1 Kings 11:40

11:40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam escaped to Egypt and found refuge with King Shishak of Egypt. ¹  He stayed in Egypt until Solomon died.

1 Kings 11:2

11:2 They came from nations about which the Lord had warned the Israelites, “You must not establish friendly relations with them! ²  If you do, they will surely shift your allegiance to their gods.” ³  But Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them. ⁴ 

1 Kings 12:2-4

12:2 ⁵  When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard the news, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since. ⁶  12:3 They sent for him, ⁷  and Jeroboam and the whole Israelite assembly came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 12:4 “Your father made us work too hard. ⁸  Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” ⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “but Jeroboam arose and ran away to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt.”

² tn Heb “you must not go into them, and they must not go into you.”

³ tn Heb “Surely they will bend your heart after their gods.” The words “if you do” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁴ tn Heb “Solomon clung to them for love.” The pronominal suffix, translated “them,” is masculine here, even though it appears the foreign women are in view. Perhaps this is due to attraction to the masculine forms used of the nations earlier in the verse.

⁵ tc Verse 2 is not included in the Old Greek translation. See the note on 11:43.

⁶ tn Heb “and Jeroboam lived in Egypt.” The parallel text in 2 Chr 10:2 reads, “and Jeroboam returned from Egypt.” In a purely consonantal text the forms “and he lived” and “and he returned” are identical (וישׁב).

⁷ tn Heb “They sent and called for him.”

⁸ tn Heb “made our yoke burdensome.”

⁹ tn Heb “but you, now, lighten the burdensome work of your father and the heavy yoke which he placed on us, and we will serve you.” In the Hebrew text the prefixed verbal form with vav (וְנַעַבְדֶךָ, [vÿna’avdekha] “and we will serve you”) following the imperative (הָקֵל [haqel], “lighten”) indicates purpose (or result). The conditional sentence used in the translation above is an attempt to bring out the logical relationship between these forms.