In the previous chapter we saw how Yeravam ben Nevat receives part of the kingdom through the prophecy of Achiyah the Shilonite, but not yet in actuality: Shlomo heard and saw that Yeravam was raising his hand against him, tried to pursue him, and Yeravam fled to Egypt. Our chapter shows how these things happen in practice, and how the kingdom of the house of David is torn in two.
וַיֵּלֶךְ רְחַבְעָם שְׁכֶם כִּי שְׁכֶם בָּא כׇל־יִשְׂרָאֵל לְהַמְלִיךְ אֹתוֹ׃ - Rechavam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
On the face of it there is something puzzling here: a king who is the son of a king does not need anointing and coronation, so why did they need to make him king here? The answer is that the people of Israel were not pleased with the heaviness of Shlomo's hand, and now, with his son Rechavam, they want to set new conditions and to begin determining the order of leadership. So they are essentially telling him: you do not automatically ascend to the throne here, we want to examine matters and see whether you are suitable for us as king.
And why not in Jerusalem? Jerusalem is Rechavam's home turf, the seat of the kingdom, and they did not want him to be strengthened by being among the men of his own tribe, the people who go along with him anyway. They came specifically to Shechem, which is the head of the house of Yosef and which had opposed the kingship of Yehudah, as it is written, "He rejected the tent of Yosef and chose David His servant." The tent of Yosef had a certain advantage, for Yosef had the status of the firstborn and took a double portion, two tribes. For this reason too Yeravam was chosen, since he is from the tribe of Ephraim, of the seed of Yosef.
The Midrash says: Shechem is set aside for calamity. In Shechem they violated Dinah, in Shechem they sold Yosef, and in Shechem the kingdom of the house of David was divided. Chazal come to teach us that Shechem is a place of judgments, a place designated for calamity. And I found a lovely point in this: the word "din" itself hints at these three things - dalet for Dinah, yud for Yosef, nun for the division of the kingdom (nechlekah). The three things that happened there are alluded to in the word "din," and this is the nature of Shechem.
וַיְהִי כִּשְׁמֹעַ יָרׇבְעָם בֶּן־נְבָט וְהוּא עוֹדֶנּוּ בְמִצְרַיִם אֲשֶׁר בָּרַח מִפְּנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה וַיֵּשֶׁב יָרׇבְעָם בְּמִצְרָיִם׃ - And it came to pass when Yeravam ben Nevat heard of it, while he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from before King Shlomo, that Yeravam remained in Egypt.
וַיִּשְׁלְחוּ וַיִּקְרְאוּ־לוֹ וַיָּבֹא יָרׇבְעָם וְכׇל־קְהַל יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיְדַבְּרוּ אֶל־רְחַבְעָם לֵאמֹר׃ - They sent and called him, and Yeravam and all the congregation of Israel came, and they spoke to Rechavam, saying.
Yeravam heard that Shlomo had died and that they were preparing to make Rechavam king, and yet "Yeravam remained in Egypt" - he did not hurry to come. And the people send and call him. The elders of the congregation saw in him the chief spokesman: he was the one who raised his hand against Shlomo, he was the first to have the boldness and the courage. And so they said: if there is anyone capable of speaking with Rechavam, it is Yeravam, a man who has no fear and who acts without dread.
The Malbim notes: in Divrei HaYamim it says "and Yeravam returned from Egypt" and afterward "and they sent and called for him," implying that he returned on his own and only afterward they called him; while here it implies that they sent and called for him while he was still in Egypt. He resolves this: at first, when he heard that Rechavam inherited the kingship, he did not return from Egypt, for he was certain that everyone would automatically accept Rechavam's reign as a king who is the son of a king, and therefore he had no reason to return. On the contrary, just as he had been in danger during Shlomo's days, so too and even more so during his son's days, for Rechavam was weaker than Shlomo and there was concern that he would pursue him in order to strengthen himself. But then they sent and called for him from Egypt and informed him that they did not intend to accept Rechavam as he was, but rather to make conditions with him. And this is the order of the verse here: "and Yeravam dwelt in Egypt" - and therefore they needed to send and call for him, since he was still in Egypt and was afraid to come; and after he arrived and they saw that Rechavam was causing problems, they said to him: come and you manage matters.
