A Kingdom Torn in Two

So the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.” (1 Kings 11:11-13 NIV)

When King Solomon died, his son, Rehoboam, ascended to the throne of Israel. A leader from the tribe of Ephraim, Jeroboam, had rebelled against Solomon and was living in exile in Egypt. When he learned that Solomon had died, he returned to Israel and gathered supporters. They went to Rehoboam and challenged him to lighten the load of taxes and conscripted service that Solomon had laid on Israel in order to build the Temple and maintain the glory of his kingdom. Jeroboam told Rehoboam, "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you."

Rehoboam asked for three days to consider Jeroboam's proposal. He consulted his father's royal advisors, who told him, "If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants." Give them what they want and you will remain their king.

Then Rehoboam consulted the young friends he had grown up with, who advised him to double down and increase the yoke of service Solomon had expected. Exert your power, Rehoboam. It's what new kings do.

Rehoboam answered the people harshly when Jeroboam returned three days later, and he and ten of the tribes in the north rebelled against Rehoboam and established the northern kingdom of Israel, leaving Rehoboam with only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the south to become the kingdom of Judah. Thus Israel became a kingdom torn in two.

In the upper story of God's actions, something else was going on besides these events in the lower story of history. 1 Kings 12:15 tells us, "So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nabat through Ahijah the Shilonite." You see the prophet Ahijah had come to Jeroboam before his rebellion against Solomon and told Jeroboam God was going to tear ten tribes from Solomon's son's kingdom as a consequence of Solomon's unfaithfulness in worshiping foreign gods through the influence of his foreign wives.

In Luke 11:17, Jesus said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." It was true of Israel, and it is true of any nation or family or even individual person's heart. Division breeds weakness. Unity builds strength. In unity we can face all kinds of outside forces that would divide us. But when a house turns against itself on the inside, it's just a matter of time till that house crumbles.

Rehoboam's rookie mistake of following the advice of his young friends over the wisdom of his father's advisors cautions us: Be careful who you listen to. We all need deep friends who care enough about us to tell us the truth, and not just what we want to hear. It is important to find wise advisors and listen to them as we navigate life.

Division is seldom one-sided. It is important to own our own part in it. Jeroboam played a part in this division of Israel. He was ambitious. He did not wait for God's timing, but rebelled against Solomon and had to flee to Egypt. When he did become king, he set up two golden calves for the people of the northern kingdom to worship. Division is seldom the sole result of one person's action. To own our part in the disruption of division requires humility.

Division has a generational effect. There was war between Israel and Judah for all of Jeroboam and Rehoboam's lives, and even between succeeding kings. The tension between Jews and Samaritans (descendants of the northern tribe of Israel) has its roots in this division. We ought to be careful about instigating and tolerating division in our lives. Division tends to be passed down to generations.

Getting our focus off God is the root cause of division. The fatal error that caused Israel's division was not, in fact, Rehoboam's rash decision to follow the advice of his young friends. The Lord had already warned Solomon about the coming division: So the LORD said to Solomon, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. It was Solomon's divided heart - his idolatry - that precipitated the division.

The single greatest thing we can all do to preserve unity in our families, our churches and our nation is to walk humbly before God, and to pray for and hope for peace and reconciliation where there is division. When we continue feuds over past grievances we give the devil a foothold in our lives. When we own our part and humbly ask God to give forgiveness, reconciliation and peace, we live out His Kingdom values.

It is good at the beginning of a new year to take inventory of our hearts. Are we single-heartedly focused on walking with Jesus? Or are our hearts divided between Jesus and the world, like Solomon's? Let's begin 2026 with a single-hearted focus on following Jesus into the center of His will for our lives. And let's honor Him by extending our hearts in forgiveness and peace in places where there has been tension and division among us, to His glory.

Happy New Year to you and yours.