“Then Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, ‘Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes”’” (1 Kings 11:30-31).
For not being faithful to the Lord, the kingdom was torn from the hand of Solomon, and ten tribes were given to Jeroboam. This is the Lord’s punishment of Solomon for his sin in forsaking the Lord, announced to Jeroboam by the prophet Ahijah. “He has forsaken me, and worshiped Ashtoreth 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 David his father did” (1 Kings 11:33).
But afterward Jeroboam too would stop serving the Lord with all his heart. He would make two golden calves and put one in Bethel and the other in Dan and would say to the people, “Behold your gods, oh Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28). He then “appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites” (1 Kings 12:31), and he offered sacrifices on the altar in Bethel (1 Kings 12:32), something which should only be done in Jerusalem (Deut. 16:2; Lev. 17:1-9; Deut. 12:4-6).
Therefore Jeroboam would also be punished for his sin. The same prophet Ahijah would say, “Therefore behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every male” (1 Kings 14:10). Thus we see the evil of idolatry. The kingdom was torn from the hands of these two kings because they had ceased walking wholeheartedly with the Lord. The Lord is a jealous God. He wants all of our love.
Jesus Christ revealed the same message. His first and most important commandment is, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength” (Mark 12:30). He said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matt. 6:24).
But how many continue trying to serve two masters? How many continue dividing their hearts by the way they live? How many believe they can serve God and other things too? How many believe they can live a worldly life and also serve God with all their heart, with an undivided heart, as God wishes? Many, I think; but it is impossible. We should seek our happiness only in the Lord, not in the delights of the world, which only divide our heart and diminish the love we have for God. God wants all our love, not just part of it. He also wants to be all our happiness, not just part of our happiness. This is why monks live a life of prayer and fasting in the desert far from the world—namely to love God with all their hearts.
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