1 Reis 12

ARC · Chapter 12/22

1E foi Roboão para Sichem; porque todo o Israel veiu a Sichem, para o fazerem rei.

2Succedeu pois que, ouvindo-o Jeroboão, filho de Nebat, estando ainda no Egypto (porque fugira de diante do rei Salomão, e habitava Jeroboão no Egypto),

3Enviaram, e o mandaram chamar; e Jeroboão e toda a congregação d'Israel vieram, e fallaram a Roboão, dizendo:

4Teu pae aggravou o nosso jugo; agora, pois, allivia tu a dura servidão de teu pae, e o seu pesado jugo que nos impoz, e nós te serviremos.

5E elle lhes disse: Ide-vos até ao terceiro dia, e voltae a mim. E o povo se foi.

6E teve o rei Roboão conselho com os anciãos que estavam na presença de Salomão, seu pae, quando este ainda vivia, dizendo: Como aconselhaes vós que se responda a este povo

7E elles lhe fallaram, dizendo: Se hoje fores servo d'este povo, e o servires, e, respondendo-lhe, lhe fallares boas palavras, todos os dias teus servos serão.

8Porém elle deixou o conselho que os anciãos lhe tinham aconselhado, e teve conselho com os mancebos que haviam crescido com elle, que estavam diante d'elle.

9E disse-lhes: Que aconselhaes vós que respondamos a este povo, que me fallou, dizéndo: Allivia o jugo que teu pae nos impoz?

10E os mancebos que haviam crescido com elle lhe fallaram, dizendo: Assim fallarás a este povo que te fallou, dizendo: Teu pae fez pesadissimo o nosso jugo, mas tu o allivia de sobre nós; assim lhe fallarás: Meu dedo minimo é mais grosso do que os lombos de meu pae

11Assim que, se meu pae vos carregou d'um jugo pesado, ainda eu augmentarei o vosso jugo: meu pae vos castigou com açoites, porém eu vos castigarei com escorpiões.

12Veiu pois Jeroboão e todo o povo, ao terceiro dia, a Roboão, como o rei havia fallado, dizendo: Voltae a mim ao terceiro dia.

13E o rei respondeu ao povo duramente; porque deixara o conselho que os anciãos lhe haviam aconselhado.

14E lhe fallou conforme ao conselho dos mancebos, dizendo: Meu pae aggravou o vosso jugo, porém eu ainda augmentarei o vosso jugo; meu pae vos castigou com açoites, porém eu vos castigarei com escorpiões.

15O rei pois não deu ouvidos ao povo; porque esta revolta vinha do Senhor, para confirmar a sua palavra que o Senhor tinha dito pelo ministerio de Ahias, o silonita, a Jeroboão, filho de Nebat.

16Vendo pois todo o Israel que o rei não lhe dava ouvidos, tornou-lhe o povo a responder, dizendo: Que parte temos nós com David? e não ha para nós herança no filho de Jessé. Ás tuas tendas, ó Israel! Provê agora a tua casa, ó David. Então Israel se foi ás suas tendas

17No tocante porém aos filhos d'Israel que habitavam nas cidades de Judah, tambem sobre elles reinou Roboão.

18Então o rei Roboão enviou a Adoram, que estava sobre os tributos; e todo o Israel o apedrejou com pedras, e morreu: mas o rei Roboão se animou a subir ao carro para fugir para Jerusalem.

19Assim descairam os israelitas da casa de David até ao dia de hoje.

20E succedeu que, ouvindo todo o Israel que Jeroboão tinha voltado, enviaram, e o chamaram para a congregação, e o fizeram rei sobre todo o Israel: e ninguem seguiu a casa de David senão sómente a tribu de Judah.

21Vindo pois Roboão a Jerusalem, ajuntou toda a casa de Judah e a tribu de Benjamin, cento e oitenta mil escolhidos, destros para a guerra, para pelejar contra a casa d'Israel, para restituir o reino a Roboão, filho de Salomão.

