Research

Published March 25, 2020 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hello,

My friend asked me to do some research on Rehoboam for him because he wanted to know the backstory of the name/history, and I figured I would forward it to you as well…great show this week.

Derek Fuckin’ English

Rehoboam in bible lore

Not much is known about Rehoboam outside of hardcore religious fanatics. I did some research about the parable of Rehoboam from the Old Testament:

Rehoboam was the son and heir to Solomon. Upon ascending to the throne, he was approached by his subjects. Their request was regarding overwork and mistreatment by his father, Solomon. Rehoboam told them that he needed 3 days to decide. He consulted his father’s advisors first, and their answer was to treat the people with more respect, promising in return that he would be rewarded with loyalty and respect in turn (“you can catch more flies with honey” approach). He then spoke to his friends that he grew up with. Their response was quite different-they advised that he be even more strict and rule with fear and oppression.

He called his people together and announced that his reign would be even more oppressive than Solomon’s. Throughout the years, his nation would become more and more divided, until a complete division came about. Rehoboam only retained a small portion of the Jewish people, while Jeroboam took charge of 10 tribes. Until this time, Jeroboam had been in hiding from Solomon in Egypt. Rehoboam ruled for 17 years, all of which were marked by civil war and unrest. Because of this, Egypt would end up taking many cities by force as the division made Judah much weaker than it had been when it was united. The nation was never united as it was previous to this.

So, here’s what we know:

Rehoboam made a decision, albeit a poor one, based on advice he received. He did not choose based on anger or emotion, but through the people he himself trusted.

He was selfish and cruel, and after the decision was made would not backtrack. In fact, he doubled down and threatened to attack Jeroboam in an attempt to reunite his nation.

Due to the civil unrest, it allowed a neighboring state to invade and conquer parts of his nation.

He ruled through fear, punishing with harder work and taxation.

Since everything in Westworld has to be connected to a philosophical metaphor of some type (a hat can never be just a hat), the name Rehoboam was chosen for the all-knowing AI for a reason. Here’s my take- Solomon, the original AI, must have been flawed for it to be replaced. The new AI, Rehoboam, may have taken its place with a harsher protocol….meaning it will govern people and make decisions for them based upon the good of the nation as a whole, even if that means the individual’s quality of life depreciates. Since the nation was divided in the Bible parable, there may be several AI’s governing humanity in the show, Rehoboam being in charge of one sect of that population. Rehoboam was consumed by the idea of uniting Israel again, to the point that he was ready to attack Jeroboam’s tribes in order to keep his nation together (although that never happened on a grand scale)…regardless, his reign was tyrannical and marred by unrest and civil strife, but in a Butterfly Effect type of way, may have been prevented simply by following one set of advice vs another. During the dispute, a neighboring competitor was able to swoop in and attack due to his focus being on reuniting the people he had lost…could this mean a competitive corporation attacking Incite or possibly taking over as they focus on stopping Dolores and her group? Or, is she the outside attacker, being that Incite is focused too heavily on Delos and what they are up to?

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