Nordriget forkaster Rehabeam som konge over dem
1.Kong. 12,1-24
1Rehabeam og hans rådgivere tog straks efter Salomons død til Sikem, hvor Nordrigets ledere samledes for at udråbe ham til konge. 2Jeroboam, Nebats søn, vendte tilbage fra Egypten (hvortil han var flygtet for kong Salomon), da han hørte, at Salomon var død. 3Nordrigets ledere sendte nu bud efter ham, og sammen trådte de frem for Rehabeam i Sikem. 4„Din far lagde en masse skatter på os og krævede hårdt arbejde,” sagde de. „Hvis du er villig til at nedsætte kravene, vil vi gerne have dig som konge.”
5„Det vil jeg tænke over,” svarede Rehabeam. „Kom tilbage om to dage, så vil jeg give jer svar.”
6Rehabeam drøftede nu sagen med sin fars gamle rådgivere. „Hvad foreslår I, jeg skal gøre?” spurgte han. 7„Hvis du viser venlighed over for lederne og siger, at du vil behandle folket godt, så vil de være loyale over for dig,” var deres svar.
8Men Rehabeam brød sig ikke om deres råd. Han spurgte så de unge mænd, han var vokset op sammen med, og som han havde ansat i sin tjeneste: 9„Hvad skal vi svare de her mennesker, som gerne vil være fri for hårdt arbejde og skatter?” 10„Vi foreslår, at du siger: ‚Sammenlignet med mig var min far ingenting! 11Hvis I synes, min far lagde tunge byrder på jer, vil jeg gøre dem endnu tungere. Hvis I synes, min far brugte en pisk af reb, så vil jeg bruge en pisk med metalstykker i!’ ”
12Da Jeroboam og Nordrigets ledere som aftalt to dage senere kom tilbage til den unge konge, 13-14gav han dem det brutale svar, som de unge mænd havde rådet ham til, i stedet for det gode svar fra sin fars rådgivere. 15Kongen var således ikke villig til at lytte til deres ønsker, og derved kom han til at opfylde det profetiske ord fra Herren, som Ahija fra Shilo havde givet Jeroboam.
16Da Nordrigets folk blev klar over, at kongen ikke ville lytte til dem, tog de afstand fra ham og råbte til hinanden: „Ud med David og hans slægt! Rehabeam kan få lov til herske over sin egen stamme. Vi kan klare os selv.”
17Således gik det til, at Rehabeam måtte nøjes med at være konge over Judas stamme. 18Men han gav ikke op med det samme, så han sendte sin slavepisker Adoniram efter Nordrigets ledere for at tvinge dem, men de smed sten efter ham og slog ham ihjel. Rehabeam sprang da op i sin vogn og skyndte sig hjem til Jerusalem for ikke selv at blive slået ihjel. 19Således brød de ti nordlige stammer forbindelsen med Judas stamme, og de to riger blev aldrig siden forsonet.
Israel rebels against Rehoboam
1Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. 2When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard this (he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), he returned from Egypt. 3So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and all Israel went to Rehoboam and said to him: 4‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labour and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.’
5Rehoboam answered, ‘Come back to me in three days.’ So the people went away.
6Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. ‘How would you advise me to answer these people?’ he asked.
7They replied, ‘If you will be kind to these people and please them and give them a favourable answer, they will always be your servants.’
8But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. 9He asked them, ‘What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, “Lighten the yoke your father put on us”?’
10The young men who had grown up with him replied, ‘The people have said to you, “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.” Now tell them, “My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. 11My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” ’
12Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, ‘Come back to me in three days.’ 13The king answered them harshly. Rejecting the advice of the elders, 14he followed the advice of the young men and said, ‘My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’ 15So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from God, to fulfil the word that the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.
16When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king:
‘What share do we have in David,
what part in Jesse’s son?
To your tents, Israel!
Look after your own house, David!’
So all the Israelites went home. 17But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.
18King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram,10:18 Hebrew Hadoram, a variant of Adoniram who was in charge of forced labour, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 19So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
