Solomon marked a critical turning point in Israel’s history. His reign was celebrated for its enormous wealth, glory, and extravagance. He built the First Temple of God. Sadly, the kingdom split right after his reign. And kings’ names became much less friendly to pronounce. Let’s start with the two kings right after Solomon: his son Rehoboam and his enemy Jeroboam.
Rehoboam [ree-uh-BOH-uhm]
羅波安 {luo2-bo1-an1}
Son of Solomon, King of Judah (South)
Jeroboam [je-ruh-BOH-uhm]
耶羅波安 {ye1-luo2-bo1-an1}
King of Israel (North)
It’s easy to confuse these two since they appear at the same time in history and share such similarities in their names. It’s even trickier in Chinese, as you may have noticed that their names are strikingly close:
耶羅波安 – 羅波安 = 耶
But no, they are not related in any way other than their mutual animosity.
Rehoboam neither loved God like his grandfather David, nor cherished wisdom like his father Solomon. His reign was doomed from the beginning because of his father’s utter failure and disobedience. Soon after Rehoboam’s inauguration, Jeroboam revolted and took 10 tribes away from his kingdom. A few years later, Pharaoh Shishak invaded Judah with very little resistance, plundering all the treasures that Solomon and David accumulated, leaving only humiliation behind.
For the remainder of his reign, Rehoboam kept fighting Israel in the hope to reunite the kingdom, but as we can tell, to no avail. His reign was remarkable for all the wrong reasons and his kingdom was riddled with idolatry, adultery, and disobedience. It is heartbreaking to think that David’s legacy would corrupt so quickly. Such is what happens when people remove God from their lives, and it may not take long.
Jeroboam‘s adventure began much earlier. He was a capable and prominent official in Solomon’s days. He was also chosen by God to be the leader of the new kingdom, with a great promise of prosperity and security for as long as he followed God. Just think about it, not many people in history were promised such things. All he needed to do were the right things to do anyway.
What did he do? Fearing that his new subjects would not remain loyal to him, he attempted to cut all ties to the old kingdom, including God. So he built two golden calves as their gods (much like how Aaron built for Israelites when Moses was away on Mount Sinai). This was not only evil in itself, but also planted a seed of idolatry that poisoned almost all future kings of Israel, even those not from his family. From then on, we repeatedly read about kings “doing evil in the sight of the Lord, walking in the way of Jeroboam“, over and over again. That’s probably not a legacy we want for our names. What happened to him? His entire household was murdered by Baasha, who usurped the throne from his son. That’s probably not a future we want for our families.
The Bible has a much more vivid account of their lives, including Jeroboam’s exile to Egypt, his negotiation with Rehoboam, and his fantastical encounters with prophets. It is clear what we can learn from them, and equally clear that we are not immune to their faults. What remains is to remember their names, Rehoboam 羅波安 who lost half the kingdom, and Jeroboam 耶羅波安 who rebelled against his country, then his God.