1 Kings 12

AND Rehoboam went to Shechem; for all Israel were come to Shechem Rehoboam did not call them thither, but went thither, because the Israelites prevented him, and had generally pitched upon that place, rather than upon Ierusalem; partly, because it was most convenient for all, as being in the Center of the whole Kingdom: partly, because that being in the potent Tribe of Ephraim, they supposed there they might use that freedom of speech, which they resolved to use, to get their Grievances Redressed: and partly, by the secret direction of Ieroboam, or his friends, who would not trust themselves in Ierusalem; and thought Shechem a fitter place to execute their Design. to make him king To Confirm him in the Kingdom, which they generally intended to do; he being the undoubted Heir of the Crown, and the only Son which Solomon had from so vast a number of Wives..

And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it In the Hebrew it is only heard, and may relate either to Solomon's Death, or to the meeting which all the Tribes had appointed at Shechem., (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt)

That they sent and called him When the People sent him word of Solomon's Death, they also sent a summons for him to come to Shechem. Or, As soon as he had heard the tidings of Solomon's Death from others, or from common Fame; presently there came a solemn Message to him from the people, who desired his presence and assistance, as it seems probable from divers Motives; some, that they might translate the Kingdom from Rehoboam to him; and others only for this reason, That the Presence and Countenance of a man of so great Interest and Reputation, and one that had some Claim or Pretence upon the Kingdom, might lay the greater obligation upon Rehoboam to grant their desires of ease and relief.: and Jeroboam, and all the congregation of Israel came and spake unto Rehoboam, saying,

Thy father made our yoke grievous By heavy Taxes and Impositions, not only for the Temple and his Magnificent Buildings, but for the Expences of his Numerous Court, and of so many Wives and Concubines, whose Luxury and Idolatry must needs be very costly. And Solomon having so grosly forsaken God, it is no wonder if he Oppressed the People, and made their Yoke most grievous, as they speak. But here the Peoples perverseness is very observable, both in this, that they mention and aggravate only the grievances of the Government, but take no notice of the vast benefits which they received from it; and in that, that they mind nothing but their outward pressures, and have no regard unto that Abominable Idolatry which he set up among them; being, it seemed, either leavened with it by his pernicious Example, or grown careless and negligent of all the concerns of Religion. By which, see how ripe they were all for those dreadful Judgments of God which are now hastening upon them.: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee.

And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me Give me that time for deliberation and advice.. And the people departed.

¶ And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men that stood before Solomon his father With Solomon's old Councellors, whom Age and Experience of Men and Things, and converse with such a King, had made wise., while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise, that I may answer this people?

And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day By complying with their desires, and condescending to them for a season, till the troubled humours be quieted, and the opportunity they now have, and some of them that seek for Sedition, be gone, and thou beest better stablished in thy Throne. They use this expression, as fore-seeing that some would disswade him from this course, as servile or slavish, and below the Majesty of a Prince., and wilt serve them, and For, that is, Thy Service, say they, is not hard, it is only a few good words, which it is as easie to give as bad ones. answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever.

But he forsook the counsel of the old men Judging it unworthy of his Majesty and Authority, and likely to encourage and increase the People in their Insolent Demands., which they had given him, and consulted with the young men So called comparatively to the Old Men; otherwise they were near 40 years old, as the following words imply. that were grown up with him Which is added as the reason of his inclination to their Counsels, because his daily converse with them, and the likeness of their Age and Humour to his, had engaged his Affections to them, and that bribed his judgment, as it commonly does., and which stood before him.

And he said unto them, What counsel give ye, that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us, lighter?

And the young men that were grown up with him, spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker Or rather is thicker, and therefore stronger, and more able to crush you, if you proceed in these Mutinous Demands, than his loyns, in which is the principal Seat of Strength. My father was young and weak, and had many Enemies when he first took the Kingdom; but I am the undoubted heir; and I find the Kingdom by his wise Care, far better setled and fortified against all Enemies Foreign or Domestick, than he did. than my fathers loins.

And now whereas my father did lade you with an heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke i. e. Make it heavier and stronger, both to punish your Petulancy, and to curb and restrain you from Seditious Attempts.: my father has chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions i. e. With such Whips as will Sting you like Scorpions: If you proceed in these courses, I will most severely punish you for it..

¶ So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day.

