I Kings 11:29

This chapter begins with as melancholy a "but" as almost any we find in all the Bible. Hitherto we have read nothing of Solomon but what was great and good; but the lustre both of his goodness and of his greatness is here sullied and eclipsed, and his sun sets under a cloud. I. The glory of his piety is stained by his departure from God and his duty, in his latter days, marrying strange wives and worshipping strange gods (Kg1 11:4-8). II. The glory of his prosperity is stained by God's displeasure against him and the fruits of that displeasure. 1. He sent him an angry message (Kg1 11:9-13). 2. He stirred up enemies, who gave him disturbance, Hadad (Kg1 11:14-22), Rezon (Kg1 11:23-25). 3. He gave away ten tribes of his twelve, from his posterity after him, to Jeroboam, whom therefore he sought in vain to slay (Kg1 11:26-40), and this is all that remains here to be told concerning Solomon, except his death and burial (Kg1 11:41-43), for there is nothing perfect under the sun, but all is so above the sun.

11:29-39 The meeting between Jeroboam and the prophet Ahijah set in motion God’s judgment on the dynasty of Solomon. Ahijah reappears in the account of Jeroboam’s sick son (14:1-18). He authored an unpreserved work containing information about Solomon’s deeds (2 Chr 9:29). 11:29-32 Ahijah’s symbolic tearing of his cloak into twelve pieces and giving ten of these pieces to Jeroboam symbolized God’s plans for Jeroboam and Israel following Solomon’s death (see “Prophetic Sign Acts” Theme Note). Ten of the tribes would defect; one tribe (Judah) would remain with Solomon’s heir. The twelfth tribe was probably Benjamin (see 1 Kgs 12:21). Benjamin consistently acted in tandem with Judah (see 2 Chr 11:3, 23; 14:8; 15:2-9; 17:17). Simeon, the other southern tribe, seems to have allied with the north (2 Chr 15:9; 34:6).