1 Kings 12:16-32

The Kingdom Divided

16 And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, "What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. ¹To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David." So Israel went to their tents.

17 But Rehoboam reigned over ²the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah.

18 Then King Rehoboam sent ³Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

19 ⁴So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

20 And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but ⁵the tribe of Judah only.

21 ⁶When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

22 But the word of God came to ⁷Shemaiah the man of God:

23 "Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the ⁸rest of the people,

24 'Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, ⁹for this thing is from me.'" So they listened to the word of the LORD and went home again, according to the word of the LORD.

Jeroboam's Golden Calves

25 Then Jeroboam ¹⁰built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and ¹¹built Penuel.

26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David.

27 If this people ¹²go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah."

28 So the king took counsel and ¹³made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. ¹⁴Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt."

29 And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.

30 Then ¹⁵this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one.^[a]

31 He also made ¹⁶temples on high places and ¹⁷appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites.

32 And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like ¹⁸the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel ¹⁹the priests of the high places that he had made.

1 Kings 12:16-32 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 12

This chapter relates Rehoboam's going to Shechem to be made king, and Jeroboam's return from Egypt, 1Ki 12:1,2, the people's request to Rehoboam to be eased of their taxes, as the condition of making him king, 1Ki 12:3,4, his answer to them, after three days, having had the advice both of the old and young men, which latter he followed, and gave in a rough answer, 1Ki 12:5-15, upon which ten tribes revolted from him, and two abode by him, 1Ki 12:16-20, wherefore he meditated a war against the ten tribes, but was forbid by the Lord to engage in it, 1Ki 12:21-24 and Jeroboam, in order to establish his kingdom, and preserve the people from a revolt to the house of David, because of the temple worship at Jerusalem, devised a scheme of idolatrous worship in his own territories, 1Ki 12:25-33.

Cross References

• 1. See 2 Samuel 20:1
• 2. 1 Kings 11:13, 36
• 3. 1 Kings 4:6; 1 Kings 5:14
• 4. 2 Kings 17:21
• 5. 1 Kings 11:13, 32, 36
• 6. For ver. 21-24, see 2 Chronicles 11:1-4
• 7. 2 Chr. 12:5, 7, 15
• 8. [ver. 17]
• 9. ver. 15
• 10. [Judges 9:45]
• 11. [Judges 8:17]
• 12. Deuteronomy 12:5, 6
• 13. 2 Kings 10:29; 2 Kings 17:16; 2 Chronicles 11:15; 2 Chronicles 13:8; Hosea 8:5, 6; Hosea 10:5; Hosea 13:2; [1 Kings 14:9]
• 14. [Exodus 32:4, 8]
• 15. 1 Kings 13:34; 2 Kings 17:21
• 16. 1 Kings 13:32
• 17. 1 Kings 13:33; 2 Kings 17:32; 2 Chronicles 11:14, 15; 2 Chronicles 13:9
• 18. Leviticus 23:33, 34; Numbers 29:12
• 19. 1 Kings 13:2; [Amos 7:13]

Footnotes

• [a]. Septuagint went to the one at Bethel and to the other as far as Dan