Jeroboam I was the first king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel
after the revolt of the ten northern Israelite tribes against Rehoboam that
put an end to the United Monarchy. Jeroboam reigned for 22 years. William
F. Albright has dated his reign from 922 to 901 BC, while Edwin R. Thiele offers
the dates 931 to 910 BC. Etymology
The name Jeroboam יָרָבְעָם is commonly held to have been derived from riyb רִיב
and ʿam עַם, signifying "the people contend" or "he pleads the people's
cause". It is alternatively translated to mean "his people are many" or "he
increases the people", or even "he that opposes the people". In the Septuagint
he is called Hieroboam. Background
Jeroboam was the son of Nebat, a member of the Tribe of Ephraim of Zereda. His
mother, named Zeruah was a widow. He had at least two sons—Abijam and Nadab, who
succeeded him on the throne. While still a young man, King Solomon
made him superintendent over his tribesmen in the building of the
fortress Millo in Jerusalem and of other public works, and he naturally became
conversant with the widespread discontent caused by the extravagances
which marked the reign of Solomon. Influenced by the words of the prophet
Ahijah, he began to form conspiracies with the view of becoming king of the
ten northern tribes; but these were discovered, and he fled to Egypt, where
he remained under the protection of pharaoh Shishak until the death of
Solomon. After this event he returned and was made leader of the delegation
sent to ask the new king Rehoboam to lighten the burdens which his father had
placed upon them. No sooner had Rehoboam imprudently rejected their petition than
ten of the tribes withdrew their allegiance to the house of David and
proclaimed Jeroboam their king, only the tribes of Simeon, Judah and Benjamin
remaining faithful to Rehoboam. He rebuilt and fortified Shechem as the
capital of his kingdom, and at once adopted means to perpetuate the division
with the southern Kingdom of Judah. Fearing that pilgrimages to the temple
in Jerusalem prescribed by the Law might be an occasion for the people of the
Northern Kingdom to go back to their old allegiance, he determined to provide for
them places of worship within their own boundaries, and set up two golden calves
to be worshipped, one in Bethel and the other in Dan. Thus he became
distinguished as the man "who made Israel to sin". This policy was followed
by all the succeeding kings of Israel. According to 1 Kings 13:1–6, while
Jeroboam was engaged in offering incense at Bethel, a "man of God" warned him
that "a son named Josiah will be born to the house of David" who would destroy
the altar. Attempting to arrest the prophet for his bold words of defiance,
Jeroboam's hand was "dried up", and the altar before which he stood was rent
asunder. At his urgent entreaty his "hand was restored him again"; but the
miracle made no abiding impression on him. This "man of God" who warned
Jeroboam has been equated with a seer named Iddo.
War with Judah He was in constant "war with the house
of Judah". While the southern kingdom made no serious effort to militarily
regain power over the north, there was a long-lasting boundary dispute, fighting
over which lasted during the reigns of several kings on both sides before being
finally settled. In the eighteenth year of Jeroboam's
reign, Abijah, Rehoboam's son, became king of Judah. During his short reign of
three years, Abijah went to considerable lengths to bring the Kingdom of Israel
back under his control. He waged a major battle against Jeroboam in the mountains
of Ephraim. Biblical sources credit Abijah with having a force of 400,000
and Jeroboam having 800,000. The Biblical sources mention that Abijah
addressed the armies of Israel, urging them to submit and to let the Kingdom of
Israel be whole again, but his plea fell on deaf ears. Abijah then rallied his
own troops with a phrase which has since become famous: "God is with us as our
leader." The biblical account states that his elite warriors fended off a
pincer movement to rout Jeroboam's troops—killing 500,000 of them.
Jeroboam was crippled by this severe defeat to Abijah and posed little threat
to the Kingdom of Judah for the rest of his reign. He also lost the towns of
Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, with their surrounding villages. Bethel was an
important centre for Jeroboam's Golden Calf cult, located on Israel's southern
border, which had been allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin by Joshua, as was
Ephron, which is believed to be the Ophrah that was allocated to the Tribe
of Benjamin by Joshua. Jeroboam died soon after Abijam.
Commentary on sources The account of Jeroboam's life, like
that of all his successors, ends with the formula "And the rest of the acts of
Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the
book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel".
"The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel", likely compiled by or derived from these
kings' own scribes, is likely the source for the basic facts of Jeroboam's life
and reign, though the compiler(s) of the extant Book of Kings clearly made
selective use of it and added hostile commentaries. His family was eventually
wiped out. The prophecies of doom concerning the
fall of both the House of Jeroboam and the northern kingdom as a whole might
have been composed retroactively, after the events described had already come to
pass. Alternately, the prophecy could have been a logical deduction. Judah had
just been conquered and turned into a vassal of Egypt, while little Israel
stood between the Egyptian and Mesopotamian empires.
See also Jeroboam II
References External links
Jeroboam at the Jewish Encyclopedia