1 Kings 12:21

_AND WHEN REHOBOAM WAS COME TO JERUSALEM, HE ASSEMBLED ALL THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, WITH THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN, AN HUNDRED AND FOURSCORE THOUSAND CHOSEN MEN, WHICH WERE WARRIORS, TO FIGHT AGAINST THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, TO BRING THE KINGDOM AGAIN TO REHOBOAM THE SON OF SOLOMON._ When Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah. Rehoboam determined to assert his authority by leading a large force into the disaffected provinces. But the revolt of the ten tribes was completed when the prophet Shemaiah ordered, in the Lord's name, an abandonment of any hostile measures against the revolutionists. This seasonable and gracious interposition was designed to prevent the miseries of civil war, in attempting to undo a schism which had originated in the divine decree, and been pre-intimated by His commissioned prophet (1 Kings 11:31). The army, overawed by the divin

16-24 The people speak unbecomingly of David. How soon are good men, and their good services to the public, forgotten ! These considerations should reconcile us to our losses and troubles, that God is the Author of them, and our brethren the instruments: let us not meditate revenge. Rehoboam and his people hearkened to the word of the Lord. When we know God's mind, we must submit, how much soever it crosses our own mind. If we secure the favour of God, not all the universe can hurt us....

The adhesion of Benjamin to Judah at this time comes upon us as a surprise. By blood Benjamin was far more closely connected with Ephraim than with Judah. All the traditions of Benjamin were antagonistic to Judah, and hitherto the weak tribe had been accustomed to lean constantly on its strong northern neighhour. But it would seem that, in the half-century which had elapsed since the revolt of Sheba, the son of Bichri 2 Samuel 20:1, the feelings of the Benjamites had undergone a complete change. This is best accounted for by the establishment of the religious and political capital at Jerusalem, on the border line of the two tribes Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16, from where it resulted that the new metropolis

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

AND WHEN REHOBOAM WAS COME TO JERUSALEM, e.] From Shechem, which was forty miles n from Jerusalem: HE ASSEMBLED ALL THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, WITH THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN, AN HUNDRED AND FOURSCORE THOUSAND CHOSEN MEN, WHICH WERE WARRIORS, TO FIGHT AGAINST THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, TO BRING THE KINGDOM AGAIN TO REHOBOAM THE SON OF SOLOMON which not only shows courage reassumed by Rehoboam, now safely home, but the hearty attachment of Judah and Benjamin to him, who raised presently so numerous an army in his favour; and had it not been that the Lord was against their going to battle with Israel, in all probability they might have gained their point, Jeroboam being scarcely settled in his kingdom, and having no forces raised. n Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. tom. 2. p. 1007....

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...

AN HUNDRED, &C. 180,000. In David's time there were 470,000. See note on 2 Samuel 24:9....

Rehoboam prepares to make war on Israel but this is forbidden by the Prophet Shemaiah (2 Chronicles 11:1-4) 21. _all the house of Judah, with the tribe of Benjamin_ Called in 2 Chron. -the house of Judah and Benjamin." Thus Benjamin is shewn to have been, as it were, reckoned with Judah rather than as a separate tribe. _an hundred and fourscore thousand_ The LXX. gives the number as 120,000. Though apparently enormous, neither number is excessive when we recall Joab's numbering (2 Samuel 24:9), at which time the men of Judah were found to be 500,000. But subsistence for so large a population must have been very difficult to find in so small a state....

D. THE RESPONSE OF REHOBOAM 12:21-24 TRANSLATION (21) Now Rehoboam came to Jerusalem and assembled the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight with the house of Israel, to cause the kingdom to return to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. (22) But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying, (23) Say unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people, saying, (24) Thus says the LORD: Do not go up and fight with your brethren the house of Israel. Return each one to his house, for this thing has come from Me. And they hearkened to the word of the LORD, and turned, and departed according to the word of the LORD. COMMENTS Rehoboam was determined to crush the Northern uprising with military force. To this end he gathered his forces from Judah and...