(1 Kings 12:1- 14:31)
Solomon’s death brought Rehoboam to the throne. The Kingdom got divided at this time.
Rehoboam and his rival Jeroboam were the key figures of this time. Division of the land is
described in 1 Kings 12.
* Transition from the reign of Solomon to Rehoboam caused to express all the hidden feeling
of oppression and abuse which the Israelites had gone through under the iron rule of David
and Solomon (cf. 1 Kgs. 4:7-19, 22f; 5:13-18; 4:6; 5:14; 12:18).
* One of the young men of Ephraimites named Jeroboam, son of Nebat, whom Solomon had
made superintendent of the work crews of the Northern tribes (1 Kings. 11:28) during the
building of certain fortifications in Jerusalem, raised rivalry against Solomon. When the
prophet Ahijah, angry of the idolatrous practices corrupting the Court, prophesied that
Jeroboam would lead the ten northern tribes to independence, Jeroboam’s rebellion evidently
became known, and he fled to Egypt to escape Solomon’s wrath (1 Kings. 11:26-40).
* Chapter 12 we see the reasons of the division. But also the wrong policies of Solomon and
the sin accumulated in past influences Rehoboam and his young counselors.
* Rehoboam was not the only reason for the division of the land. Rehoboam was a factor but
from the North we see a leader Jerobaoam and the prophet Ahijah and it is God-factor.
* There was a tension between the South and North because South was more prosperous
because of Jerusalem whereas North was oppressed and neglected and people were poorer.
Thus the nation Israel was divided into Southern Kingdom (Judah) and Northern Kingdom
(Israel).
THE NORTHERN KINGDOM (ISRAEL) AFTER DIVISION
A. Jeroboam
In chapter 11 and 12, the word of prophecy came to Jeroboam and he was made king in
Northern Kingdom. He is chosen and appointed. He became king in Shechem. Jeroboam
misunderstood the appointment of him and he thought he could do whatever he wanted. And
the Lord sent the word of condemnation of his wicked act (Ch. 13).Jeroboam sharply sensed that, if the north-south enmity was to become permanent, he has to
build a temple or worship place in his own place. If David has used the royal shrines at
Jerusalem to bind the nation together, Jeroboam set up rival shrines to keep the two halves
apart, forbidding the regular pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Instead, he capitalized on the rich
traditions of Dan and Bethel and set up shrines there. Disregarding the well-established
pattern, he appointed priests and attendants who did not from the stem of Levi. He equipped
these ‘high places’ with golden calves, important of Israel’s revelry at Sinai (Exo. 32:1 ff).
Archaeology suggests that these calves probably were only platforms on which the invisible
Yahweh was believed to be mounted, just as the Ark of the Covenant is sometimes described
as his throne or foot stool. Though this was the calves’ official significance, the people of the
land undoubtedly identified them with the images of the Canaanite fertility cult and began to
merge the worship of Yahweh and Baal. This syncretism accounts for the prophetic rebuke of
Jeroboam and his shrines’ (1 Kings. 13:1-32; 14:14-16).
B. The House of Omri and the Prophet Elijah
The northern kingdom never achieved dynastic stability. This political instability led its rulers
to search for a suitable capital. It is an evidence to the political skill and military insight of
Omri (1 kgs 16:23-28; 885-880 BC) that he selected Samaria– an admirable site near
Shechem-and legally purchased it, so that like David’s Jerusalem, it was his city. As a
measure of the rightness of this choice and the degree of his skill as architect and builder,
Samaria remained the capital for a century and a half, falling only after a prolonged Assyrian
siege.
Omri’s shrewdest political move was probably his alliance; he could find a ready market for
Israel’s agricultural products and also maintain sufficient military strength to keep the
Arameans of Damascus (Syrians) from invading his territory. He took for his son Ahab, in
marriage, Jezebel, daughter of the king of Tyre (1 Kings. 16:31). This unholy union assured
Israel’s political strength and religious degradation.
Omri gave his sister to Jehoram as wife, son of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah. Ahab,
realizing the folly of the constant strife with Judah, made peace with Jehoshaphat (ca. 873-
484) of Judah’s king. Co-operation between the kingdoms was essential not only because of
the Arameans, but also because of the rapid rise of Assyria.
