Discovery Box1 Kings 11:43--12:24
Context11:43 Then Solomon passed away 1 and was buried in the city of his father David. 2 His son Rehoboam replaced him as king. 3
12:1 Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in 4 Shechem to make Rehoboam 5 king. 12:2 6 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. 7 12:3 They sent for him, 8 and Jeroboam and the whole Israelite assembly came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 12:4 “Your father made us work too hard. 9 Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” 10 12:5 He said to them, “Go away for three days, then return to me.” So the people went away.
12:6 King Rehoboam consulted with the older advisers who had served 11 his father Solomon when he had been alive. He asked them, 12 “How do you advise me to answer these people?” 12:7 They said to him, “Today if you show a willingness to help these people and grant their request, they will be your servants from this time forward.” 13 12:8 But Rehoboam rejected their advice and consulted the young advisers who served him, with whom he had grown up. 14 12:9 He asked them, “How do you advise me 15 to respond to these people who said to me, ‘Lessen the demands your father placed on us’?” 16 12:10 The young advisers with whom Rehoboam 17 had grown up said to him, “Say this to these people who have said to you, ‘Your father made us work hard, but now lighten our burden.’ 18 Say this to them: ‘I am a lot harsher than my father! 19 12:11 My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. 20 My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.’” 21
12:12 Jeroboam and all the people reported 22 to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had ordered when he said, “Return to me on the third day.” 12:13 The king responded to the people harshly. He rejected the advice of the older men 12:14 and followed 23 the advice of the younger ones. He said, “My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. 24 My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.” 25 12:15 The king refused to listen to the people, because the Lord was instigating this turn of events 26 so that he might bring to pass the prophetic announcement he had made 27 through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
12:16 When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, the people answered the king, “We have no portion in David, no share in the son of Jesse! 28 Return to your homes, O Israel! 29 Now, look after your own dynasty, O David!” 30 So Israel returned to their homes. 31 12:17 (Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the cities of Judah.) 12:18 King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, 32 the supervisor of the work crews, 33 out after them, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to jump into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. 34 12:19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the Davidic dynasty to this very day. 12:20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one except the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the Davidic dynasty. 35
12:21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he summoned 180,000 skilled warriors from all of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin 36 to attack Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. 12:22 But God told Shemaiah the prophet, 37 12:23 “Say this to King Rehoboam son of Solomon of Judah, and to all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the rest of the people, 12:24 ‘The Lord says this: “Do not attack and make war with your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you go home, for I have caused this to happen.”’” 38 They obeyed the Lord and went home as the Lord had ordered them to do. 39
1 Kings 12:1
Context12:1 Rehoboam traveled to Shechem, for all Israel had gathered in 40 Shechem to make Rehoboam 41 king.
1 Kings 3:10
Context3:10 The Lord 42 was pleased that Solomon made this request. 43
1 Kings 3:2
Context3:2 Now the people were offering sacrifices at the high places, 44 because in those days a temple had not yet been built to honor the Lord. 45
1 Kings 9:1
Context9:1 After Solomon finished building the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the other construction projects he had planned, 46
1 Kings 13:7
Context13:7 The king then said to the prophet, “Come home with me and have something to eat. I’d like to give a present.”
[11:43] 1 tn Heb “lay down with his fathers.”
[11:43] 2 sn The city of his father David. The phrase refers here to the fortress of Zion in Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. See 2 Sam 5:7.
[11:43] 3 tc Before this sentence the Old Greek translation includes the following words: “And it so happened that when Jeroboam son of Nebat heard – now he was in Egypt where he had fled from before Solomon and was residing in Egypt – he came straight to his city in the land of Sarira which is on mount Ephraim. And king Solomon slept with his fathers.”
[12:1] 5 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[12:2] 6 tc Verse 2 is not included in the Old Greek translation. See the note on 11:43.
[12:2] 7 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).
[12:3] 8 tn Heb “They sent and called for him.”
[12:4] 9 tn Heb “made our yoke burdensome.”
[12:4] 10 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.
[12:6] 11 tn Heb “stood before.”
[12:7] 13 tn Heb “If today you are a servant to these people and you serve them and answer them and speak to them good words, they will be your servants all the days.”
[12:8] 14 tn Heb “He rejected the advice of the elders which they advised and he consulted the young men with whom he had grown up, who stood before him.” The referent (Rehoboam) of the initial pronoun (“he”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[12:9] 15 tn In the Hebrew text the verb “we will respond” is plural, although it can be understood as an editorial “we.” The ancient versions have the singular here.
[12:9] 16 tn Heb “Lighten the yoke which your father placed on us.”
[12:10] 17 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[12:10] 18 tn Heb “Your father made our yoke heavy, but make it lighter upon us.”
[12:10] 19 tn Heb “My little one is thicker than my father’s hips.” The referent of “my little one” is not clear. The traditional view is that it refers to the little finger. As the following statement makes clear, Rehoboam’s point is that he is more harsh and demanding than his father.
[12:11] 20 tn Heb “and now my father placed upon you a heavy yoke, but I will add to your yoke.”
[12:11] 21 tn Heb “My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.” “Scorpions” might allude to some type of torture using poisonous insects, but more likely it refers to a type of whip that inflicts an especially biting, painful wound. Cf. CEV “whips with pieces of sharp metal.”
[12:14] 23 tn Heb “and spoke to them according to.”
[12:14] 24 tn Heb “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke.”
[12:14] 25 tn Heb “My father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions.” See the note on the same phrase in v. 11.
[12:15] 26 tn Heb “because this turn of events was from the
[12:15] 27 tn Heb “so that he might bring to pass his word which the
[12:16] 28 sn We have no portion in David; no share in the son of Jesse. Their point seems to be that they have no familial relationship with David that brings them any benefits or places upon them any obligations. They are being treated like outsiders.
[12:16] 29 tn Heb “to your tents, Israel.” The word “return” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[12:16] 30 tn Heb “Now see your house, David.”
[12:16] 31 tn Heb “went to their tents.”
[12:18] 32 tc The MT has “Adoram” here, but the Old Greek translation and Syriac Peshitta have “Adoniram.” Cf. 1 Kgs 4:6.
[12:18] 33 sn The work crews. See the note on this expression in 4:6.
[12:18] 34 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[12:20] 35 tn Heb “there was no one [following] after the house of David except the tribe of Judah, it alone.”
[12:21] 36 tn Heb “he summoned all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand chosen men, accomplished in war.”
[12:22] 37 tn Heb “and the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying.”
[12:24] 38 tn Heb “for this thing is from me.”
[12:24] 39 tn Heb “and they heard the word of the
[12:1] 41 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Rehoboam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[3:10] 42 tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here and in v.15 is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
[3:10] 43 tn Heb “And the thing was good in the eyes of the Lord, for Solomon asked for this thing.”
[3:2] 44 sn Offering sacrifices at the high places. The “high places” were places of worship that were naturally or artificially elevated.
[3:2] 45 tn Heb “for the name of the
[9:1] 46 tn Heb “and all the desire of Solomon which he wanted to do.”
