The Kingdom That Tore in Two

Solomon's temple still shone on its hill in Jerusalem. But Solomon grew old, and on the hill just east of the city he began building altars to other gods.

He had married hundreds of wives, many of them princesses from nations God had warned him about. "They will turn your heart away after their gods," God had said, and they did. Solomon bowed down to their idols too. The wisest king in the world now had a heart split down the middle.

So God spoke to him. "You have not kept my covenant, so I will tear the kingdom away from you. For David's sake I will not do it in your lifetime. I will tear it from your son, and still leave him one tribe."

One day a young official named Jeroboam was walking out of Jerusalem when a prophet named Ahijah met him on the road. Ahijah wore a brand-new cloak. He took it off and ripped it, RRRIP, into twelve pieces. (Twelve, one for each tribe of Israel.)

"Take ten pieces," Ahijah said. "This is what the LORD says: I am tearing the kingdom out of Solomon's hand, and I will give ten tribes to you."

Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, who ran off to Egypt. Then Solomon died, and his son Rehoboam became king.

Jeroboam came back from Egypt, and all Israel gathered at Shechem to crown Rehoboam. "Your father made our work heavy," they told Rehoboam. "Make it lighter, and we will serve you."

Rehoboam asked his father's old advisors. "Be kind to them," they said, "and they will serve you forever."

Then he asked the young men he had grown up with. They puffed out their chests. "Tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist! My father beat you with whips. I will beat you with scorpions!'"

(A scorpion here probably meant a whip with sharp spikes. Either way, nobody was asking for one.)

Rehoboam liked that answer and said every word of it.

The crowd roared. "What do we have to do with David's family? To your tents, Israel!"

Rehoboam sent Adoram, the boss of the forced workers, to make them obey. The people threw stones at Adoram and killed him. Rehoboam jumped into his chariot and raced back to Jerusalem.

So the kingdom tore, just like Ahijah's cloak. Ten tribes in the north made Jeroboam their king and kept the name Israel. Only Judah stayed with David's family.

Up north, Jeroboam began to worry. "If my people go to the temple in Jerusalem, their hearts will go back to Rehoboam." So he made two calves of gold, set one at Bethel and one at Dan, and announced, "Jerusalem is too far to go. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt!"

(Moses could have told him how the last golden calf turned out.)

Nobody could sew Ahijah's cloak back together. For hundreds of years, most kings from David's family wandered after idols too, until enemies carried both kingdoms off to faraway lands.

But God kept sending prophets, and one of them, Ezekiel, picked up two sticks. He wrote "Judah" on one and "Israel" on the other and held them together in his hand as one stick. "I will make them one nation," God said, "with one king over them all."

Long after, another son of David came. He did not promise scorpions. "Come to me, all you who are tired and carrying heavy loads," he said. "My load is light." When soldiers nailed him to a cross, they found his robe was woven in one piece and said, "Let's not tear it."

Jesus died to bring God's scattered children back together, like two sticks held as one in a single hand.