Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 12:11

And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

11. with whips ] We have no record of such an act on the part of Solomon, and it may be the phrase is only metaphorical, to express a light degree of chastisement in comparison of what they might hereafter expect. But scourging men to urge them in compulsory labour is not unknown in despotic countries.

with scorpions ] Most likely, if the words are to be taken literally, some sort of lash on which metal points were fixed so that each blow might wound like a scorpion’s sting.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Scorpions – By this word some understand whips having leaden balls at the ends of their lashes with hooks projecting from them; others the thorny stem of the eggplant, or the scorpion plant. But it seems best to regard the expression as a figure of speech.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 11. Chastise you with scorpions] Should you rebel, or become disaffected, my father’s whip shall be a scorpion in my hand. His was chastisement, mine shall be punishment. St. Isidore, and after him Calmet and others, assert that the scorpion was a sort of severe whip, the lashes of which were armed with iron points, that sunk into and tore the flesh. We know that the scorpion was a military engine among the Romans for shooting arrows, which, being poisoned, were likened to the scorpion’s sting, and the wound it inflicted.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

I will add to your yoke, i.e. make it heavier and stronger, both to punish your petulancy, and to curb and restrain you from seditious attempts.

With scorpions, i.e. with such whips as will sting you like scorpions: if you proceed in these courses, I will most severely punish you for it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

11. whips . . . scorpionsThelatter [instruments], as contrasted with the former, are supposed tomean thongs thickly set with sharp iron points, used in thecastigation of slaves.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And now, whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke,…. Which was putting words into his mouth, owning the charge and accusation brought against his father, as he did, 1Ki 12:14, which was very unbecoming, if true; unless this is said according to the sense of the people:

I will add to your yoke; make it heavier, lay more taxes on them:

my father hath chastised you with whips; which was putting a lie into his mouth, and which he uttered, 1Ki 12:14 for no instance of severity exercised on the people in general can be given during the whole reign of Solomon:

but I will chastise you with scorpions; treat them more roughly, and with greater rigour: whips may mean smaller ones, these horse whips, as in the Targum; which gave an acute pain, like the sting of scorpions, or made a wound like one. Ben Gersom says, these were rods with thorns on them, which pierced and gave much pain. Weemse h thinks these are alluded to by thorns in the sides, Nu 33:55, for whipping with them was about the sides, and not along the back. Abarbinel calls them iron thorns, rods that had iron prongs or rowels to them, which tore the flesh extremely. Isidore i says, a rod that is smooth is called a rod, but, if knotty and prickled, it is rightly called a scorpion, because it makes a wound in the body arched or crooked. Pliny k ascribes the invention of this sort of scorpions to the Cretians.

h Christian Synagogue, paragraph 6. diatrib. 2. p. 190. i Origin. l. 5. c. 27. p. 39. k Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 56.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(11) The scorpion is probably (like the Roman fiagellum) a whip, the lash of which is loaded with weights and sharp points.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

11. Whips scorpions As the scorpion an instrument of torture with many lashes, like the legs of the animal of this name, and each lash armed with sharp points to lacerate the flesh is a more terrible scourge than the common whip, so will my severity exceed my father’s.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Ki 12:11 And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

Ver. 11. I will chastise you with scorpions ] a That is, With briers and thorns; as Gideon taught the men of Penuel: or, With torturing whips that sting like a scorpion; such as the Spaniards brought great store of, as it is said, in 1588; not sparing to sing of Queen Elizabeth and her England,

“ Tu quae suevisti Romanas temnere leges,

Hispano disces subdere colla iugo. ”

a Flagris aculeatis. – Vatab.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)