And the king answered the people roughly; and forsook the old mens counsel that they gave him:

And spake to them after the course of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke; my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

Wherefore the king hearkned not unto the people, for the cause was from the LORD Who gave up Rehoboam to so foolish and fatal a mistake, and alienated the Peoples Affections from him; and ordered all Circumstances by his Wise Providence to that end., that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite, unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

¶ So when all Israel saw that the king hearkned not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David i. e. In David's Family and Son; we can expect no benefit or relief from him, and therefore we renounce all Commerce with him, and Subjection to him. See 2 Sam. 20. 1. They named David, rather than Rehoboam; to signifie, That they did Renounce, not Rehoboam only, but all David's Family.? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse So they call David in contempt; q. d. Rehoboam has no reason to carry himself with such Pride and Contempt toward his People; for if we trace his Original, it was as mean and obscure as many of ours. And since he abuseth his Power, let us reduce him to his former Obscurity.: to your tents, O Israel i. e. Let us all forsake him, and go to our own homes, there to consider, and then to meet, and conclude how to provide otherwise for our selves.; now see to thine own house, David i. e. Govern thy own Family; for thou shalt no longer Rule over us. Thus they brake out into Actual Rebellion against him, whom God had made their Lawful Soveraign; wherein, though they fulfilled God's Counsel, yet they Violated his Authority and Command. And they do again make an opprobrious mention of David, whom they should not have named without Honour.. So Israel departed unto their tents.

But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah By which Phrase he principally understands the Tribe of Iudah; but withal, those parts and parcels of the Tribes of Levi, and Simeon, and Benjamin, whose dwellings were within the Confines of Iudah, or intermixed with them., Rehoboam reigned over them.

Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute Him he sent, either 1. To pacifie the People, and promise them Relief, now when it was too late. But then he would not have sent a person so ungrateful to the People, as that sort of men use to be. Or rather, 2. To pursue the Counsel which he had resolved upon, and to execute his Office, and, exact their Tribute with Rigor and Violence, if need were., and all Israel stoned him with stones that he died: therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem From Shechem, where it seems he yet staid, and his Guards and friends with him; that being there in the midst of his Kingdom, and among the Seditious Tribes, he might over-awe them by his Presence, and repress any Tumults in their first rise..

So Israel rebelled Their Revolt is called Rebellion, and therefore was sinful, because it was contrary to God's Authority, and Command of subjection to David, and his Seed for ever; from which the People were not freed by God's Promise and Grant made to Ieroboam, which was but a Secret Transaction, not yet sufficiently Revealed to them, and was not a grant of present and actual Possession; but only a Promise, That God would give it to him in his own time, and way; which might have been done, though neither Ieroboam, nor the People had used these indirect and evil Courses to bring it about; as it befel David upon the same occasion. Besides, the People did not this in compliance with God's Counsel, but to gratifie their own Passions, and get themselves a little ease. against the house of David unto this day.

And it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again To wit, from Egypt; which was known before to the chief of the Tribes, and to them who met at Shechem, and now was more universally known by all the People., that they sent To his Tent or Habitation, to which he had retired himself, as others also generally did; see above, ver. 16. and called him unto the congregation Which was summoned by the Elders of the several Tribes, to take advice, how to settle their Affairs, which they easily agreed to do, by conferring the Crown upon Ieroboam, according to God's Promise made to him., and made him king over all Israel: there was none i. e. No intire Tribe. See on Chap. 11. 13, 31, 32. that followed the house of David, but the Tribe of Judah only.

And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin i. e. That part of it which was next to Iudah, and joyned with them. See on Chap. 11. 13., an hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men, which were warriours, to fight against the house i. e. The Families or Tribes, (for these Words are promiscuously used one for the other) of Israel. of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.

But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God i. e. The Propher, so called; partly, to distinguish him from others of that Name. See Nehem. 6. 10. Ier. 29. 31. And partly, to add the more weight to his words., saying,

Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah, and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying,

Thus says the LORD, Ye shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house, for this thing is from me This event is from my Counsel and Providence, to punish Solomon's Apostacy, though they procured it by sinful means: and therefore, if you proceed, you must fight with me, as well as them.. They hearkned therefore to the word of the LORD Either from conscience of their duty, or because they durst not oppose so Potent an Adversary., and returned to depart according to the word of the LORD.

