1. Rehoboam went to Shechem--He was the oldest, and perhaps the only
son of Solomon, and had been, doubtless, designated by his father heir
to the throne, as Solomon had been by David. The incident here related
took place after the funeral obsequies of the late king and the period
for public mourning had past. When all Israel came to make him king, it
was not to exercise their old right of election
(1Sa 10:19-21),
for, after God's promise of the perpetual sovereignty to David's
posterity, their duty was submission to the authority of the rightful
heir; but their object was, when making him king, to renew the
conditions and stipulations to which their constitutional kings were
subject
(1Sa 10:25).
To the omission of such rehearsing which, under the peculiar
circumstances in which Solomon was made king, they were disposed to
ascribe the absolutism of his government.
Shechem--This ancient, venerable, and central town was the place of
convocation; and it is evident, if not from the appointment of that
place, at least from the tenor of their language, and the concerted
presence of Jeroboam
[1Ki 12:3],
that the people were determined on revolt.
4. Thy father made our yoke grievous--The splendor of Solomon's court
and the magnitude of his undertakings being such, that neither the
tribute of dependent states, nor the presents of foreign princes, nor
the profits of his commercial enterprises, were adequate to carry them
on, he had been obliged, for obtaining the necessary revenue, to begin
a system of heavy taxation. The people looked only to the burdens, not
to the benefits they derived from Solomon's peaceful and prosperous
reign--and the evils from which they demanded deliverance were civil
oppressions, not idolatry, to which they appear to have been
indifferent or approving.
5-8. he said . . . Depart yet for three days--It was prudent to take
the people's demand into calm and deliberate consideration. Whether,
had the advice of the sage and experienced counsellors been followed,
any good result would have followed, it is impossible to say. It would
at least have removed all pretext for the separation.
[See on
2Ch 10:7.]
But he preferred the counsel of his young companions (not in age, for
they were all about forty-one, but inexperienced), who recommended
prompt and decisive measures to quell the malcontents.
11. whips . . . scorpions--The latter [instruments], as contrasted
with the former, are supposed to mean thongs thickly set with sharp
iron points, used in the castigation of slaves.
15-18. the king hearkened not unto the people, for the cause was from
the Lord--That was the overruling cause. Rehoboam's weakness
(Ec 2:18, 19)
and inexperience in public affairs has given rise to the probable
conjecture, that, like many other princes in the East, he had been kept
secluded in the harem till the period of his accession
(Ec 4:14),
his father being either afraid of his aspiring to the sovereignty, like
the two sons of David, or, which is more probable, afraid of
prematurely exposing his imbecility. The king's haughty and violent
answer to a people already filled with a spirit of discontent and
exasperation, indicated so great an incapacity to appreciate the
gravity of the crisis, so utter a want of common sense, as to create a
belief that he was struck with judicial blindness. It was received with
mingled scorn and derision. The revolt was accomplished, and yet so
quietly, that Rehoboam remained in Shechem, fancying himself the
sovereign of a united kingdom, until his chief tax gatherer, who had
been most imprudently sent to treat with the people, had been stoned to
death. This opened his eyes, and he fled for security to Jerusalem.
20-24. when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again--This
verse closes the parenthetical narrative begun at
1Ki 12:2,
and 1Ki 12:21-24
resume the history from
1Ki 12:1.
Rehoboam determined to assert his authority by leading a large force
into the disaffected provinces. But the revolt of the ten tribes was
completed when the prophet Shemaiah ordered, in the Lord's name, an
abandonment of any hostile measures against the revolutionists. The
army, overawed by the divine prohibition, dispersed, and the king was
obliged to submit.
25. Jeroboam built Shechem--destroyed by Abimelech
(Jud 9:1-49).
It was rebuilt, and perhaps fortified, by Jeroboam, as a royal
residence.
built Penuel--a ruined city with a tower
(Jud 8:9),
east of Jordan, on the north bank of the Jabbok. It was an object of
importance to restore this fortress (as it lay on the caravan road from
Gilead to Damascus and Palmyra) and to secure his frontier on that
quarter.
26-32. Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the
house of David--Having received the kingdom from God, he should have
relied on the divine protection. But he did not. With a view to
withdraw the people from the temple and destroy the sacred associations
connected with Jerusalem, he made serious and unwarranted innovations
on the religious observances of the country, on pretext of saving the
people the trouble and expense of a distant journey. First, he erected
two golden calves--the young bulls, Apis and Mnevis, as symbols (in the
Egyptian fashion) of the true God, and the nearest, according to his
fancy, to the figures of the cherubim. The one was placed at Dan, in
the northern part of his kingdom; the other at Beth-el, the southern
extremity, in sight of Jerusalem, and in which place he probably
thought God was as likely to manifest Himself as at Jerusalem
(Ge 32:1-32;
2Ki 2:2).
The latter place was the most frequented--for the words
(1Ki 12:30)
should be rendered, "the people even to Dan went to worship before the
one"
(Jer 48:13;
Am 4:4, 5; 5:5;
Ho 5:8; 10:8).
The innovation was a sin because it was setting up the worship of God
by symbols and images and departing from the place where He had chosen
to put His name. Secondly, he changed the feast of tabernacles from the
fifteenth of the seventh to the fifteenth of the eighth month. The
ostensible reason might be, that the ingathering or harvest was later
in the northern parts of the kingdom; but the real reason was to
eradicate the old association with this, the most welcome and joyous
festival of the year.
31. made priests of the lowest of the people--literally, "out of all
the people," the Levites refusing to act. He himself assumed to himself
the functions of the high priest, at least, at the great festival,
probably from seeing the king of Egypt conjoin the royal and sacred
offices, and deeming the office of the high priest too great to be
vested in a subject.
