Rebellion against Rehoboam
And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
And it was, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard — he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from before King Solomon — that Jeroboam stayed in Egypt.
And they sent and called for him. And Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying:
“Your father made our yoke hard. Now then — you lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he put on us, and we will serve you.”
And he said to them, “Go away for three more days, and then return to me.” And the people went.
And King Rehoboam took counsel with the elders who had stood before Solomon his father while he was alive, saying, “How do you counsel me to return an answer to this people?”
And they spoke to him, saying: “If today you will be a servant to this people, and serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them — then they will be your servants all the days.”
But he abandoned the counsel of the elders which they had counseled him, and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him.
And he said to them, “What do you counsel, that we may return an answer to this people, who have spoken to me, saying, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”
And the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying: “Thus you shall say to this people who spoke to you, saying, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy — you lighten it from on us’ — thus you shall speak to them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist.
And now — my father loaded a heavy yoke on you, and I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, and I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
And Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had spoken, saying, “Return to me on the third day.”
And the king answered the people harshly; and he abandoned the counsel of the elders which they had counseled him,
and spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying: “My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, and I will discipline you with scorpions.”
And the king did not listen to the people — for it was a turning of events from the LORD, in order to raise up his word that the LORD had spoken by the hand of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
The Kingdom Divided
And all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them; and the people returned the king an answer, saying: “What share do we have in David? No inheritance in the son of Jesse! To your tents, O Israel! Now see to your own house, David!” And Israel went to their tents.
But as for the sons of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah — Rehoboam reigned over them.
And King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the forced labor; and all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. And King Rehoboam managed to get up into the chariot, to flee to Jerusalem.
So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
Shemaiah’s Prophecy
And it was, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, that they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel. There was none following the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.
And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, and he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin — a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men, makers of war — to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingship back to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
And the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God, saying:
“Say to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying:
Thus says the LORD: You shall not go up, and you shall not fight against your brothers, the sons of Israel. Return, each man to his house — for this thing has come about from me.” And they listened to the word of the LORD, and turned back to go, according to the word of the LORD.
Jeroboam’s Idolatry
And Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and lived in it; and he went out from there and built Penuel.
And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.
If this people goes up to make sacrifices in the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their lord, to Rehoboam, king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah.”
And the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look — your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
And this thing became a sin; and the people went before the one, as far as Dan.
And he made a house of high places, and made priests from the whole range of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi.
And Jeroboam made a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he went up onto the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made; and he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had made.
And he went up onto the altar he had made in Bethel, on the fifteenth day in the eighth month — in the month that he had devised out of his own heart; and he made a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up onto the altar to burn incense.