Rehoboam of Judah: 931-913 BC

The First King of Judah  ∙  The Solomonic Legacy: Religious Corruption  ∙  Pharaoh Shoshenq 

and the Plundering of the Temple  ∙  Rehoboam’s Legacy: Judean Fortifications  ∙  A Snapshot 

of the Judean Army

an artistic depiction of Rehoboam of Judah

Rehoboam seethed when he received word that Jeroboam had been crowned king of the northern tribes of a splintered Israel, and he prepared to go to war – but a prophet named Shemaiah told him that he shouldn’t march against his northern rival, because Yahweh had orchestrated the kingdom’s split and would see it through. Unbeknownst to Rehoboam, a foreign enemy was marshalling his forces and would soon be rampaging through Judah; were the Judean king to send his army northward, his forces would be depleted in either victory or defeat – and he’d have meager ‘slim pickings’ with which to repel the foreign invader. Rehoboam heeded Shemaiah’s instructions, but this didn’t mean there was peace with northern Israel. A state of war existed between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout the duration of their reigns (and would exist between the two countries until peace was forged during the reigns of Jehoshaphat of Judah and Ahab of Israel). 

This state of war between the rival states of the splintered Solomonic Empire was, for the most part, confined to border disputes, especially over the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin formed Judah’s northern border with Israel, and its placement made it a hotly-contested strip of land (much as it had been with Alsace-Lorraine in Europe between France and Germany). Though Benjamin had traditionally thrown in with the northern tribes, this ‘buffer tribe’ aligned with Judah after the split; this is probably because they had a ‘portion’ in the prized city of Jerusalem and didn’t want to forfeit that real estate. Israel wasn’t happy about this change of allegiance, and they hoped to effect a switch back to the status quo. Border skirmishes revolved around Judah fighting to preserve her northern borders and to keep the Benjamites happy whilst Israel nibbled at Benjamin’s edges and tried to win back her sympathies. Rehoboam strengthened Judah’s border fortifications, but these were focused in the south rather than in the north; in the north, the land of Benjamin served as a buffer protecting Judah proper from Israelite incursions, and in the south Rehoboam had to guard against invasions from Egypt and Ethiopia. 

Rehoboam’s shrunken kingdom was on the borderline of poverty; they’d lost access to the rich farmlands of northern Israel, and they were down to dominating just one trade route. Judah could no longer control the trade routes that ran through the coastal plain, the Negev, and the Transjordan. Despite these economic hardships, Rehoboam continued living in the lavish lifestyle he’d enjoyed during his father’s reign, and he followed in his father’s footsteps in amassing a harem. Harems signaled to other countries that the ruler was well-off, and Rehoboam’s eighteen wives and sixty concubines made quite a statement (though nowhere near the statement his father’s harem had made!). By these women Rehoboam fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters. Three of his wives are named in 2 Chronicles 11.18-21. Mahalath was Rehoboam’s cousin (her father Jerimoth was the illegitimate son of David, probably through one of his concubines); Abihail was the daughter (or granddaughter, as the Hebrew word used can mean both) of Eliab, David’s brother; and Maacah was the granddaughter of Absalom; Maacah was pagan, worshipping foreign gods. Maacah gave birth to Abijah, who would follow in his mother’s pagan ways and ascend the throne at Rehoboam’s death. Rehoboam dealt wisely with his sons, scattering them through throughout Judah so as to weaken them by division; meanwhile he placated them with responsibilities, abundant food, and many wives. He wanted to keep them divided and happy so as to stave off any dynastic cabals.

standing stones in Israel; they obviously weren't small!

Rehoboam’s reign began with spiritual solidarity. In the north, Jeroboam wrought religious changes that were horrific to those devoted to the proper worship of Yahweh. Many pious Israelites, particularly those of the priestly Levitical class, migrated south to Judah to disengage from Jeroboam’s programs. Their presence in Judah bolstered spiritual solidarity for a time, but ‘as the king goes, so goes the nation’: Rehoboam wasn’t much better than Jeroboam, and it wasn’t long before he began adopting pagan practices. Just as his father had succumbed to the pagan influences of his foreign wives, so, too, it’s likely that Rehoboam’s wives – not to mention the Queen Mother Naamah, who was an Ammonite – influenced him. Rehoboam built pagan shrines (‘high places’) and commissioned sacred pillars with the image of Baal, as well as Asherah poles, built throughout Judah ‘on every high hill and under every green tree.’ High hills were ideal for the sacred pillars to Baal, and shady spots were prime locations for the immoral sexual rites associated with the worship of Asherah. Rehoboam also promoted the massebot, or ‘standing stones,’ which were a common feature in Canaanite religion. Their association with Baal, Asherah, and other Canaanite deities was their basis for being condemned. Archaeologists have uncovered multiple ‘standing stones’; at a site in Hazor, these stones included incised representations of upraised arms and a sun disk. Basins sometimes found near the feet of these pillar-like standing stones indicate that libations (liquid offerings) were poured over them. Even worse than these pagan adoptions – and quite shocking! – was the emergence and spread of shrine prostitutes, both male and female, throughout Judah. These weren’t street-corner hookers; the term used in the Bible is also seen in Akkadian literature and refers to those who were consecrated as functionaries serving at shrines or temples. 

