Rehoboam

The foolish son of King Solomon. He was king when the Israelites divided into two separate kingdoms—Judah and Israel. When Rehoboam began to reign after the death of his father, Solomon, around 932 BC, he wanted to raise the taxes. But the people felt their taxes had been too high when Solomon was king. When Rehoboam consulted with his advisers, the older ones told him to reduce taxes. But the younger advisers—his friends—told him to threaten to make life harder for the people so that they would know who was in charge. Rehoboam took the advice of his friends and raised the taxes. The people of the northern part of the kingdom rebelled. Jeroboam, a young official who had worked for Solomon, became the leader of the northern ten tribes. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin stayed with Rehoboam. Rehoboam was not able to reunite the kingdom. When he went to war against the north, God stopped him.