This is a long chapter, and all of it is required to understand a very broad context. However, the key issue in the narrative is just a short section.
Over the previous chapters, we learn that Solomon dramatically changed Israel from a warring loose confederation to a very civilized and united kingdom. We noted previously that the Northern Tribes had long differed somewhat from the Southern in vernacular speech and culture. This was led by the tribe of Ephraim that never seemed to have gotten over certain perceived slights during the Exodus, Conquest and Period of Judges. So while they capitulated to making David king, Solomon managed to reawaken the division.
But first, we must understand why God allowed this division to fester in the first place. It could have gone quite well under Solomon’s reign, but for the wisest man in human history, it was another matter to actually walk in his own wisdom. He failed grandly.
We are treated early in the chapter to a long and sad recitation of his moral failures. Like his father David, Solomon was a skirt chaser, but his father had been too busy to indulge that much. David had pacified every nation around, but Solomon had leisure to develop a high culture and art, along with a massive harem. He compromised with his thousand plus wives and concubines, allowing them to keep their idolatrous practices, and even participated himself. In the end, Solomon actually rebuilt a whole host of cults that previous generations had labored so hard to stamp out.
So the narrative warns us gravely that Solomon provoked the Lord’s wrath. However, that wrath was tempered by mercy. Nothing really bad would happen during Solomon’s reign, but would be inherited by his son. Instead, his reign was shortened a bit. The heir wouldn’t just inherit political instability, but he would be as stupid as Solomon was wise. That was part of the curse, and critical to the longer chain of events.
The previous chapters recount the extravagant building projects of the Temple and the Palace of Cedar (AKA House of the Forest of Lebanon). Those same chapters give us a hint of just how much the royal palace consumed. It’s hard to imagine, and it required Solomon to make a very concerted effort to organize thoroughly and keep the tribute flowing in sufficient quantity. That thousand plus wives and concubines weren’t cheap. But then, nothing about Solomon’s reign was cheap. Keep that in mind.
So while Solomon didn’t face any serious threats to his actual rule, the Lord raised up several significant figures to oppose him and cause some trouble. There was Hadad the Edomite. He was a surviving royal son of Edom who escaped with a small band of supporters from the slaughter dealt out by Joab during David’s reign. There weren’t many adult Edomite men who survived that war. Hadad went down to Egypt and nursed his hatred for Israel living on Pharaoh’s support. Eventually he went back home to rebuild Edom during Solomon’s reign.
Rezon escaped his servitude in Damascus and raised up a raider force that eventually went back and captured that city. He became another thorn in Solomon’s side, never submitting and never being driven out.
God also raised up a domestic rival for Solomon. An Ephraimite noble named Jeroboam was talented enough to be hired for royal service. Solomon was the kind of man who knew it was wise to keep the real talented men of his nation close to him so he could watch them. But it’s clear that Jeroboam wasn’t thrilled with the way Solomon did things. It was part of his duty to insure Solomon had enough bodies for the endless building projects.
I have yet to understand why so very many commentaries avoid discussing verse 27. You won’t find much discussion on it. What difference did it make to Jeroboam that Solomon had this one project to expand the Temple plaza (“Millo” — a terrace filled with rubble and dirt) and turn the patchwork protection around Zion and the Temple into a massive single continuous wall? If we understand correctly, this was all one project, as the two structures were merged.
The issue was the business of forced labor as tax. Solomon’s taxation was downright vicious, well beyond what God said was appropriate (roughly 10%). The royal labor projects were particularly rough, consuming up to a quarter of the year for every able-bodied man in the nation. Solomon didn’t make it easy by taking this labor tax during the off-season, either. It was all year round with every man rotating in and out on a schedule convenient to the royal administration, not to the men doing the labor. And this was on top of other taxes levied against their productive work at home.
So what we learn in verse 27 is that the wall and plaza was the straw that broke the camel’s back. This was the source of unrest in Solomon’s reign. So on a day when Jeroboam left Jerusalem, heading toward his own subordinate tribal headquarters in Ephraim, probably on yet another draft mission to seize more workers, he was met by a prophet in disguise, named Ahijah.
The prophet told Jeroboam what God had planned, and roughly the schedule. The Northern Tribes (later called “Israel”) would split from the Kingdom and and be given to Jeroboam. The Southern Tribes (called “Judah”) would remain under David’s dynasty, and all of this would happen only after Solomon had passed. Jeroboam was told in no uncertain terms why God was doing this: idolatry. If Jeroboam would remain faithful to Jehovah, he would inherit the promise granted to David regarding a royal dynasty.
Solomon caught wind of this little meeting and sought to arrest Jeroboam and execute him. However, the latter escaped to Egypt. We are then told that Solomon reigned only forty years. For having started so young, that wasn’t a long reign.
