And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents.
Solomon is dead. His son Rehoboam has answered the people's plea for a lighter load with a threat. Now ten tribes walk away from the throne of David for good, and the break has never healed.
An old slogan revived
The cry in this verse was not invented that day. One writer traces it back to an earlier rebel, and sets against it what believers can say instead.
H J VineJudah and Israel were held together in practical oneness under David, the anointed of God... but even in his days the divisive spirit showed itself in a worthless man. "He blew a trumpet and said, 'We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse; every man to his tents, O Israel!'" (2 Sam. 20:1). The seed was sown that day; and though the evil work was stopped there and then, it bore its bad fruit long afterwards... In contrast to this, the true joint-heirs surely say, All our portion is in Christ Jesus, and so is our inheritance for ever — let us stay in Him!
The answer that lit the fire
Rehoboam had two sets of advisers, and he chose the ones who echoed what he already wanted to hear.
H. L. RossierRehoboam turns away from the counsel of wisdom to follow that of the young men who had grown up with him... Had he stood before his father and heard the wise proverbs that fell from his lips, he could have passed on some of that wisdom to others. He would have known that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Prov. 15:1); that "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Prov. 16:18)... The counsel of the young men is, in the end, only the counsel of his own heart. Pride goes hand in hand with despising one's neighbour.
God's hand behind the split
It is easy to read this as pure politics: a foolish king, an angry crowd, a torn kingdom. One writer says that reading stops too soon.
Hamilton SmithPeople of that day looked at the bare facts and might have concluded that the division was wholly due to the folly of Rehoboam... Such arguments might seem reasonable to the natural mind. But they would have been false. It was true that Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause of the division. Yet the word of God in judgment had gone out long before the violent words of the king. The mighty hand of God in discipline was behind the feeble hand of the king. The holy government of God was tearing the kingdom apart. Behind the discipline of God was the low condition of the people.
Foretold, but not excused
The verse just before says the king would not listen because this turn of affairs came from the LORD. It fulfilled His word spoken through the prophet Ahijah. Some have used that to excuse the rebels.
William KellyDid that excuse Jeroboam? This is a very important principle that you will find constantly in the word of God. A prophecy is in no way a sanction of what is predicted. Prophecy takes in the most disgusting acts ever done by the proud, corrupt or murderous will of man.
A thankless cry
Behind the cry lay Solomon's oppression, and out of the cry came a whole new kingdom.
C KnappSolomon turned away from God and oppressed His people. So at his death the people find their occasion to make demands on the new king coming to his father's throne. His rude and foolish answer brings on the crisis, and then we hear the unthankful and heartless cry... Ephraim then takes the lead of the ten tribes who revolted from the house of David, headed by Jeroboam, a man of the tribe of Ephraim. A new kingdom is formed, and every one of its nineteen kings turns away from the LORD.
A wound still open
Israel made the break in a single day. One writer follows what became of it, and where the same thing has happened since.
Leslie M. GrantThey announced a division among brothers at once. The division took no time to make, yet it has continued through the centuries until now. It will not be healed until the Lord Jesus comes in power and glory at the end of the Great Tribulation. In God's purposes Israel is one nation that cannot be divided. In practice the nation has been totally inconsistent with God's plan for her. Sadly, the same has been true in the history of the Church of God on earth also.
Summary
- Seed — a rebel in David's own reign shouted the same words. Division starts as an idea long before it becomes an event.
- Spark — Rehoboam took the advice that flattered him. A harsh answer, where a soft one was needed, cost him ten tribes.
- Government — Rehoboam's folly was the immediate cause. But God had spoken His judgment long before, and behind it lay the low state of the people.
- Responsibility — being foretold never makes an act right. Prophecy describes man's worst deeds without approving them.
- Portion — Israel claimed no share in David and walked away from his house. Believers say the opposite: our whole portion and inheritance is in Christ.