אָבִיךָ הִקְשָׁה אֶת־עֻלֵּנוּ וְאַתָּה עַתָּה הָקֵל מֵעֲבֹדַת אָבִיךָ הַקָּשָׁה וּמֵעֻלּוֹ הַכָּבֵד אֲשֶׁר־נָתַן עָלֵינוּ וְנַעַבְדֶךָּ׃ - Your father made our yoke harsh, and now you, lighten your father's harsh service and his heavy yoke that he placed upon us, and we will serve you.
There are two repetitions here: "your father made harsh" and "and now you," as well as "from your father's harsh service" and "from his heavy yoke." The Malbim explains: the yoke is what forces the ox to work. They place a yoke upon it and it cannot turn right or left, but is compelled to go along the path the plowman desires. This is a metaphor for one who dominates with a strong hand: he placed his yoke upon the people and they cannot move.
And there are two types of kingship. There is a kingship in which the king is subject to a certain degree to the people - not a democracy, since this is a monarchy, but he rules by the consent of the people, according to ministers who are the people's elected representatives and according to the laws of the state. He is limited, and there are those who can place restraints on him so that he does not do whatever his heart desires. Such was the kingship of Achashverosh: when he needed to decide what to do with Vashti, he turned to the seven ministers who saw the king's face, "according to the law what shall be done with Queen Vashti," and he did not act independently. And then Memuchan came and said to him: what is this? Take the authority for yourself, be an unlimited king. And in this Haman dug a pit for himself, for afterward Achashverosh had the authority to command that Haman be killed without asking the council of ministers. And there is a second type: absolute kingship, totalitarian rule, which does not depend on ministers nor on elected representatives nor on anything, whatever he wants - by his word one lives and by his word one dies, he determines everything.
Shlomo's kingship was an absolute kingship. He was not subject to ministers nor to anyone who was supposed to be consulted before each action, and he forced the people to perform his labor, and whoever did not do so he apportioned upon him harsh and bitter punishments, until the whole people was compelled by his word like a yoke upon the ox. But the beginning of the kingship was not so: Shlomo received the kingship from David, and with David the kingship was not so strong nor was there a harsh yoke. Rather, Shlomo, who grew strong to reign and had immense wisdom and greatly increased the food of his household and his horses and his military strength, through this they were all subject to him and he had the power to make the yoke heavy upon the people.
And this is what they say to him: "your father made our yoke harsh" - he made it harsh on his own, he did not receive this from us, we did not appoint ministers to give him such power, but he made our yoke harsh on his own, unlawfully. "And now you" - here are two things that have changed. Shlomo had an advantage: he ruled a very great kingdom, he ruled over the entire world, a household with abundant expenses, forty thousand horses just horses, and numerous household members whom he slaughtered to feed. And furthermore: he was already king, and they could not rebel against him, and only afterward did he make his yoke heavy, and as a king there was nothing to do but bow the head. But "you" - you are not Shlomo. You are not a great man like him, you do not need such a great table to feed numerous household members and many people who serve under your authority, and you do not need to maintain so many horses; you do not require such a great kingdom. And furthermore: "now" - you are not yet king, and we still have the possibility to make conditions, for we have not yet accepted your yoke upon us.
And from here the two requests: "lighten your father's harsh service" - the tax was unbearable, and we want clear conditions as to how much you can impose taxes upon us. "And his heavy yoke" - we want a limited kingdom and a compact government table, and not that it expand so much and the matter fall upon us. And the conclusion of the verse "that he placed upon us" - he placed this with a strong hand without asking us, and therefore we ask that you remove it from upon us, and then we will accept your kingship.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם לְכוּ־עֹד שְׁלֹשָׁה יָמִים וְשׁוּבוּ אֵלָי וַיֵּלְכוּ הָעָם׃ - And he said to them: go for another three days and return to me. And the people went.
He answers them wisely. Had he simply rejected them, it would have appeared as a complete rejection; and he wants them to truly return. And had they returned on their own after three days, it would have appeared as insolence - you saw that I did not answer you and you come again? Therefore he himself sends them away and asks them to return in another three days, in order to give them permission to return without a feeling of humiliation: "and return to me."
