Solomon - episode 2

With this post we end Solomon’s story (1Kings 11 and following). As foretold by the Lord his kingdom is destined to split after the king’s death. «Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, he also lifted up his hand against the king. [...] And it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the way, and caused him to turn aside out of the way. Now Ahijah had dressed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the countryside. And Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces. He said to Jeroboam, “Take 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 (but he shall have one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel); because they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon. They have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did. “‘However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand; but I will make him prince all the days of his life, for David my servant’s sake whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes; but I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it to you, even ten tribes. To his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there. I will take you, and you shall reign according to all that your soul desires, and shall be king over Israel. It shall be, if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do that which is right in my eyes, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did; that I will be with you, and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you. I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not forever.’”». Jeroboam has to run away to Egypt until the king’s death, to avoid being killed. «Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place. Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. It happened, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was yet in Egypt, where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam lived in Egypt, and they sent and called him), that Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, “Your father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make you the grievous service of your father, and his heavy yoke which he put on us, lighter, and we will serve you.”». The old men counsel Rehoboam to consent to the people’s reasonable demand and to talk to them gently. We remember that Solomon needed to recruit the Israelites’ forced labor to build up his rich constructions, imposing on them a heavy yoke similar to the Pharaoh’s one in Egypt. The Lord’s freedom cannot be revoked by a human king’s desires. Rehoboam, however, incited by other unwise young men, gives a very impulsive answer. «My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions». It is the spark that detonates the rebellion; the northern tribes appoint Jeroboam king and found the kingdom of Israel. In the south remains the kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem as its capital. «Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. If this people goes up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look and see your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” He set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. This thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan. He made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, who were not of the sons of Levi. Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah».

 

 

The northern kingdom does not remain faithful to the Lord, but even in the southern one the situation is not good. The chronicles of the two separate kingdoms, often write that the king «did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD». Accordingly, we can understand the primary intent of those books of the Bible; it is not primarily historical, but religious. It does not matter if a king is strong, winner of battles, rich or if he governs for many years; by the Bible he is considered a good king only if he is faithful to the Lord and his commandments. Among the few positive exceptions, in the kingdom of Judah we remember King Hezekiah and Josiah his descendant, about whom Jeroboam receives a prophecy. «Behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Beth El: and Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. He cried against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, “Altar, altar, thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. On you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn men’s bones on you.’”». In the next post we will start to tell Josiah’s story and the decline of the two kingdoms.