An image of what Asherah poles may have looked like.

Rehoboam, as the son of Solomon, would’ve grown up surrounded by older women (like his own mother) who practiced their pagan religions with ease. Though he would’ve received an education in Mosaic Law and known what Yahweh required of him, he didn’t seem to take this too seriously. Though he didn’t go as far as carrying pagan elements into Temple worship, thereby polluting the worship of Yahweh in the Temple, he promoted paganism and let it spread unchecked throughout Judah. Yahweh wouldn’t stand for this, and five years into Rehoboam’s reign, He disciplined him by sending an enemy: Pharaoh Shoshenq I of Egypt (called ‘Shishak’ in the biblical narrative). Shoshenq I had put his eyes on Israel late into Solomon’s reign; he’d harbored Jeroboam and likely dispatched him with financial support and covert operatives to plunge Israel into civil war. Shoshenq had inherited a weakened Egyptian state, and if he hoped to bring it back to prominence, he needed to deal with Israel. The Solomonic Empire – and the Tyro-Israel Alliance – had crippled Egyptian dominance in the region; with the kingdom weakened by the split, Shoshenq could launch a marauding invasion and bring her northern neighbor to her knees. 

Egyptian charioteers

He launched his campaign against Judah with 1200 chariots, sixty thousand horses, and Libyan and Nubian infantry. Because Shoshenq was himself Libyan, it makes sense that he used Libyan infantry as the backbone of his forces; as for the Nubian contingents, it’s known that he conducted multiple campaigns in Nubia and probably coerced their cooperation in this joint venture against splintered Israel. 1200 chariots isn’t an unlikely number for Egyptian forces. Mesopotamian and Egyptian records and palace reliefs tell us that two- or three-man chariot crews worked from mobile platforms to fire volleys of arrows, to transport commanders or messages around the battlefield, and for brutal frontal attacks. Many ancient armies were organized around chariot corps with supporting infantry attached to each chariot commander. Though Shoshenq likely wanted to launch his campaign earlier than five years after the split, he was probably tied up with internal affairs and getting Nubia under control. With Nubia pacified, he now had the strength and security to bring his forces to bear on Judah and Israel.

Shoshenq's Campaign in Judah and Israel

Shoshenq didn’t aim to regain the Palestinian land-bridge; he knew he didn’t have the strength to garrison any conquered lands. His aim, rather, was to weaken the remnants of the Solomonic Empire. A strong and unified Israel had been a check on Egypt’s desire for reborn political and economic expansion, and the Tyro-Israelite Alliance had put a strangle-hold on Egypt’s naval dominance and trade in the Red Sea. Historians speculate that Shoshenq’s campaign was either a two-phase campaign or a single campaign with two objectives pursued by two forces. In the first part (or with the first force), Shoshenq aimed at disrupting the trade-posts and way-stations in the Negev between the port of Ezion-geber on the Gulf of Eliat of the Red Sea and central Judah; by doing so, Shoshenq would cripple Judah’s control of the overland trade between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Egypt viewed the Red Sea as her ‘private sea,’ and she was jealous to protect her ‘soft underbelly’. The second task force (or the second phase of the campaign) was a massive ‘spoiling attack’: Egyptian forces would ravage their enemies with fire and sword to achieve a crippling weakening of the splintered Israelite kingdom. This tactic of ‘total war’ is seen in England’s medieval chevauchees during the Hundred Years War against France and again in General Sherman’s ‘March to the Sea’ during the American Civil War. One historian has compared this second phase (or part) of the campaign to a modern strategic bombing campaign, aimed not at conquest but at forcing an enemy to his knees. 