22Porém veiu a palavra de Deus a Semaias, homem de Deus, dizendo:

23Falla a Roboão, filho de Salomão, rei de Judah, e a toda a casa de Judah, e a Benjamin, e ao resto do povo, dizendo:

24Assim diz o Senhor: Não subireis nem pelejareis contra vossos irmãos, os filhos d'Israel; volte cada um para a sua casa, porque eu é que fiz esta obra. E ouviram a palavra do Senhor, e voltaram segundo a palavra do Senhor.

25E Jeroboão edificou a Sichem, no monte de Ephraim, e habitou ali; e saiu d'ali, e edificou a Penuel.

26E disse Jeroboão no seu coração: Agora tornará o reino á casa de David.

27Se este povo subir para fazer sacrificios na casa do Senhor, em Jerusalem, o coração d'este povo se tornará a seu senhor, a Roboão, rei de Judah: e me matarão, e tornarão a Roboão, rei de Judah.

28Pelo que o rei tomou conselho, e fez dois bezerros de oiro; e lhes disse: Muito trabalho vos será o subir a Jerusalem; vês aqui teus deuses, ó Israel, que te fizeram subir da terra do Egypto.

29E poz um em Bethel, e collocou o outro em Dan.

30E este feito se tornou em peccado: pois que o povo ia até Dan cada um a adorar.

31Tambem fez casa dos altos: e fez sacerdotes dos mais baixos do povo, que não eram dos filhos de Levi.

32E fez Jeroboão uma festa no oitavo mez, no dia decimo quinto do mez, como a festa que se fazia em Judah, e sacrificou no altar; similhantemente fez em Bethel, sacrificando os bezerros que fizera: tambem em Bethel estabeleceu sacerdotes dos altos que fizera.

33E sacrificou no altar que fizera em Bethel, no dia decimo quinto do oitavo mez, que elle tinha imaginado no seu coração: assim fez a festa aos filhos de Israel, e sacrificou no altar, queimando incenso.

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Summary

Rehoboam, Solomon's son, rejects the elders' advice to ease the people's taxes and follows the young men's advice to increase the oppression instead. The ten northern tribes rebel and make Jeroboam king, dividing the kingdom. Jeroboam creates golden calves at Bethel and Dan to keep the people from returning to worship in Jerusalem.

Explanation

This is the decisive moment of the division of the united kingdom of Israel into the Northern Kingdom (Israel, under Jeroboam) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah, under Rehoboam), a direct consequence of both Rehoboam's arrogance and the judgment announced against Solomon. Jeroboam's decision to create golden calves, though politically understandable (preventing the people, on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, from shifting their loyalty back to Rehoboam), repeats the sin of the golden calf from the Exodus and becomes the root of the Northern Kingdom's spiritual decline throughout its history. It is a case study in how pragmatic political decisions can have lasting and tragic spiritual consequences.

Fun facts

  • The phrase 'my little finger is thicker than my father's waist,' the young men's advice to Rehoboam, is an ancient idiomatic expression of arrogance that still shocks with its crudeness even millennia later.
  • Bethel and Dan, where Jeroboam placed the golden calves, were opposite geographic extremes of the Northern Kingdom (south and north), a strategic choice so the people would not have to travel far to worship, making the new religion more 'convenient.'

