12:11 heavy yoke. Despite his wisdom, Solomon yielded to political expediency, with his many pagan wives and their idolatrous nature-religions, and to his pride in opulence and grandeur, which required levying forced labor and heavy taxes on his people (note I Kings 11:1-8; 5:13-16).

12:11 scorpions. The “scorpions” probably referred to particularly painful multi-tailed lashes with barbed hooks, although it may be possible that the threatened punishment involved actual scorpion stings.