The threat of enemy invasion often forges strange partnerships, such as Ahab’s alliance with
Ben-hadad of Damascus (cf. 1 Kgs 20:34). The two kings already had fought three rounds (1Kings 20). In an important episode, which is not recorded in the Bible, Ahab and Ben-haded
joined with others and meet the Assyrians Shalmanesser III (ca. 859-824) at the battle of
Qarbar. The outcome is not quite certain. Yet Shalmaneser III claims a brilliant victory in
Assyrian fashion.
The alliance with the Arameans lasted only as long as the Assyrians threat was about to
happen. In Kings 22:1-4, we find, Ahab and Jehoshaphat of Judah joined in the battle against
an unnamed king of Aram, probably Ben-haded I. In this battle Ahab of Israel was dead, but
Jehoshaphat of Judah was spared, presumably because he was loyal to Yahweh and
continued/carried Asa’s reform.
While the Israelite religion had long been corrupted by the Canaanite religion, under Jezebel
it was pumped from the palace with extraordinary pressure. Submitting to the worship of
Baal was not unpleasant or unpleasant to most Israelites. The idol of the Canaanite fertility
god offered a real element to which they could tie their worship, while the festive occasions
afforded opportunity to give full vent to their passions for wine and immorality. But God had
not left his people without a witness to the true faith; Elijah the Prophet was more than equal
to the occasion.
Omri defeated Moab and collected wealth from there. All the evidence suggests that Israel
under Omri enjoyed a considerable material prosperity. But in spite those evidence of wealth
and strength, lot of the agricultural things had declined. There are considerable signs of a
progressive disintegrations of the structure of Israelite society, and of a harsh system that
tended to place the poor at the mercy of the rich. The poor forced in hard times to borrow
from the rich at high rates of interest, mortgaging their land, if not their own persons or those
of their children (cf. 2 Kgs. 4:1; 1 Kgs. 17f.). We cannot say how many great landholders
enlarged their estates by highhanded injustice.
Elijah the prophet ministered during this difficult time. He was a Gileadite from near the
desert’s edge (1 Kings 17:1). Elijah embodied the strictest tradition of Yahwism. He appears
wherever Yahweh’s battles were to be fought (i.e., on mount Carmel, 1 Kings 18), exposing
Baal as no God at all, summoning the people to those again Yahweh, putting the prophets of
Baal to the sword, confronting and curing Ahab in all ill-gotten vineyard and crime against
Naboth. As long as Elijah lived, there could be no reconciliation between the state policy and
its citizens. He seems on occasion to have assoicated with prophetic bands (1 Kings 2).
Opposition to the house of Omri continued until the days of Elijah’s successor, Elisha. Elisha
worked in closest cooperation with the prophetic order and continued to resist the policy of
the state. These prophets were zealous patriots, following the armies of Israel in the field
(ch.3:11-19), encouraging the king to fight the nations’ wars (1 Kgs. 20:13f.).
A. Jehu and his House – Trouble in Israel (2 Kgs. 9:1 – 14:29)
The man selected by Elisha to bring vengeance on the house of Omri was Jehu, a hard-
driving, daring officer in Jehoram’s army, quartered at Ramoth-gilead to guard against a
Syrian counterattack (2 Kgs. 9:1-37).
In the ancient charismatic manner, Jehu was anointed by Elisha’s representative and
acclaimed king by the Israelite soldiers. With this order, Jehu set out on a blood stained purge
that included a host of victims: Joram of Israel (2 Kgs. 9:24), his ally Ahaziah of Judah
(vv.27f), Jezebel (vv.30-37), the male descendants and associates of Ahab (10:1-11), forty-
two members of Ahaziah’s clan (vv.13f.), and all the worshippers of Baal in Samariah
(vv.18-27).
Jehu’s cruelty prepared the way for the low point in relations between Israel and Judah during
the reign of Jehu’s grandson Jehosah (ca. 798-782). Judah’s king Amaziah (ca. 796-767),
flushed with success against Edom (2 Kgs 14:7), sent a challenge to Jehosah of Beth-
shemesh. Pursuing Judah’s routed army; Israel stormed Jerusalem, smashed a portion of her
wall, and looted the Temple and royal treasury (vv.11-14)
Jehu’s massacre of Ahab’s family and widow probably served also friendly ties between
Israel and Phoenicia.
Top the north and east the situation was even more dangerous. Hazael of Syria raided and
ravaged Israel, chipping away particularly at her holdings in Trans-Jordon (2 Kgs 10:32f).
