Rehoboam

Rehoboam
רְחַבְעָם
King
Rehoboam, on a fragment of a mural in the Council Chamber of the Town Hall of Basel, by Hans Holbein the Younger
King of Israel
Reignc. 931 BCE
PredecessorSolomon
SuccessorPosition abolished
King of Judah
Reignc. 931–913 BCE
SuccessorAbijah
Bornc. 972 BCE
Diedc. 913 BCE
Spouse
  • Mahalath
  • Maacah
  • Abihail
  • 16 other wives
  • 60 concubines
Issue
  • Jeush
  • Shemariah
  • Zaham
  • 60 daughters
HouseHouse of David
FatherSolomon
MotherNaamah

Rehoboam (/ˌrəˈb.əm/; Hebrew: רְחַבְעָם, Rəḥaḇʿām, transl. "an enlarged people"; Greek: Ροβοάμ, Roboam; Latin: Roboam) was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the first king of the Kingdom of Judah after the Northern and Southern kingdoms were divided. He was a son of and the successor to Solomon and a grandson of David.

In the account of I Kings and II Chronicles, Rehoboam saw his rule limited to only the Kingdom of Judah in the south following a rebellion by the ten northern tribes of Israel in 932/931 BCE, which led to the formation of the independent Kingdom of Israel under the rule of Jeroboam in the north.

Extrabiblical evidence for Judah’s stability under Rehoboam is limited, with indications that the biblical accounts of Rehoboam and Jeroboam may be retrojections.[1]

  1. ^ Frevel, Christian (2023). History of Ancient Israel. SBL Press. p. 230, 240-241. ISBN 978-1-62837-514-5.