Bible Strands
1 Kings 14:30
There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their days.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator concludes the administrative record of Rehoboam’s reign, positioned immediately before noting his death and the accession of his son Abijam. This statement functions as a historical summary of the political reality at the end of his rule.
The words — מִלְחָמָה (mil.chamah) denotes the ongoing conflict, while כָּל־הַיָּמִים (kol-hayyamim) specifies that this hostility persisted continuously throughout their respective reigns.
The thread — The text links this prolonged hostility to Rehoboam’s initial military mobilization in 1 Kings 12:21, the divine prohibition against fighting in 1 Kings 12:24, and the continuation of the conflict under Abijam in 1 Kings 15:6. The record states the factual duration of the warfare without attributing the length to divine approval or punishment.
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that political division produces sustained conflict, regardless of royal succession or prophetic warnings. A reader must account for how human decisions to split the kingdom result in a permanent state of warfare between the northern and southern houses.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 12:21 And when Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized the whole house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—180,000 chosen warriors—to fight against the house of Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.
- 1 Kings 12:24 that this is what the LORD says: ‘You are not to go up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you must return home, for this is My doing.’” So they listened to the word of the LORD and turned back according to the word of the LORD.
- 1 Kings 15:6 And there was war between the houses of Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of Abijam’s life.
- 2 Chronicles 12:15 Now the acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the records of Shemaiah the Prophet and of Iddo the Seer concerning the genealogies? There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam throughout their days.