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1 Kings 9-12



1 Kings 9 begins with a second appearance of the Lord to Solomon. The Lord promises Solomon that if he is obedient then the Lord will establish his throne over Israel forever. If he is disobedient and goes after other gods then the Lord will cut Israel off from the land, and the Temple will become a heap of ruins. Of course, this is a warning of things to come, perhaps written many years later by someone who knew what was to come.
In chapter 10 we get another glimpse of the glory days of Solomon, the golden age of Israel as a united kingdom. The Queen of Sheba comes to hear the wisdom of Solomon and to test him. She leaves amazed at all she sees of Solomon’s wealth and all she hears of his wisdom.
However, chapter 11 presents us with the downward spiral of Solomon’s life. He marries many foreign wives (700 princesses!) and takes 300 concubines. However, the many wives and concubines are not a problem in and of themselves. The authors of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 Kings express no displeasure over polygamy. The problem is that Solomon marries many foreign wives and allows them to lead him astray into worship of their gods.
In response, the Lord tells Solomon, “I will surely tear the kingdom from you and give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of your father David I will not do it in your lifetime.” (1 Kings 11:11-12) Thus, Solomon’s defection from the Lord leads to the division of his kingdom and, in the context of the entire Deuteronomic History, Solomon’s defection will eventually lead Israel into exile.
After Solomon’s death, his son, Rehoboam succeeds to the throne. However, when the people ask Rehoboam to be more lenient with them than Solomon was, Rehoboam makes the mistake of disregarding the advice of the older men and he listens to the young whippersnappers with whom he has grown up. He tells the people, “My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins.” This sounds to me like the ancient Israelite equivalent of the F-word, and giving the people the finger.
The result, delineated in chapter 12, is predictable. The ten northern tribes rebel against Rehoboam and take Jeroboam as their king. The authors/editors of 1 Kings portray this eventuality as a result both of Rehoboam’s lack of wisdom and God’s determination. “It was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.” (1 Kings 12:15) Thus, as is often the case, Scripture presents the argument for dual agency. God chooses and human beings choose as well. Neither one overrules the other, but both work together.
The northern tribes, once they break off from Judah, prove to be no more faithful to the Lord than Solomon was. Almost immediately, Jeroboam sets up two golden calves, one in Bethel and the other in Dan, for the people to worship, so that they do not continue to worship in Jerusalem and thus defect to Rehoboam. This is all rather explicitly reminiscent of the golden calf incident in Exodus. In fact, Jeroboam uses the same language that Aaron did: “Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” (1 Kings 12:28) 
From this point on, the history of the kings in Israel and Judah is one long series of ups and downs, mostly downs, that eventually leads to the exile of both kingdoms. Judah eventually returns to the Promised Land, but the northern tribes are lost forever, assimilated into the people who take them captive.

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