Reflection No. 3320 of 4322

Context · Reflection

1 Kings 11:22-33: a reflection

22Then Pharaoh said to him, “But what have you lacked with me, that behold, you seek to go to your own country?” He answered, “Nothing, however only let me depart.” 23God raised up an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord, Hadadezer king of Zobah. 24He gathered men to himself, and became captain over a troop, when David killed them of Zobah. They went to Damascus and lived there, and reigned in Damascus. 25He was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, in addition to the mischief of Hadad. He abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria. 26Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. 27This was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breach of his father David’s city. 28The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, and he put him in charge of all the labor of the house of Joseph. 29At that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the way. Now Ahijah had clad himself with a new garment; and the two of them were alone in the field. 30Ahijah took the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces. 31He said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces; for the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you 32(but he shall have one tribe, for my servant David’s sake and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), 33because they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon. They have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my ordinances, as David his father did.

Lord, after Solomon's heart turns from you to the idols of his foreign wives, the account shows the consequences beginning to unfold: you raise up adversaries against him, and the prophet Ahijah declares that the kingdom will be torn from Solomon's house. Because they have forsaken me, you say, and worshiped other gods, and have not walked in my ways, the kingdom would be divided. Solomon's turning from you to idols was not without consequence; over time, adversaries arose, and the promise of the kingdom's tearing was spoken. What began as a turning of the heart bore consequences in the tearing of the kingdom. This shows that turning from you has real consequences that unfold over time. Show me how the consequences of Solomon's turning unfold. His heart had turned from you to the idols of his wives; and now adversaries are raised up against him, and the prophet announces that ten tribes would be torn away, because Solomon and the people had forsaken you. The turning of the heart, which might have seemed a private thing, bore public and lasting consequences. This is sobering. Turning from you, forsaking you for other things, is not without consequence, even when the consequences are not immediate. What I turn to instead of you, the idols I set up in my heart, bears bitter fruit in time. This calls me to take seriously the direction of my heart, to see that turning from you is not a small or harmless thing. Take that to my heart, for turning from you has real consequences that unfold over time. Keep me from imagining that turning from you in my heart is a private, harmless thing; help me take seriously where my heart is turning, Lord, seeing that forsaking you for idols is not without lasting consequence, and keeping my heart turned toward you rather than drifting to what bears bitter fruit in time.