Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Kings chapter 11 verses 26 through 33:
Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, rebelled against the king. 27 The following was the reason he rebelled against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the gap in the wall of the city of his father David. 28 The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. 29 About that time, when Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Ahijah had clothed himself with a new garment. The two of them were alone in the open country 30 when Ahijah laid hold of the new garment he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31 He then said to Jeroboam: Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “See, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes. 32 One tribe will remain his, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 33 This is because he has forsaken me, worshiped Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and has not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, as his father David did.
A prophet comes speaking of a new time and new kingdom. The old kingdom will soon be torn in two and will not be able to be patched back together. So the prophet wears a new garment, which he then tears. The one Israel, united by David, will soon be torn apart.
This is a judgement. A nation split, its people divided, unable to rise above its differences, its fault lines antagonized by the hubris of its own leaders.
The writer of 1 Kings is more charitable towards King David than I think is deserved. But his son is the one who pressed the divide; and his son following him even more.
There isn't much good news in today's Lesson -- except the warning to beware. For there are difficult days coming in the story. The unified vision is no more. The kingdom has fallen back into tribalism. It's ripping at the seams. And what we will see next will only hasten the divide.
NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year. Tomorrow's Lesson comes from Proverbs 30 and 31.
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