Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 10:1
Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator reports Rehoboam’s journey to Shechem at the precise moment the northern tribes assemble there to formally crown him. This event follows Solomon’s death and marks the initial phase of the kingdom’s political division.
The words — The verb וַיֵּלֶךְ (va.ye.lekh) literally means "and he went," indicating a completed movement. The noun שְׁכֶם (she.khem) names the city chosen for the coronation assembly.
The thread — Shechem functions repeatedly as a gathering place for covenant and tribal assembly, appearing in Genesis 12:6, Genesis 37:12, and Joshua 20:7.
Why it lands — The text records a political ceremony without evaluation, leaving the reader to note how tribal allegiance is activated through location and collective action. It requires attention to the structural mechanics of power transfer rather than moral judgment.
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 Rehoboam went to Shechem: for to Shechem were all Israel come to make him king.
Cross-references
- Genesis 12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the Oak of Moreh at Shechem. And at that time the Canaanites were in the land.
- Genesis 37:12 Some time later, Joseph’s brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks near Shechem.
- Joshua 20:7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.
- Joshua 24:1 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges, and officers of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
- Judges 9:1 Now Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to his mother’s brothers at Shechem and said to them and to all the clan of his mother,
- 1 Kings 4:1 So King Solomon ruled over Israel,
- 1 Kings 12:1 Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king.
- 1 Chronicles 3:10 Solomon’s son was Rehoboam: Abijah was his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,
- 1 Chronicles 12:38 All these men of war, arrayed for battle, came to Hebron fully determined to make David king over all Israel. And all the rest of the Israelites were of one mind to make David king.
- Matthew 1:7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa.