The questions we have asked in the last section prepare us for 11: 1-13. Solomon's marriages to foreign women led him into building temples for the gods worshipped by his wives and worshipping those gods himself, alongside the God of Israel. The judgement of the writer of the book of Kings is plain: 'He was not faithful to the LORD his God, as his father David had been.' This unfaithfulness would be punished. Apart from the fact of Solomon's apostasy (his worship of other gods), there was also the question as to how much of the nation's wealth he had spent over the years on his numerous wives. He had built them palaces and temples and the standard of living in the royal court was very high; 1 Kings 4: 22-23 lists the daily supplies for the court and 10: 22 says that the cups and utensils used by the king were of gold. Chapter 10: 4-5 describes the amazement of the queen of Sheba when she saw the magnificence of life in the royal palace. The king's household and his officials lived in luxury, but what about the ordinary people of Israel? Many of the men had already experienced forced labour.

Verses 14-25 refer to two enemies of Solomon who were waiting for an opportunity to cause trouble for Israel. One was in Edom, south-east of the Dead Sea in the area where copper was mined, and the other was in the north, in Syria. The third, and most significant enemy is described in 11: 26-40. He was a man from one of the northern tribes who had been an important overseer of the forced labour gangs from the two northern tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. What happened to cause Jeroboam son of Nebat to flee for his life to Egypt, was a revolt of the tribe of Ephraim against the rule of Solomon (verse 27). It was crushed, but hatred of the increasing injustice under the rule of Solomon was not removed. Jeroboam stayed in Egypt until Solomon's death. This, and the hereditary succession of the son of Solomon called Rehoboam, is recorded in 11 : 41-43.

The brief but significant appearance of a prophet called Ahijah, who predicts the break-up of Solomon's kingdom as the consequence of his apostasy, is to be noted. Ahijah performed a dramatic symbolic action as well as speaking prophetic words as the spokesman of Israel's God.

Although Nathan the prophet had supported the choice of Solomon as successor to David, we hear nothing of him again after Solomon had become king and nothing is said of any other prophet during Solomon's reign until Ahijah prophesies the break-up of the kingdom after Solomon's death. Is this prophetic silence significant during the reign of Solomon?