1 Kings 11:26-40

Solomon’s internal adversary 11:26-40

Jeroboam, who would become the first king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, was from Ephraim, the most prominent tribe in the North (1 Kings 11:26).

Part of Benjamin affiliated voluntarily with Judah eventually (1 Kings 11:32; cf. 1 Kings 12:21; 2 Chronicles 11:1; 2 Chronicles 11:10; 2 Chronicles 15:2; 2 Chronicles 15:9; Ezra 4:1). Really parts of two tribes joined the kingdom of Judah: Simeon and Benjamin. The reference to 10 northern tribes evidently included the nine remaining tribes plus either Benjamin or Simeon, whichever provided the majority of its tribe to support the Northern Kingdom. This appears to have been Simeon (cf. 2 Chronicles 15:9; 2 Chronicles 34:6). Levi did not figure in either group.

"Ten as the number of completeness and totality is placed in contrast with one, to indicate that all Israel was to be torn away from the house of David, as is stated in ch. xii. 20 . . ." [Note: Keil, p. 179.]

David’s lamp (1 Kings 11:36) refers to his descendant on the throne (cf. 2 Samuel 21:17). [Note: Ibid., p. 181; Gray, p. 297.] God’s conditional promise to Jeroboam was similar to His promises to Saul (1 Samuel 13:13), to David (2 Samuel 7:11; 2 Samuel 7:27), and to Solomon (1 Kings 9:4-7). God would afflict the descendants of David (1 Kings 11:39) until He raised up Messiah, when all Israel would come under His authority, as it had been under David and Solomon’s authority. [Note: For a good literary analysis of the chiastic structure of the Jeroboam narrative (11:26-14:20), see Robert L. Cohn, "Literary Techniques in the Jeroboam Narrative," Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 97 (1985):23-35.] The reference to Shishak king of Egypt (1 Kings 11:40) is the first to identify a Pharaoh by name in the Bible. Shishak later invaded Jerusalem during Rehoboam’s reign (1 Kings 14:25-26).