When all Israel saw that the king had refused to listen to them, they answered the king: "What portion do we have in David, and what inheritance in the son of Jesse? To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David!" So the Israelites went home, When all Israel sawThe phrase "all Israel" refers to the collective tribes of Israel, emphasizing the unity and shared identity of the people. Historically, Israel was a confederation of tribes, and this moment marks a significant shift in their unity. The Hebrew root for "saw" (רָאָה, ra'ah) implies not just physical sight but also understanding and realization. The people recognized the implications of the king's decision, which was a pivotal moment leading to the division of the kingdom. the king had refused to listen
The king in question is Rehoboam, Solomon's son. His refusal to listen is a critical failure in leadership. The Hebrew word for "refused" (מָאֵן, ma'en) suggests a deliberate and obstinate decision. Listening, in the biblical context, often implies obedience and wisdom. Rehoboam's failure to heed the counsel of the elders and the people's plea reflects a lack of discernment and humility, contrasting with the wisdom of his father, Solomon. they answered the king
The response of the people is a direct and bold confrontation. The Hebrew root for "answered" (עָנָה, anah) can also mean to testify or respond with authority. This is not a mere reaction but a decisive declaration of their stance. It signifies a turning point where the people assert their autonomy and reject the king's authority. What portion do we have in David?
This rhetorical question highlights the people's disillusionment with the Davidic dynasty. "Portion" (חֵלֶק, chelek) implies a share or inheritance, suggesting that the people feel disenfranchised. David, the revered king, had united the tribes, but now his legacy is questioned. This reflects a deep-seated division and dissatisfaction with the current leadership. We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse
The reference to "the son of Jesse" underscores the human lineage of David, emphasizing his humble origins. "Inheritance" (נַחֲלָה, nachalah) is a significant term in Israelite culture, denoting a God-given right and blessing. The people's declaration of having no inheritance signifies a complete severance from the Davidic promise, a profound statement of disconnection and rejection. To your tents, O Israel!
This phrase is a call to action, urging the people to return to their homes and abandon the centralized authority of the king. "Tents" (אֹהֶל, ohel) symbolize personal and tribal autonomy, hearkening back to the nomadic roots of Israel. It is a call for independence and self-governance, a return to simpler, decentralized times. Now look after your own house, O David!
This statement is both a challenge and a dismissal. "Look after" (רָעָה, ra'ah) implies tending or shepherding, a role that David was known for. The irony is palpable; the people are telling the king to focus on his own affairs, as they no longer recognize his authority over them. It marks the end of the united monarchy and the beginning of a divided kingdom. So the Israelites went home
The conclusion of the verse is both literal and symbolic. The Israelites' return to their homes signifies the fragmentation of the nation. "Went home" (הָלַךְ, halak) implies a journey or movement, not just physically but also spiritually and politically. This marks the beginning of a new era in Israel's history, one characterized by division and the eventual rise of two separate kingdoms: Israel and Judah. Persons / Places / Events 1. RehoboamThe son of Solomon and king of Israel, whose harsh response to the people's request for lighter burdens led to the division of the kingdom. 2. JeroboamAn official under Solomon who became the leader of the northern tribes and eventually the king of Israel after the division. 3. IsraelRefers to the northern tribes who rejected Rehoboam's rule and formed their own kingdom. 4. DavidThe former king of Israel, whose lineage Rehoboam belonged to, representing the united monarchy. 5. ShechemThe place where Rehoboam went to be crowned king and where the division of the kingdom took place. Teaching Points The Consequences of Pride and Harsh LeadershipRehoboam's refusal to listen to wise counsel and his harsh response led to the division of the kingdom. Leaders today should heed the wisdom of others and lead with humility and compassion. The Importance of UnityThe division of Israel serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of disunity. In the church and in families, unity should be pursued and maintained through love and understanding. God's Sovereignty Amidst Human FailureDespite the division, God's promises to David remained. This reminds us that God's plans are not thwarted by human actions, and His sovereignty prevails. Listening to Wise CounselThe elders advised Rehoboam to serve the people, but he chose to listen to his peers instead. This highlights the importance of seeking and valuing wise, godly counsel in decision-making. Bible Study Questions 1. What were the key factors that led to the division of the kingdom under Rehoboam's rule, and how can we apply these lessons to leadership today? 2. How does the division of Israel reflect the consequences of ignoring wise counsel, and what other biblical examples illustrate this principle? 3. In what ways does the account of Rehoboam and Jeroboam demonstrate the importance of unity within the body of Christ? 4. How can we reconcile the division of the kingdom with God's promise to David about his enduring lineage? 5. Reflect on a time when you faced a decision and had to choose between different pieces of advice. How did you discern which counsel to follow, and what was the outcome? Connections to Other Scriptures 1 Samuel 8The Israelites' demand for a king, which led to the establishment of the monarchy, setting the stage for the events in 1 Kings 12. 2 Samuel 7God's covenant with David, promising that his lineage would endure, which is challenged by the division of the kingdom. Matthew 12:25Jesus speaks about a kingdom divided against itself, which can be related to the division of Israel and Judah. Hosea 8:4The prophet Hosea speaks against the kings of Israel, highlighting the consequences of their rebellion against God's chosen line. People Adoniram, Adoram, Ahijah, Benjamin, Dan, David, Israelites, Jeroboam, Jesse, Levi, Levites, Nebat, Penuel, Rehoboam, Shemaiah, SolomonPlaces Bethel, Dan, Egypt, Jerusalem, Penuel, ShechemTopics Attention, David, Departed, Didn't, Hearken, Hearkened, Heritage, Home, Inheritance, Israelites, Jesse, Jesse's, Listen, O, Portion, Saying, Share, Tents, YeaDictionary of Bible Themes 1 Kings 12:16 5578 tents 1 Kings 12:1-17 7233 Israel, northern kingdom 1 Kings 12:1-19 7236 Israel, united kingdom 1 Kings 12:1-24 5366 king
