Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

And they shall kill me - He found he had little cause to trust this fickle people; though they had declared for him it was more from caprice, desire of change, and novelty, than from any regular and praiseworthy principle.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Kill me - In case his subjects desired a reconciliation with Rehoboam, Jeroboam‘s death would at once facilitate the re-establishment of a single kingdom, and obtain favor with the legitimate monarch. (Compare 2 Samuel 4:7.)

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem,.... In the temple there, three times in the year, which all the males were obliged to, besides other times, when they had occasion to offer sacrifice, which they might do nowhere else:

then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their Lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah; being drawn by the magnificence of the temple, the beauty and order of worship in it, the holiness of the place, and the grandeur of the royal court, and the persuasions of the priests and prophets of the Lord, both to keep to the service of the Lord, and to obey their lawful sovereign; and besides, they might be in fear they should be taken up and punished as traitors, and therefore would choose to submit to Rehoboam, that they might have the liberty of sacrificing without fear; Jeroboam seems conscious himself that Rehoboam was their liege lord and lawful king:

and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah; his fears ran so high, that he should not only lose his kingdom, but his life, unless some step was taken to make an alteration in religious worship.

Geneva Study Bible

If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD ^l at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, [even] unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.

(l) He feared least his people should have by this means been enticed to rebel against him.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.

Will turn — Which in itself might seem a prudent conjecture; for this would give Rehoboam, and the priests, and Levites, the sure and faithful friends of David's house, many opportunities of alienating their minds from him, and reducing them to their former allegiance. But considering God's providence, by which the hearts of all men, and the affairs of all kingdoms are governed, and of which he had lately seen so eminent an instance; it was a foolish, as well as wicked course.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

1 Kings 12:27 If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, [even] unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.

Ver. 27. If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house.] The temple, that proper place of God’s true, doth accidentally become an occasion, through men’s corruption, of setting up of false, worship: so doth, at this day, the holy eucharist, of disunion and dissension; Hinc bellum illud Sacramentarium.

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

1 Kings 12:27. If this people go up to do sacrifice, &c.— Though the people were very angry with their ill-advised king, and though his ungracious reception of their tender of duty to him, and his threats of worse treatment towards them, transported and provoked them so far, as to make them withdraw their obedience from him; yet Jeroboam easily foresaw, that when they should go up again to the temple at Jerusalem, whither their religion obliged them to repair, and should hear the priests expound the law of God to them, they would quickly recollect themselves, and their consciences would smite them for withdrawing from their God, their temple, and their king.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

This in itself might seem a prudent conjecture; for this would give Rehoboam, and the priests and Levites, the sure and faithful friends of David’s house, many opportunities of alienating their minds from him, and of reducing them to their former allegiance. But considering God’s providence, by which the hearts of all men, and the affairs of all kings and kingdoms, are governed, and of which he had lately seen so eminent an instance, it was a foolish as well as wicked course.

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

1 Kings 12:27. If this people go up to do sacrifice at Jerusalem, &c. — All the people of Israel being bound, at the three great feasts, to go up to Jerusalem; and on other solemn occasions devout persons being used to go thither to offer gifts and sacrifices; he was afraid lest, if they should continue to go, they should be so taken with the magnificence of the temple and the royal city, and should so recall to mind the famous acts of David and Solomon who were buried there, as, by degrees, to be alienated from him, and brought back to their former allegiance to the family of David. And he the rather feared this, because their going to Jerusalem, and attending divine worship there, would have afforded to Rehoboam many occasions of showing them kindness and winning their affections; and to the priests and Levites, the sure and faithful friends of David’s house, many opportunities of soliciting them to unite themselves again to Judah, which tribe must have appeared to them to have the better cause, because it had the temple in possession in which God dwelt. But whatever reasons there might have been for his conjectures and apprehensions, and whatever prudence and policy may appear in his contrivance, considering the providence of God, by which the hearts of all men, and the affairs of all kingdoms are governed, and of which he had lately seen so eminent an instance, the course he took was foolish as well as wicked.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Him. Jeroboam chose to follow the dictates of human policy, rather than to depend on the express declaration of God, who had given him the kingdom. It was natural that the people should have a predilection for the house of David; (Calmet) and he might fear that the priests would prevail upon them to return to their old master, as they dwelt about Jerusalem. (Salien)

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

If this People. His apostasy was willful, designed, and deliberate.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah.

go up

8:29,30,44; 11:32; Deuteronomy 12:5-7,14; 16:2,6

and they shall

Genesis 12:12,13; 26:7; Proverbs 29:25; 1 Corinthians 1:19,20

Reciprocal: Joshua 22:25 - make;  1 Samuel 13:12 - said I:1 Kings 15:17 - he might not suffer;  2 Chronicles 13:6 - rebelled;  2 Chronicles 16:1 - to the intent