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A House Divided One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him along the way. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone in a field, and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you! But I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. For Solomon has abandoned me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians;
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Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my ways and done what is pleasing in my sight. He has not obeyed my decrees and regulations as David his father did. “‘But I will not take the entire kingdom from Solomon at this time. For the sake of my servant David, the one whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees, I will keep Solomon as leader for the rest of his life. But I will take the kingdom away from his son and give ten of the tribes to you.’” 1 Kings 11:29–35 nlt
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od’s judgment is precise. Because of his many women, Solomon turned from his devotion to God and began worshipping other deities (1 Kings 11:2–4). The worship of Molech often involved the sacrifice of one’s children. As a consequence of Solomon’s unfaithfulness, God decided to make Jeroboam king over all the tribes but Judah. God’s judgment on Solomon was not as harsh as it might have been; he lost nothing during his lifetime. In fact, he died a rich and powerful ruler. The division between the northern tribes and Jerusalem would last barely two hundred years. Hezekiah, a descendant of Solomon, did his best to obey God. During his time, the breakaway Northern Kingdom was destroyed by the Assyrians. Its royal family and the rich, fewer than thirty thousand people, were taken captive. Those who remained wound up under the control of Jerusalem— and Solomon’s descendants—once again. People from the northern tribes celebrated Passover in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 30:1–27). Later, during the reign of Josiah, people in what had been the Northern Kingdom paid money to the temple (2 Chronicles 34:10). Despite his sin, Solomon became one of the ancestors of the Messiah. Mercy is a gift, and God always leaves us hope and a way back to him. 256
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