7245 Judah, kingdom of 1 Kings 12:16-17 5834 disagreement 1 Kings 12:16-19 7240 Jerusalem, history Library How to Split a Kingdom
And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king. 2. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt); 3. That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, 4. Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScripturePolitical Religion
'Then Jeroboam built Shechera in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. 26. And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: 27. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah. 28. Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture "This Thing is from Me"
"Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me."--1 Kings 12:24. IT IS VERY DELIGHTFUL to read a history in which God is made prominent. How sadly deficient we are of such histories of our own English nation! Yet surely there is no story that is more full of God than the record of the doings of our British race. Cowper, in one of his poems, shows the parallel between us and the house of Israel, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 42: 1896 The Hebrews and the Philistines --Damascus
THE ISRAELITES IN THE LAND OF CANAAN: THE JUDGES--THE PHILISTINES AND THE HEBREW KINGDOM--SAUL, DAVID, SOLOMON, THE DEFECTION OF THE TEN TRIBES--THE XXIst EGYPTIAN DYNASTY--SHESHONQ OR SHISHAK DAMASCUS. The Hebrews in the desert: their families, clans, and tribes--The Amorites and the Hebrews on the left bank of the Jordan--The conquest of Canaan and the native reaction against the Hebrews--The judges, Ehud, Deborah, Jerubbaal or Gideon and the Manassite supremacy; Abimelech, Jephihdh. The Philistines, …
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 6 How God Works in the Hearts of Men.
1. Connection of this chapter with the preceding. Augustine's similitude of a good and bad rider. Question answered in respect to the devil. 2. Question answered in respect to God and man. Example from the history of Job. The works of God distinguished from the works of Satan and wicked men. 1. By the design or end of acting. How Satan acts in the reprobate. 2. How God acts in them. 3. Old Objection, that the agency of God in such cases is referable to prescience or permission, not actual operation. …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Use to be Made of the Doctrine of Providence.
Sections. 1. Summary of the doctrine of Divine Providence. 1. It embraces the future and the past. 2. It works by means, without means, and against means. 3. Mankind, and particularly the Church, the object of special care. 4. The mode of administration usually secret, but always just. This last point more fully considered. 2. The profane denial that the world is governed by the secret counsel of God, refuted by passages of Scripture. Salutary counsel. 3. This doctrine, as to the secret counsel of …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8. …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life The Instrumentality of the Wicked Employed by God, While He Continues Free from Every Taint.
1. The carnal mind the source of the objections which are raised against the Providence of God. A primary objection, making a distinction between the permission and the will of God, refuted. Angels and men, good and bad, do nought but what has been decreed by God. This proved by examples. 2. All hidden movements directed to their end by the unseen but righteous instigation of God. Examples, with answers to objections. 3. These objections originate in a spirit of pride and blasphemy. Objection, that …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion The Twelve Minor Prophets.
1. By the Jewish arrangement, which places together the twelve minor prophets in a single volume, the chronological order of the prophets as a whole is broken up. The three greater prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, stand in the true order of time. Daniel began to prophesy before Ezekiel, but continued, many years after him. The Jewish arrangement of the twelve minor prophets is in a sense chronological; that is, they put the earlier prophets at the beginning, and the later at the end of the …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Of Civil Government.
OF CIVIL GOVERNMENT. This chapter consists of two principal heads,--I. General discourse on the necessity, dignity, and use of Civil Government, in opposition to the frantic proceedings of the Anabaptists, sec. 1-3. II. A special exposition of the three leading parts of which Civil Government consists, sec. 4-32. The first part treats of the function of Magistrates, whose authority and calling is proved, sec. 4-7. Next, the three Forms of civil government are added, sec. 8. Thirdly, Consideration …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Travelling in Palestine --Roads, Inns, Hospitality, Custom-House Officers, Taxation, Publicans
It was the very busiest road in Palestine, on which the publican Levi Matthew sat at the receipt of "custom," when our Lord called him to the fellowship of the Gospel, and he then made that great feast to which he invited his fellow-publicans, that they also might see and hear Him in Whom he had found life and peace (Luke 5:29). For, it was the only truly international road of all those which passed through Palestine; indeed, it formed one of the great highways of the world's commerce. At the time …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life The Figurative Language of Scripture.
1. When the psalmist says: "The Lord God is a sun and shield" (Psa. 84:11), he means that God is to all his creatures the source of life and blessedness, and their almighty protector; but this meaning he conveys under the figure of a sun and a shield. When, again, the apostle James says that Moses is read in the synagogues every Sabbath-day (Acts 15:21), he signifies the writings of Moses under the figure of his name. In these examples the figure lies in particular words. But it may be embodied …
E. P. Barrows—Companion to the Bible Kings
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession of Solomon (1 Kings i., ii.) it traverses his reign with considerable fulness (1 Kings iii.-xi.), …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links 1 Kings 12:16 NIV1 Kings 12:16 NLT1 Kings 12:16 ESV1 Kings 12:16 NASB1 Kings 12:16 KJV
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