1 Kings 12:15

_WHEREFORE THE KING HEARKENED NOT UNTO THE PEOPLE; FOR THE CAUSE WAS FROM THE LORD, THAT HE MIGHT PERFORM HIS SAYING, WHICH THE LORD SPAKE BY AHIJAH THE SHILONITE UNTO JEROBOAM THE SON OF NEBAT._ The cause was from the Lord. That was the overruling cause. Rehoboam's weakness (Ecclesiastes 2:18) and inexperience in public affairs has given rise to the probable conjecture, that like many other princes in the East, he had been kept secluded in the harem until the period of his accession (Ecclesiastes 4:14), his father being either afraid of his aspiring to the sovereignty, like the two sons David or, which is more probable, afraid of prematurely exposing his imbecility. The king's haughty and violent answer to "the people" ...

1-15 The tribes complained not to Rehoboam of his father's idolatry, and revolt from God. That which was the greatest grievance, was none to them; so careless were they in matters of religion, if they might live at case, and pay no taxes. Factious spirits will never want something to complain of. And when we see the Scripture account of Solomon's reign; the peace, wealth, and prosperity Israel then enjoyed; we cannot doubt but that their charges were false, or far beyond the truth. Rehoboam answered the people according to the counsel of the young men. Never was man more blinded by pride, and desire of arbitrary power, than which nothing is more fatal. God's counsels were hereby fulfilled. He left Rehoboam to his own folly, and hid from his eyes the things which belonged to his peace, that the kingdom might be rent from him. God serves his own wise and righteous purposes by the impruden...

Verse 1 Kings 12:15. _THE CAUSE WAS FROM THE LORD_] God left him to himself, and did not incline his heart to follow the counsel of the wise men. This is making the best of our present version; but if we come to inquire into the meaning of the CAUSE of all this confusion and anarchy, we shall find it was Rehoboam's _folly,_ _cruelty_, and _despotic tyranny_: and was _this_ from the Lord? But does the text speak this bad doctrine? No: it says סבה _sibbah, the_ _REVOLUTION, was from the Lord_. This is consistent with all the declarations which went before. God stirred up the people to revolt from a man who had neither skill nor humanity to govern them. We had such a סבה _revolution_ in these nations in 1688; and, thank God, we have never since needed another. None of our ancient translations understood the word as our present version does: they have i...

THE CAUSE WAS FROM THE LORD - i. e., “the turn of events was from the Lord.” Human passions, anger, pride, and insolence, worked out the accomplishment of the divine designs. Without interfering with man’s free will, God guides the course of events, and accomplishes His purposes....

EXPOSITION THE REVOLT OF THE TEN TRIBES.—With the reign of Rehoboam, on which our historian now enters, we begin the second great period in the history of the Hebrew monarchy, so far as it is related in these Books of KINGS. The first, which comprises the Augustan age of Israel, the short-lived maturity of the race in the reign of Solomon, has extended over forty years, from B.C. 1015 to B.C. 975. The second, which is the period of the existence of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah side by side—that is to say, from the disruption to the carrying away of Israel into captivity—extends over two centuries and a half, viz; from B.C. 975 to B.C. 722, and is, with few exceptions, a period of steady and shameful decline. And in giving his account of the division of the kingdom, our historian, _more suo_, confines himself to the recital

WHEREFORE THE KING HEARKENED NOT UNTO THE PEOPLE,.... To lessen their taxes, and ease them of their burdens, as they desired: FOR THE CAUSE WAS FROM THE LORD; it was according to his will and appointment; the defection of the people was willed by the Lord, and various things in Providence turned up to alienate their minds from Rehoboam, and dispose them to a revolt from him in favour of Jeroboam; and the Lord suffered the counsellors of Rehoboam to give him the advice they did, and gave him up to the folly of his own heart to take it: THAT HE MIGHT PERFORM HIS SAYING, WHICH THE LORD SPAKE TO AHIJAH THE SHILONITE UNTO JEROBOAM THE SON OF NEBAT; see 1 Kings 11:29....

III. THE DIVIDED KINGDOM 1. Rehoboam and the Revolt of the Ten Tribes CHAPTER 12 _ 1. The revolt of the northern tribes (1 Kings 12:1)_ 2. The threatening war averted (1 Kings 12:21) 3. Jeroboam's wicked schemes (1 Kings 12:25) Rehoboam (enlarger of the people) is the only son of Solomon mentioned in the Bible (1 Chronicles 3:10). Ecclesiastes 2:18; Ecclesiastes 4:13 seem to give a h

THE REVOLT OF THE NORTHERN TRIBES. It is doubtful whether this section is Judæ an or not. It bears some resemblance to 2 Samuel 9-20, and the parts of 1 K. which seem to be a continuation of that history. On the other hand it is not favourable to the house of David, The writer assumes, that Israel has a right to elect a king, and that Solomon could not, like David, have nominated his successor. This passage may be an extract from a northern source, perhaps the chronicles of the kings of Israel. Difficulty is occasioned by the LXX additions, and has to be discussed in connexion with 1 Kings 12, 14. Evidently Jeroboam's rebellion against Solomon was more serious than is implied in 11, and the prestige of his throne had suffered considerably. SHECHEM. At the end of Solomon's reign the prestige of the older scenes in Israel's history seems to have revived. Jerusalem is no longer the importa...

THE CAUSE. the turning (of events), or overruling....

_Wherefore the king_ Better, as R.V., - SO the king." The original has merely the ordinary copulative ו, and there is no giving of a reason implied, but the summing up of a narrative. _for the cause was from the Lord_ R.V. FOR IT WAS A THING BROUGHT ABOUT OF THE LORD. The Hebrew noun signifies -the turn of events" and is represented in the LXX. by μεταστροφή. For a similar idea, compare the case of Pharaoh (Exodus 4:21). Also (Acts 2:23) -Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain." Josephus says these events happened κατὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ βούλησιν. The course of events had been shaped by Solomon's transgression, and they were left by God to work out their natural results. The sin of the father was here visited