1 Kings 12:11-21

11 My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’ ”

12 Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.”

13 The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders,

14 he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.”

15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house, David!” So the Israelites went home.

17 But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them.

18 King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram,^[a] who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem.

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

20 When all the Israelites heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. Only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David.

21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mustered all Judah and the tribe of Benjamin—a hundred and eighty thousand able young men—to go to war against Israel and to regain the kingdom for Rehoboam son of Solomon.

1 Kings 12:11-21 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. Exodus 1:14; Exodus 5:5-9,16-18
• 2. ver 24; S Deuteronomy 2:30; Judges 14:4; 2 Chronicles 22:7; 2 Chronicles 25:20
• 3. S 1 Kings 11:29
• 4. S Genesis 31:14
• 5. S 2 Samuel 20:1
• 6. Isaiah 7:17
• 7. 1 Kings 11:13,36
• 8. S 2 Samuel 20:24; 1 Kings 4:6; 1 Kings 5:14
• 9. S Joshua 7:25
• 10. 2 Kings 17:21
• 11. 1 Kings 11:13,32; Ezekiel 37:16
• 12. 1 Kings 14:30; 1 Kings 15:6,16; 2 Chronicles 11:1

Footnotes

• [a]. Some Septuagint manuscripts and Syriac (see also 4:6 and 5:14); Hebrew "Adoram"