וַיִּוָּעַץ הַמֶּלֶךְ רְחַבְעָם אֶת־הַזְּקֵנִים אֲשֶׁר־הָיוּ עֹמְדִים אֶת־פְּנֵי שְׁלֹמֹה אָבִיו בִּהְיֹתוֹ חַי לֵאמֹר אֵיךְ אַתֶּם נוֹעָצִים לְהָשִׁיב אֶת־הָעָם־הַזֶּה דָּבָר׃ - And King Rechavam took counsel with the elders who had stood before Shlomo his father while he was alive, saying: How do you advise to answer this people?
Rechavam consults Shlomo's advisers. The Radak asks: what does "while he was alive" add? Did we think they stood before him after his death? Surely it would be enough to write "who had stood before Shlomo his father." Rather, it comes to say that they advised Rechavam exactly as they would have advised Shlomo, as though Shlomo were still living among us here: the counsel we would have given him is the very counsel we give you. Do not think that because the king has died and there is another king, anything has changed with us; we will do our work faithfully and give you sound counsel just as we gave your father.
The Malbim notes a precise point: here it is written "And King Rechavam took counsel," whereas until now he was called by his name alone. That is, he is saying: they call me Rechavam, but I am king. He did not see himself as subject to any deliberation at all; as far as he was concerned he was already king, and does a king need the people to crown him? Therefore his entire question was not whether to accept their counsel and thereby reign or not reign, for there is no such question at all, but rather: how do I do what I want. I want to rule an absolute rule, to continue my father's kingship as I saw it in my home, a vast government, a great table, many ministers, many horses, kingship as it should be, unlimited kingship. And you saw how Shlomo built his kingdom, so tell me how it is done.
According to this, "who had stood before Shlomo his father while he was alive" is understood as: you saw how Shlomo began his reign, how he managed to build such a great kingdom and rule so mightily. You were still there in his lifetime, so tell me the trick, how it is done, so that I too may do so.
This is the difference between "How do you advise" here, and "What do you advise" that he will later say to the young men. The question "what" is a question of what to do, whether to grant their request or not. The question "how" is not what to do, for what to do I already know, but how to carry out what I want: I am king and I will dominate them with unlimited authority, and you just tell me in what manner, whether to put them off with soft words or with hard words, but in the end I will do what I want.
From here comes also the order of the wording. There is a rule in the Holy Tongue: what appears first is the more important, and the secondary matters come after it. Here he says "How do you advise to answer this people a word", the "how" is the main point, and what the "word" is I already know. But with the young men the emphasis is reversed: "What do you advise that we answer this people", for the balloon has already deflated and he no longer comes with that immense confidence, and he understands that the people are rebelling against him and are not accepting, and therefore he wants to know what the word is that he should answer the people. Therefore also with the elders he did not add "who spoke to me saying, lighten the yoke," while with the young men he did add it.
וַיְדַבְּרוּ אֵלָיו לֵאמֹר אִם־הַיּוֹם תִּהְיֶה־עֶבֶד לָעָם הַזֶּה וַעֲבַדְתָּם וַעֲנִיתָם וְדִבַּרְתָּ אֲלֵיהֶם דְּבָרִים טוֹבִים וְהָיוּ לְךָ עֲבָדִים כׇּל־הַיָּמִים׃ - And they spoke to him saying: If today you will be a servant to this people and serve them and answer them and speak good words to them, then they will be your servants all the days.
The elders come and tell him: we truly want to help you. But understand, if you come as you think in your heart, resolved not to fulfill their words, they will rebel against you and will not accept your kingship at all, and whoever wants to swallow everything is left with nothing. We too are in favor of your having an absolute government without limitation, but we have counsel on how to achieve this.
For the other two paths are blocked: if you say to them "I accept, let us convene a council and set up a committee to deliberate what the king's power will be, what power the people will have, and how the ministers will be chosen by the people and represent them," in the end you will be limited by them forever, for there will be ministers who constrain you all the time and you will not be able to do as you wish. And if you say to them "No, I will rule an absolute rule," they will kick you off and will not accept your kingship.