¶ Then Jeroboam built Shechem i. e. He repaired, and enlarged, and fortified it; for it had been ruined long since; Iudg. 9. 45. He might choose it as a place both auspicious, because here the Foundation of his Monarchy was laid; and commodious, as being near the Frontiers of his Kingdom. in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel A place beyond Jordan; of which, see Gen. 32. 30. Iudg. 8. 17. to secure that part of his Dominions..

And Jeroboam said in his heart i. e. Reasoned within himself. The Phrase discovers the Fountain of his Error, That he did not consult with God, who had given him the Kingdom; as in all reason, and... ustice, and gratitude he should have done: nor believed God's Promise, Chap. 11. 38. but his own imaginations, and carnal policies., Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:

If these people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their LORD Which in it self might seem a prudent conjecture; for this would give Rehoboam, and the Priests, and Levites, the sure and faithful friends of David's House, many opportunities of alienating their minds from him, and of reducing them to their former Allegiance. But considering God's Providence, by which the hearts of all Men, and the affairs of all Kings and Kingdoms are governed, and of which he had lately seen so eminent an Instance; it was a foolish, as well as wicked course., even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.

Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold In imitation of Aaron's Golden Calf, and of the Egyptians, from whom he was lately come. And this he the rather presumed to do, because he knew the people of Israel were generally very prone to Superstition, and Idolatry, as their whole History shows: and that Solomon's example and countenance given to false Worships, had exceedingly strengthned those inclinations; and therefore they were in a great measure prepared for such an Attempt; especially, when his Proposition tended to their own ease, and safety, and profit, which he knew was much dearer to them, as well as to himself, than their Religion., and said unto them, It is too much for you Too great a trouble and charge, and neither necessary, nor safe for them, as things now stood. to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt Not as if he did himself believe, or thought to persuade the people to believe, That these Calves were properly, and truly, that very God of Israel, who brought them out of Egypt: (which was so monstrously absurd and ridiculous, that no Israelite in his right wits could believe it) and had been so far from attaining his end, and satisfying his people, that this would have made him both hateful, and contemptible to them; but his meaning was, that these Images were visible Representations, in, and by which he designed to Worship the True God of Israel, as appears, partly from that Parallel-place, Exod. 32. 4. where see my notes: partly, because the Priests and Worshippers of the Calves, are said to Worship Iehovah; and upon that account, are distinguished from those belonging to Baal; 1 King. 18. 21. and 22. 6, 7. And partly, from Ieroboam's design in this Work, which was to quiet the peoples minds, and remove their scruples about going to Ierusalem to Worship their God in that place, as they were commanded: which he does, by signifying to them, That he did not intend any alteration in the substance of their Religion; nor to draw them from the Worship of the True God, to the Worship of Ashteroth, or Milcom, or any of those Baals, which were set up by Solomon; but to Worship that self-same God whom they Worshipped in Ierusalem, even the True God, and the God of their Fathers, who brought them out of Egypt; but only to vary a circumstance: and that as they Worshipped God at Ierusalem by, and before one Visible Sign, even the Ark, and the Sacred Cherubims there; so his Subjects should Worship God by another Visible Sign, even that of the Calves, in other places; and as for the change of the place, he might suggest to them, that God was present in all places, where Men with honest minds did call upon him; that before the Temple was built, the best of Kings, and Prophets, and People, did Pray, and Sacrifice to God in divers High-places, without any scruple; notwithstanding that restraint of God to one place, Deut. 12. 5, &c. That God would dispence with them also in that matter; because going to Ierusalem was very dangerous to them at this time; and God would have Mercy, rather than Sacrifice; and God had been pleased to dispense with his own Ordinances in cases of necessity or great inconvenience, as he did with Circumcision for 40 years in the Wilderness..

And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan Which two places he chose for his peoples conveniency; Bethel being in the Southern, and Dan in the Northern parts of his Kingdom..

And this thing became a sin i. e. A cause or occasion of great wickedness among that People; not only of Idolatry, which is called Sin by way of Eminency; not only of the Worship of the Calves, wherein they pretended to worship the True God; but also of the Worship of Baal, and of the utter desertion of the True God; and of all sorts of impiety, and abominable Sins; as is manifest from the History of that Kingdom: in which, there was not one good King: and very few of the people who were not guilty of hainous Crimes, as the Prophets witness.: for the people went The Kings Counsel and Example seduced them, though it did not excuse their Sin; and they willingly walked after this his wicked commandment, Hos. 5. 11. to worship before the one, even unto Dan Which is not here mentioned exclusively, for that they went also to Bethel is evident from ver. 32, 33. but for other reasons, either because that of Dan was first made, or best frequented, the people in those parts having been long leavened with Idolatry: See Iudg. 18. 30. or to show the peoples readiness to comply with the King's Command, and their Zeal for Idols; that those who lived in, or near Bethel, had not patience to stay till that Calf was finished, but all of them were forward to go as far as Dan, which was in the utmost borders of the Land, to Worship an Idol there; when it was thought too much for them to go to Ierusalem to Worship God..

