1 Kings 12:1-20
Rehoboam <07346> [Rehoboam.]
Shechem ........ Shechem <07927> [Shechem.]
[Sichem.]
[Sychem.]
Jeroboam son ... Nebat <01121 05028 03379> [Jeroboam the son of Nebat.]
lighten <05923> [our yoke.]
consulted ....................... advise <03289> [consulted.]
show a willingness to help ............ servants <05650> [If thou wilt.]
said <02896 01696> [speak good.]
said .... Say ........ said ............... Say <0559 01696> [Thus shalt thou.]
harsher <06995 05666> [My little finger.]
A proverbial mode of expression: "My little finger is thicker than my father's thigh." As much as the thigh surpasses the little finger in thickness, so much does my power exceed that of my father; and the use I shall make of it to oppress and tax you shall be in proportion.
make ... even heavier <03254> [I will add.]
punished ........ punish <03256> [but I will chastise.]
Should you rebel or become disaffected, my father's whip shall be a scorpion in my hand. His was chastisement, mine shall be punishment. Celsius and Hiller conjecture that {Æ’krabbim} denotes a thorny kind of shrub, whose prickles are of a venomous nature, called by the Arabs scorpion thorns, from the exquisite pain which they inflict. But the Chaldee renders it {margenin,} and the Syriac {moragyai,} i.e., [maragnai,] scourges; and in the parallel place of Chronicles the Arabic has {saut,} a scourge. Isidore, and after him Calmet and others, assert that the scorpion was a sort of severe whip, the lashes of which were armed with knots or points that sunk into and tore the flesh.
whips that really sting your flesh <06137> [scorpions.]
Return <07725> [Come to me again.]
responded <06030> [answered.]
harshly <07186> [roughly. Heb. hardly.]
rejected <05800> [forsook.]
advice <06098> [the counsel.]
father ... heavy ............ father <01 03513> [My father made.]
turn of events <05438> [the cause.]
The cause of all this confusion and anarchy was Rehoboam's folly, cruelty, and despotic tyranny, and this was certainly not "from the Lord," nor does the original text speak this doctrine. See an elucidation of a similar passage at 2 Sa 24:1. It says, {sibbah,} (from {savav,} to turn, change,) "the change or Revolution was from the Lord;" which is consistent with all the preceding declarations. God stirred up the people to revolt from a man who had neither skill nor humanity to govern them. God serves his own wise and righteous purpose by the imprudences and iniquities of men, and snares sinners in the work of their own hands. "He maketh the wrath of man to praise him."
<06965> [that he might.]
portion <02506> [What portion.]
homes ................. homes <0168> [to your tents.]
When ...................................... look <07200> [now see.]
Israel .................................. Israel ........... Israel <03478> [So Israel.]
Israelites <01121> [the children.]
Adoniram <0151> [Adoram.]
[Adoniram.]
[Hadoram. all Israel.]
managed <0553> [made speed. Heb. strengthened himself. flee to Jerusalem.]
Israel <03478> [Israel.]
rebellion against <06586> [rebelled. or, fell away.]
day <03117> [unto this day.]
king <04427> [and made him.]
<0310> [none that followed.]