Therefore the shrewd counsel, and see what tremendous wisdom there is here, for elders who stood before Shlomo, the wisest of all men, were themselves men of tremendous wisdom: approach them and say to them, I have thought about what you said and proposed, and there is no logic in your words. What do you want, limitations on the king? What servants and what king? I am your servant, I am here for you. Whatever you want and whatever you say, my whole aim is to bring your thought into being, to do good for the people and to lighten its burden. Just like a prime minister before an election campaign: I am for you, and do you think I came to impose something upon you? Heaven forbid, I am the dust of your feet.
And what will you gain by this? First of all you will soften the spirit of the people and they will calm down at once: they came with the feeling that someone was coming to sit upon them and choke them, and here is someone who comes from among the people and wants to help them. Furthermore, the moment the people hear this, they will no longer set up a committee nor constrain you nor sign clear agreements with you, for does one write agreements with someone who wants to give everything? And then your situation is better than the previous one: in the previous situation they would have constrained you with written agreements, and here there are no agreements at all. Then little by little you will go and seize the kingship, and once the kingship is firmly established in your hand, they are in your hands, you have rule and you have an army, no one can outmaneuver you, and you will rule an absolute rule and do whatever comes into your mind. But do not let them understand this; on the contrary, when you come to the people, tell them that you will be a servant to them and speak good words to them.
This is the meaning of "if today you will be a servant to this people" - only today! If today you give them this answer and are willing to be a servant to this people, "and serve them and answer them and speak good words to them" - then "they will be your servants forever," servants with no conditions and no reservations, and they will do exactly whatever you want and demand. And lest you say: they are trying to extract something from me, how can I say such things? No, only today, only until the vote, and afterward you consolidate your kingship and do whatever your heart desires.
וַיַּעֲזֹב אֶת־עֲצַת הַזְּקֵנִים אֲשֶׁר יְעָצֻהוּ וַיִּוָּעַץ אֶת־הַיְלָדִים אֲשֶׁר גָּדְלוּ אִתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר הָעֹמְדִים לְפָנָיו׃ - And he abandoned the counsel of the elders which they had counseled him, and took counsel with the youths who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
What is meant by "which they had counseled him," when it already said "the counsel of the elders"? Rather, as we explained: his question was not to receive advice on what to do but on how to do it. And it displeased him greatly that instead of advising him on what he asked, they were answering him on what he did not ask - he asked about the "how" and they answered about the "what." This is "which they had counseled him": I did not ask you for advice on these matters. And under no circumstances was he willing, not even for a short time, to accept a limited kingship, nor did such a thing ever enter his mind.
He therefore turned to the youths, and for several reasons. First, the elders held him in low regard: they say "he is but a boy, what does he understand," and so they dare to be bold and advise him on what he did not ask. But the young men would not have the audacity to say such things to him and advise against what he asked, but would answer only on what he asked. Second, "who had grown up with him" - they had grown up with him and he was one of their own, and they would not have the nerve to humiliate him. An elder has no problem telling a young man "lower your head a bit," for he has already seen everything and knows one must bow the head until the wrath passes. But the young man knows what it means to lower one's head, and he lacks this wisdom, and he does not dare to ask a young man like himself to lower his head - he says to himself: I would not have been willing to lower my head, why should I tell him to do so?
Third, "who stood before him" - the Malbim says: these youths he had appointed as ministers and advisors. And if the king would have a limited kingship, their power too would be limited; and if the king is all powerful, then the ministers and all of them would have firm dominion. He said to them: bear in mind that when the king's power declines, the power of his ministers beneath him automatically declines as well. And thus he reasoned that they would provide him with all sorts of advice and schemes on how to hold onto the kingship without humbling himself and without saying to the people "I will be a servant to you."
וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם מָה אַתֶּם נוֹעָצִים וְנָשִׁיב דָּבָר אֶת־הָעָם הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר דִּבְּרוּ אֵלַי לֵאמֹר הָקֵל מִן־הָעֹל אֲשֶׁר־נָתַן אָבִיךָ עָלֵינוּ׃ - And he said to them, What do you advise that we should answer this people, who spoke to me saying, Lighten the yoke that your father put upon us?
