Kill me - In case his subjects desired a reconciliation with Rehoboam, Jeroboam’s death would at once facilitate the re-establishment of a single kingdom, and obtain favor with the legitimate monarch. (Compare 2 Samuel 4:7.) read more
1 Kings 12:26. Jeroboam said in his heart Reasoned within himself. The sacred historian shows, by this phrase, the fountain of his error, that he did not consult God, who had given him the kingdom, as in all reason, and justice, and gratitude, he ought to have done; nor believed in and relied on God’s promises, 1 Kings 11:38, but on his own carnal policy. God had told him he would build him a sure house, if he would walk in his ways and keep his statutes, yet he could not depend on this,... read more
1 Kings 12:27. If this people go up to do sacrifice at Jerusalem, &c. All the people of Israel being bound, at the three great feasts, to go up to Jerusalem; and on other solemn occasions devout persons being used to go thither to offer gifts and sacrifices; he was afraid lest, if they should continue to go, they should be so taken with the magnificence of the temple and the royal city, and should so recall to mind the famous acts of David and Solomon who were buried there, as, by... read more
False religion in the north (12:25-33)Shechem, where Rehoboam had hoped to unite all Israel, now became the capital of Jeroboam’s breakaway kingdom. Jeroboam established a second capital at Penuel, east of Jordan, probably with the aim of holding the allegiance of the two and a half eastern tribes (25). Later he moved his capital a short distance north to Tirzah, which remained the capital during the reigns of several kings (see 14:17; 15:21,33).Jeroboam saw that his people might be tempted to... read more
If this People. His apostasy was willful, designed, and deliberate. read more
1 Kings 12:27. If this people go up to do sacrifice, &c.— Though the people were very angry with their ill-advised king, and though his ungracious reception of their tender of duty to him, and his threats of worse treatment towards them, transported and provoked them so far, as to make them withdraw their obedience from him; yet Jeroboam easily foresaw, that when they should go up again to the temple at Jerusalem, whither their religion obliged them to repair, and should hear the priests... read more
26-32. Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David—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... read more
A. The First Period of Antagonism 12:1-16:28After the division of the kingdom, their respective kings were hostile to one another for 57 years. read more
Jeroboam’s idolatry 12:25-33During its history the Northern Kingdom had three capitals: first Shechem (1 Kings 12:25), later Tirzah (1 Kings 14:17; 1 Kings 15:33), and finally Samaria (1 Kings 16:23-24). Perhaps the king strengthened Penuel in west-central Gilead as a transjordanian provincial center. Like Shechem, Penuel (Peniel) was an important site in patriarchal times (Genesis 32:30). By strengthening these sites, Jeroboam appears to have been trying to get the residents of his kingdom to... read more
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Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Kings 12:26
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... read more