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1Ki_11:26-40
By what agency this awful message of judgment was conveyed to him we do not know, nor is the manner in which the king received it clearly indicated. It must have been a terrible stroke to the kingly pride which he had by this time contracted. He had, no doubt, rested in the impression that, whatever else might happen to him, the royal domain of the house of David had been secured under the promise made to his father, and the possibility of a divided empire had probably never crossed his thoughts; although, to us, such an event has been foreshadowed by significant antecedents in the latter part of David’s reign. But now he finds himself doomed, like another Saul, to have ten-twelfths of his domain rent from his house, and “given to his servant.” Little as he was prepared for this stroke, there were probably thousands in Israel who looked for nothing less; and both he and they must have waited with eager anxiety for some indication of the man on whom this high lot should fall.
They waited long. In this case, as in that of David, the appointment came upon one of no high station or influence. It was thus, therefore, the more signal act of the favor of the Divine King. Apart from this, and the possession of certain engaging qualities which captivated the hearts of men, there was no resemblance between David and Jeroboam: that was his name. He was a young man of Ephraim—the son of a widow. He was a person of great capacity for public business—of high parts; and as he is said to have been “a mighty man of valor,” he must have had some opportunities of distinguishing himself. Solomon had marked the talents. of this young man, and made him overseer of the persons of his own tribe who were engaged on the public works. And here we note another grievance of the Israelites. It had been the boast of the early part of Solomon’s reign that no Israelites—only foreigners—were employed in compulsory labor. That this had now ceased, and that Solomon had, like other oriental despots, assumed the absolute right to such services from his subjects as he might need for them, is clear from this fact. That they were classed according to their tribes, with officers of the same tribes, evinces the nature of this service. Except where distinctly marked castes exist, voluntary service is never subject to such classification.
While thus employed in government service, Jeroboam was flaunting about one day in a fine new mantle, when he encountered a rough and venerable man, who, to his great consternation, rent the mantle from his shoulders, and tore it into pieces. He knew, however, that this was the prophet Ahijah—the same, perhaps, who had conveyed the Lord’s judgment to Solomon; and instead, therefore, of resisting this rough treatment of his cloak, he stood still to hear what it might mean. The pieces were twelve into which the prophet divided the robe. Two of them he reserved; but the other ten he presented to Jeroboam, with the words—“Take these ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee.”
It is uncertain whether or not it was intended that this fact should transpire. From the privacy sought by the prophet, it may be conceived that it was designed to be secret for the time. Jeroboam was, however, too much exalted by his good fortune to keep it to himself. Hitherto, the chief restraint upon the people had lain in the notion that the Lord had guaranteed the throne over all Israel to the house of David, and the most turbulent spirits had been kept under restraint by the fear of resisting the purposes of God. The intimation of this nomination, under Divine authority, fell like a spark upon fuel. The important principle involved—freedom from a restriction which had become intolerable—at once raised the agent, in whose person it had been set forth, to the height of popularity among the tribes under the influence of the house of Joseph; and although he had been warned that no change was to take place until after the death of Solomon, he found himself driven, by the force of circumstances, if not by the promptings of his own ambition, into some immediate demonstrations. The movement was not attended with the result he expected; and, finding that he had become a marked man to Solomon, he deemed it prudent to evade the storm he had raised by retiring into Egypt, and there awaiting the progress of events. Egypt seems to have become, in this age, the common resort of political refugees. For the attention which Hadad received there we can account, by recollecting that he was a child and a prince; but the consideration with which Jeroboam was treated—seeing that the king of Egypt would not, if he could understand it, recognize the authority of the nomination he had received, and that in his eyes the young man was merely a rebel against his master—will not be very easily understood, without recollecting that the throne of Egypt was now occupied by a king of a family different from that with which Solomon had contracted affinity in his youth, and that the signs of declining power, which the Hebrew government already evinced, had probably already directed the attention of the king to the far-renowned treasures of the temple and palace, as his future spoil. It thus became his policy to weaken the power of resistance, and promote whatever might tend to lame the greatness of a power, which had of late become more formidable than a king of Egypt could regard with perfect satisfaction.
So Jeroboam remained in Egypt till the death of Solomon. During his stay he noted, with a curious eye, the institutions and strange worship of the country, which had been the scene of ancient bondage to his people. It is to be feared that there was much that met his view, which could only be abhorrent to a true Israelite, but which inspired him with no disgust—much which he regarded with admiration—some things that he deemed worthy of imitation, and that he treasured up what appeared to him useful hints, which might be applied with advantage when his predicted destinies were fulfilled. But whatever were the immediate safety found in this Egyptian refuge, he lived to rue that his steps had not turned some other way. The visit was ruinous to him, by filling his mind with ideas wholly alien to the Hebrew constitution, and the attempt to work out which, brought ruin upon his house and dishonor upon his name.