1 Kings 12:24

_BUT THE WORD OF GOD CAME UNTO SHEMAIAH THE MAN OF GOD, SAYING,_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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....

Verse 24. _FOR THIS THING IS FROM ME._] That is, the _separation_ of the ten tribes from the house of David. _THEY - RETURNED TO DEPART_] This was great deference, both in Rehoboam and his officers, to relinquish, at the demand of the prophet, a war which they thought they had good grounds to undertake. _The remnant of the people_ heard the Divine command gratefully, for the mass of mankind are averse from war. No nations would ever rise up against each other, were they not instigated to it or compelled by the rulers....

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

THUS SAITH THE LORD,.... A common preface the prophets used when they spoke in the name of the Lord: YE SHALL NOT GO UP, NOR FIGHT AGAINST YOUR BRETHREN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; and that because they were their brethren; though that is not the only reason, another follows: RETURN EVERY MAN TO HIS HOUSE, FOR THIS THING IS FROM ME; it was according to the will of God, as Josephus rightly says o; it was by his ordination and appointment, though Jeroboam and the people sinned in the way and manner in which they brought it about; and therefore to fight against Israel, in order to regain the kingdom, would be fighting against God, and so to no purpose: THEY HEARKENED THEREFORE TO THE WORD OF THE LORD, AND RETURNED TO DEPART ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD; they knew Shemaiah was a prophet of the Lord, and they believed the message he brought came from him, and therefore hearkened and were...

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...

THIS THING: i.e. the division of the kingdom. Not the rebellion of Jeroboam. Compare 2 Chronicles 13:4....

_for this thing is from me_ See above on 1 Kings 12:15. _and returned to depart_ This is the literal rendering of the original, but is Hebrew rather than English. In R.V. the sense is given by - AND RETURNED AND WENT THEIR WAY." The LXX. has καὶ κατέπαυσαν τοῦ πορευθῆναι, -and they ceased from going." At this point the LXX. (_Vat._) has a long passage inserted, for an account of which see additional note at the end of this chapter....

DISCOURSE: 338 REVOLT OF THE TEN TRIBES 1 Kings 12:24._ This thing is from me._ IN histories written by men, events are always traced to human efforts and sagacity; but in the inspired history every thing is traced to God. We always find, even in things apparently most contingent, a secret over-ruling Agent, accomplishing his own purposes of mercy or of judgment, and operating with unerring wisdom to the production of his own ends. As “every good and perfect gift” is represented as “coming from above,” so the prophet asks respecting things most calamitous, “Shall there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it [Note: Amos 3:6.]?” In the account given us of the revolt of the ten tribes, and their establishment as a separate kingdom under Jeroboam, the proceedings of all the different par