Ahijah the Shilonite

(26) Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, the son of a widow whose name was Zeruah, was in Solomon’s service; he raised his hand against the king. (27) The circumstances under which he raised his hand against the king were as follows: Solomon built the Millo and repaired the breach of the city of his father, David. (28) This Jeroboam was an able man, and when Solomon saw that the young man was a capable worker, he appointed him over all the forced labor of the House of Joseph. (29) During that time Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem and the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh met him on the way. He had put on a new robe; and when the two were alone in the open country, (30) Ahijah took hold of the new robe he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. (31) “Take ten pieces,” he said to Jeroboam. “For thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hands, and I will give you ten tribes. (32) But one tribe shall remain his—for the sake of My servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. (33) For they have forsaken Me; they have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Phoenicians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites; they have not walked in My ways, or done what is pleasing to Me, or [kept] My laws and rules, as his father David did. (34) However, I will not take the entire kingdom away from him, but will keep him as ruler as long as he lives for the sake of My servant David whom I chose, and who kept My commandments and My laws. (35) But I will take the kingship out of the hands of his son and give it to you—the ten tribes. (36) To his son I will give one tribe, so that there may be a lamp for My servant David forever before Me in Jerusalem—the city where I have chosen to establish My name. (37) But you have been chosen by Me; reign wherever you wish, and you shall be king over Israel. (38) If you heed all that I command you, and walk in My ways, and do what is right in My sight, keeping My laws and commandments as My servant David did, then I will be with you and I will build for you a lasting dynasty as I did for David. I hereby give Israel to you; (39) and I will chastise David’s descendants for that [sin], though not forever.” (40) Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death, but Jeroboam promptly fled to King Shishak of Egypt; and he remained in Egypt till the death of Solomon.

He had put on - Either Ahijah or Jeroboam, and it is impossible to determine [which]. So too in the words of the Sages: Rav and Levi - one said [it was] Ahijah's cloak, the other said [it was] Jeroboam's cloak. R. Samuel said: Most likely it is according to the one who said it was Ahijah's [cloak], for such was the way of the righteous, to tear [garments symbolising] the division of the House of David. (See below I Sam. 15:27 and Rashi)

(1) At that time, Abijah, a son of Jeroboam, fell sick. (2) Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go and disguise yourself, so that you will not be recognized as Jeroboam’s wife, and go to Shiloh. The prophet Ahijah lives there, the one who predicted that I would be king over this people. (3) Take with you ten loaves, some wafers, and a jug of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what will happen to the boy.” (4) Jeroboam’s wife did so; she left and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes had become sightless with age; (5) but the LORD had said to Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, who is sick. Speak to her thus and thus. When she arrives, she will be in disguise.” (6) Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came through the door, and he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam. Why are you disguised? I have a harsh message for you. (7) Go tell Jeroboam: Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: I raised you up from among the people and made you a ruler over My people Israel; (8) I tore away the kingdom from the House of David and gave it to you. But you have not been like My servant David, who kept My commandments and followed Me with all his heart, doing only what was right in My sight. (9) You have acted worse than all those who preceded you; you have gone and made for yourself other gods and molten images to vex Me; and Me you have cast behind your back. (10) Therefore I will bring disaster upon the House of Jeroboam and will cut off from Jeroboam every male, bond and free, in Israel. I will sweep away the House of Jeroboam utterly, as dung is swept away. (11) Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the town shall be devoured by dogs; and anyone who dies in the open country shall be eaten by the birds of the air; for the LORD has spoken. (12) As for you, go back home; as soon as you set foot in the town, the child will die. (13) And all Israel shall lament over him and bury him; he alone of Jeroboam’s family shall be brought to burial, for in him alone of the House of Jeroboam has some devotion been found to the LORD, the God of Israel. (14) Moreover, the LORD will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the House of Jeroboam, this day and even now. (15) “The LORD will strike Israel until it sways like a reed in water. He will uproot Israel from this good land that He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have provoked the LORD by the sacred posts that they have made for themselves. (16) He will forsake Israel because of the sins that Jeroboam committed and led Israel to commit.” (17) Jeroboam’s wife got up and left, and she went to Tirzah. As soon as she stepped over the threshold of her house, the child died. (18) They buried him and all Israel lamented over him, in accordance with the word that the LORD had spoken through His servant the prophet Ahijah.

A good thing - for he [Abijah] removed [Jeroboam's] guard post; for his father had placed a guard [on the road to Jerusalem] so that no-one could go up for the pilgrimage festivals, and [Abijah] removed the guard post and went up [himself, on pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem].

(29) The other events of Solomon’s reign, early and late, are recorded in the chronicle of the prophet Nathan and in the prophecies of Ahijah the Shilonite and in the visions of Jedo the seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat.

(1) One day, Jonathan son of Saul said to the attendant who carried his arms, “Come, let us cross over to the Philistine garrison on the other side”; but he did not tell his father. (2) Now Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah, under the pomegranate tree at Migron, and the troops with him numbered about 600. (3) Ahijah son of Ahitub brother of Ichabod son of Phinehas son of Eli, the priest of the LORD at Shiloh, was there bearing an ephod.—The troops did not know that Jonathan had gone.

(4) Abijah stood on top of Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel. (5) Surely you know that the LORD God of Israel gave David kingship over Israel forever—to him and his sons—by a covenant of salt. (6) Jeroboam son of Nebat had been in the service of Solomon son of David, but he rose up and rebelled against his master. (7) Riff-raff and scoundrels gathered around him and pressed hard upon Rehoboam son of Solomon. Rehoboam was inexperienced and fainthearted and could not stand up to them.

(26) But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you; for you have rejected the LORD’s command, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel.” (27) As Samuel turned to leave, he seized the corner of his robe, and it tore. (28) And Samuel said to him, “The LORD has this day torn the kingship over Israel away from you and has given it to another who is worthier than you.

He seized the corner of his robe. Its meaning (mashma'o) is according to its plain sense (peshuto): that when Samuel turned to leave Saul, Saul grabbed the corner of Samuel's [robe], since Saul was asking him to return until he would prostate himself in Gilgal, where the Tent of Meeting was. In Midrash Aggadah, however, Amora'im differ; some say that Saul tore Samuel's robe, and some say that Samuel tore Saul's robe, [as a symbol of his loss of kingship. Another version is that Samuel tore his own robe as a gesture of dismay] giving over to him this sign, that whoever will tear a corner of his robe, would reign in his place. And that is what Saul said to David on the day he cut [Saul's] robe, 'I know that you will surely reign.' [below 24:21]

(4) and he came to the sheepfolds along the way. There was a cave there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the back of the cave. (5) David’s men said to him, “This is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘I will deliver your enemy into your hands; you can do with him as you please.’” David went and stealthily cut off the corner of Saul’s cloak. (6) But afterward David reproached himself for cutting off the corner of Saul’s cloak. (7) He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my lord—the LORD’s anointed—that I should raise my hand against him; for he is the LORD’s anointed.” (8) David rebuked his men and did not permit them to attack Saul. Saul left the cave and started on his way. (9) Then David also went out of the cave and called after Saul, “My lord king!” Saul looked around and David bowed low in homage, with his face to the ground. (10) And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say, ‘David is out to do you harm?’ (11) You can see for yourself now that the LORD delivered you into my hands in the cave today. And though I was urged to kill you, I showed you pity; for I said, ‘I will not raise a hand against my lord, since he is the LORD’s anointed.’ (12) Please, sir, take a close look at the corner of your cloak in my hand; for when I cut off the corner of your cloak, I did not kill you. You must see plainly that I have done nothing evil or rebellious, and I have never wronged you. Yet you are bent on taking my life. (13) May the LORD judge between you and me! And may He take vengeance upon you for me, but my hand will never touch you. (14) As the ancient proverb has it: ‘Wicked deeds come from wicked men!’ My hand will never touch you. (15) Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A single flea? (16) May the LORD be arbiter and may He judge between you and me! May He take note and uphold my cause, and vindicate me against you.” (17) When David finished saying these things to Saul, Saul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” And Saul broke down and wept. (18) He said to David, “You are right, not I; for you have treated me generously, but I have treated you badly. (19) Yes, you have just revealed how generously you treated me, for the LORD delivered me into your hands and you did not kill me. (20) If a man meets his enemy, does he let him go his way unharmed? Surely, the LORD will reward you generously for what you have done for me this day.

[After discussing the generation of those who died in the wilderness, the Gemara mentions a tradition that relates to that generation.] The Sages taught: Seven people spanned in their lifetimes the whole world in its entirety, [i.e., their lives have spanned all of human history.] Methuselah saw Adam in his lifetime; Shem saw Methuselah; Jacob saw Shem; Amram saw Jacob; Ahijah the Shilonite saw Amram; Elijah saw Ahijah the Shilonite; and Elijah is still alive. The Gemara asks: And is it true that Ahijah the Shilonite saw Amram? But it is written: “And no man among them remained, save Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun” (Numbers 26:65). Rav Hamnuna says: The decree of death pronounced for the generation of the spies was not decreed upon the tribe of Levi, as it is written: “Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness, and all those who were counted among you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward” (Numbers 14:29). The verse is interpreted: The decree applies to one whose count in the census is from the age of twenty and up, excluding the tribe of Levi, whose count is from the age of thirty and up. [Ahijah was a Levite, and he was not subject to the decree].

