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. 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.
At Shechem the people asked Rehoboam for decided reforms in the administration of government and for lighter burdens. The heavy yoke they complained of was the grinding taxation Solomon had laid on the poor to pay for his extravagant, selfish indulgence. That oppression came because Solomon had changed, no longer making God his guide and counselor.
Evil counselors swayed his once noble and independent mind, his fine sensibilities were blunted, and his early conscientious and considerate spirit was lost. Self-indulgence became his god, and severe judgment and cruel tyranny marked his course, turning the wisest king that ever swayed a scepter into a despot. Because he was the idol of the nation, what he did and said was copied. When the plea for relief came, Rehoboam's young advisers urged him to answer it with a threat to make the heavy yoke still heavier and to punish more harshly than Solomon had, perpetuating and adding to the oppressive evils introduced in Solomon's reign.
In the declaration, whips means Solomon's chastisement and scorpions means still more severe chastisement by Rehoboam. The declaration was an irreparable mistake and an unwise and unfeeling exercise of power that revealed pride of position and authority instead of acting in harmony with God's purpose for Israel. The Lord did not allow Rehoboam to carry out the policy he proposed. The threat thoroughly aroused many thousands already stirred by Solomon's oppression until they felt they could do nothing but rebel against the house of David. Their rebellion fulfilled the prophet's prediction of the rending of the kingdom, dividing the twelve tribes into the lower kingdom of Judah and Benjamin under Rehoboam and the northern kingdom of ten tribes under Jeroboam.