Bible Chapter Summary
1 Kings 12 Summary
Rehoboam's Folly Splits the Kingdom
When Rehoboam becomes king, the people request lighter taxation, but he spurns the counsel of the old men and hearkens to young advisors, threatening to increase their burdens and chastise them with scorpions instead of whips. The people rebel against the house of David, making Jeroboam king over all Israel except Judah and Benjamin. Jeroboam, fearing the people will return to Jerusalem to worship, creates two golden calves and establishes his own priesthood and feast days to prevent this apostasy.
Key themes
Key verses
1 Kings 12:8-11
“But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him:”
1 Kings 12:16
“So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.”
1 Kings 12:28-29
“Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.”
1 Kings 12:33
“So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Beth-el the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.”
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