Jeroboam calculated and said: It is learned as a tradition that sitting in the Temple courtyard is permitted only for kings of the house of Judah alone. Once they see Rehoboam, who is sitting, and they see me standing, they will think: This, Rehoboam, is king, and that, Jeroboam, is the servant. And if I sit there, I will be considered a traitor against the throne, and they will kill me and follow him. Immediately, the following took place: “And the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said to them: It is too much for you to ascend to Jerusalem; behold your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. And he placed the one in Bethel and the other he placed in Dan” (I Kings 12:28–29). What is the meaning of the phrase “and the king took counsel”? Rabbi Yehuda says: It means that he assembled the elders of the kingdom of Israel and seated a wicked person alongside a righteous person and consulted them. He said to the elders: Do you sign a writ of authorization for all that I am doing? They said to him: Yes. He said to them: I want to be the king. They said to him: Yes. Jeroboam said to them: Will you do everything I tell you to do? They said to him: Yes. He said to them: Even to worship idols? A righteous man said: Heaven forfend; idol worship is unacceptable. The wicked man seated alongside him said to the righteous man: Does it enter your mind that a man like Jeroboam would worship idols? Rather, he merely seeks to test those sitting here, to determine if they accept and will obey his pronouncements. And even Ahijah the Shilonite erred in this matter and signed that he would accept all of Jeroboam’s pronouncements. And generations later this caused Jehu to sin. The Gemara explains: As Jehu was an extremely righteous person. As it is stated: “And the Lord said to Jehu: Because you have done well, to perform what is right in My eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, your children of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel” (II Kings 10:30). And it is written: “But Jehu took no care to walk in the Torah of the Lord, God of Israel, with all his heart; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, who made Israel sin” (II Kings 10:31). What caused Jehu to do so? Abaye says: A covenant is made with the lips, as it is stated that Jehu said cunningly in an attempt to entrap the priests of the Baal: “Ahab worshipped Baal a little, but Jehu shall serve him much” (II Kings 10:18). Although it was not his intention, once the statement escaped his lips he began following the path to its fulfillment. Rava says: He saw the seal of Ahijah the Shilonite on the coronation document of Jeroboam and he erred and believed that it was permitted to act as Jeroboam did. The Gemara continues its discussion of Jeroboam. [...]

With regard to the verse which states: “And Jeroboam left Jerusalem” (I Kings 11:29), Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa says: It means that he left the destiny of Jerusalem, meaning he removed himself from the category of the residents of Jerusalem, never to return. The verse states: “And the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the way, and he was clad in a new [ḥadasha] garment, and the two were alone in the field.” What is taught by the phrase “in a new garment”? Rav Naḥman says: It was like a new garment; just as a new garment has no imperfection, so too, the Torah studies of Jeroboam at that time had no imperfection. Alternatively, “a new garment” teaches that they introduced [sheḥideshu] matters that no ear had ever heard. What is taught by the phrase “and the two were alone in the field”? Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: It teaches that all the Torah scholars of that generation seemed, relative to them, like grass of the field, as they were wiser than all of them. And there are those who say: It teaches that all the rationales of the Torah were revealed to them like a field that is exposed for all to see.

Thus it is written: "When the wicked rise, men hide themselves" (Prov. 28:28). Hence it was said: He who raises a wicked son or a wicked disciple eventually suffers dimness of sight. As for a wicked disciple, that follows from Ahijah the Shilonite, for he raised Jeroboam and his eyes grew dim, as it says: "Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were set by reason of age" (I Kings 14:4) – because he had raised up Jeroboam, a wicked disciple. As for a wicked son, that follows from Isaac: "Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old, his eyes became too dim [to see]." (Gen. 27:1)

R. Hezekiah related in R. Jeremiah’s name: Thus did R. Simeon b. Yohai say: If Abraham is willing, he can effectively intercede for [all generations] from his days until mine, while I can intercede for [all generations] from my time until King Messiah. While if he is not willing, let Ahijah the Shilonite unite with me, and we can intercede for all from the days of Abraham until King Messiah.