1 Kings 11:28-35 “The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valour; and Solomon, seeing that the young man was industrious, made him the officer over all the labour force of the house of Joseph. (29) Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had clothed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field. (30) Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. (31) And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you (32) (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), (33) because they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did his father David. (34) However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, because I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes. (35) But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and give it to you--ten tribes.”
The next key event we will discuss is God's division of Israel into two separate kingdoms. Initially, King Solomon governed the nation of Israel in a manner that was pleasing to the Lord, but as time progressed his governance became more and more depraved, as he allowed himself to be influenced by his one thousand wives and concubines, most of whom were foreigners (1 King 11:1-8). The above-quoted passage of scripture reveals that Solomon was responsible for leading Israel away from the Lord and into the worship of foreign gods, i.e. the worship of Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Milcom. Eventually, the Lord had enough and decided to judge the nation because of their rebellious practices. This passage teaches us that the judgement God pronounced on Israel was that He would split the nation into two, i.e. ten tribes on the one side and two tribes on the other. God chose Jeroboam, who served in Solomon's government, to be the leader of the breakaway nation and sent His prophet Ahijah to inform Jeroboam about God's intentions. This incident took place in approximately the year 939 BC[1].
1 Kings 12:16-24 “Now when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying: "What share have we in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own house, O David!" So Israel departed to their tents. (17) But Rehoboam reigned over the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah. (18) Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was in charge of the revenue; but all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Therefore King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem. (19) So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. (20) Now it came to pass when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they sent for him and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel. There was none who followed the house of David, but the tribe of Judah only. (21) And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. (22) But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, (23) "Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, (24) 'Thus says the Lord: "You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me." ‘“Therefore they obeyed the word of the Lord, and turned back, according to the word of the Lord.”
In approximately the year 930 BC, God’s prophetic word came to pass and the nation of Israel was split into two[2]. The above-quoted passage of scripture is a record of that event. The context of this passage is that King Solomon had died and Rehoboam his son had become heir to the throne. The people of Israel then approached Rehoboam to ask him to rule over them more leniently than his father had done. Rehoboam refused the people’s request and instructed them that he would rule them more harshly than Solomon had. And so in response to Rehoboam’s statement, ten of the tribes of Israel seceded from the nation, leaving just two tribes (Judah and Benjamin) under Rehoboam’s rule. The ten tribes then asked Jeroboam to rule over them as king, thus fulfilling Ahijah’s prophecy given nine years before. Thus Israel was split into a northern kingdom consisting of ten tribes, and a southern kingdom consisting of two tribes. The northern kingdom retained the name of Israel and made the city of Samaria its capital. The southern kingdom adopted the name of Judah and retained the city of Jerusalem as its capital.
Michael E.B. Maher
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