Commentaria in II Paralipomenon
Chapter 10
1. And Roboam went to Sichem: for thither all Israel was come together to make him king. 2. And when Jeroboam the son of Nabat heard of it, who was in Egypt (for he had fled thither from Solomon), he returned immediately. 3. And they called him, and he came with all Israel, and they spoke to Roboam, saying: 4. Thy father pressed us with a most heavy yoke, do thou take off somewhat of the heavy burden, and lighten the grievous servitude which thy father laid upon us, that we may serve thee. 5. And he said: Come to me again after three days. And when the people was gone, 6. he took counsel with the ancients, who had stood before his father Solomon while he was yet alive, saying: What counsel give you me, that I may answer the people? 7. They said to him: If thou please this people, and soften them with kind words, they will serve thee for ever. 8. But he forsook the counsel of the ancients, and began to consult with the young men that had been brought up with him, and were in his train. 9. And he said to them: What seemeth good to you? or what ought I to answer this people, who have said to me: Ease the yoke which thy father laid upon us? 10. But they answered as young men, and brought up with him in delights, and said: Thus shalt thou speak to the people, who said to thee: Thy father made our yoke heavy, do thou ease it; and thus shalt thou answer them: My little finger is thicker than the loins of my father. 11. My father laid a heavy yoke upon you, and I will lay a heavier: my father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions. 12. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Roboam on the third day, as he had commanded them. 13. And the king answered them hard things, forsaking the counsel of the ancients; 14. and he spoke according to the advice of the young men: My father laid a heavy yoke upon you, which I will make heavier: my father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions. 15. And he hearkened not to the entreaties of the people: for it was the will of God, that his word should be fulfilled, which he had spoken by the hand of Ahias the Silonite to Jeroboam the son of Nabat. 16. And all the people, when the king spoke the harder things, spoke thus to him: We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Isai. Return to thy dwellings, O Israel; and do thou, David, feed thy own house. And Israel went away to their dwellings. 17. But over the children of Israel that dwelt in the cities of Juda, Roboam reigned. 18. And king Roboam sent Aduram, who was over the tributes, and the children of Israel stoned him, and he died: and king Roboam made haste to get up into his chariot, and fled to Jerusalem. 19. And Israel revolted from the house of David unto this day.
I explained this chapter in 3 Kings XI. See what is said there.
Verse 15. For it was the will of God.—In Hebrew, it was a turning about from God, that is, it was caused by God. God wished to divide Israel and to take ten tribes from Solomon to chastise his idolatry, and to give them to Jeroboam, and therefore he permitted Roboam to answer the people so harshly and foolishly; whence he knew that the people would withdraw from Roboam and flee to Jeroboam, which was what he himself intended.
Roboam, wishing to subdue the ten tribes by arms, is forbidden by the prophet Semeias. Many priests, Levites, and faithful, leaving the idolater Jeroboam, move to Jerusalem. Roboam begets many children by many wives.