Shoshenq’s campaign was a smashing success. He raided no less than one hundred fifty cities. These ‘conquests’ are listed in Shoshenq’s tribute to his campaign on the south pylon of the Amon temple of Karnak at Thebes in Lower Egypt. He hit southern Judah hard, raiding about a hundred towns and villages; he also crossed the Jordan River into Gilead and razed several cities. He attacked places in Edom and northern Israel (in which he sacked fifty to sixty towns and villages). As Shoshenq’s forces rampaged through southern Judah, Rehoboam cried out to Yahweh for help, and Yahweh rescued him: though He didn’t keep the Egyptians from laying waste to southern Judah, he kept them from rampaging Jin Judah’s northern territories. It’s unlikely that Shoshenq aimed to take Jerusalem, as the routes to the capital were difficult to traverse and easy to defend, as they were situated in the Judean highlands where Egyptian chariots couldn’t tread and where Judean soldiers could lay ambushes. Though Yahweh kept the Egyptians from sacking northern Judah, Rehoboam was still forced to pay tribute to Shoshenq. He had to plunder the Temple (and, more galling to the king, he had to plunder his own palace!) to ‘pay off’ the pharaoh. The pillaging of the Temple may have made up the lion’s share of the two hundred tons of gold and silver that Shoshenq later contributed to the temples of his gods back home; his successor, Osorkon I, also donated large amounts of gold and silver to his pagan temples, and some of this may have come from the Temple surplus. The cost of Yahweh’s discipline was high, but Judah, through ravaged and forced to pay tribute to Shoshenq, was left intact.

Shoshenq returns triumphant to Egypt

Shoshenq had successfully pillaged both Judah and Israel, and he’d accepted tributes and returned home with lots of plunder and stories of victory. Egyptian texts and recent archaeological excavations suggest that Shoshenq destroyed the southern border fortresses built by Solomon; this implies that the conveyors of luxury goods from southern Arabia had to follow alternate routes to reach Mediterranean ports (and these routes no doubt passed through Egyptian territory). Shoshenq’s campaign was so successful that, by 925 BC, just five years into Rehoboam’s reign, Solomon’s ‘empire’ was confined to the hill country of Judah. The wasting of Judah is highlighted by the biblical narrative’s ‘Tale of the Shields,’ in which the text emphasizes how the Egyptians took all the beautiful gold shields that Solomon had hung in the House of the Forest in Lebanon. In the wake of their loss, Rehoboam was forced to replace them with pitiful bronze shields. These were carried by his royal bodyguards whenever he made an official visit to the Temple; after the parade, the shields were returned to the guards’ chambers so that they could be hidden from the people. The fact that the gold shields were now bronze was humiliating: Solomon’s shields had been displayed, but Rehoboam’s bronze shields were of so little worth that they were stored in a guard chamber. Rehoboam was but a pale imitation of his father.

This isn't to say that Rehoboam was a complete failure. His lasting legacy – a construction of defensive forts in southern Judah – would lay a foundation for Judean military practice that would save her time and again. If history is to judge Rehoboam, let it judge him on the basis of how he responded to Shoshenq’s incursion: he marshaled his resources and sought to preserve his kingdom from further disastrous defeats, and in doing so he revolutionized Judean warfare. It isn’t surprising that, after the Egyptian armies left loaded down with loot and treasure, that Rehoboam set about fortifying fifteen towns in southern Judah to guard against future Egyptian incursions. These forts were located in the Shephelah, the southern hill country, along the edge of the Judean Desert. The building of forts was wise: Shoshenq’s son, Osorkon, inherited his father’s enmity against Palestine. He was likely part of the campaign in splintered Israel, and he was left with the impression that the Judeans were easy pickings. He would follow in his father’s footsteps during the reign of King Asa, Rehoboam’s grandson, but he wouldn’t get far, in large thanks to Rehoboam’s fortifications. 

Rehoboam’s fortifications formed an inner line of defense of the Jerusalem hills. They can be reconstructed in four groups, ranging north to south, sited on strategic points that guarded major approaches and trade highways. The first line – consisting of fortifications at Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa, and Beth Zur – guarded the eastern boundary; the second line – consisting of Soco, Adullum, Gath, and Maresha – guarded the west; the third line – Lachis, Ziph, and Adoraim – guarded the south; and Zorah and Aijalon guarded the northwest. Hebron, David’s old capital in 2 Samuel 2.1, likely functioned as a staging point or regional center for both the south and the west. Of special importance was the watershed road, which ran from Jerusalem through Bethlehem and Hebron; this road acted as a pipeline that could reinforce threatened fortresses. Rehoboam chose to reinforce existing towns rather than build new fortresses; this was wise, because existing towns were already built on prime locations with defensive capabilities, had access to water, and were situated on communication routes; furthermore, when it came to defense, townspeople would fight fiercely alongside the royal garrisons in defense of their homes and families. Archaeological excavations have revealed that Rehoboam linked these fortresses by building observation posts, signal stations, and small forts. Rehoboam’s successors – primarily Asa and Jehoshaphat – built upon these defenses so that Judah became ‘like a porcupine that could turn its bristles in all directions.’ The groundwork Rehoboam laid, and the additions implemented by his successors, paid off: the Assyrians, down to Sennacherib’s campaign in 701 BC, chose to avoid campaigning in the Judean mountains. The same held true for the Egyptians: when Pharaoh Necho came north in 709 to aid his Assyrian allies, he marched along the coastal route and requested that King Josiah of Judah leave him alone because he had no quarrel with Judah. Necho didn’t want to tangle with Judah’s defenses if he didn’t have to. 

