12:1 Shechem. This major Israelite center associated with the renewal of the covenant with the Lord (Josh. 24:1–33) was in northern Ephraim, thirty miles north of Jerusalem.

to make him king. Rehoboam traveled to Shechem to be made king by acclamation (see 1 Sam. 11:15 and the covenant the northern tribes made with David in 2 Sam. 5:1–3). As it turned out, the northern tribes did not accept Rehoboam.