1 Kings 12:1-15
"12 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2 And as soon as Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3 And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” 5 He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.
6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” 7 And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” 8 But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. 9 And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” 10 And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs.11 And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.” 13 And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him,14 he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat."
The death of Solomon marks the end of the united kingdom of Israel. From this point on, the fortunes of God's people must be followed in two divergent lines. It will be convenient at this point to indicate briefly the nature of the division of the kingdom. Rehoboam, son of Solomon, promptly failed in the time of testing following his father's death, and the prophecy mentioned in 11:30ff took effect, and Jeroboam, son of Nebat, became king of the ten northern tribes, leaving Rehoboam king of the remaining two - Judah and Benjamin. This breach in the kingdom was a permanent one, and the two separate kingdoms were thenceforward known as Israel, in the north, with its capital Samaria; and Judah, in the south, with its capital. Jerusalem. The remainder 1 and 2 Kings deals with this twofold history. It became a period of increasing turbulence from this time right down to the time of the captivities. This is the period in which most of the prophets exercised their ministry: Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Hosea, Micah, Joel, Isaiah, Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Jeremiah; some burdened with one kingdom rather than the other, some prophesying to both alike. The two kingdoms went into captivity to foreign powers, the northern to Assyria in 722 BC; the southern to Babylon in 586 BC. The reason for this disparity of nearly 140 years is not the mere accidence of the balance of power in the ancient world, but the fact that in the northern kingdom these were no good kings at all, whereas, in the south, there were several, and this stayed the inevitable judgment upon them. This fact should indicate to us how eagerly God looked for a change of heart in His people, and how willing He was, at the first sign of repentance, to stay His hand in dealing with them. He is slow to anger, but persistent and repeated disobedience finally left Him with no option but to punish His wayward flock.