1 Kings 11:31
And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:
The message came through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam when the two were alone in the field, where Ahijah tore his new garment into twelve pieces as a sign of what God would do. God would rend the kingdom out of Solomon's hand and house and give ten tribes to Jeroboam, with the ten pieces representing the ten tribes. Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor during Solomon's reign, and the prophecy was given before Rehoboam became king.
The division was decreed as punishment because Israel had forsaken God, worshiped other gods, and had not walked in His ways nor kept His statutes and judgments. The forsaken worship was of Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and the failure was to do what was right and keep God's statutes and judgments as David his father had done. The whole kingdom would not be taken during Solomon's lifetime, for the sake of God's servant David who was chosen and kept God's commandments and statutes. Solomon would remain prince all the days of his life, and the ten tribes would then be taken out of his son's hand.
The prediction was fulfilled in the revolt after Rehoboam refused the people's request for reform and answered harshly. Rehoboam's policy continued the oppression begun under Solomon, which alienated the tribes and weakened his influence. The resulting breach divided Israel, with Judah and Benjamin forming the southern kingdom of Judah under Rehoboam and the ten northern tribes forming a separate kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam.
Jeroboam's rule began an apostasy that grew until it brought ruin on his house and ultimately on Israel. The kingdom given to Jeroboam was later threatened with being uprooted from its land and scattered because of the nation's sins and Jeroboam's leading Israel into sin, as declared afterward by the same Ahijah who had foretold Jeroboam's rise.