Meeting these challenges, it’s wise to take Solomon’s advice: “In the day of adversity consider” (Eccl 7:14).
At his death, Solomon was only 60 years old. He might have written his own epitaph: “Better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more” (Eccl 4:13). Worse than burdening the country with heavy taxation, he had undermined their trust in God, opening the door to all kinds of evil. Already the seeds of division had been planted. Jeroboam, “a mighty man of valor” (1 Ki 11:28), had been employed by Solomon to oversee Ephraim and Manasseh’s labor force. Soon after, he met Ahijah the prophet. Ahijah took his own new garment, ripped it into twelve pieces, and gave ten of them to Jeroboam. This, he said, was God’s judgment on the house of Solomon, delayed a generation for David’s sake. Ten tribes would side with Jeroboam in a new nation, separate from Judah. Solomon now saw Jeroboam as a threat, who deftly escaped to Egypt. After Solomon’s death, “Rehoboam his son reigned in his place” (v 43). His first journey was to Shechem, Israel’s amphitheater, where he assumed he would be the undisputed nominee for king. But a contingent had called for Jeroboam to return as their spokesman, and they confronted Rehoboam: “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten…his heavy yoke…and we will serve you” (12:4). After three days’ consultation, he rejected Solomon’s elder statesmen (who said, “Yes, go easy on them”) and sided with his palace friends (who advised, “Show them who’s boss”). Unlike our King, whose burden is light (Mt 11:30), he said, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke” (1 Ki 12:14). “So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day” (v 19). And Jeroboam gladly became the rebels’ king.