1 Kings 14:21

Rehoboam rules Judah

21 Rehoboam, Solomon's son, ruled over Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king. He ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD chose from among all the tribes of Israel to set his name. Rehoboam's mother's name was Naamah from Ammon.

1 Kings 14:21 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 14:21

And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah
Over the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, when Jeroboam reigned over the other ten:

Rehoboam [was] forty one years old when he began to reign;
being born one year before his father Solomon began to reign, and so it might have been expected he would have begun his reign more wisely than he did:

and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem;
not half so long as his father and grandfather, being neither so wise nor so good a prince as either of them:

the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to
put his name there;
to have a temple built for him, and his worship carried on in it; which was an aggravation of the sin of Rehoboam, that he should reign in such a place, and yet be guilty of the crimes he was; the three first years he reigned well, but afterwards forsook the law of the Lord, ( 2 Chronicles 11:17 ) ( 12:1 )

and his mother's name was Naamah an Ammonitess;
and which is observed again, ( 1 Kings 14:31 ) , she being the instrument of drawing him into idolatry, which it is very probable she practised in the days of Solomon, ( 1 Kings 11:5 1 Kings 11:7 ) .

1 Kings 14:21 In-Context

19 The rest of Jeroboam's deeds—how he fought and how he ruled—are written in the official records of Israel's kings.

20 Jeroboam ruled twenty-two years and he lay down with his ancestors. His son Nadab succeeded him as king.

21 Rehoboam, Solomon's son, ruled over Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king. He ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD chose from among all the tribes of Israel to set his name. Rehoboam's mother's name was Naamah from Ammon.

22 Judah did evil in the LORD's eyes. The sins they committed made the LORD angrier than anything their ancestors had done.

23 They also built shrines, standing stones, and sacred poles on top of every high hill and under every green tree.