1 Kings 12
12
The Kingdom Divided
1Then Rehoboam#2Ch 10:1–19 went to Shechem,#Jos 12:1; 1Kg 12:25 for all Israel#2Sm 20:1–2; 1Kg 12:16–17 had gone to Shechem to make him king.#Jdg 9:6 2When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it, he stayed in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon’s presence.#1Kg 11:40 Jeroboam stayed in Egypt.#12:2 LXX, Vg read Jeroboam returned from Egypt; 2Ch 10:2 3But they summoned him, and Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam: 4“Your father made our yoke harsh.#1Sm 8:11–18 You, therefore, lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us,#1Kg 4:20 and we will serve you.”
5Rehoboam replied, “Go away for three days and then return to me.” So the people left. 6Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders#1Kg 4:2–19 who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to this people?”
7They replied, “Today if you will be a servant to this people and serve them, and if you respond to them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”#2Ch 10:7; Pr 15:1
8But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him#Lv 19:32 and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and attended him. 9He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to this people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10The young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us! ’ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! 11Although my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.’”#12:11 Lit with scorpions, also in v. 14#Ex 1:13–14; 5:6–9; 2Ch 10:10–11
12So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had ordered: “Return to me on the third day.” 13Then the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice the elders had given him 14and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.”
15The king did not listen to the people, because this turn of events came from the Lord#Dt 2:30; 1Kg 12:24 to carry out his word, which the Lord had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.#1Kg 11:29–39 16When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered him:
What portion do we have in David?
We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse.#2Sm 5:3,5
Israel, return to your tents;
David, now look after your own house!#2Sm 20:1
So Israel went to their tents, 17but Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.#1Kg 11:13,36
18Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram,#12:18 LXX reads Adoniram; 1Kg 4:6; 5:14#2Sm 20:24; 1Kg 4:6; 5:14 who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to get into the chariot and flee to Jerusalem. 19Israel is still in rebellion against the house of David today.#2Kg 21:17
Rehoboam in Jerusalem
20When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back,#1Kg 12:3 they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel.#1Kg 11:11 No one followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.#1Kg 11:13,36 21When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem,#2Ch 11:1–4 he mobilized one hundred eighty thousand fit young soldiers from the entire house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin#2Sm 19:17 to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. 22But the word of God came to Shemaiah,#2Ch 12:5,7 the man of God: 23“Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 24‘This is what the Lord says: You are not to march up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you return home, for this situation is from me.’”#1Kg 12:15
So they listened to the word of the Lord and went back according to the word of the Lord.
Jeroboam’s Idolatry
25Jeroboam built Shechem#Gn 12:6; Jdg 9:6; 1Kg 12:1 in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built Penuel.#Jdg 8:8–9,17 26Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom might now return to the house of David.#1Kg 11:38 27If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem,#Dt 12:5–7,14 the heart of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and go back to the king of Judah.” 28So the king sought advice.
Then he made two golden calves, and he said to the people, “Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here are your gods#12:28 Or here is your God, or here is your god who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”#Ex 32:4,8 29He set up one in Bethel,#Gn 12:8; 28:19 and put the other in Dan.#Jdg 18:29 30This led to sin;#1Kg 13:34; 2Kg 17:21 the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan.#12:30 Some LXX mss read calves to Bethel and the other to Dan#Ex 20:4–6; Dt 5:8–10
31Jeroboam also made shrines#12:31 Lit a house on the high places#1Kg 3:3; 11:7 and made priests from the ranks of the people who were not Levites.#2Kg 17:32 32Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival in Judah.#Lv 23:33–34; Nm 29:12 He offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had made. He also stationed the priests in Bethel for the high places he had made.#2Ch 11:15 33He offered sacrifices on#12:33 Or He went up to the altar he had set up in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. He chose this month on his own.#Nm 15:39 He made a festival for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.#2Kg 23:15
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
1 Kings 12
12
The Northern Tribes Revolt
1Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had gathered to make him king. 2When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of this, he returned from Egypt,#12:2 As in Greek version and Latin Vulgate (see also 2 Chr 10:2); Hebrew reads he lived in Egypt. for he had fled to Egypt to escape from King Solomon. 3The leaders of Israel summoned him, and Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel went to speak with Rehoboam. 4“Your father was a hard master,” they said. “Lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes that your father imposed on us. Then we will be your loyal subjects.”
