for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king In Shechem, which was Jeroboam’s place, which was in the territory of Ephraim. And Jeroboam was an Ephrathite, and all this was brought about by the Holy One, blessed be He, to fulfill His word, (I Kings 11:11): “I will surely tear the kingdom.”

And it was when... heard The meaning is: And it was when he heard - prior to this, when they came to make him [Rehoboam] king in Shechem, when he [Jeroboam] was still in Egypt.

And they sent and called him, and...came All this was to let us know the will of the Holy One, blessed be He, that even Jeroboam himself came to make Rehoboam king, but the Holy One, blessed be He, reversed his words [i.e., Jeroboam’s intention,] until Jeroboam reigned.

Your father made our yoke hard because he was a man who toiled at work, and he made it incumbent upon us to sustain his laborers with the tax, as it is written in I Kings (5:27): “And King Solomon raised a levy, etc.”

How do you advise - Heb. נוֹעָצִים, [in the passive voice], like יוֹעֲצִים [in the active voice], and so he says from יוֹדְעִים, נוֹדָעִים. יוֹעֲצִים means the future, and נוֹעָצִים means that which they already counseled.

My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins My little finger is larger than my father’s loins; i.e., I am stronger than he.

burdened - Heb. הֶעֱמִיס, loaded, like (Gen. 44:13): “and each man loaded (וַיַַַַַּעֲמס) his donkey.”

with scorpions Brimmen in German, which sting like scorpions.

because it was brought about, etc. so that the Lord God might establish His word as is delineated in I Kings (11:31–37), to remove from him the ten tribes and to give them to Jeroboam, and this is the meaning of (Gen. 49:10): “The scepter will not depart from Judah” [meaning that] he will not be banished from his kingdom, “until he comes to Shiloh,” meaning until Judah comes to Shiloh to crown Rehoboam there, and there “peoples will gather to him” to crown him, and there the kingdom was divided, and the reign over the ten tribes was lost. Now Shechem is a small city adjacent to Shiloh, as it is written at the end of Judges (21:19): “Behold, there is a sacrifice before the Lord in Shiloh from time to time, etc. on the east side of the highway that goes up from Beth-El to Shechem,” and it is written in Jeremiah (41:5): “from Shechem (and) from Shiloh,” and in honor of the Tabernacle of Shiloh, they would gather in Shechem, which was fit for the people to assemble in, and it adjoined Shiloh. And when they would assemble in Shechem, the scepter would depart from Judah, for there the kingdom was divided.

Each man to your homes, O Israel This refers back to, “What share do we have in David?” Why should we leave our homes and follow him? Not so, but all Israel, return each man to his home.

Now see your house, David This refers back to, “And no heritage in Jesse’s son,” i.e., we have no heritage in him, but in the Temple in Jerusalem, where we sacrifice and appear on the three Pilgrimage Festivals.

see your house, David We do not need it to go there. Let it be yours alone. (But all this does not appeal to me) but, “See your house, David we have no desire either in you or in your Temple.”

Hadoram He is identical with Adoniram (I Kings 4:6), for during Solomon’s time, he enjoyed great eminence, but in Rehoboam’s time his greatness was humbled. Therefore, he was called Hadoram.

and the Children of Israel pelted him with stones and because Rehoboam did not know the cause of the rebellion in which they turned away from him, he was slain when he requested the levy that Solomon had levied upon them.

And the Israelites rebelled against the house of David - Heb. וַיִפְשְׁעוּ, an expression of rebellion. Examples are (II Kings 1:1): “Moab rebelled (וַיִפְשַׁע) against Israel”; (Prov. 18:19): “A rebellious (נִפְשַׁע) brother”; (below 27:19): “then Libnah rebelled (תִּפְשַׁע).”