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Reis 12:1Rehoboam goes to Shechem because that’s where all Israel gathered to make him king — the coronation wasn’t automatic in Jerusalem; it needed the northern tribes’ approval too.
  2. 1 Reis 12:2Jeroboam is still in Egypt when he hears the news — that’s where he had been living as a refugee ever since he fled from Solomon.
  3. 1 Reis 12:3They send for Jeroboam, and he comes back together with the whole assembly of Israel to speak with Rehoboam — the new king needs to negotiate before being accepted in the north.
  4. 1 Reis 12:4The elders advise Rehoboam to lighten the taxes and forced labor Solomon had imposed; he chooses the opposite advice, from his childhood friends. The threat to punish with scorpions — probably a whip with barbs — shows the arrogance that sets off the revolt right afterward.
  5. 1 Reis 12:5Rehoboam asks them to return in three days, buying himself time before giving an answer.
  6. 1 Reis 12:6Rehoboam first consults the elders who had served his father Solomon, asking how he should answer the people.
  7. 1 Reis 12:7The elders’ advice: if today you become this people’s servant and serve them well, answering with good words, they will be your servants forever.
  8. 1 Reis 12:8But Rehoboam rejects that advice and goes to consult the young men who grew up with him, people of his own generation.
  9. 1 Reis 12:9He asks the young men the same question: what to answer the people who had asked him to lighten the heavy yoke Solomon had imposed.
  10. 1 Reis 12:10The young men’s answer is pure arrogance: tell the people that the new king’s little finger is thicker than his father’s waist.
  11. 1 Reis 12:11The advice continues in the same vein: if my father burdened you, I will weigh you down even more; if he punished you with whips, I will punish you with scorpions — an explicit threat to make everything worse.
  12. 1 Reis 12:12On the third day, Jeroboam and all the people return to Rehoboam, exactly as he had arranged.
  13. 1 Reis 12:13The king answers the people harshly, abandoning the elders’ wise advice.
  14. 1 Reis 12:14He repeats the young men’s arrogant words: he promises to make the yoke even heavier, trading his father’s whips for punishment with scorpions.
  15. 1 Reis 12:15The king does not listen to the people because, according to the text, this turn of events came from God, fulfilling what had already been announced to Jeroboam through the prophet Ahijah.
  16. 1 Reis 12:16This battle cry had already been used in an earlier rebellion, back in David’s time. Repeating it here signals that the ten northern tribes are once again rejecting a king from David’s line, this time for good.
  17. 1 Reis 12:17As for the Israelites living in the cities of Judah, they remained under Rehoboam’s rule — the split wasn’t total in every specific place.
  18. 1 Reis 12:18Rehoboam sends Adoram, who was in charge of the forced labor, but all Israel stones him to death; the king himself barely manages to flee by chariot to Jerusalem — a raw image of a rebellion in full swing.
  19. 1 Reis 12:19From then on, the text says, Israel remained in rebellion against the house of David — and it would stay that way for the rest of biblical history.
  20. 1 Reis 12:20When they hear that Jeroboam has returned, all Israel calls him to the assembly and makes him king over the northern kingdom; only the tribe of Judah remains loyal to the house of David.
  21. 1 Reis 12:21Rehoboam gathers all of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred eighty thousand chosen warriors, to go to war against Israel and try to win back the whole kingdom.
  22. 1 Reis 12:22But the word of God comes to Shemaiah, a man of God, interrupting the plan for war.
  23. 1 Reis 12:23Shemaiah is ordered to speak to Rehoboam and to all Judah, Benjamin, and the rest of the people.
  24. 1 Reis 12:24God’s message is clear: do not go up to fight against your brother Israelites, go back home, because this whole division came from Me — and they obey, turning back.
  25. 1 Reis 12:25Jeroboam fortifies Shechem and lives there, then also builds up Penuel — consolidating the territory of the new northern kingdom.
  26. 1 Reis 12:26Jeroboam begins to think to himself that the kingdom could end up returning to the house of David — the fear that drives his next decision.
  27. 1 Reis 12:27His fear: if the people keep going up to sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem, their hearts will turn back to Rehoboam, and Jeroboam could end up killed.
  28. 1 Reis 12:28Jeroboam sets up two alternative shrines to keep the northern people from going up to Jerusalem and perhaps returning their loyalty to the house of David. The golden calves deliberately echo the golden calf episode in the wilderness, the text’s way of already branding this decision as an idolatrous relapse.
  29. 1 Reis 12:29He sets up one golden calf in Bethel and the other in Dan — one at each end of his new kingdom, making it easier for the people to worship without having to go to Jerusalem.
  30. 1 Reis 12:30This act became a sin: the people started going as far as Dan to worship the calf there, abandoning worship centered on the Temple.
  31. 1 Reis 12:31Under Mosaic law, only Levites could serve as priests; by appointing priests from any tribe for his shrines, Jeroboam deliberately breaks with that exclusivity. It’s one more reason the northern kings, starting with him, are described as illegitimate in worship.
  32. 1 Reis 12:32Jeroboam invents a feast in the eighth month, imitating the one that existed in Judah, sacrificing on the altar at Bethel and appointing his own priests for the high places he had set up.
  33. 1 Reis 12:33He offers sacrifices on the altar he built in Bethel on a date he made up himself — a religious feast invented on his own, not commanded by God.

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