After he asked the elders and understood that he could not turn the people away empty handed, he realized there was a serious problem here and that he needed to throw them a bone. Therefore now "what do you advise" - this is no longer a question about the "how" but about the "what": I understand that I must be flexible about something, tell me what. And "that we should answer" in the plural - you, the young men surrounding me, you are the ministers and advisors who will be under my kingship, and bear in mind that if I lower my standing I lower yours as well, and therefore the answer must come from all of us, that you too are partners in the leadership here. And "answer this people" - here the essence is the matter itself, not just the form of the reply: whether truly to rule with absolute power or whether it is worthwhile to concede something. And the reason for this: "who spoke to me saying" - I have come to see that the matter truly troubles them.
וַיְדַבְּרוּ אֵלָיו הַיְלָדִים אֲשֶׁר גָּדְלוּ אִתּוֹ לֵאמֹר כֹּה־תֹאמַר לָעָם הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר דִּבְּרוּ אֵלֶיךָ לֵאמֹר אָבִיךָ הִכְבִּיד אֶת־עֻלֵּנוּ וְאַתָּה הָקֵל מֵעָלֵינוּ כֹּה תְּדַבֵּר אֲלֵיהֶם קׇטׇנִּי עָבָה מִמׇּתְנֵי אָבִי׃ - And the youths who had grown up with him spoke to him saying, So shall you say to this people who spoke to you saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, and you lighten it from upon us; so shall you speak to them, My little finger is thicker than my father's loins.
The verse is precise in saying "the youths who had grown up with him": that is, what they answered him did not come from the standpoint of their standing before him, from position and importance and from their being men of counsel, but rather all their advice stemmed from the fact that they had grown up with him - that he was one of their own, their crowd. For if they had been men of intellect and men of counsel, this surely would not have been their answer; and since they grew up with him in foolishness and lack of understanding, they gave him an answer fitting for foolish men.
And what is the content of their words? The people claim, "Your father made our yoke heavy," and he did so unlawfully, for David did not do such a thing to us; rather, Shlomo seized rulership for himself and made our yoke heavy. Say to them: "My little one is thicker than my father's loins." On a simple level this sounds like a great disparagement of his father: my little finger is bigger than my father's loins. But the Malbim says: Heaven forbid, he did not disparage his father. "My little one is thick" - why? Because its source is from my father's loins. That is to say: my father rose to reign by force and began that kingship from himself, and even so he succeeded in ruling and you were subject to his authority. And I, who am already the second generation, do not need to begin rulership by force but only to continue what he began. Therefore I can do with my little finger what my father did with his loins: if my father had to exert himself and invest so much to build an absolute kingdom that he did not receive from his father, I do it with my little finger, for I received it from very broad loins, and with such broad loins one can accomplish it even with a little finger. I have a right to this rulership by virtue of my father's loins.
One should note carefully the change of wording: "Thus shall you say to this people" and afterward "Thus shall you speak to them." The Malbim explains: saying is an absolute matter, while speaking is the substantiation and explanation of the matter. Just as a person says, "I told him to do such and such," and afterward, "I spoke with him and explained to him why I need this." The saying is absolute - I said it, period, and my will shall be done; and the speaking that follows comes to provide an explanation, so that he will understand why it must be specifically in this way.
וְעַתָּה אָבִי הֶעְמִיס עֲלֵיכֶם עֹל כָּבֵד וַאֲנִי אוֹסִיף עַל־עֻלְּכֶם אָבִי יִסַּר אֶתְכֶם בַּשּׁוֹטִים וַאֲנִי אֲיַסֵּר אֶתְכֶם בָּעַקְרַבִּים׃ - And now, my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
And this is the speaking, the explanation that follows the absolute saying. My father laid upon you - he is the one who began to lay it on, and he had the power to introduce a heavy yoke that had not existed before; all the more so I, who have such a right, will add to your yoke, for it is easier to add to the yoke than to introduce it from the start. And if my father had the power to compel you with whips, all the more so I will have the power to compel you with scorpions - a whip that has thorns in it. For if my father, who was the beginning of the kingdom, had the power to compel you, I, who merely continue along a paved road, all the more so have the power to chastise you even more than he.
