ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for 1 Kings 12

1 Kings 12:1–14:31 The Kingdom Is Divided. Two kingdoms emerge. Judah is made up of two tribes (Judah and Benjamin) in the south and is ruled by Rehoboam. Israel is made up of the ten northern tribes and is ruled by Jeroboam.

1 Kings 12:1–33 As Moses led the people out of slavery under the Egyptian pharaoh, Jeroboam now leads Israel out of “slavery” under the house of David. But rather than being a second Moses, Jeroboam soon begins to look like Aaron, as he fashions golden calves for Israel to worship. Such idolatrous worship will eventually result in disaster for Israel.

1 Kings 12:1 Shechem was where the Israelites renewed their covenant with God (Josh. 24:1–27). It was also the site of Abimelech’s attempt to make himself king (Judges 9).

1 Kings 12:4 Your father made our yoke heavy. Solomon placed great financial burdens on the people. They are no longer living in freedom in the Promised Land. They are again a people under hard service, as they were in Egypt (Ex. 1:14; 2:23). They toil as oxen would under a heavy yoke.

1 Kings 12:10–11 My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs. Rehoboam is saying that he will be much harsher than his father was. Scorpions probably refers to a particularly vicious form of whip.

1 Kings 12:14 I will add to your yoke. Rehoboam is behaving exactly as Pharaoh had behaved before him (compare Ex. 5:1–21).

1 Kings 12:15 a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord. God is in control of all events. His word is being carried out, as was the case with the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart (Ex. 4:21; 7:3–4; 13).

1 Kings 12:16 What portion do we have in David? The people do not support Rehoboam, so they leave for their tents.

1 Kings 12:18 It is not clear whether Adoram is the person mentioned in 4:6 and 5:14. He comes to impose forced labor on Israel.

1 Kings 12:24 they listened to the word of the Lord and went home. War is avoided, at least for now. But the peace does not last long.

1 Kings 12:25 Jeroboam built Shechem . . . Penuel. The first task for Jeroboam was the obvious one of defense. He built up two major cities.

1 Kings 12:27–28 two calves of gold. Jeroboam fears that the presence of the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem will lead the people of northern Israel to return to Rehoboam. To prevent this, Jeroboam sets up his own system for worship. His words to the people about the calves—Behold your gods, O Israel—are almost exactly the words with which the people greeted Aaron’s golden calf (Ex. 32:4). These bull idols were unacceptable for the worship of the Lord because they failed to show the difference between the Creator and his creation.

1 Kings 12:29–33 Jeroboam builds centers of worship within his own territory to rival Jerusalem, one in the far north (Dan) and one in the far south (Bethel). He appoints priests who had not been set apart by God for such service. He invents a central feast in the eighth month, a version of the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles) (compare 8:2; Lev. 23:33–43).