King of Judah
c. 972 BCE–c. 913 BCE · Biblical era · Shechem
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Rechavam, son of King Shlomo and Naamah the Ammonite, became king at forty-one and reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem (1 Kings 14:21). He went to Shechem to be confirmed as king, and the northern tribes asked him to lighten the heavy burdens his father had laid on them. He rejected the advice of the elders, followed that of the young men around him, and promised to be harsher still (12:13-14). The northern tribes broke away, crying 'We have no portion in David!', and made Yeravam their king. Rechavam was left with Judah and Binyamin (12:16-21). The prophet Shemayah forbade him to go to war to win the north back (12:22-24). Chronicles says he fortified towns across Judah (2 Chronicles 11:5-6). In his fifth year Pharaoh Shishak of Egypt came against Jerusalem and carried off the treasures of the Temple and the palace (1 Kings 14:25-26). Scholars link this to a list of conquered places carved by Pharaoh Sheshonq I at Karnak. He was buried in the City of David (14:31). A Talmudic teaching in the name of Rabbi Yosei calls Shechem 'a place ordained for calamity' and names the division of David's kingdom among its examples (Sanhedrin 102a).
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Shechemשכם
What they did here
He went to Shechem to be acclaimed by all Israel. After his harsh reply, the northern tribes rejected the house of David (1 Kings 12:1-20).
About Shechem
Shechem, in the hill country of Samaria (near modern Nablus in the West Bank), is among the first places named in the Torah's account of the patriarchs: Abraham built an altar there upon entering Canaan, and Jacob purchased a parcel of land nearby. It later became a significant city in the period of the Israelite tribes.
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Sages whose lives overlapped with King of Judah’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
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The world in their lifetime
Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with King of Judah’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn from recorded birth and death years (reign years for rulers whose lives are undated); where only one end of a life is known, a span of about 70 years is assumed.
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