Rehoboam
Solomon's son who inherited the united kingdom and lost ten tribes in the first week of his reign by refusing the counsel of the elders and listening to young men who had grown up with him.
The Divided Kingdom
Scripture: 1 Kings 12; 2 Chronicles 10-12
The Biblical Record
Jeroboam came to Rehoboam with all Israel and asked him to lighten the yoke his father had put on them. Rehoboam told them to return in three days. He consulted the elders who had served Solomon: they said lighten their burden and they will serve you forever. He rejected their counsel. He consulted the young men who had grown up with him and they told him to speak harshly, to threaten greater hardship. He followed the young men's advice. When Israel saw that the king would not hear them, they said: what portion have we in David? And the kingdom split in two. Ten tribes walked away on the third day.
Rehoboam in the Sanctum
Rehoboam is the figure of the leader who destroyed what he inherited through pride and poor counsel. His story opens the era of the Divided Kingdom and is used in the Sanctum as a study of what the rejection of wisdom costs — not just a king, but a generation.
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