The Kingdom Torn Away: The king is dead. Long live the king! Well, not quite. We are now to read of the tearing away of the kingdom that has been threatened in chapter 11. As Moses led his people out from slavery under the house of the Egyptian Pharaoh, so Jeroboam will lead Israel out from “slavery” under the house of David; as God hardened Pharaoh’s heart in order to accomplish all his will, so the hardness of Rehoboam’s heart will precipitate this schism also. The exodus will take Israel towards a new promised land, but they will soon be led off their path, as “Jeroboam as Moses” is transformed into “Jeroboam as Aaron,” who fashions golden calves for them to worship. Eventually the result will be ejection from their land and exile in another.

12:1–4 Rehoboam went to Shechem so that he co…