Adoniram

Adoniram (meaning my Lord is most high) was the son of Abda and the official placed over the forced labor (the tribute of conscripted workers) under both David and Solomon. He administered the levy of 30,000 Israelites whom Solomon sent in monthly rotations to Lebanon to cut timber for Hiram of Tyre, as well as the vast labor force employed in the temple and palace construction projects. His name appears also as Adoram and Hadoram in variant passages.

Adoniram's career ended in violence when Rehoboam sent him to the northern tribes after the division of the kingdom — precisely the man associated with the burden of forced labor — an extraordinarily ill-judged choice. The northern tribes stoned him to death, and Rehoboam fled to Jerusalem in his chariot. Adoniram's murder thus marks the point of no return in the political rupture between north and south, and the narrative underscores the fatal miscalculation of Rehoboam's advisors in how they managed the transition of power.