Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 11:30

"And Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces." — 1 Kings 11:30 (ASV)

Rent it in twelve pieces. —The use of symbolic acts is frequent in subsequent prophecy (Jeremiah 19:1; Jeremiah 27:2; Ezekiel 4:5; Ezekiel 12:1–7; Ezekiel 24:3; Ezekiel 24:15), often alternating with symbolic visions and symbolic parables or allegories. The object is, of course, to arrest attention, and call out the inquiry (Ezekiel 24:19): “Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us?” Ahijah’s rending of his own new garment is used, like Saul’s rending of Samuel’s mantle (1 Samuel 15:27–28), to symbolize the rending away of the kingdom. (See 1 Kings 11:11–13.)