What advice does Roboam follow when the people ask him to lighten Solomon’s yoke?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He rejects the older men’s advice to grant the request and speak gently. He follows the young men raised with him, answers roughly and says he will add to the yoke and replace his father’s whips with scorpions. The people then renounce their share in David’s house.

Chapter breakdown

Roboam goes to Sichem, where all Israel has gathered to make him king. Jeroboam, Nabat’s son, has been a fugitive from Solomon in Egypt; hearing of Solomon’s death, he returns. The people send for him, and he and Israel’s multitude ask Roboam to lighten a little the grievous service and heavy yoke Solomon imposed, promising to serve him. Roboam tells them to leave and return on the third day.

Roboam asks the older men who stood before Solomon during his life how he should answer. They say that if he yields to the people that day, grants their request and speaks gently, they will always be his servants. He leaves their advice and consults the young men brought up with him who stand before him. He repeats the request to make his father’s yoke lighter. They tell him to say his little finger is thicker than his father’s back, that he will add to the heavy yoke and that, where his father beat them with whips, he will beat them with scorpions.

Jeroboam and the people return on the appointed third day. Roboam answers roughly, abandoning the older men’s advice and following the young men: he will add to the yoke and beat them with scorpions instead of his father’s whips. He does not yield to them, for the Lord is turned away from him to fulfill his word through Ahias the Silonite to Jeroboam, Nabat’s son. Seeing that the king will not listen, the people ask what share they have in David or inheritance in Isai’s son. They tell Israel to go home and David to look to his own house, and depart. Roboam rules the Israelites living in Juda’s cities. He sends Aduram, who is over the tribute; Israel stones him to death. Roboam hastily gets into his chariot and flees to Jerusalem. The account says Israel’s revolt from David’s house continues unto this day. Hearing Jeroboam has returned, Israel assembles, calls him and makes him king over Israel. Only Juda’s tribe follows David’s house.

Challoner’s separate note explains that Benjamin is small and so intermixed with Juda that they are counted here as one tribe. Jerusalem itself is partly in Juda and partly in Benjamin.

In Jerusalem Roboam gathers Juda’s whole house and Benjamin’s tribe, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men for war against Israel to restore the kingdom to Roboam, Solomon’s son. The Lord’s word comes to Semeias, the man of God, to address Roboam, Juda’s king, Juda and Benjamin and the remaining people. They must not go up or fight their brothers, Israel’s children; each must return home, because this thing is from the Lord. They hear his word and return from the journey as commanded.

Jeroboam builds Sichem in mount Ephraim and lives there, then builds Phanuel. He says in his heart that the kingdom will return to David’s house if the people go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s house at Jerusalem. He expects their hearts to turn back to Roboam, Juda’s king, and that they will kill him and return to Roboam. Devising a plan, he makes two golden calves and tells Israel to stop going up to Jerusalem, presenting them as their gods who brought them from Egypt.

Challoner’s separate note says it is likely that Jeroboam, by making gods in this form, copied the Egyptians among whom he had stayed, who worshipped Apis and Osiris in the form of a bullock.

Jeroboam places one calf in Bethel and the other in Dan.

Challoner’s separate note describes Bethel as an Ephraimite city in the southern part of Jeroboam’s dominions, about six leagues from Jerusalem. Dan is at the northern edge of his dominions on Syria’s borders.

This becomes an occasion of sin: people go as far as Dan to adore the calf. Jeroboam makes temples in high places and priests from the lowest of the people, outside Levi’s sons. He appoints a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, after the manner of Juda’s feast. In Bethel he goes to the altar to sacrifice to his calves and places priests of his high places there. On that fifteenth day of the eighth month, devised in his own heart, he goes to the Bethel altar he built, ordains a feast for Israel and goes up to burn incense.

The story inside

The people request lighter service before serving Roboam. He postpones his answer, hears two different counsels, rejects the older men and gives the younger men’s harsh reply. Israel refuses its share in David’s house, Aduram is killed and Roboam flees. The chapter ties the king’s refusal to the Lord’s earlier word through Ahias. Roboam gathers an army but Semeias delivers the Lord’s command against fighting their brothers, and they return. Jeroboam then describes his fear that Jerusalem sacrifices will turn the people back to Roboam and lead to his death. He makes and places calves, appoints priests outside Levi and devises a feast. The account calls the calves an occasion of sin; the separate notes explain tribal counting, a likely Egyptian model and the locations.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The two counsels give different responses to the same request. The older men recommend yielding that day and speaking gently, with continued service as their stated result. The younger men recommend a stronger yoke and scorpions. Roboam adopts the harsh answer, and the people withdraw their allegiance.
2
The war account records an actual command and response. Roboam gathers a hundred and eighty thousand men to restore the kingdom, but the Lord’s word through Semeias forbids fighting their brothers and orders a return home. They hear and return; a counterfactual battle and its losses are not needed to explain this.
3
Jeroboam states the fear behind his plan. He expects sacrifices in Jerusalem to lead people back to Roboam and to his own death. The calves, places, priests and fifteenth-day feast follow. Challoner’s Egyptian comparison remains likely, and the Scripture account itself calls the calves an occasion of sin.

