1 Kings 11:28

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

²⁶Now Solomon's servant, Jeroboam son of Nebat, was an Ephraimite from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon, ²⁷and this is the account of his rebellion against the king. Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the gap in the wall of the city of his father David. ²⁸Now Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. So when Solomon noticed that the young man was industrious, he put him in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph.²⁹During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as he was going out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself in a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field. ³⁰And Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing, tore it into twelve pieces, ³¹and said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and I will give you ten tribes. ³²But one tribe will remain for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. ³³For they have forsaken Me to worship Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Molech the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in My ways, nor done what is right in My eyes, nor kept My statutes and judgments, as Solomon's father David did. ³⁴Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of Solomon's hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of David My servant, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and statutes. ³⁵But I will take ten tribes of the kingdom from the hand of his son and give them to you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

was industrious: Heb. did work, Proverbs 22:29

he made: 1 Kings 5:16

charge: Heb. burden, Deuteronomy 1:12, Isaiah 14:25, Matthew 11:30

the house: Joshua 18:5, Judges 1:22, Judges 1:23, 2 Samuel 19:20, Amos 5:6, Zechariah 10:6

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 11:26 - Jeroboam 2 Chronicles 10:2 - Jeroboam Proverbs 12:24 - hand

Cross-References

Genesis 11:2
And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

Genesis 11:4
"Come," they said, "let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth."

Genesis 11:31
And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there.

Genesis 15:7
The LORD also told him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess."

Nehemiah 9:7
You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour,.... A man of great strength of body, and fortitude of mind:

and Solomon seeing the young man that he was industrious; in what he was set about in the above buildings and repairs:

he made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph; the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, to be a prince or a deputy governor of them; or rather to collect the king's tax from them, or the revenues of that part of the country, see Proverbs 22:29.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A mighty man of valor - Here “a man of strength and activity.” It is a vague term of commendation, the exact force of which must be fixed by the context. See Ruth 2:1; 1 Samuel 9:1, etc.

Solomon made Jeroboam superintendent of all the forced labor (“the charge”) exacted from his tribe - the tribe of Ephraim - during the time that he was building Millo and fortifying the city of Jerusalem 1 Kings 9:15.