1 Kings 12:6

_AND KING REHOBOAM CONSULTED WITH THE OLD MEN, THAT STOOD BEFORE SOLOMON HIS FATHER WHILE HE YET LIVED, AND SAID, HOW DO YE ADVISE THAT I MAY ANSWER THIS PEOPLE?_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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...

THE OLD MEN, THAT STOOD BEFORE SOLOMON HIS FATHER - Perhaps “the princes” of 1 Kings 4:2. Solomon placed great value upon good advisers Proverbs 11:14; Proverbs 15:22; Proverbs 24:6....

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 KING REHOBOAM CONSULTED WITH THE OLD MEN THAT STOOD BEFORE SOLOMON HIS FATHER, WHILE HE YET LIVED,.... Which was very prudently done; for as these were men in years, and had been his father's counsellors, from whom, do doubt, they had learnt much wisdom, being often in cabinet council with him, they were capable of giving him the best advice: AND SAID, HOW DO YOU ADVISE, THAT I MAY ANSWER THIS PEOPLE? what answer would you advise me to give to them, and in what manner?...

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...

_And king Rehoboam consulted_ That the close similarity between the narrative here and 2 Chron. may be as apparent as possible to the English reader, the R.V. reads here as there, TOOK COUNSEL, and similarly in 1 Kings 12:8 -and TOOK COUNSEL with the young men." The change is of no importance to the sense, but where two passages are identical in the original they are with advantage represented so in the translation. _the old men_ These persons must have been advanced in years, and perhaps were not in public office under Rehoboam. The age of Rehoboam on his accession was 41 years (1 Kings 14:21). (See, however, the note at the end of this chapter.) So though he and his favoured advisers are spoken of as -young," they were not so, except in comparison with Solomon's counsellors....

B. THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COUNSELORS 12:6-11 TRANSLATION (6) And King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had stood before Solomon his father when he was alive, saying, How do you counsel me to respond to this people? (7) And they spoke unto him, saying, If you will be a servant to this people today, serve them, respond to them, and speak unto them good words; then they will be your servants forever. (8) But he rejected the counsel of the elders who had advised him, and consulted with the young men with whom he had grown up, who stood before him. (9) And he said unto them, What do you counsel, that we may respond to this people who have said unto me, Lighten the yoke which your father placed upon us. (10) And the young men who grew up with him said unto him, Thus you shall say to this people who have spoken unto you, saying, Your father made our yoke heavy, but as for you, lighten our...

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....