All scriptures are NASB unless stated otherwise.
We have read of Solomon’s death and we are entering into what we are calling “The Divided Kingdom”. How did Israel become a divided kingdom? Who is responsible? Those are great questions that readers of the Bible should be able to explain to others. That’s what our Connections Bible Studies are all about! Correctly understanding the Word of God!
In our daily readings this week in 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, we find that Israel has become a divided kingdom just after Solomon’s death. Ten of the tribes of Israel become what will be called the Northern Kingdom and two tribes will make up what is called the Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom is made up of Asher, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, and Zebulun. While the Southern Kingdom is made up of two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. Did you read that and realize one of the tribes is not on that list? Levi is not on that list of twelve tribes. Are you wondering if that makes thirteen tribes? It does - sort of…. There are thirteen because Joseph is not one tribe. He is one of the twelve sons, but he becomes the father of two of the Tribes of Israel. An honor given by the Lord, but not to any of his eleven brothers. Instead of there being a Tribe of Joseph” they came to be called the half-tribe of Manasseh and the half-tribe of Ephraim (Joseph’s two sons - two half tribes of Joseph, Genesis 48).
The tribe of Levi had no land for an inheritance. The Lord was their inheritance. They served the Lord scattered among the other twelve tribes. When Israel split into two nations (known as the Kingdoms of Judah - south, and Israel - north), it was a world-changing event that still affects the world to this very day almost 3,000 years later.
When did the Kingdom of Israel become a divided kingdom and who was responsible? Most people will tell you that Solomon’s son, King Rehoboam, is responsible for splitting the kingdom and it is true that he was the king when it physically split. But it happened earlier than that. God chose to divide the kingdom before Rehoboam became king. Here it is: Now the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded (1 Kings 11:9-10). Then in verse 11, the Lord speaks some of the most fateful words that were ever spoken… ...I will surely tear the kingdom from you... Those few words changed everything. It was Solomon’s fault! As surely as Adam bears the responsibility for the course that he put mankind on concerning sin, Solomon bears the responsibility for the course he put Israel on concerning the divided kingdom, the divided people, and the eventual scattering of God’s chosen people. It was during Solomon’s reign, not his son’s (Rehoboam) that God chose to divide the kingdom and it was because of Solomon’s sins. The kingdom was for all intents and purposes already divided under Solomon due to his worship of foreign gods which the people also did as they followed their king’s example. The Lord actually physically split the kingdom when Jeroboam, a former servant of Saul who led a rebellion during Saul’s reign is anointed king of the ten northern tribes about 931 BC.
How did it happen? When God first spoke to Solomon, he was given a choice to follow God or reject Him. God states it clearly to Solomon in 2 Chron. 7:17-18, As for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, even to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel.’ But Solomon chose to chase after many foreign women who helped to turn his heart away from God. Solomon worshiped many other gods in his divided heart as he built temples for his wives’ gods. People have a choice to accept the grace of God or to resist the grace of God! God’s grace is not irresistible. It is a gift for us as stated in Eph. 2:8 that is appropriated through faith. Adam and Eve had a choice! Israel had a choice! Solomon had a choice! And, God gives the same choice to both Rehoboam and Jeroboam! (For a few more verses from the scriptures we have already studied where God is clearly stating that people have a chance to choose Him or not, take a look at these: 1 Kings 9:4-5, Ex. 19:5, Lev. 26:14, Num. 32:22-24, Deut. 11:12-14, 1 Sam. 12:14… and the list goes on and on.)
The children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob often chose to reject God time and again, but the kingdom was not divided until Solomon chose to follow his wives into the worship of idols. Solomon’s divided heart is why Israel becomes a divided nation. But God would still establish a continual line of kings for Solomon through Rehoboam for the tribe of Judah if those descendants of Solomon would follow the commandments of the Lord! David told Solomon what the Lord said concerning their descendants when David said, …so that the Lord may carry out His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel’ (1 Kings 2:4). There should be no doubt that Rehoboam could have walked before the Lord, but chose to follow his own heart’s desire instead - just like his father.
Jeroboam is chosen by the Lord to become King of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. He also had choices to make. Even though he was chosen to become the king of the ten tribes, he had to choose to accept it, and for another thing, he had to choose to follow or reject the Lord. The Lord sent Ahijah, the Shilonite, wearing new clothes to Jeroboam. Ahijah rips his new clothes into twelve pieces and tells Jeroboam that this is what will happen to the kingdom that God had united under David. It was going to be ripped apart. God gave Jeroboam the choice he gave to Solomon: Then it will be, that if you listen to all that I command you and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight by observing My statutes and My commandments, as My servant David did, then I will be with you and build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you (1 Kings 11:38). One of the biggest small words in the whole Bible is “IF”. If you will: listen; choose; follow; walk, do… The Lord reminds us all over the scriptures that a lot depends on “if”. If Jeroboam listens to the Lord, walks with the Lord, and does what is right, God will keep His promise to establish Jeroboam’s kingdom forever! In other words, somehow, Jeroboam’s line would have been included in the line of Christ.
Spoiler Alert! Jeroboam will not listen, follow or do right, so God eventually wipes his descendants from the face of the Earth. He will use Baasha, who becomes the third king of Israel (Northern Kingdom) to do just that. It came about as soon as he was king, he struck down all the household of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam any persons alive, until he had destroyed them, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite… (1 Kings 15:29). Choices made - consequences done! And Israel is still divided today.
But in our lifetimes, God has been performing miracles and He is bringing Israel back together again in the Land of Israel. Surely a sign of the soon-coming Lord Jesus Christ!
