1 Kings 12:26

_AND JEROBOAM SAID IN HIS HEART, NOW SHALL THE KINGDOM RETURN TO THE HOUSE OF DAVID:_ Jeroboam said in his heart. Having received the kingdom from God, he should have relied on the divine protection. But he did not. With a view to withdraw the people from the temple, and destroy the sacred associations connected with Jerusalem, he made serious and unwarranted innovations on the religious observances of the country, on pretext of saving the people the trouble and expense of a distant journey. First, He erected two golden calves х_ `EEGEL_ (H5695) (see the notes at Exodus 32:4; Exodus 32:8); Septuagint, damaleis chrusas] - the young bulls Apis and Mnevis, as symbols, in the Egyptian fashion, of the true God. Monceau says Jeroboam made them the

25-33 Jeroboam distrusted the providence of God; he would contrive ways and means, and sinful ones too, for his own safety. A practical disbelief of God's all-sufficiency is at the bottom of all our departures from him. Though it is probable he meant his worship for Jehovah the God of Israel, it was contrary to the Divine law, and dishonourable to the Divine majesty to be thus represented. The people might be less shocked at worshipping the God of Israel under an image, than if they had at once been asked to worship Baal; but it made way for that idolatry. Blessed Lord, give us grace to reverence thy temple, thine ordinances, thine house of prayer, thy sabbaths, and never more, like Jeroboam, to set up in our hearts any idol of abomination. Be thou to us every thing precious; do thou reign and rule in our hearts, the hope of glory....

Jeroboam’s fear was lest a reaction should set in, and a desire for reunion manifest itself. He was not a man content to remain quiet, trusting simply to the promise made him 1 Kings 11:38. Hence, he gave way to the temptation of helping forward the plans of Providence by the crooked devices of a merely human policy. His measures, like all measures which involve a dereliction of principle, brought certain evils in their train, and drew down divine judgment on himself. But they fully secured the object at which he aimed. They prevented all healing of the breach between the two kingdoms. They made the separation final. They produced the result that not only no reunion took place, but no symptoms of an inclination to reunite ever manifested themselves during the whole period of the double kingdom....

EXPOSITION THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL, AND THE SCHISM IN THE CHURCH.—The historian, after describing the great rebellion of the Jewish people, proceeds, in the rest of this chapter, to relate the measures which the new king took to secure his position. These were both external and internal. The external means were the erection of fortresses; the internal, the provision of new sanctuaries, priests, and ordinances. 1 KINGS 12:25 THEN JEROBOAM BUILT [_i.e; rebuilt _or _fortified, _בָּנָה_ _naturally has both meanings] SHECHEM [see on...

AND JEROBOAM SAID IN HIS HEART, c,] As he was musing about the state of his kingdom and the affairs of it: NOW SHALL THE KINGDOM RETURN TO THE HOUSE OF DAVID such were his fears, unless some method could be taken to prevent it, particularly with respect to religion, which was what his thoughts were employed about....

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

1 Kings 12:25 to 1 Kings 13:34. THE SIN OF JEROBOAM. THE PROPHET AT BETHEL. The sources cannot be exactly determined. Some (see Cent.B) may belong to the annals of the northern kingdom, but the tone is decidedly Deuteronomic. The prophet's message to Jeroboam is certainly late. Jeroboam's first act as recorded was to build or fortify Shechem (1 Kings 12:25). Then for some reason he transferred his seat of government to the E. of Jordan to Penuel. Possibly he was hard pressed by his former patron Shishak, who invaded Israel in his reign (1 Kings 14:25). There is no proof of this; but Abner after Saul's death set up Ishbosh

On the addition in the LXX. after 1 Kings 12:24 This long passage has many peculiarities not only in the arrangement, which differs considerably from that of the narrative of the Hebrew text, but also in some portions of its contents. It takes up the history at 1 Kings 11:43 with Solomon's death and Rehoboam's accession. But it gives different numbers, both for the age of Rehoboam when he began to reign and for the duration of his reign, from those in the Hebrew text. Instead of 41 years old (as in 1 Kings 14:21) he is here stated to have been 16, and to have reigned 12 and not 17 years. It must be owned that the conduct of Rehoboam is much more like that of a very young man than of one who had passed middle-age. The

II. THE GREAT APOSTASY 12:25-33 TRANSLATION (25) And Jeroboam built Shechem in Mt. Ephraim, and dwelt in it. And he went out from there and built Penuel. (26) And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. (27) If this people go up to make sacrifices in the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, then the heart of this people shall turn unto their lord, unto Rehoboam the king of Judah. (28) So the king took counsel, and made two golden calves, and he said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. (29) And he placed one in Bethel and the other he put in Dan. (30) And this thing became a sin, for the people went before the one as far as Dan. (31) And he made houses on high places, and made priests from all classes of the people who were not from the house of Levi. (32) And Jer...

THE REVOLT OF THE TEN TRIBES. REHOBOAM AND JEROBOAM The revolt of the Ten Tribes against the rule of Rehoboam had its origin partly in the discontent which the burdens laid on the people by Solomon had created and which Jeroboam (who knew of it, see 1 Kings 11:28) had perhaps stimulated, and partly in the jealousy subsisting between the northern tribes and Judah, which had manifested itself previously in the separate kingdoms of Ish-bosheth and David, and the insurrections that disturbed David's reign over the whole people (2 Samuel 20:1); whilst the bond of union constituted by a common religious faith must have been weakened by Solomon's idolatry....