If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord
at Jerusalem
In the temple there, three times in the year, which all the males were obliged to, besides other times, when they had occasion to offer sacrifice, which they might do nowhere else:
then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even
unto Rehoboam king of Judah;
being drawn by the magnificence of the temple, the beauty and order of worship in it, the holiness of the place, and the grandeur of the royal court, and the persuasions of the priests and prophets of the Lord, both to keep to the service of the Lord, and to obey their lawful sovereign; and besides, they might be in fear they should be taken up and punished as traitors, and therefore would choose to submit to Rehoboam, that they might have the liberty of sacrificing without fear; Jeroboam seems conscious himself that Rehoboam was their liege lord and lawful king:
and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah;
his fears ran so high, that he should not only lose his kingdom, but his life, unless some step was taken to make an alteration in religious worship.