1 Kings 12:1--13:34
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.]
Rehoboam ........................... Rehoboam <07346> [when Rehoboam.]
180,000 <03967> [an hundred.]
Shemaiah <08098> [Shemaiah.]
prophet <0376> [the man.]
[See on]
attack <05927> [Ye shall not go up.]
caused ............ as ..... ordered <01697> [for this thing.]
obeyed <08085> [They hearkened.]
built .................. built <01129> [built.]
Shechem <07927> [Shechem.]
Penuel <06439> [Penuel.]
himself <0559 03820> [said in his heart.]
kingdom <04467> [Now shall.]
up <05927> [go up.]
kill <02026> [and they shall.]
consulted <03289> [took counsel.]
two golden calves <08147 05695 02091> [two calves of gold.]
He invented a political religion, and instituted feasts in his own times, different from those appointed by Jehovah; gave the people certain objects of adoration, and pretended to think that it would be both inconvenient and oppressive to them to go up to Jerusalem to worship. These calves were doubtless of the same kind as the calf which was set up by Aaron; and it is remarkable, that in pointing them out to the people he should use the same words that Aaron used on that occasion, when they must have heard what terrible judgments fell upon their forefathers for this idolatry. Solomon's idolatry, however, had prepared the people for Jeroboam's abominations.
people .... too much <07227> [It is too much.]
gods <0430> [behold.]
Bethel <01008> [Beth-el.]
Dan <01835> [Dan.]
sin <02403> [became a sin.]
temples <01004> [an house.]
priests <03548> [priests.]
festival ............ festival <02282> [like unto.]
altar <04196 05927> [offered upon the altar. or, went up to the altar. sacrificing. or, to sacrifice. he placed.]
offered sacrifices .... altar ............... went up .... altar <04196 05927> [offered upon the altar. or, went up to the altar, etc.]
month <02320> [in the month.]
offered sacrifices .................. went up <05927> [he offered.]
offer sacrifices <06999> [and burnt incense. Heb. to burn incense.]
arrived <0935> [there came.]
<01697> [by the word.]
Jeroboam <03379> [Jeroboam.]
sacrifice <06999> [burn. or, offer.]
altar ... altar altar <04196> [O altar.]
named Josiah <02977 08034> [Josiah by name.]
sacrifice <02076> [offer.]
Seize <08610> [Lay hold.]
hand ....... hand <03027> [his hand.]
<06440> [now.]
<02470> [besought.]
Lord .................... Lord's <03068> [Lord. Heb. face of the Lord.]
me <05582> [refresh.]
give <05414> [I will give.]
As great men in the East make no presents to equals or inferiors when visited, Sir John Chardin thinks that the king intended by this to treat the prophet as his superior.
give <05414> [If.]
go <0935> [go.]
gave <06680> [For.]
eat <0398 03899> [Eat no bread.]
an old prophet <0259 02205 05030> [an old prophet.]
sons <01121> [sons. Heb. son. came.]
sitting <03427> [sitting.]
prophet ................ prophet <0376> [Art thou.]
strict orders <01697> [It was. Heb. a word was. by the word.]
angel <04397> [an angel.]
lying <03584> [But.]
Lord spoke <03068 01697> [the word of the Lord.]
"A great clamour," says Dr. Kennicott, "has been raised against this part of history, on account of God's denouncing sentence on the true prophet by the mouth of the false prophet; but if we examine with attention the original words here, they will be found to signify either he who brought him back, or, whom he had brought back; for the very same words, {asher heshivo,} occur again, ver. 23, where they are now translated, whom he had brought back; and where they cannot be translated otherwise. This being the case, we are at liberty to consider the words of the Lord as delivered to the true prophet, thus brought back; and then the sentence is pronounced by God himself, calling to him out of heaven, as in Ge 22:11. And that this doom was thus pronounced by God, not by the false prophet, we are assured in ver. 26. 'The Lord hath delivered him unto the lion, according to the word of the Lord, which He spake unto him.' Josephus [and also the Arabic] asserts, that the sentence was declared by God to the true prophet."
says <0559> [Thus saith.]
rebelled <04784> [thou hast disobeyed.]
ate ............... eat <0398> [eaten.]
said <01696> [of the.]
corpse <05038> [carcase.]
lion ...................... lion <0738> [a lion.]
prophet <0376> [the man.]
ripped <07665> [torn. Heb. broken. which he spake.]
lion ...... lion .... eaten <0738 0398> [the lion had.]
All here was supernatural. The lion, though he had killed the man, yet, contrary to his nature, did not devour him, nor tear the ass, nor meddle with the travellers that passed by; while the ass stood quietly by, not fearing the lion, nor betaking himself to flight: both stood as guardians of the fallen prophet, till this extraordinary intelligence was carried into the city which rendered the miracle the more illustrious and plainly shewed that this event did not happen by chance. This concatenation of miracles marked the death of the man of God as a Divine rebuke for his disobedience in eating bread at idolatrous Beth-el; and here we see, as in various other cases, that "often judgment begins at the house of God." The true prophet, for suffering himself to be seduced by the old prophet, and for receiving that as a revelation from God which was opposed to the revelation which himself had received, and which was confirmed by so many miracles, is slain by a lion, and his body deprived of the burial of his fathers; while the wicked king and the fallen prophet are both permitted to live.
<07665> [torn. Heb. broken.]
mourned ..... Ah <05594 01945> [mourned over.]
put ... bones ..... bones <03240 06106> [lay my bones.]
prophecy ... announced <01697> [the saying.]
temples <01004> [the houses.]
cities <05892> [in the cities.]
Jeroboam <03379> [A.M. 3030-3050. B.C. 974-954. Jeroboam.]
change ...... continued <07725 06213> [made again. Heb. returned and made.]
wanted <02655> [whosoever.]
priests ............ consecrated .... priest <04390 03548> [consecrated him. Heb. filled his hand.]
sin <02403> [became sin.]
<03582> [to cut it off.]
