1 Kings 12:1-7

1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all the Israelites had gone to make him king.

2 Jeroboam son of Nebat was still in Egypt, where he had gone to escape from Solomon. When Jeroboam heard about Rehoboam being made king, he was living in Egypt.

3 After the people sent for him, he and the people went to Rehoboam and said to him,

4 "Your father forced us to work very hard. Now, make it easier for us, and don't make us work as hard as he did. Then we will serve you."

5 Rehoboam answered, "Go away for three days, and then come back to me." So the people left.

6 King Rehoboam asked the older leaders who had advised Solomon during his lifetime, "How do you think I should answer these people?"

7 They said, "You should be like a servant to them today. If you serve them and give them a kind answer, they will serve you always."

1 Kings 12:1-7 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.