Test your recall

How does Roboam’s response to the request differ from the older men’s advice, and what do the people do when he refuses to listen?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 36316–36337
3 Kings Chapter 12 Roboam, following the counsel of young men alienateth from him the minds of the people. They make Jeroboam king over ten tribes: he setteth up idolatry. 12:1. And Roboam went to Sichem: for thither were all Israel come together to make him king. 12:2. But Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who was yet in Egypt, a fugitive from the face of king Solomon, hearing of his death, returned out of Egypt. 12:3. And they sent and called him: and Jeroboam came, and all the multitude of Israel, and they spoke to Roboam, saying: 12:4. Thy father laid a grievous yoke upon us: now, therefore, do thou take off a little of the grievous service of thy father, and of his most heavy yoke, which he put upon us, and we will serve thee. 12:5. And he said to them: Go till the third day, and come to me again. And when the people was gone,
Lines 36339–36362
12:6. King Roboam took counsel with the old men, that stood before Solomon, his father, while he yet lived, and he said: What counsel do you give me, that I may answer this people? 12:7. They said to him: If thou wilt yield to this people to day, and condescend to them, and grant their petition, and wilt speak gentle words to them, they will be thy servants always. 12:8. But he left the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that had been brought up with him, and stood before him. 12:9. And he said to them: What counsel do you give me, that I may answer this people, who have said to me: Make the yoke, which thy father put upon us, lighter? 12:10. And the young men that had been brought up with him, said: Thus shalt thou speak to this people, who have spoken to thee, saying: Thy father made our yoke heavy, do thou ease us. Thou shalt say to them: My little finger is thicker than the back of my father. 12:11. And now my father put a heavy yoke upon you, but I will add to your yoke: my father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.
Lines 36364–36396
12:12. So Jeroboam, and all the people, came to Roboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying: Come to me again the third day. 12:13. And the king answered the people roughly, leaving the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, 12:14. And he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying: My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke: My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions. 12:15. And the king condescended not to the people: for the Lord was turned away from him, to make good his word, which he had spoken in the hand of Ahias, the Silonite, to Jeroboam, the son of Nabat. 12:16. Then the people, seeing that the king would not hearken to them, answered him, saying: What portion have we in David? or what inheritance in the son of Isai? Go home to thy dwellings, O Israel: now, David, look to thy own house. So Israel departed to their dwellings. 12:17. But as for all the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Juda, Roboam reigned over them. 12:18. Then king Roboam sent Aduram, who was over the tribute: and all Israel stoned him, and he died. Wherefore king Roboam made haste to get him up into his chariot, and he fled to Jerusalem: 12:19. And Israel revolted from the house of David, unto this day. 12:20. And it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again, that they gathered an assembly, and sent and called him, and made him king over all Israel, and there was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Juda only.
Lines 36398–36400
Juda only.... Benjamin was a small tribe, and so intermixed with the tribe of Juda, (the very city of Jerusalem being partly in Juda, partly in Benjamin,) that they are here counted but as one tribe.
Lines 36402–36417
12:21. And Roboam came to Jerusalem, and gathered together all the house of Juda, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred fourscore thousand chosen men for war, to fight against the house of Israel, and to bring the kingdom again under Roboam, the son of Solomon. 12:22. But the word of the Lord came to Semeias, the man of God, saying: 12:23. Speak to Roboam, the son of Solomon, the king of Juda, and to all the house of Juda, and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, saying: 12:24. Thus saith the Lord: You shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren, the children of Israel: let every man return to his house, for this thing is from me. They hearkened to the word of the Lord, and returned from their journey, as the Lord had commanded them.
Lines 36419–36431
12:25. And Jeroboam built Sichem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt there, and going out from thence, he built Phanuel. 12:26. And Jeroboam said in his heart: Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David, 12:27. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem: and the heart of this people will turn to their lord Roboam, the king of Juda, and they will kill me, and return to him. 12:28. And finding out a device, he made two golden calves, and said to them: Go ye up no more to Jerusalem: Behold thy gods, O Israel, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
Lines 36433–36435
Golden calves.... It is likely, by making his gods in this form, he mimicked the Egyptians, among whom he had sojourned, who worshipped their Apis and their Osiris under the form of a bullock.
Lines 36437–36437
12:29. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other in Dan:
Lines 36439–36442
Bethel and Dan.... Bethel was a city of the tribe of Ephraim in the southern part of the dominions of Jeroboam, about six leagues from Jerusalem; Dan was in the extremity of his dominions to the north in the confines of Syria.
Lines 36444–36459
12:30. And this thing became an occasion of sin: for the people went to adore the calf as far as Dan. 12:31. And he made temples in the high places, and priests of the lowest of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi. 12:32. And he appointed a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, after the manner of the feast that was celebrated in Juda. And going up to the altar, he did in like manner in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves, which he had made: and he placed in Bethel priests of the high places, which he had made. 12:33. And he went up to the altar, which he had built in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, which he had devised of his own heart: and he ordained a feast to the children of Israel, and went up on the altar to burn incense.