So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to your own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents.
All Commentaries on 1 Kings 12:16 Go To 1 Kings 12
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Justice, then, especially graces people who are set over any office; on the other hand, injustice fails them and fights against them. Scripture itself gives us an example, where it says that when the people of Israel, after the death of Solomon, had asked his son Rehoboam to free their neck from their cruel yoke and to lighten the harshness of his father’s rule, he, despising the counsel of the old men, gave the following answer at the suggestion of the young men: “He would add a burden to the yoke of his father and change their lighter toils for harder.” Angered by this answer, the people said, “We have no portion in David or inheritance in the son of Jesse. Return to your tents, O Israel. For we will not have this man for a prince or a leader over us.” So, forsaken and deserted by the people, he could keep with him scarcely two of the ten tribes for David’s sake.
