2 Chronicles 10:4

Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) Made . . . grievous . . . ease thou.—Made hard . . . lighten.

Now therefore.—And now. Kings and the Syriac here, “and thou now”—w’attah ‘attah: an assonance which the chronicler has avoided, at the expense of the proper emphasis, which lies on thou. (Some Hebrew MSS. and the Vulgate and Arabic read, and thou.) (Comp. 2Chronicles 10:10, and thou . . . lighten it.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

10:1-19 The ten tribes revolt from Rehoboam. - Moderate counsels are wisest and best. Gentleness will do what violence will not do. Most people like to be accosted mildly. Good words cost only a little self-denial, yet they purchase great things. No more needs to be done to ruin men, than to leave them to their own pride and passion. Thus, whatever are the devices of men, God is doing his own work by all, and fulfilling the word which he has spoken. No man can bequeath his prosperity to his heirs any more than his wisdom; though our children will generally be affected by our conduct, whether good or bad. Let us then seek those good things which will be our own for ever; and crave the blessing of God upon our posterity, in preference to wealth or worldly exaltation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The narrative of Kings (marginal reference) is repeated with only slight verbal differences.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. And they sent—rather, "for they had sent," &c. This is stated as the reason of Jeroboam's return from Egypt.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

See Chapter Introduction

Geneva Study Bible

Thy father {b} made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee.

(b) That is, handled us rudely, it seems that God hardened their hearts, so that they murmured without cause, which declares also the inconstancy of the people.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. ease thou somewhat … put upon us] R.V. make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter (as in 1 Kin.). The “service” complained of is described (in part) in 1 Kings 5:13-14 (no parallel in Chron.). Cp. 2 Chronicles 8:9 (= 1 Kings 9:22), note.

and we will serve thee] The people claim their ancient right to a voice in the appointment of a king; cp. 1 Samuel 11:14-15 (Saul) and 2 Samuel 5:1-3 (David).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - The grievous servitude... heavy yoke. These may, for conciseness' sake, be supposed to correspond with the naturally enough hated "forced labour" (1 Kings 4:6, 7; 1 Kings 5:13-16; 1 Kings 11:27, 28) and the burdensome "taxes" (1 Kings 4:19-28) which had not failed to become more odious to the people as familiarity with them grew. The refreshing New Testament contrast to all this (Matthew 11:28-30) will occur to every memory. 2 Chronicles 10:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This event is narrated in our chapter, except in so far as a few unessential differences in form are concerned, exactly as we have it in 1 Kings 12:1-19; so that we may refer for the exposition of it to the commentary on 1 Kings 12, where we have both treated the contents of this chapter, and have also discussed the deeper and more latent causes of this event, so important in its consequences.