Most of Rehoboam’s fortifications consisted of casemate walls; these were double walls with space between the two walls divided into square compartments (i.e. casemates); these casemates could be filled with rubble or earth to provide a wide wall. Such a wide wall offered defenders a platform on which they could operate, and wider walls made it more difficult for attackers to tunnel under or breach. Oftentimes fortress walls were built in segments that protruded or recessed as they followed the contours of the land; walls at varying angles enabled defenders to launch flanking or enfilading fire. Sometimes defenders added moats outside the walls or embankments (called glacis) to make scaling and tunneling more difficult. Some fortresses had double gates, such as the one built at Lachish; if attackers broke through the first gate, they found themselves pigeonholed into a small enclosure as they were stuck like fish in a barrel before they could get through the second gate. Sometimes fortifications had solid walls to offer better protection against battering rams; Egyptians used rams to batter down walls as early as 2000 BC, and in the biblical narrative Joab cast an embankment and used a battering ram around 1000 BC in 2 Samuel 20.15. The battering ram may have been swung in a harness attached to a wooden framework or been held by men charging at a wall. Elements of a siege – including the building of embankments and using battering rams – are attested to in Jeremiah 6.6 and Ezekiel 4.2 and 26.8-9. 

ancient Hebrew soldiers

Rehoboam de-emphasized chariots and focused on infantry, because the Kingdom of Judah was more mountainous than Solomon’s kingdom as a whole (northern Israel continued to pride herself in chariots). Judean soldiers included ‘Regulars’ and the ‘National Levy’. The regulars included the royal guard, ‘runners’ (elite infantry) who fought in conjunction with the chariot corps, and the chariot corps themselves. The national levy – or peoples’ army – was divided into five divisions: three from Judah that carried shields and spears and provided a phalanx of pikemen, and two from Benjamin who fought as archers and carried shields and bows. Reservists apparently saw active duty only for a fixed period of time each year. Judah set the compulsory military activity at age twenty; those aged sixteen to twenty would man the farms and fill other adult jobs left vacant when the national levy was on the move, and they also provided an unofficial ‘home guard’ to protect homes and families if needed. At some points in Judean history, mercenaries were recruited: these included Cherethites (Sea Peoples), Pelethites (Philistines), as well as some Greeks. The armed forces were formed into divisions of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. It’s likely that each tribe supplied a division with the number of occupants dependent on the size of the tribe; later in history, these divisions were standardized as having a thousand. The chief officers of the national levy were the 2600 Mighty Men of Valor; these officers probably descended from David’s elite guard of ‘Mighty Men’ or were heroes who retained special status in Judah’s social and military structure. In 2 Chronicles 26.14 we see that the state provided for the national levy, providing ‘shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and slings to cast stones.’

A word needs to be made regarding the size of armies as reported in the biblical literature. Take, for example, 2 Chronicles 13.17, which reports 500,000 Israelites slain at the Battle of Zemaraim; or look at the numbers brought to Zemaraim in 13.3: 400,000 Judean soldiers against 800,000 Israelite soldiers. These numbers are, quite frankly, ridiculous. How do we make sense of them? Two things must be born in mind: first, the Hebrew word translated ‘thousand’ can also be translated ‘companies’ or ‘divisions.’ Thus 400,000 Judean soldiers could also mean ‘400 divisions’ of Judean soldiers. Second, numbers were approached differently in the ancient Near East: while we in the western world, with our mathematically-oriented brains, see numbers as technical things, ancient peoples had a much more fluid approach to them. Numbers could convey information without necessarily being accurate as we would define accuracy; this isn’t to say that the bible lies, only that the we shouldn’t expect the bible’s use of numbers to necessarily correlate with ours. We should be cognizant of how the literature was originally written. In the case of the battle of Mount Zemaraim, we can deduce that the Israelite forces were double those of the Judean forces, and this disparity emphasizes Yahweh’s deliverance of the Judean army.