Rehoboam heard and obeyed God’s message from Shemaiah, and the Lord began to give him wisdom and bless his life and his work. Had he stayed on that course, he would have led Judah into godliness and true greatness, but he turned from the Lord and lost the blessings he and his people could have enjoyed.
God blessed his building projects (vv. 5–12). His father, Solomon, had strengthened the borders of the kingdom by putting up fortress cities for his soldiers, horses, and chariots (1 Kings 9:15–19; 2 Chron. 8:1–6), and Rehoboam followed his good example. The cities he selected formed a wall of protection for Jerusalem on the east and west and across the south. The king knew that Jeroboam was a favorite in Egypt, so perhaps he had Pharaoh in mind when he set up this line of defense. It’s interesting that he didn’t put defense cities across the northern border. After Shemaiah’s warning, perhaps the king hesitated to provoke the northern tribes or to give the suggestion that Judah was preparing for war. He may have hoped that an “open door policy” would ease the tension and make it easier for the people in the ten tribes to come to Jerusalem.
God blessed his people (vv. 13–17). King Jeroboam ordained his own priests and turned the ten northern tribes into a center for worshipping idols, but for three years Rehoboam kept the people of Judah true to the law of Moses. As a result, the priests and Levites in Israel who were devoted to the Lord came into Judah and enriched the nation greatly. Some priests and Levites merely “sided with Rehoboam” (v. 13) and remained in Israel, but others gave up their property in Israel and moved permanently to Judah (v. 14). A third group stayed in Israel but traveled to Jerusalem three times a year for the annual feasts (v. 16). (To some extent, we have these same three groups in the churches today.) The addition of these godly priests and Levites and their families to the population of Judah strengthened the kingdom and brought the blessing of the Lord. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen as his own inheritance” (Ps. 33:12).
God blessed his family (vv. 18–23). Like both David and Solomon, Rehoboam disobeyed the Word and took many wives (Deut. 17:17). Only two of his wives are named in the record: Mahalath, a granddaughter of David through both her father and mother, and Maacah, the daughter of Absalom. Since David’s son Absalom had only one daughter, Tamar (2 Sam. 14:27), Maacah could have been his granddaughter. Maacah’s father’s name is given as Abishalom in 1 Kings 15:2, and in 2 Chronicles 13:2, Maacha is called the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. If this Uriel was indeed the husband of Tamar, the only daughter of Absalom, then Maacah was the granddaughter of Absalom and the great-granddaughter of King David. At least two of Rehoboam’s eighteen wives were from solid Davidic stock.
It was important that kings and queens have large families so that there would be an heir to the throne and replacements if anything should happen to the crown prince. King Rehoboam was blessed with many children—twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. The king did a very wise thing when he appointed his grown sons to royal offices and distributed them throughout Judah and Benjamin. This accomplished several things that made for peace and efficiency in the palace. To begin with, the princes weren’t engaged in their own pursuits and getting involved in palace intrigues, as some of David’s sons had done to the sorrow of their father. Rehoboam had grown up in the lap of luxury, but he was smart enough to put his sons to work.
The second benefit was that Rehoboam could assess their character and skills and decide which son would succeed him. God called David to be king and later told him that Solomon would be his successor. There’s no evidence that God named Solomon’s successor, so Solomon must have appointed Rehoboam to take the throne. After watching his sons, Rehoboam selected Abijah, son of Maacah, to be his heir, even though Jeush, his son by Mahalath, was the firstborn (vv. 18–19). First, Rehoboam made Abijah “ruler among his brethren” (v. 22; “chief prince” niv), which suggests that Abijah was his father’s right-hand man, perhaps even coregent. Rehoboam recognized in this son the ability that was needed for a successful reign. Unfortunately, Abijah didn’t live up to his name, “Jehovah is father.”
The “many wives” that Rehoboam secured for his sons may have been “treaty wives” to guarantee peace between Judah and her neighbors. This was the plan his father, Solomon, followed.