וַיָּבוֹ יָרׇבְעָם וְכׇל־הָעָם אֶל־רְחַבְעָם בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר הַמֶּלֶךְ לֵאמֹר שׁוּבוּ אֵלַי בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי׃ - And Yaravam and all the people came to Rechavam on the third day, as the king had spoken, saying, "Return to me on the third day."
The verse emphasizes "as the king had spoken" - that there is no room here for anger, for you yourself told them to return on the third day. And they return to him and ask: what has his honor decided?
וַיַּעַן הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת־הָעָם קָשָׁה וַיַּעֲזֹב אֶת־עֲצַת הַזְּקֵנִים אֲשֶׁר יְעָצֻהוּ׃ - And the king answered the people harshly, and abandoned the counsel of the elders that they had given him.
The truth is that both the counsel of the elders and the counsel of the youths led to the same point: that an absolute rulership would reign. That was the bottom line in both, and the argument was only about the way - how to arrive there. The elders told him to go at first along a soft path and ultimately to arrive at absolute rulership, while the young men told him to go along a harsh path until he would obtain absolute rulership. Therefore it says that he abandoned the counsel of the elders that they had given him - the soft path at the start - and by this he caused the anger.
And yet he still had an escape. Even if he did not entirely follow the counsel of the elders, he could have told them: bring a document, let us draft it, what are your demands, and we will see what can be done. But even this he did not do.
וַיְדַבֵּר אֲלֵיהֶם כַּעֲצַת הַיְלָדִים לֵאמֹר אָבִי הִכְבִּיד אֶת־עֻלְּכֶם וַאֲנִי אֹסִיף עַל־עֻלְּכֶם אָבִי יִסַּר אֶתְכֶם בַּשּׁוֹטִים וַאֲנִי אֲיַסֵּר אֶתְכֶם בָּעַקְרַבִּים׃ - And he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, "My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."
In other words: not only do I not intend to grant your request, and not only do I not intend to sit and negotiate with you over your demands, but even more than that - what you have known until today was a summer camp compared to what will be from now on. My father chastised you with whips and I with scorpions, a whip with thorns in it whose pain is immeasurably greater than an ordinary whip. Everything that was until today will be as nothing compared to what will be from here on.
וְלֹא־שָׁמַע הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל־הָעָם כִּי־הָיְתָה סִבָּה מֵעִם יְהֹוָה לְמַעַן הָקִים אֶת־דְּבָרוֹ אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְהֹוָה בְּיַד אֲחִיָּה הַשִּׁילֹנִי אֶל־יָרׇבְעָם בֶּן־נְבָט׃ - And the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of events from Hashem, in order to fulfill His word that Hashem spoke through Achiyah the Shilonite to Yeravam ben Nevat.
Whoever hears these words thinks to himself that Rechavam was a complete fool, and the prophet comes and says: do not be mistaken. As the Metzudat David puts it: "It was not because of the greatness of his foolishness that he answered as he did, for it was from Hashem." The answer he gave was against reason and logic, and it was the Holy One, blessed be He, who thwarted the counsel of the wise and turned back their thinking. And why? Because there is a prophecy - that same prophecy spoken through Achiyah the Shilonite to Yeravam ben Nevat, that he would receive a large portion of the kingdom. And in order to fulfill His word, He had to create the rupture, and therefore He allowed Rechavam in his foolishness to accept the words of the youths, and from this came the split in the kingdom that the Holy One, blessed be He, desired.
And what the verse emphasizes, "that Hashem spoke through Achiyah the Shilonite to Yeravam ben Nevat," comes to tell us that it was impossible to change this. For we hold a general principle: an evil decree can be annulled through prayer, repentance, charity, a change of deeds, and one of the ways our Sages enumerate, but a good decree is never annulled. "The Holy One, blessed be He, does not retract from a good thing He has said" except for one time, as the Gemara says in tractate Shabbat. And had there been only an evil decree here, perhaps it could still have been annulled; but here Hashem had already granted the kingdom to someone else, and this is a good decree for Yeravam, and when something is good for someone, the decree is not annulled, and whatever Rechavam might do would not help.
