Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 11-12.

When I first read through this passage I decided I was going to comment on the prophesies which God sent about how he was going to tear the kingdom of David from Solomon’s son, and I may still get to that.  However, as I re-read the passage to pull my thoughts together, I read this: “The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. ”  God did not just bless Solomon with wisdom, wealth, and honor, He appeared to him twice.  Think about that when you think your faith is strong; Solomon allowed his heart to be turned from God, despite God actually appearing to him on two occasions.  Despite God having appeared to him twice, Solomon indulged in sexual sins and allowed them to draw him into idolatry.

So, about the prophesies concerning God tearing the kingdom from Solomon’s son.  I have always thought that God said that he was going to tear all but two of the tribes from Solomon’s son.  However, God told Solomon that he was going to give his son one tribe for the sake of David.  Then later, when Ahijah prophesied to Jeroboam, he said that God said that he was going to give him, Jeroboam, ten tribes and give Rehoboam one tribe.  I am not sure how this adds up to twelve.  Do the prophecies assume that, of course, Judah would remain faithful to the House of David, and Benjamin was the tribe which God was giving to Rehoboam?  Or is there something else at play?  There is nothing especially significant about this, but it illustrates how we assume we know what a passage says because of other things we know (or think we know) about the Bible.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.