have proved a heavy demand on the resources of the nation (1 Kings 4:21-27). To have to pay enormous

taxes, and for many long years to be deprived during so many months of the heads and the bread-winners of

the family, that they might do what seemed slaves' labor for the glorification of a king, whose rule was every

year becoming weaker, would have excited dissatisfaction even among a more enduring people than those

tribes who had so long enjoyed the freedom and the privileges of a federated Republic.

It only needed a leader - and once more Ephraim furnished him. Jeroboam, the son of Nebat and of a widow

named Zeruah, was a native of Zereda or Zererath167 (Judges 7:22), within the territory of Ephraim.

The sacred text describes him as a "mighty man of valor." His energy, talent, and aptitude pointed him out

as a fit permanent overseer of the forced labor of his tribe. It was a dangerous post to assign to a man of

such power and ambition. His tribesmen, as a matter of course, came to know him as their chief and leader,

while in daily close intercourse he would learn their grievances and sentiments. In such circumstances the

result which followed was natural. The bold, strong, and ambitious Ephraimite, "ruler over all the burden of

the house of Joseph," became the leader of the popular movement against Solomon.

It was, no doubt, in order to foment the elements of discontent already existing, as well as because his

position in the city must have become untenable, that "Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem" (1 Kings 11:29).

When "the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way," Jeroboam had already planned, or rather

commenced, his revolt against Solomon. Himself an Ephraimitc (from Shiloh), the prophet would not only be

acquainted with Jeroboam, but also know the sentiments of his tribesmen and the views of their new leader.

It was not, therefore, Ahijah who incited Jeroboam to rebellion168 by the symbolical act of rending his new

garment in twelve pieces,169 giving him ten of the pieces, while those retained were emblematic of what

would be left to the house of David.

Rather did he act simply as the Divine messenger to Jeroboam, after the latter had resolved on his own

course. The event was, indeed, ordered of God in punishment of the sin of Solomon (vers. 11-13); and the

intimation of this fact, with its lessons of warning, was the principal object of Ahijah's mission and message.

But the chief actor had long before chosen his own part, being prompted, as Holy Scripture puts it, by a

settled ambition to usurp the throne (1 Kings 11:37); while the movement of which he took advantage was

not only the result of causes long at work, but might almost have been forecast by any observer acquainted

with the state of matters. Thus we learn once more how, in the Providence of God, a result which, when

predicted, seems miraculous, and is really such, so far as the Divine operation is concerned, is brought

about, not only through the free agency of man, but by a series of natural causes, while at the same time all

is guided and overruled of God for His own wise and holy purposes.

Indeed, closely considered, the words of the prophet, so far from inciting Jeroboam to rebellion against

Solomon, should rather have deterred him from it. The scene is sketched in vivid outline. Jeroboam, in

whose soul tribal pride, disgust at his work, contempt for the king, irrepressible energy, and high-reaching

ambition, combined with a knowledge of the feelings of his tribesmen, have ripened into stern resolve, has

left Jerusalem. The time for secret intrigue and dissimulation is past; that for action has arrived. As he leaves

the hated city-walls - memorials of Ephraim's servitude - and ascends towards the heights of Benjamin and

Ephraim, a strange figure meets him. It is his countryman from Shiloh, the prophet Ahijah. No salutation

passes between them, but Ahijah takes hold of the new square cloth or upper mantle in which he has been

wrapped, and rends it in twelve pieces. It is not, as usually, in token of mourning (Genesis 37:29; 44:13; 2

Samuel 13:19), though sadness must have been in the prophet's heart, but as symbol of what is to happen -

as it were, God's answer to Jeroboam's thoughts. Yet the judgment predicted is not to take effect in

Solomon's lifetime (1 Kings 11:34, 35);170 and any attempt at revolt, such as Jeroboam seems to have made

(vers. 26, 40),171 was in direct contravention of God's declared will.

There were other parts of the prophet's message which Jeroboam would have done well to have borne in

mind. David was always to "have a light before God" in Jerusalem, the city "which He had chosen to put His

Name there" (1 Kings 11:36). In other words, David was always to have a descendant on the throne,172 and