And he made an house of high places Or, an house (i. e. Houses, or Chappels) in the high-places. Besides the famous Houses, or Temples, which he Built at Dan and Bethel; he Built also for his Peoples better accommodation, lesser Temples upon divers high-places, which were esteemed Sacred and Venerable, because their Pious Ancestors had served God in them: and thereby Ieroboam might not seem to bring in a new Religion, but only to revive the old., and made priests of the lowest of the people Which he might do, either 1. Because the better sort refused it, as an office below their quality: or, 2. Because such would be satisfied with mean allowances; and so he could put into his own Purse a great part of the rich Possessions and Revenues of the Levites, which doubtless he seized upon when they forsook him, and went to Ierusalem; 2 Chron. 11. 13, 14. which also was very necessary for his present and pressing Occasions; the rather, because he durst not yet lay grievous Taxes upon that People who had newly cast off Rehoboam for that very Reason. Or, 3. Because mean persons would depend upon his favour, and therefore be very pliable to his humour, and firm to his Interest, and zealous to promote the Worship of the Calves. But the Words in the Hebrew properly signifie, from the ends of the people; which is, and may be Translated thus, out of all the people; promiscuously out of every Tribe. Which Exposition seems to be confirmed by the following words, which are added to explain these, which were not of the sons of Levi; though they were not of the Tribe of Levi. And that indeed was Ieroboam's Sin; not that he chose mean persons, for some of the Levites were such; and his Sin had not been less, if he had chosen the Noblest and Greatest Persons; as we see in the Example of Uzziah: 2 Chron. 26. 18, 19. But that he chose Men of other Tribes, contrary to God's appointment, which restrained that Office to that Tribe., which were not of the sons of Levi To whom that Office was confined by God's express Command, but promiscuously to any person of any other Tribe..

And Jeroboam ordained a feast Either, 1. A Feast of Dedication, like that which was in Iudah, at the Dedication of the Temple. Or rather, 2. The feast of Tabernacles, as may be thought, 1. because that began on the fifteenth day of the Month, Levit. 23. 34. 2. Because he is not blamed for devising the Feast (which thereby seems to have been of God's appointment) but only for devising the month, ver. 33. for keeping Gods Feast, not in God's time, which was the 15th day of the Seventh Month, and so onward, Levit. 23. 34. But on the 15th day of the Eighth Month. And this alteration he made, either 1. To keep up the difference between his Subjects, and those of Iudah, as by the differing manners, so by the distinct times of their Worship. Or, 2. Lest he should seem directly to oppose the God of Israel, (who had in a special manner obliged all the People to go up to Ierusalem at that time, Deut. 16. 16.) by requiring their attendance to Celebrate the Feast elsewhere, at the same time. Or, 3. To engage as many Persons as possibly he could, to come to his Feast; which they would more willingly do when the Feast at Ierusalem was past, and all the Fruits of the Earth were most perfectly gathered in. in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month And so onward till the Seven days ended., like unto the feast that is in Judah He took his Pattern thence, to show, That he Worshipped the same God, and Professed the same Religion for substance, which they did; howsoever he differed in circumstances, as here he did in the time., and he offered Either, 1. By his Priests. Or, rather 2. By his own hands; as appears from Chap. 13. 1, 4. which he did, to give the more countenance to his new-devised solemnity. Nor is this strange; for he might plausibly think, that he who by his own Authority had made others Priests, might much more exercise a part of that Office; at least, upon an extraordinary occasion; in which case, he knew David himself had done some things, which otherwise he might not do. upon the altar, (so did he in Bethel) i. e. He himself did offer there in like manner, as he now had done at Dan. sacrificing unto the calves For they were two, ver. 29. that he had made: and he placed in Bethel As he had done at Dan. v. 31. the priests of the highplaces which he had made.

So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart Which he appointed without any Warrant from God, which was superstition, comp. Ier. 7. 31.: and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel, and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.