Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you! 1 Kings 11:31
Numbers 32:23 says, "You may be sure that your sin will find you out." While most of us would say that we believe this passage of Scripture, many of us behave as if this Scripture does not apply to us. We do not expect to be caught in our sins. Even more, we do not expect to face any consequences for our sins. While we may attempt to conceal sin or simply believe that we are immune from sin's consequences, we cannot hide our sins. Even more, we cannot escape the consequences that our sin may bring.
Solomon had to learn that he was not immune to the consequences of sin. We saw in our Bible study last week together that he became influenced by his foreign wives and built shrines for their false gods. This broke God's heart. As a result of turning away from God, God taught that the kingdom was going to be torn away from his son and divided. In 1 Kings 11, one of God's prophets told Jeroboam that he would be the king of the divided kingdom. God said to Jeroboam through his prophet, "I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you!" (verse 31). As you can imagine, Solomon was furious when he found this out. He tried to kill Jeroboam, so Jeroboam fled to Egypt until Solomon died. Eventually, Solomon died, and his son Rehoboam became the next king of Israel. What followed after Rehoboam became king was exactly as God said. The kingdom was ripped away from Rehoboam except for two tribes of Israel. All of these things happened as a direct consequence of Solomon's sin.
Make no mistake, my friend. Our sins have consequences. We cannot hide our sins. We cannot "get away with sin" without facing the consequences. Solomon learned this. We, too, must understand this truth. All sin breaks the heart of God and has devastating consequences. As a result, we must take our sin seriously and turn away from it when we recognize it in our lives.
Take some time now to bring sin to light that you may have been concealing. Confess that sin to God and ask Him to help you turn away from the sin that you have been struggling with. If your sin has impacted someone else, go to them as well and confess your sin. Tell them that you are sorry for your sin and the way it has impacted them. Finally, tell someone whom you trust about your sin struggle and ask them to help hold you accountable as you seek to walk away from that sin.
26 Another rebel leader was Jeroboam son of Nebat, one of Solomon’s own officials. He came from the town of Zeredah in Ephraim, and his mother was Zeruah, a widow.
27 This is the story behind his rebellion. Solomon was rebuilding the supporting terraces and repairing the walls of the city of his father, David. 28 Jeroboam was a very capable young man, and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him in charge of the labor force from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph.
29 One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him along the way. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak. The two of them were alone in a field, 30 and Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 Then he said to Jeroboam, “Take ten of these pieces, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give ten of the tribes to you! 32 But I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 33 For Solomon has abandoned me and worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Molech, the god of the Ammonites. He has not followed my ways and done what is pleasing in my sight. He has not obeyed my decrees and regulations as David his father did.
34 “‘But I will not take the entire kingdom from Solomon at this time. For the sake of my servant David, the one whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees, I will keep Solomon as leader for the rest of his life. 35 But I will take the kingdom away from his son and give ten of the tribes to you. 36 His son will have one tribe so that the descendants of David my servant will continue to reign, shining like a lamp in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be the place for my name. 37 And I will place you on the throne of Israel, and you will rule over all that your heart desires. 38 If you listen to what I tell you and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right, and if you obey my decrees and commands, as my servant David did, then I will always be with you. I will establish an enduring dynasty for you as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you. 39 Because of Solomon’s sin I will punish the descendants of David—though not forever.’”
40 Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died.
41 The rest of the events in Solomon’s reign, including all his deeds and his wisdom, are recorded in The Book of the Acts of Solomon. 42 Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.
