Therefore the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
Solomon's reign ends with a verdict, not a gift. God will tear the kingdom away and give it to one of Solomon's own servants. What is he charged with? Why does a whole nation pay? And is there any mercy left in it?
The Charge
God's complaint is not vague. It names a covenant and laws Solomon knew and ignored. One writer shows how far the collapse had already gone.
Hamilton SmithTurn to 1 Kings 10 and 11 and you find King Solomon breaking down at every point. He collects many horses. He sends the people back to Egypt. He takes many wives for himself, and piles up silver and gold in great amounts. And though much is told us of Solomon's riches, wisdom and splendour, we are never told that he read the law of the Lord.
Why the Heart Is Named
Before the kingdom was torn, something else was. His wives moved his heart first, and one writer explains why a heart never stays empty.
Leslie M. GrantHis heart was turned away from the Lord first, so when he grew old he gave in to the pull of idols. Our hearts are not empty spaces. If we push the Lord out of our hearts, they will soon take hold of some false substitute. These wives had many substitutes, and they could persuade Solomon that they were attractive.
God's Last Word
God had spoken to Solomon twice before, at Gibeon and at Jerusalem. This third time the tone has changed.
W. W. FeredayOnce more, and for the last time, Solomon heard the voice of his God. When He appeared to him at Gibeon, He said, "Ask what I shall give you," and He was pleased with the young king's reply (1 Kings 3). In Jerusalem He spoke to him in words of encouragement and warning (1 Kings 9). Now He could only pass sentence on His shamefully unfaithful servant... The kingdom of Israel should now be broken up. As a witness for God it had become worthless.
Solomon's father sinned too. The difference is what he did next.
Leslie M. GrantWhen the Lord rebuked David for his sin, David repented deeply. God rebuked Solomon too, but nothing shows that he repented.
Given to a Servant
Later events give the servant a name, and show the split that followed.
A. J. PollockThe Lord was angry with him, and no wonder: He would tear the kingdom from him and give it to his servant (1 Kings 11:11). This came to pass, not in Solomon's reign, for God had respect to his father, David. It came in the reign of his very foolish son Rehoboam. The kingdom was split: ten tribes went with Jeroboam, Solomon's servant, and Judah and Benjamin stayed with Rehoboam. It was a big price to pay for his folly and sin.
Solomon heard the sentence and tried to stop it. That put him in company he would not have chosen.
The Bible TreasuryHe has become like Saul. Saul tried to kill David because God had given him the kingdom. In the same way Solomon tried to kill his servant Jeroboam, because God had given him ten tribes. In both cases it was rebellion against the decree of God.
Mercy Inside the Sentence
The word "surely" sounds final. Yet the next verses soften both the timing and the extent. Neither mercy is owed to Solomon.
Leslie M. GrantYet the Lord would not do this while Solomon was alive, because He respected Solomon's father David. Solomon's son would suffer the shame of a broken kingdom (v.12). Even so, God would leave one tribe to that son — again for David's sake, not for Solomon's sake... This mercy was also for Jerusalem's sake. God's choice of that city stood, despite the failure and disobedience of all Israel.
How Far the Judgment Reaches
This verse gives one cause for the split. It is not the whole account.
James BoydTen of the tribes of Israel were torn from Rehoboam. In 1 Kings 11:11 we are told it was for the sin of Solomon. But verse 33 of the same chapter says it was for the idolatry of the people. And in chapter 12 we find the triggering cause was the harsh way Rehoboam met the people... The fact is that the sin of any one of the three named was enough by itself to bring all the harm that was done. So the responsibility is left at the door of each. Let me say again, though, that this judgment is only about God's government in this life. It does not always reach into eternity.
Beyond the Ruin
The story ends here only if the throne depends on men like Solomon.
H. L. RossierAs far as man is concerned, this is the end of the kingdom. But what a prospect for the future! ...the kingdom of the Divine Solomon will reappear like the sun shining in its strength. It will never again depend on the fallible obedience of man. It will rest on the King whom God will anoint on Zion, the mountain of His holiness, and He never fails in what He has taken up.
Summary
- Heart first. Nothing was torn from Solomon until something was turned in him; a heart emptied of God fills with substitutes.
- Charge next. God names the failure plainly: a covenant and laws Solomon was given and never kept.
- Sentence follows. The God who once said "Ask what I shall give you" now only pronounces judgment, and Solomon, unlike David, never repents.
- Mercy remains. The tearing is delayed past his lifetime and one tribe is spared — for David's sake and Jerusalem's, not his own.
- Hope outlasts it. One writer sees the broken kingdom pointing on to a King whose reign never rests on man's obedience.