleven]
Personal life
He married 18 women, including Mahalat, David’s granddaughter , and Maaca, granddaughter of Absalom , the son of David . Maaca (in 2 Chronicles 13: 2 she is called Micaiah) was his favorite wife and the mother of Abijah (Abiyam or Abiam), one of his 28 children and the heir to the throne. 60 concubines and 60 daughters were also part of the Rehoboam family . [12] In some versions of the Bible it seems that Abihail, daughter of Eliab son of Jesse was also the wife of Roboam [13] . However, some consider Abihail to be the mother of Mahalat.
“The conjunction is understood. Mahalat was the daughter of Jerimot and Abiháil. Some commentators think that Abiháil is another wife of Rehoboam”
SoncinoBooks of theBible (A. Cohen edition, London, 1952)
The children that he had from Maaca were four, Abías, Atai, Ziza, and Selomit. And the sons of Mahalat were three, Jeus, Semarias, and Zaham.