Whereas Ahab had joined with Damascus against the Assyrians king, Shalmaesser, Jehu had
to pay tribute to Assyrians instead. Look at this political instability and hopelessness of
Israel’s dark days, the authors of Kings had no other explanation for Israel’s survival than the
covenant loyalty to God who had pledged his faithfulness to the Patriarchs (2 Kgs. 13:22f).
B. Eighth Century Northern Israel and the Prophets, Amos and Hosea
A half-century of weakness of Israel and Judah (i.e., mid-ninth to the beginning of the eighth
century, the time of Jehu, 842-815 B.C) was brought to an end at the beginning of the eighthcentury. The eighth century projected Israel and Judah to the heights of power and prosperity
unknown since David and Solomon. This was due partly to the fact that both Israel and Judah
states were blessed with able rulers. But the chief reason is that power in Damascus was
crushed, and also Assyrian power was not effective. Thus Israel’s resurgence began with
Jehosah (Josah, 802/1 – 786 B.C), Jehu’s grandson. The resurgence of Israel and under
Jeroboam’s able younger contemporary, Uzziah, of Judah. Both the states found prosperity
unknown since Solomon, the two states were being at peace with each other, all the major
trade routes, all once more passing through Israelite-held territory, tolls from caravans,
together with the free interchange of goods, poured wealth into both countries. Industries of
various kinds flourished remarkably. It was, superficially, at least, a time of optimism, and of
great confidence in the promises of God for the future.
However, we gain from the Book of Amos and the Book of Hosea an inside view of
contemporary Israelite society. These books make clear that the northern state at least, in
spite of its healthy appearance, was in an advanced state of decay socially, morally, and
religiously.
Social Disintegration in Northern Israel
There was a lot of poor citizen whose life was made socially and economically difficult. The
state did little or nothing to alleviate it. Israelite society, as Amos lets us see it, was marked
by injustices and a shocking contrast between extremes of wealth and poverty. The small
farmer, whose economic status was marginal, found himself often at the mercy of the money
lender; the slightest calamity – a drought, a crop failure-made them to become slaves to the
moneylenders.
The greed of the wealthy, who took unmerciful advantage of the plight of the poor, the
falsification of weights and measures made things worse for the poor. Dishonest practices
obtained everywhere. The poor received no justice. The judges were wicked (Amos 5:10-12).
Religious Decay in the Northern Israel
Social disintegration went hand in hand with religious decay. Though the great shrines of
Israel were busy, thronged with worshippers, and lavishly supported (Amos 4:4f; 5:21-24), it
is evident that Yahwim in pure form was no longer maintained.
Many of the local shrines were no doubt overtly pagan; the fertility cult with its debasing rites
was practiced everywhere (Hosea chs. 1-3; 4:11-14).Many Israelites were worshippers of
Ba’al (cf. Hos.2:16). Even the official state religion had observed rites of pagan origin (Amos
2:7f; 5:26)
Yahwism was so diluted that there was no keen feeling for covenant law or there was no
feeling to rebuke the one who breaks it. The clergy of the cult, who were officials and great
men of the state, would not correct any religious corruption. No effective rebuke seems to
come from the prophetic orders.
After Jehu’s purge of the house of Omri, leaders, clergy and prophets were blind to the fact
that paganism still remained. Rather, they rejoiced over Israel’s resurgence, and served the
state and gave the blessing of Yahweh; they were unable to criticize the state. Prophets had
sunk into the general corruption and became time servers, professionals interested chiefly in
their fess (Amos 7:12; Micah 3:5, 11).
Israel was evoked (stirred up) partly by pride in the nations strength and partly by confidence
in the promises by Yahweh (cf. Amos 3:1f.; 9:7; 2:9-12). For the future, Israel trusted in the
coming of the Day of Yahweh (Amos 5:18-20).
Men recalled the traditions of the great days of Yahweh’s intervention in the past-in the
Exodus, the Conquest, and the Holy wars of the Judges-the expectation grew of a coming day
when Yahweh would intervene decisively in Israel’s behalf, crush her foes, and secure her in
the possession of the land promised to the fathers. Though Israel still clung to the essential
features of her normative faith-election, covenant, and promise-a deep inner perversion of it
had taken place. Yahwism was in danger of becoming a pagan religion.
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