5Rehoboam replied, “Give me three days to think this over. Then come back for my answer.” So the people went away.
6Then King Rehoboam discussed the matter with the older men who had counseled his father, Solomon. “What is your advice?” he asked. “How should I answer these people?”
7The older counselors replied, “If you are willing to be a servant to these people today and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects.”
8But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers. 9“What is your advice?” he asked them. “How should I answer these people who want me to lighten the burdens imposed by my father?”
10The young men replied, “This is what you should tell those complainers who want a lighter burden: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! 11Yes, my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I’m going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!’”
12Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to hear Rehoboam’s decision, just as the king had ordered. 13But Rehoboam spoke harshly to the people, for he rejected the advice of the older counselors 14and followed the counsel of his younger advisers. He told the people, “My father laid heavy burdens on you, but I’m going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!”
15So the king paid no attention to the people. This turn of events was the will of the Lord, for it fulfilled the Lord’s message to Jeroboam son of Nebat through the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh.
16When all Israel realized that the king had refused to listen to them, they responded,
“Down with the dynasty of David!
We have no interest in the son of Jesse.
Back to your homes, O Israel!
Look out for your own house, O David!”
So the people of Israel returned home. 17But Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.
18King Rehoboam sent Adoniram,#12:18 As in some Greek manuscripts and Syriac version (see also 4:6; 5:14); Hebrew reads Adoram. who was in charge of forced labor, to restore order, but the people of Israel stoned him to death. When this news reached King Rehoboam, he quickly jumped into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem. 19And to this day the northern tribes of Israel have refused to be ruled by a descendant of David.
20When the people of Israel learned of Jeroboam’s return from Egypt, they called an assembly and made him king over all Israel. So only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the family of David.
Shemaiah’s Prophecy
21When Rehoboam arrived at Jerusalem, he mobilized the men of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—180,000 select troops—to fight against the men of Israel and to restore the kingdom to himself.
22But God said to Shemaiah, the man of God, 23“Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the people of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 24‘This is what the Lord says: Do not fight against your relatives, the Israelites. Go back home, for what has happened is my doing!’” So they obeyed the message of the Lord and went home, as the Lord had commanded.
Jeroboam Makes Gold Calves
25Jeroboam then built up the city of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and it became his capital. Later he went and built up the town of Peniel.#12:25 Hebrew Penuel, a variant spelling of Peniel.
26Jeroboam thought to himself, “Unless I am careful, the kingdom will return to the dynasty of David. 27When these people go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Temple of the Lord, they will again give their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and make him their king instead.”
28So on the advice of his counselors, the king made two gold calves. He said to the people,#12:28 Hebrew to them. “It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem. Look, Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!”
29He placed these calf idols in Bethel and in Dan—at either end of his kingdom. 30But this became a great sin, for the people worshiped the idols, traveling as far north as Dan to worship the one there.
31Jeroboam also erected buildings at the pagan shrines and ordained priests from the common people—those who were not from the priestly tribe of Levi. 32And Jeroboam instituted a religious festival in Bethel, held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month,#12:32 This day of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred in late October or early November, exactly one month after the annual Festival of Shelters in Judah (see Lev 23:34). in imitation of the annual Festival of Shelters in Judah. There at Bethel he himself offered sacrifices to the calves he had made, and he appointed priests for the pagan shrines he had made. 33So on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a day that he himself had designated, Jeroboam offered sacrifices on the altar at Bethel. He instituted a religious festival for Israel, and he went up to the altar to burn incense.
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