Daily Devotional on 1 Kings 12
“Listening, Leading, and the Lure of Easier Gods”
–––––––––––––––––
Shechem is no random venue. Abraham built an altar here (Genesis 12 :6-7); Joshua renewed the covenant here (Joshua 24). Archaeologists have uncovered massive fortification walls and a monumental “standing stone” that may date to the time of the judges—silent witnesses to centuries of vows. When Rehoboam travels north for his coronation, the place itself reminds Israel that kings are servants of the covenant, not owners of the people.
Cross-references
• Deuteronomy 17 :14-20 – limits placed on the king
• Matthew 20 :25-28 – Jesus re-defines greatness as service
Prayer point: Ask the Spirit to make every leadership role you hold—at home, work, church—an act of covenant faithfulness, not self-promotion.
–––––––––––––––––
Rehoboam consults the “elders” (זְקֵנִים, zeqenim)—men who had stood beside Solomon—and hears the wisdom of gentleness: “Serve… lighten… speak good words” (New International Version). He then turns to his childhood companions. Their language is harsh and swaggering. Note the idiom: “My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins” (v. 10). In Hebrew, “loin” (מָתְנַיִם, motnayim) can also connote strength or virility. The boast is crass by design, an ancient form of locker-room talk intended to intimidate.
The writer frames the scene with a theological aside: “for this turn of events was from the LORD” (v. 15). Divine sovereignty does not cancel human choice; rather, God weaves even foolish decisions into His redemptive storyline—something Augustine called “the marvelous mercy that bends our twisted wills without breaking them.”
Cross-references
• Proverbs 15 :1 – “A gentle answer turns away wrath”
• James 1 :19 – “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak”
Application question: Which counsel feels most natural to you—the elders’ or the peers’? What does that reveal about your heart?
–––––––––––––––––
The cry, “To your tents, O Israel!” echoes 2 Samuel 20 :1, a prior rebellion against David. The break is political, but it is also theological: the northern tribes reject a house that forgets its servant call. Yet the split spares them from Rehoboam’s coming apostasy (1 Kings 14). God’s discipline sometimes arrives as subtraction, removing what would harm us further.
Shemaiah the man of God (unknown elsewhere) brings a word that arrests bloodshed: “This is from me.” Obedience here is non-violent. Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann notes that Israel’s story contains “holy restraint” moments where swords stay sheathed because God’s larger purpose outweighs immediate rights or revenge.
Cross-references
• Hosea 6 :1 – “He has torn us that He may heal us”
• John 11 :51–52 – God’s purpose even in tragic division
–––––––––––––––––
Archaeology: At Tel Dan a vast high place, steps, and a massive stone podium (possibly an altar) date to the Iron Age—many scholars link it to Jeroboam’s sanctuary. Bull figurines from northern sites show the cultural plausibility of calf symbolism.
Jeroboam fears that pilgrimages to Jerusalem will erode his power.
His three-part program:
a) Alternative shrines (Bethel in the south, Dan in the far north)
b) Alternative symbols (two golden calves)
c) Alternative calendar (a festival one month after Sukkot)
The phrase, “Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt” deliberately echoes Exodus 32. He is not introducing Baal; he is re-branding Yahweh into a manageable image. Calvin warned that “the human mind is a perpetual factory of idols”—even good theology can become golden if fashioned for control.
Hebrew note: The verb עָשָׂה (’asah, “made”) occurs six times in vv. 28-33—an intentional drumbeat highlighting human manufacture versus divine revelation.
Cross-references
• Deuteronomy 12 :5 – “Seek the place the LORD your God will
choose”
• John 4 :23 – Worship “in Spirit and in truth”
Reflective exercise: List any “calves of convenience” in your walk—practices that began as helps but now replace heartfelt worship.
–––––––––––––––––
Suggested hymn
“Be Thou My Vision.” Sing its prayer for single-minded loyalty, the very
opposite of Jeroboam’s divided heart.
–––––––––––––––––
Closing Prayer
Lord of covenant and mercy,
Teach us to listen before we lead,
to serve before we speak,
to worship You without additions or shortcuts.
Guard our hearts from the pride that divides
and from the fears that shape gold into gods.
Unite Your church around the true King,
Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray.
Amen.