And so we saw too with Shmuel and Shaul: "Hashem has torn away your kingdom," and Shaul still begged and pleaded - I have sinned, I acted foolishly, I am repenting, come and pray with me. But "and He has given it to your fellow who is better than you" - it is over, the kingdom has already been given to someone else, and since there is here someone who receives a good thing, this can no longer be annulled and set aside.
And so they explain it too with Moshe Rabbeinu. When Yehoshua came and told him that Eldad and Meidad were prophesying "Moshe is dying," Moshe was not so alarmed, for he said: Moshe is dying - I will annul this through prayer, as we saw later, "And I pleaded with Hashem." Until today Hashem listened to my prayers and did not turn me away empty, and all the more so in a matter concerning myself, surely He would accept my prayer and I would be able to annul the decree. But he did not let Yehoshua finish, for the prophecy was "Moshe is dying and Yehoshua is bringing them in," and had he heard "Yehoshua is bringing them in" he would not have been so calm, for there is a good decree here - that Yehoshua would rule, and once Hashem handed the good decree to Yehoshua, there is here someone who receives good, and this can no longer be annulled.
וַיַּרְא כׇּל־יִשְׂרָאֵל כִּי לֹא־שָׁמַע הַמֶּלֶךְ אֲלֵהֶם וַיָּשִׁבוּ הָעָם אֶת־הַמֶּלֶךְ דָּבָר לֵאמֹר מַה־לָּנוּ חֵלֶק בְּדָוִד וְלֹא־נַחֲלָה בְּבֶן־יִשַׁי לְאֹהָלֶיךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל עַתָּה רְאֵה בֵיתְךָ דָּוִד וַיֵּלֶךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל לְאֹהָלָיו׃ - And all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, and the people answered the king, saying: What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Yishai. To your tents, O Israel! Now look to your own house, David. And Israel went to their tents.
Why does it say "and all Israel saw"? The Malbim says: had Rechavam followed the counsel of the elders and said to them, "I am your servant, I am here to serve you," only part of Israel would have been wise enough to grasp that the king did not really listen to them - they would have caught the trick and the cleverness and understood that all this generosity was only so that we would not make you sign documents. But most of Israel would have enjoyed and been pleased by the soft and pleasant words falling on their ears and would have accepted him as king. However, with the harsh answer he gave them here, all Israel grasped that he was not willing to come toward them in anything, and therefore "all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them."
And what is their claim? The Malbim says: usually when a people chooses a king for itself, this stems from one of two matters. Either because this is the royal house - his father and grandfather and great-grandfather, generations upon generations of kings, and I want him to rule as a continuation of the dynasty. Or because, although he is not a continuation of a dynasty, we will benefit from crowning him - he is from our tribe and he will help us, as they crowned Avimelech, who went and murdered his seventy brothers, because they saw they would benefit from him.
And concerning these two, they come and say: "What share have we in David" - in David himself we have no share, he is not from our tribe, and what benefit will come to us from your reign? Why do I need you, Rechavam, what will I gain from you, what interest do I have? And should you say a royal dynasty - "we have no inheritance in the son of Yishai": was David the son of a king? David was the son of Yishai, and Yishai was a commoner, that is, an ordinary man who was not a king, and although he was great and mighty in Torah, he was not a king. If so, there is no dynasty here, for the kingship did not come to David as an inheritance from Yishai. And if there is no dynasty and I gain no benefit from you, why should I crown you?
"To your tents, Israel" - let each man go and return to his own home. Their intent was: we abandoned our own tents in order to build the king's tent, in order to build your house, my lord the king, for the royal house was built upon the ruins of the tents of Israel. When I set aside my own will and rule, it is in order to accept your rule. But now that we have neither portion in you nor inheritance in you, let each man go and build his own tent and his own house, and not go to build houses of others from which we gain no benefit at all.
And "now see to your house, David" - Rashi explains their intent: the house will be yours alone. The Beit HaMikdash will remain belonging only to you. You wanted to make a house that would belong to all of Israel, and now that there is a king here who wishes to split the kingdom, see to your house, David, the house will be only yours, and we will have no portion in it. And another explanation: see, you, Rechavam, descendant of David, in the language of our street: that is it, go home. You become like any ordinary man, for every man has his home and returns to his home and has no rule over others. "See to your house, David" - go back to your home, you have no business in kingship, and we do not accept you as king.
