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I. THE PERSON OF THE MONARCH. Rehoboam, the man "who enlarges the people," a name upon which his subsequent history was a satire.

1. The child of a heathen mother. This was Naamah, the Ammonitess (ch. 12:13; 1 Kings 14:31), a daughter of the last Ammonite king, Hanun, the son of Nahash (1 Chronicles 19:1, etc.). Rehoboam probably suffered in character and constitution from his taint of heathen blood.

2. The son of a distinguished father. Judged at the worst, Solomon was a great king, no less renowned for administrative faculty than for wisdom and wealth. The first two, it is clear, do not pass from sire to son by the law of heredity. A man may bequeath money to his son, but he is helpless in the matter of intellectual wealth. A king may hand on crown and throne to his descendant, but he cannot communicate capacity to rule.

3. The heir of an extensive empire. The sovereignty of the undivided kingdom and of all the tributary princes fell into his hands on his father's decease.

II. THE SCENE OF THE CORONATION. Shechem.

1. A spot of rare beauty. Eighteen hours distant from Jerusalem, and situated at the foot of Mount Gerizim, in the mountain range of Ephraim (Judges 9:7) - the modern Nablous, near the site of the ancient Shechem, "is the most beautiful, perhaps it might be said the only very beautiful spot in Central Palestine" (Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 233, 234).

2. A scene of inspiring memories. Patriarchs had pitched tents and erected altars there (Genesis 12:6, 7; Genesis 33:18-20). Thither Joshua had convened the princes and elders, the heads and representatives of the people, when the conquest of Canaan had been completed, and made a covenant with them, setting them a statute and ordinance - so practically constituting Shechem the first capital of the ]and (Joshua 24:1, 25). There Joseph's bodes were consigned to a sepulchre in the parcel of ground which Jacob had bought of Hamor for a hundred pieces of silver (Joshua 24:32). There, on the two mountains which overlooked the valley, Gerizim and Ebal, had been placed the blessing and the curse as commanded by Jehovah (Deuteronomy 11:29, 30; Joshua 8:31, 33). There also the first attempt, though unsuccessful, at king-making had been made (Judges 9:1).

3. A locality unauthorized for coronations. Stanley speaks of it as having been the custom, even after the erection of Jerusalem into the capital, to inaugurate new reigns at Shechem, citing as a modern parallel "the long continuance of Rheims, the ancient metropolitan city of France, as the scene of the French coronations" ('Sinai and Palestine,' p. 239); but, as Rehoboam's is the only coronation that took place at Shechem (in addition to the above-mentioned crowning of Abimelech), one example, or even two, can hardly be said to constitute a custom. The proper place for carrying out such a second coronation as the northern tribes contemplated was Jerusalem, the metropolis of the entire kingdom, just as when they had acknowledged David's sovereignty (2 Samuel 5:1) they came to Hebron, at that time the capital of Judah. Besides, Rehoboam had already been crowned at Jerusalem, and in that act the northern tribes should have taken part. That they stood aloof and claimed for themselves a right of either acquiescing in or repudiating the sovereignty of Rehoboam shows, if not that they still had a right of free election to the crown, at least that their fusion with Judah was not so complete as, after seventy-three years, it might have been. Their intention, probably, was to acknowledge Rehoboam as king, but at the same time to assert their freedom by insisting on his compliance with certain demands and conditions. Hence they abstained from the national gathering at Jerusalem, and summoned Rehoboam to a new assembly at Shechem to receive their fealty as if they were a separate empire. "It was a significant hint to Rehoboam, if he had properly understood it" (Ewald).

III. THE GIVERS OF THE CROWN. All Israel The ten tribes as distinguished from Judah and Benjamin, which had already taken the oath of allegiance to the son of Solomon (2 Chronicles 9:31). The northern tribes, from the time of David's accession to the throne of Saul (2 Samuel 2:4), when they adhered to the sceptre of Ishbosheth, Saul's son (2 Samuel 2:10), had asserted a semi-national independence; this again, after having lain in abeyance for the greater part of a century, suddenly flamed up, and gave ominous outlook of trouble to the young prince.

LESSONS.

1. Kings' crowns oftentimes conceal thorns.

2. Those thrones are stablest which rest on the free choice and affection of subjects.

3. Those peoples are best ruled whose sovereigns by their lives show they have been enthroned by God. - W.

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KJV: And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for to Shechem were all Israel come to make him king.

WEB: Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king.