[3] 1 Kings 12:1 to 16:14 documents the consolidation of the kingdoms of northern Israel and Judah:[4] this chapter focusses on the reigns of Rehoboam and Jeroboam.

[6] Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, that is, 6Q4 (6QpapKgs; 150–75 BCE) with extant verses 28–31.

[4] After Solomon's death, the northern tribes of Israel requested negotiations with the new king in Shechem (today: Nablus, in the central mountain country of Ephraim) and when the early negotiation failed, Jeroboam was called upon to lead the petition to reduce the financial burdens imposed by Solomon (verse 20).

[20] Jeroboam became the founder and quasi-democratically legitimized ruler of northern Israel (1 Kings 12:20), but he was always afraid to be dethroned by the same constituents when they still remember the Davidic rule (verses 26–27), so he initiated a number of building projects (imitating Solomon), such as castles in the cis-Jordanian Shechem and in trans-Jordanian Penuel (verse 25); cf.

[21][22] Jeroboam's statue of 'calves' more closely resembled those of (young) bulls, the animal symbolizing Canaan's main gods El and Baal, but he claimed to worship the Israelite YHWH 'who brought you up out of the land of Egypt' (verse 28),[23] as also evidenced in the archaeological excavations in Tel-Dan, the site of ancient city of Dan, where the seal impressions with Yahwistic names, the architecture of the high place, the artifacts, and the animal bones for sacrifices to YHWH.

[24] Nonetheless, this is not in accordance to the main belief that God's temple resides in Zion (Jerusalem), so Jeroboam's policy was severely criticized and interpreted as 'the seed of the fall of his dynasty and also the kingdom he founded' (cf.