As for gratitude, the people say: we are not obligated in it. Gratitude applies when two possibilities stand before you, and a person says: I will go to this one because I owe him gratitude. But if I go to him and he strikes me and torments me, shall I go to him out of gratitude? Where someone wishes to cause us pain and suffering and to plunder our money, there is no obligation of gratitude to continue and suffer. And if with Shlomo himself there was still room for a claim of gratitude, toward the grandson, Rechavam, what gratitude do we owe him?
וּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּעָרֵי יְהוּדָה וַיִּמְלֹךְ עֲלֵיהֶם רְחַבְעָם׃ - But the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Yehudah, Rechavam reigned over them.
They separated from him, each man went to his tent, and note: they still do not accept Yerav'am as king, and meanwhile they have no king at all. And therefore "and Rechavam reigned over them" - only over those dwelling in the cities of Yehudah, and the rest have no king.
וַיִּשְׁלַח הַמֶּלֶךְ רְחַבְעָם אֶת־אֲדֹרָם אֲשֶׁר עַל־הַמַּס וַיִּרְגְּמוּ כׇל־יִשְׂרָאֵל בּוֹ אֶבֶן וַיָּמֹת וְהַמֶּלֶךְ רְחַבְעָם הִתְאַמֵּץ לַעֲלוֹת בַּמֶּרְכָּבָה לָנוּס יְרוּשָׁלָיִם׃ - And King Rechavam sent Adoram, who was over the tax, and all Israel stoned him with stones so that he died, and King Rechavam made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Yerushalayim.
The Malbim says in a tone of astonishment: in this Esav acted wisely. You see that the situation is explosive and the people are seething, and what do you do? You go and wave a red sheet before them. And who was the red sheet? Adoram who was over the tax. People would see him and be filled with dread: this is the one who comes to collect tax from us all the time, another tax and another tax, for this was their whole complaint. Let the matter calm down, give the people some breathing space, and instead he comes and provokes them and sends to them of all people him. And when they saw him, this was the straw that broke the camel's back: they grew embittered and stoned him with a stone, and even the king was forced to flee, and they nearly stoned him too.
And what did he think? He thought that in order to hold onto the kingship, the taxes are the strong point, this is the yoke upon their necks, and I will come and show them that I collect taxes as before. But he did not understand that this is no longer merely a yoke upon their necks, but rather a raging ox that has thrown off the yoke from upon itself, and one who is like that is capable of anything. Therefore they stoned Adoram with a stone, and the king made haste to mount his chariot to flee to Yerushalayim, for otherwise they would have killed him too.
וַיִּפְשְׁעוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּבֵית דָּוִד עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה׃ - And Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.
As a result of this, what had been a local revolt turned into a total rebellion. "Vayifsheu" - a complete breach and rebellion, in which they do not accept his kingship at all and do not accept his authority "unto this day," for these tribes went into exile and never returned, and there was never a situation in which they came back and accepted upon themselves the kingship of the House of David.
In this chapter we learned how the kingdom was torn apart. The people came specifically to Shechem, a place destined for calamity, in order to set conditions for a new king who would not be like his father, and their request was to lighten the tax and the yoke of an absolute monarchy that had been created by force. Rechavam did not ask at all "what to do" but rather "how to do" what he had already decided, and therefore he rejected the counsel of the elders, which also led to an absolute government but through a gentle and gradual approach, and he accepted the counsel of the youths, who had grown up with him and did not take counsel from wisdom, to answer "My little finger is thicker than my father's loins" and to add whips and scorpions. And the prophet reveals to us that this was not mere foolishness: "For it was a turn of events from Hashem," to fulfill the word of the prophecy spoken through Achiyah the Shilonite to Yaravam, and a good decree is not annulled. When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, they claimed that they had in him neither portion nor inheritance nor benefit, they went to their tents, and Rechavam reigned only over the inhabitants of the cities of Yehudah. And the sending of Adoram, who was over the tax, to a seething people turned the local revolt into a full rebellion against the House of David unto this day.