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Did Solomon never have true peace
and happiness again? Did he never repent and turn to God, and ask
for forgiveness? We may hope he did. God loved Solomon, and he
would not let him die in his wickedness, and perish for ever. When
Solomon found that worldly things could not comfort him, we may hope that
he turned again to God, and asked for pardon; and that God forgave him all
his sin, and loved, and blessed, and comforted him once more. And
then Solomon felt what ought to be our great business in this world, and
he said, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole
duty of man." Ecclesiastes 12:13. But
God punished Solomon with troubles to the end of his life. What were
these troubles? There was a man in Israel named Jeroboam. He
was very industrious, and Solomon gave him business to do for him in the
kingdom. One day, when Jeroboam was in the field, Ahijah, the
prophet, came to him with a wonderful message from God. Ahijah had
on a new garment; and he took it, and rent it into twelve pieces, and gave
ten to Jeroboam. Then the prophet said, "These twelve pieces
are like the twelve tribes of Israel. I have given thee ten pieces,
because soon God will take away ten tribes from Solomon, and give them
unto thee. God will punish Solomon and Israel, because they have
forsaken Him, and worshiped new gods: but he will not take away all
the kingdom from David's children; He will still give to them the tribes
of Judah and Benjamin. And if, when thou art king, thou wilt obey
and serve God, He will bless thee, and give thy kingdom to thy sons after
thee." Jeroboam was not to be king till after Solomon's
death: but Solomon was afraid when he heard what Ahijah had said,
and tried to kill Jeroboam. But Solomon could not prevent what God
had promised; Jeroboam escaped to Egypt, and there he stayed in safety
till Solomon died. Solomon
reigned forty years. His riches and power could not save him from
death. All must die. Rich and poor, kings and queens, and
their people too—all must go down to the grave. "Then shall
the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return to God
who gave it." Ecclesiastes 12:7. After
the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam went to Shechem, to be made
king. Jeroboam heard of this, and came from Egypt, and called all
Israel to him. Then Jeroboam and the people of Israel sent a very
disrespectful message to Rehoboam, and said, "Thy father Solomon was
unkind to us, and made hard laws which we did not like. Do thou be
kind, and make easy laws, and then we will serve and obey
thee." When Rehoboam heard this message, he asked the old men,
who had been his father's friends, to give him advice. The old men
said, "Speak gently to the people, and then they will be thy
servants, and love and obey thee." But Rehoboam did not attend
to this good advice of the old men. He called his own friends,
foolish, self-willed young men, and he asked them, "What shall I
do?" The young men said, "Speak harshly to the people, and
tell them that the laws shall be more strict now than they were in
Solomon's time." Rehoboam attended to this foolish advice, and
called Jeroboam, and all Israel, and said, "My father's laws were
strict, but I will make them more strict. He punished you a little,
I will punish you very much." This answer made Jeroboam and the
people very angry, and they said, "We will not obey
Rehoboam." So the people of Israel made Jeroboam their king,
and he reigned over ten tribes; but Judah and Benjamin followed Rehoboam. But
why did God take away ten tribes from Rehoboam? Because of Solomon's
sin. God had not forgotten the message He sent to Jeroboam by
Ahijah. All God days, He remembers, and does; and He must always
punish sin.
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