1 Kings 12:3

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Then Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone there to make him king. ²When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about this, he was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon and had been living ever since. ³So they sent for Jeroboam, and he and the whole assembly of Israel came to Rehoboam and said,⁴"Your father put a heavy yoke on us. But now you should lighten the burden of your father's service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you." ⁵Rehoboam answered, "Go away for three days and then return to me." So the people departed. ⁶Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. "How do you advise me to respond to these people?" he asked. ⁷They replied, "If you will be a servant to these people and serve them this day, and if you will respond by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever." ⁸But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders; instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him. ⁹He asked them, "What message do you advise that we send back to these people who have spoken to me, saying, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?" ¹⁰The young men who had grown up with him replied, "This is how you should answer these people who said to you, 'Your father made our yoke heavy, but you should make it lighter.' This is what you should tell them: 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist!

Bible Verse Review
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Reciprocal: Judges 9:1 - communed 2 Chronicles 10:3 - they sent Proverbs 26:21 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 18:18
Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

Genesis 27:29
May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed."

Genesis 28:14
Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and east and north and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

Genesis 30:27
But Laban replied, "If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you."

Genesis 30:30
Indeed, you had very little before my arrival, but now your wealth has increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I set foot. But now, when may I also provide for my own household?"

Genesis 39:5
From the time that he put Joseph in charge of his household and all he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian's household on account of him. The LORD's blessing was on everything he owned, both in his house and in his field.

Exodus 23:22
But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

Numbers 24:9
He crouches, he lies down like a lion; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you."

Psalms 72:17
May his name endure forever; may his name increase as long as the sun shines. In him may all nations be blessed; may they call him blessed.

Matthew 25:40
And the King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.'

Gill's Notes on the Bible

That they sent and called him,.... That is, the people of Israel, some of the principal of them, especially of the tribe of Ephraim, sent messengers to him, and gave him an invitation to come to them at Shechem; or, they had sent e, as Kimchi interprets it, which was the reason of his returning from Egypt, at least one of them:

and Jeroboam, and all the congregation of Israel, came; the chief men of them, the heads of the people; these, with Jeroboam at the head of them, who was come out of Egypt, came to Shechem, where Rehoboam was, and they had appointed to meet him:

and spake unto Rehoboam; one in the name of them all, perhaps Jeroboam:

saying; as follows.

e So Pagninus, Montanus.