1 Kings 12 Bible Commentary
Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown
1Ki 12:1-5. REFUSING THE OLD MEN'S COUNSEL.
1. Rehoboam went to Shechem--He was the oldest, and perhaps the only son of Solomon, and had been, doubtless, designated by his father heir to the throne, as Solomon had been by David. The incident here related took place after the funeral obsequies of the late king and the period for public mourning had past. When all Israel came to make him king, it was not to exercise their old right of election (1Sa 10:19-21), for, after God's promise of the perpetual sovereignty to David's posterity, their duty was submission to the authority of the rightful heir; but their object was, when making him king, to renew the conditions and stipulations to which their constitutional kings were subject (1Sa 10:25). To the omission of such rehearsing which, under the peculiar circumstances in which Solomon was made king, they were disposed to ascribe the absolutism of his government.
Shechem--This ancient, venerable, and central town was the place of convocation; and it is evident, if not from the appointment of that place, at least from the tenor of their language, and the concerted presence of Jeroboam [1Ki 12:3], that the people were determined on revolt.
4. Thy father made our yoke grievous--The splendor of Solomon's court and the magnitude of his undertakings being such, that neither the tribute of dependent states, nor the presents of foreign princes, nor the profits of his commercial enterprises, were adequate to carry them on, he had been obliged, for obtaining the necessary revenue, to begin a system of heavy taxation. The people looked only to the burdens, not to the benefits they derived from Solomon's peaceful and prosperous reign--and the evils from which they demanded deliverance were civil oppressions, not idolatry, to which they appear to have been indifferent or approving.
5-8. he said . . . Depart yet for three days--It was prudent to take the people's demand into calm and deliberate consideration. Whether, had the advice of the sage and experienced counsellors been followed, any good result would have followed, it is impossible to say. It would at least have removed all pretext for the separation. [See on 2Ch 10:7.] But he preferred the counsel of his young companions (not in age, for they were all about forty-one, but inexperienced), who recommended prompt and decisive measures to quell the malcontents.
11. whips . . . scorpions--The latter [instruments], as contrasted with the former, are supposed to mean thongs thickly set with sharp iron points, used in the castigation of slaves.
15-18. the king hearkened not unto the people, for the cause was from the Lord--That was the overruling cause. Rehoboam's weakness (Ec 2:18, 19) and inexperience in public affairs has given rise to the probable conjecture, that, like many other princes in the East, he had been kept secluded in the harem till the period of his accession (Ec 4:14), his father being either afraid of his aspiring to the sovereignty, like the two sons of David, or, which is more probable, afraid of prematurely exposing his imbecility. The king's haughty and violent answer to a people already filled with a spirit of discontent and exasperation, indicated so great an incapacity to appreciate the gravity of the crisis, so utter a want of common sense, as to create a belief that he was struck with judicial blindness. It was received with mingled scorn and derision. The revolt was accomplished, and yet so quietly, that Rehoboam remained in Shechem, fancying himself the sovereign of a united kingdom, until his chief tax gatherer, who had been most imprudently sent to treat with the people, had been stoned to death. This opened his eyes, and he fled for security to Jerusalem.
1Ki 12:20-33. JEROBOAM MADE KING OVER THEM.
20-24. when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again--This verse closes the parenthetical narrative begun at 1Ki 12:2, and 1Ki 12:21-24 resume the history from 1Ki 12:1. Rehoboam determined to assert his authority by leading a large force into the disaffected provinces. But the revolt of the ten tribes was completed when the prophet Shemaiah ordered, in the Lord's name, an abandonment of any hostile measures against the revolutionists. The army, overawed by the divine prohibition, dispersed, and the king was obliged to submit.
25. Jeroboam built Shechem--destroyed by Abimelech (Jud 9:1-49). It was rebuilt, and perhaps fortified, by Jeroboam, as a royal residence.
built Penuel--a ruined city with a tower (Jud 8:9), east of Jordan, on the north bank of the Jabbok. It was an object of importance to restore this fortress (as it lay on the caravan road from Gilead to Damascus and Palmyra) and to secure his frontier on that quarter.
26-32. Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David--Having received the kingdom from God, he should have relied on the divine protection. But he did not. With a view to withdraw the people from the temple and destroy the sacred associations connected with Jerusalem, he made serious and unwarranted innovations on the religious observances of the country, on pretext of saving the people the trouble and expense of a distant journey. First, he erected two golden calves--the young bulls, Apis and Mnevis, as symbols (in the Egyptian fashion) of the true God, and the nearest, according to his fancy, to the figures of the cherubim. The one was placed at Dan, in the northern part of his kingdom; the other at Beth-el, the southern extremity, in sight of Jerusalem, and in which place he probably thought God was as likely to manifest Himself as at Jerusalem (Ge 32:1-32; 2Ki 2:2). The latter place was the most frequented--for the words (1Ki 12:30) should be rendered, "the people even to Dan went to worship before the one" (Jer 48:13; Am 4:4, 5; 5:5; Ho 5:8; 10:8). The innovation was a sin because it was setting up the worship of God by symbols and images and departing from the place where He had chosen to put His name. Secondly, he changed the feast of tabernacles from the fifteenth of the seventh to the fifteenth of the eighth month. The ostensible reason might be, that the ingathering or harvest was later in the northern parts of the kingdom; but the real reason was to eradicate the old association with this, the most welcome and joyous festival of the year.
31. made priests of the lowest of the people--literally, "out of all the people," the Levites refusing to act. He himself assumed to himself the functions of the high priest, at least, at the great festival, probably from seeing the king of Egypt conjoin the royal and sacred offices, and deeming the office of the high priest too great to be vested in a subject.