1Ki 12:1 And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
1Ki 12:2 And it happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard (and he was still in Egypt where he had fled from the face of Solomon the king, and Jeroboam lived in Egypt)
1Ki 12:3 that they sent and called for him; and they came, Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
1Ki 12:4 Your father made our yoke hard; and now you should lighten some of the hard service of your father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve you.
1Ki 12:5 And he said to them, Go; yet in three days come back to me. And the people went.
1Ki 12:6 And King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had been standing before the face of his father Solomon while he was alive, saying, How do you advise in order to answer this people?
1Ki 12:7 And they spoke to him, saying, If you are servant to this people today, and will serve them, and answer them and speak to them good words, then they will be servants to you forever.
1Ki 12:8 But he forsook the counsel of the elders which they advised him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him, who were standing before him.
1Ki 12:9 And he said to them, What do you advise, and we shall answer the people who have spoken to me, saying, Lighten some of the yoke that your father put upon us?
1Ki 12:10 And they spoke to him, the young men who had grown up with him, saying, So you shall say to this people who have spoken to you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, and you make it light on us; so you shall speak to them, My little finger is thicker than the loins of my father,
1Ki 12:11 and now my father laid a heavy yoke on you, and I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, and I will surely chastise you with scorpions.
1Ki 12:12 And they came, Jeroboam and all the people, to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken, saying, Come back to me on the third day.
1Ki 12:13 And the king replied to the people harshly, and forsook the counsel of the elders which they advised him,
1Ki 12:14 and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I shall add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, and I will surely chastise you with scorpions.
1Ki 12:15 And the king did not listen to the people, for the turn of events was from Jehovah, in order to lift up His Word that Jehovah spoke by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
1Ki 12:16 And all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, and the people sent the king back word, saying, What portion do we have in David? Yea, there is no inheritance in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel; now see to your house, O David! And Israel went to its tents.
1Ki 12:17 As to the sons of Israel, those living in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them.
1Ki 12:18 And King Rehoboam sent Adoram who was over the tribute, and all Israel threw stones at him, and he died. And King Rehoboam made haste to go up into a chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
1Ki 12:19 And Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.
1Ki 12:20 And it happened when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the company, and caused him to reign over all Israel; none followed after the house of David except the tribe of Judah only.
1Ki 12:21 And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, and gathered all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen makers of war to fight with the house of Israel, to bring back the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon,
1Ki 12:22 then the Word of God came to Shemaiah a man of God, saying,
1Ki 12:23 Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon the king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah, and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, saying,
1Ki 12:24 So says Jehovah, You shall not go up nor fight with your brothers the sons of Israel. Each turn back to his house, for this thing has been from Me. And they heard the Word of Jehovah, and turned to go back, according to the Word of Jehovah.
1Ki 12:25 And Jeroboam built Shechem in the hills of Ephraim and lived in it, and went out from there and built Penuel.
1Ki 12:26 And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom shall turn back to the house of David;
1Ki 12:27 if this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people shall turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam the king of Judah, and they will kill me and go again to Rehoboam the king of Judah.
1Ki 12:28 And the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!
1Ki 12:29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
1Ki 12:30 And this thing became a sin, for the people went before the one, to Dan.
1Ki 12:31 And he made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
1Ki 12:32 And Jeroboam made a feast in the eighth month, in the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah; and he offered on the altar, so he did in Bethel, to sacrifice to the calves which he made; and he made stand in Bethel the priests of the high places that he made.
1Ki 12:33 And he offered up on the altar that he made in Bethel, on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month that he devised out of his own heart; and he made a feast for the sons of Israel, and offered on the altar, to burn incense.
Verses 1-15 Summary: Rehoboam goes to Shechem to be made king. He confers with the heads of the clans, including Rehoboam. The people ask for some relief. Rehoboam takes three days to consider it. He confers with his elders and then his young friends. He takes the advice of his friends.
1. Concerning the foolishness of Rehoboam, what lesson does Solomon teach us in Ecc. 2:18-21?Ecc 2:17 So then I hated life; because the work that is done under the sun is evil to me; for all is vanity and striving after wind.
Ecc 2:18 Yes, I, a laborer, hated all my labor under the sun, that I must leave it to the man who will be after me.
Ecc 2:19 And who knows if he will be wise or a fool? Yet he shall rule among all my labor in which I labored, and acted wisely under the sun. This is also vanity.
Ecc 2:20 And I turned to make my heart despair over all the labor which I labored under the sun.
Ecc 2:21 When there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with advantage; yet he shall give it to a man who has not labored with it, for his share; this also is vanity and a great evil.
Solomon decries a person's work and effort. We put our all into whatever the task is to make a good thing, and the person who may benefit for it may use it and/or take it in vain. The attitude amounts to contempt. Do we see this today? Of course.
2. What may be some of the reasons that a leader would use such authoritarian methods over the people who are entrusted to him?
Fear will produce all sorts of heavy-handed rule. If you intend to abuse the masses for your own benefit, it demands all sorts of measures to make sure people "stay in line."
Having a mistrust (being suspicious) causes this sort of action. "If I give in, I will be seen as weak..."
NOTE: It is apparent that Rehobam lacks any measure of wisdom Solomon had. (1) Shechem is 20 miles north of Jerusalem. It was held by the tribe of Ephraim. (2) Jeroboam was an enemy of Solomon, and HE WAS FROM EPHRAIM! Rehoboam was way out of his element, away from home in "enemy" territory. Not good...at all.
Verses 16-24 Summary:
Israel rejects Rehoboam as king and chooses Jeroboam as their king. Rehoboam sends Adoram (as if he could force them?). Adoram is executed. Rehoboam musters an army to go to war (It includes Benjamites). God tells them no to do it, because He is the one who has split the kingdom.
Note: What was Rehoboam thinking when he "sent" Adoram (who was over forced labor)? Perhaps there were some miscalculations.
Verses 25-33 Summary:
Jeroboam builds up Shechem and Penuel. He fears that if Israel returns to Jerusalem to worship, they will be moved to make Rehoboam king an they will kill him. So, he makes some idols, makes some priests and tells the people to make sacrifices there instead of Jerusalem.
3. By Checking a map of where Jeroboam set up calf worship, can you see a reason he chose these locations?
On this map we see Dan at the northand Bethel towards the south in Israel territory. This covers his bases to make worship "easier" for them.
It appears that some in Israel still worshiped in Jerusalem.
Jeroboam's sin of ignoring God opened the door to others doing the same and eventually the entire nation was overthrown by it and because of it.
We saw God tell Solomon that it was the king that instilled the character of the nation. It was really too much for any mere man to bear, which is why Jesus was needed.
Was it Jeroboam's sin that caused this nation to sour? Was Solomon better? We see that for a period of three years Rehoboam is strengthened, but does he stop the idolatry Solomon started?
There was no doubt some dissenters of the northern tribe, especially when it came time to worship.
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