THE DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM AFTER SOLOMON

(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.