John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 11 This chapter relates the false steps Solomon took, notwithstanding all his wisdom, in marrying strange wives, and worshipping other gods, 1 Kings 11:1 upon which the Lord threatens him to rend the kingdom in his son's time, 1 Kings 11:9 and he raised up adversaries against him, Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam, 1 Kings 11:14 of which last an account is given, and of his being...
John Gill
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.
Matthew Henry
This chapter begins with as melancholy a "but" as almost any we find in all the Bible. Hitherto we have read nothing of Solomon but what was great and good; but the lustre both of his goodness and of his greatness is here sullied and eclipsed, and his sun sets under a cloud. I. The glory of his piety is stained by his departure from God and his duty, in his latter days, marrying strange wives and...