1 Kings 11:30

_AND AHIJAH CAUGHT THE NEW GARMENT THAT WAS ON HIM, AND RENT IT IN TWELVE PIECES:_ And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces. This is the first symbolical action recorded of a prophet. From the rude and imperfect state of language in early times, men would insensibly acquire the habit of communicating ideas by an intermixture of gestures and words; and this practice, called 'the voice of the sign' (Exodus 4:8) was continued in a more advanced condition of social life, when any new or important intelligence was to be communicated, as well fitted to strike the attention, to engage the imagination, and to impress the memory. Hence, it was resorted to by Ahijah on his interview with Jeroboam, (cf. Jeremiah 27:2, etc.) Notwithstanding this privacy, the story, an

26-40 In telling the reason why God rent the kingdom from the house of Solomon, Ahijah warned Jeroboam to take heed of sinning away his preferment. Yet the house of David must be supported; out of it the Messiah would arise. Solomon sought to kill his successor. Had not he taught others, that whatever devices are in men's hearts, the counsel of the Lord shall stand? Yet he himself thinks to defeat that counsel. Jeroboam withdrew into Egypt, and was content to live in exile and obscurity for awhile, being sure of a kingdom at last. Shall not we be content, who have a better kingdom in reserve?...

The first instance of the “acted parable.” Generally this mode was adopted upon express divine command (see Jeremiah 13:1; Ezekiel 3:1). A connection may be traced between the type selected and the words of the announcement to Solomon (1 Kings 11:11. Compare 1 Samuel 15:26)....

EXPOSITION SOLOMON'S ADVERSARIES.—As the historian has collected together in 1 Kings 6:1; 1 Kings 7:1; 1 Kings 8:1, all the information he can convey respecting the _temple, _and in 1 Kings 9:1; 1 Kings 10:1. all the scattered notices respecting Solomon's _power _and _greatness, _so here he arranges in one section the history of Solomon's _adversaries_._ _It must not be supposed that the following records stand in due chronological order. The enmities here mentioned did no

AND AHIJAH CAUGHT THE NEW GARMENT THAT WAS ON HIM,.... This looks as if it was Jeroboam's garment, having got a new one to appear before the king in; though the sense may be this, that the prophet took hold of his own garment that was upon himself: AND RENT IT IN TWELVE PIECES; as symbolical of the twelve tribes of Israel....

7. SOLOMON'S FAILURE: JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED AND THE BEGINNING OF DISRUPTION CHAPTER 11 _ 1. Solomon's polygamy and departure from God (1 Kings 11:1)_ 2. Hadad the Edomite (1 Kings 11:14) 3. Rezon the second adversary (1 Kings 11:23) 4. Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:26) 5. Solomon's reign and death (1 Kings 11:41) “But--.” An ominous word with which this chapter begins. It introduces us to the sad picture of Solomon's great apostasy. “He shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people

SIN OF SOLOMON, AND THE ADVERSARIES RAISED UP IN CONSEQUENCE. From various differences in the arrangement of the earlier verses in the LXX and Heb., it has been supposed that in its original form the narrative merely recorded the fact that Solomon had a number of wives, and that he built sanctuaries and offered sacrifice to their gods. In its present form the influence of a Deuteronomic editor is unmistakable. But the account of Solomon's adversaries (1 Kings 11:14 ff.) must be derived from an earlier source; and even as it stands does not necessarily mean that they were raised up in punishment of his sin. Hadad, the Edomite (1 Kings 11:14) must have troubled him early in his reign (1 Kings 11:21 f.), and Rezon wa

RENT IT. Symbolic act. Compare 1 Kings 22:11.Isaiah 20:2, &c. Jeremiah 19:1.Ezekiel 12:1; Zechariah 11:7; Zechariah 11:10; Zechariah 11:14....

_and Ahijah caught_ R.V. LAID HOLD OF. The word is frequently used of the taking prisoners captive....

_1 KINGS 11:30_. A_HIJAH CAUGHT THE NEW GARMENT,—AND RENT IT_— Language, it appears from the nature of the thing, from the records of history, and from the remains of the most ancient languages still subsisting, was at first extremely rude, narrow, and equivocal; so that men would be perpetually at a loss, on any new conception or uncommon incident, to explain themselves intelligibly to one another. This would necessarily set them upon supplying the deficiencies of speech, by apt and significant _signs._ Accordingly, in the first ages of the world, mutual converse was upheld by a mixed discourse of _words_ and _actions_ (hence came the eastern phrase, Exodus 4:8 of _the voice of the sign_); and use and custom, as in most other affairs of life, improving what had arisen out of necess