Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
The prophet Ahijah has just told Solomon that God will tear ten tribes from his son's hand and give them to Jeroboam, one of Solomon's own officials. Solomon's answer is to hunt the man down — which raises the question this verse turns on: can a king kill a promise?
The danger from inside
Jeroboam was not a foreign invader. Solomon himself had promoted him. One writer sees in him a pattern of how trouble begins among God's people.
H. L. RossierThe last and most dangerous enemy of Solomon's is the enemy from within, Jeroboam. He was "Solomon's servant," an Ephraimite. Solomon had set him over Ephraim to fortify Millo. Millo defended Jerusalem against enemies from the north. His duties let Jeroboam learn all the secrets of the stronghold, and he gained the sympathies of his own tribe as well. In the same way, when difficulties arise among God's people, the greatest danger comes from those who have taken up the principles of their brothers and sisters by their own activity. They have succeeded in putting themselves in the place of Christ, and so they win the sympathies of the many.
Discipline that hardened a heart
Jeroboam's rise was God's discipline on Solomon. What Solomon did next shows how he took it.
H. L. RossierSolomon seeks to kill Jeroboam. Such are the feelings produced in his heart by this discipline! The obstacle God raised up should have brought him bowed into God's presence, submitting to the chastening. Instead it only irritates him and drives him to try to free himself of it. How sad is the heart that has lost its communion with God and does not judge itself. What has Solomon, the king of righteousness, come to? His heart is no longer upright before God. How far he is from his beginnings!
A word that cannot be cancelled
Solomon knew what God had said, and he reached for the sword anyway. One writer compares him to a later king who did the same.
Truth & TestimonyGod had given this assurance: "Nevertheless, in your days I will not do it, for the sake of David your father." Instead of resting in it, Solomon took the law into his own hands and sought to kill Jeroboam, as Herod did in a later day. But of course God's promises could not fail, and Jeroboam fled into Egypt until Solomon's death.
Faith that waits, pride that runs ahead
Jeroboam did not wait for God's time. One writer sets him beside an earlier anointed man, and the contrast is sharp.
C. KnappHow unlike David, the man after God's own heart! The prophet Samuel had anointed and chosen him to replace Saul. Even so, David would not injure a hair of the condemned king's head, or lift a finger to bring the kingdom to himself. David was a man of faith. And faith — that precious "gift of God" — always waits on God. It waits for His time and His way to fulfil His promises.
God's promise to Jeroboam came in two parts: one with no condition, one with a condition.
Truth & TestimonyThe kingdom was his with no conditions attached: "You shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel." Keeping the kingdom, on the other hand, depended on his obedience: "If you will listen... walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight... I will be with you and build you a sure house." The kingdom was his. He had only to believe the promise of God for that. Yet, like Jacob, he felt he needed to work out his own schemes to get the promise fulfilled. Are we not sometimes guilty of the same mistake?
Why Egypt, and why it stings
Jeroboam found shelter in the one country Solomon had courted by marriage. The throne there had just changed hands.
C. KnappHe had secretly wanted power over his brothers. He probably tried to hurry Ahijah's prophecy along with pride's feverish haste, and that is why he had to seek shelter in Egypt. There he came under the protection of Shishak, who had just overthrown the earlier dynasty — the family Solomon had wrongly tied himself to by marriage. Ahijah had said clearly that Solomon would be prince all the days of his life. Only out of his son's hand would the kingdom pass to Jeroboam.
Shishak does not disappear from the story once Solomon dies.
Morrish Bible DictionaryKing of Egypt, to whom Jeroboam fled for protection from Solomon. Later Shishak invaded Judah when Rehoboam was king, "because they had transgressed against the Lord." He came with an immense army, took fortified cities, and plundered Jerusalem and the temple.
Summary
- Word given. God announced through Ahijah that ten tribes would pass to Jeroboam. Solomon would stay prince all his life, so the timing was already settled.
- Word resisted. Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. God's discipline met a heart that would not bow, and the obstacle only irritated him.
- Word outrun. Jeroboam refused to wait. David would not lift a finger to seize a kingdom God had already promised him.
- Word unbroken. The sword could not break God's promise. Jeroboam lived in Egypt until Solomon died.
- Word vindicated. Jeroboam's refuge was Egypt, the ally Solomon had married into. Later Shishak plundered the very temple Solomon built.