1 Kings 11:26

I do not mean that Hadad and Rezon only became a trouble when Solomon turned to idols. But notice this: the Holy Spirit saves the account of the trouble they caused the king until then. The Spirit Himself presents them as a direct chastening for his idolatry. And these were not the only ones. They were external. Solomon might say, "Well, we cannot expect anything better. They have private grudges, or national grudges, against our family." But "Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite," was no foreigner. He was not avenging some supposed wrong done to his family or his race.

Solomon's third enemy was the most dangerous. He was Solomon's own servant, a capable man whom the king had trusted with a responsible position (v.28). Jeroboam rebelled against the king because of a message God sent to him by the prophet Ahijah. So it is plainly God who raised up such an adversary.

Jeroboam, the first king of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, was the son of a widow and a promising young man. From the human standpoint he had everything going for him. Solomon was busy fortifying Jerusalem. He noticed how hard Jeroboam worked and put him in charge of the work crews from Ephraim and Manasseh. But we see that the king was not alone in taking note of this young man. God also took note of his industry and ambition. God's eye is upon the ways of man and, more than that, He knows the thoughts and desires of every man's heart.

"He lifted up his hand against the king," it says. It may have been some failed attempt on his part to raise a rebellion, to hurry along the fulfilment of the prophecy about him. Compare 2 Samuel 20:21. How unlike David, the man after God's own heart! Samuel the prophet had anointed and chosen him to replace Saul. Yet David would not harm a hair of the condemned king's head, or lift a finger to take the kingdom for himself! David was a man of faith; and faith — that precious "gift of God"! — always waits on God, waits for His time and His way to fulfil His promises.

Ahijah had made it clear that Solomon should be "prince all the days of his life." Only out of his son's hand would God take the kingdom and give it to Jeroboam. But he could not wait. Like a wilful, impatient child, he took the case out of God's hand and handled it himself.

The kingdom was his. He had only to believe the promise of God for that. Yet, like Jacob, he felt he had to work out his own schemes to get the promise fulfilled. Are we not ourselves sometimes guilty of the same mistake? So often we are not content with God's clear promise. We try to get what we want by our own efforts, sometimes at the cost of obeying God's Word.

David used the sword to accomplish his own sinful will, and the sword never departed from his house. Solomon consorted with strangers, his heart was led astray, and enemies arise in the very quarters from which he drew the means of pleasing himself (1 Kings 11). Man's self-devised plans and wilful choice always come back on him with a harvest of results.

They have been a divided people since the days of Rehoboam. Solomon's serious turning away from the Lord tore the nation apart after his death. God allowed Jeroboam to lead ten tribes away from their loyalty to the house of David (1 Kings 11 — 12). They have never been united since that day.