Opposition and Death: A divided heart will lead to a divided kingdom: that was effectively God’s promise to Solomon in 11:9–13. This last section on the great king pursues this theme of division. It tells us of still further seeds of destruction that were planted in the earlier part of his reign and have now grown into plants whose shadow looms darkly over the kingdom. It tells of opposition on the edges of the empire, and it introduces for the first time the man who will be the focal point of that same opposition within Israel itself—the man who will eventually become king of the northern tribes in place of Solomon’s son. He is Jeroboam son of Nebat; his name will later echo throughout the book as that of the arch-idolater.

11:14–22  “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes ev…