Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 12:16-24
We have here the rending of the kingdom of the ten tribes from the house of David, to effect which,
I. The people were hold and resolute in their revolt. They highly resented the provocation that Rehoboam had given them, were incensed at his menaces, concluded that that government would in the progress of it be intolerably grievous which in the beginning of it was so very haughty, and therefore immediately came to this resolve, one and all: What portion have we in David? Kg1 12:16. They speak here very unbecomingly of David, that great benefactor of their nation, calling him the son of Jesse, no greater a man than his neighbours. How soon are good men, and their good services to the public,…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Kings 12:20
JEROBOAM MADE KING OVER THEM. (Kg1 12:20-33)
when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was come again--This verse closes the parenthetical narrative begun at Kg1 12:2, and Kg1 12:21-24 resume the history from Kg1 12:1. Rehoboam determined to assert his authority by leading a large force into the disaffected provinces. But the revolt of the ten tribes was completed when the prophet Shemaiah ordered, in the Lord's name, an abandonment of any hostile measures against the revolutionists. The army, overawed by the divine prohibition, dispersed, and the king was obliged to submit.
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 12:20
Made him king over all Israel - What is called Israel here, was ten-twelfths of the whole nation; and had they a right to call another person to the throne? They had not, - they had neither legal nor constitutional right. Jeroboam was not of the blood royal; he had no affinity to the kingdom. Nothing could justify this act, but the just judgment of God. God thus punished a disobedient and gainsaying people; and especially Solomon's family, whose sins against the Lord were of no ordinary magnitude.
John Gill on 1 Kings 12:23
Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon king of Judah,.... He is called king before, but of what tribe or tribes is not expressly said, only it is implied in 1 Kings 12:17 and he is only acknowledged king of Judah by the Lord himself:
and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin; which made but one house, as before but one tribe, 1 Kings 11:36.
and to the remnant of the people; of the other tribes that might dwell among them at Jerusalem, and especially Simeon, whose inheritance was within the tribe of Judah, Joshua 19:1.
saying: as follows.
