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Jeroboam

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Jeroboam
ירבעם‎
Detail ofJeroboam Sacrificing to IdolsbyFragonard,1752
King of Northern Israel
Reign931/22 – 910/901 BC (tentative)
PredecessorPosition established
SuccessorNadab
Bornunknown
United Kingdom of Israel
Died910/901 BC (tentative)
Tirzah,Northern Kingdom of Israel
SpouseAno(named only in theSeptuagint)
IssueAbijah
Nadab
HouseNew House,Tribe of Ephraim
FatherNebat
MotherZeruah

Jeroboam I(/ˌdʒɛrəˈboʊ.əm/;Hebrew:יָרָבְעָם‎Yārŏḇʿām;Greek:Ἱεροβοάμ,romanized:Hieroboám) was, according to theHebrew Bible,the first king of the northernKingdom of Israelfollowing arevoltof theten tribesagainstRehoboamthat put an end to theUnited Monarchy.

William F. Albrighthas dated his reign from 922 to 901 BC, whileEdwin R. Thieleoffers the dates 931 to 910 BC.[1]

Etymology[edit]

The nameYārŏḇ‘āmיָרָבְעָם‎ is commonly held to have been derived fromrīḇרִיב‎ andʿamעַם‎, 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" (fromרבב‎rbb,meaning "to increase" ), or even "he that opposes the people". In theSeptuaginthe is calledHieroboam(Ἱεροβοάμ).[2]

Biblical background[edit]

Jeroboam was the son ofNebat,anEphraimiteofZereda.His mother,[a]namedZeruah(צרוע "leprous" ) was a widow.[3]He had at least two sons, Abijah[4]andNadab;Nadab succeeded Jeroboam on the throne.

KingSolomonmade the young Jeroboam asuperintendentover his tribesmen in the building of the fortressMilloinJerusalemand of other public works, and he naturally became conversant with the widespread discontent caused by the extravagances which marked the reign of Solomon.[5]

Influenced by the words of the prophetAhijah,[6]he began to form conspiracies with the view of becoming king of the ten northern tribes; but these were discovered, and he fled toEgypt,where he remained under the protection ofPharaohShishakuntil the death of Solomon. After this event, he returned and participated in a delegation sent to ask the new kingRehoboamto reduce taxes.[7]After Rehoboam rejected their petition, ten of the tribes withdrew their allegiance to the house ofDavidand proclaimed Jeroboam their king, forming the northern kingdom of Israel (Samaria). Initially, only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained to form the rump kingdom of Judah, loyal to Rehoboam.[7]

Temples[edit]

Jeroboam sacrificing to his idol, oil on canvas byClaes Corneliszoon Moeyaert,1641

Jeroboam rebuilt and fortifiedShechemas the capital of the northern kingdom, and fearing that pilgrimages to thetemple in Jerusalemprescribed bythe Lawmight provide an occasion for his people to go back to their old allegiance, he built two state temples[8]withgolden calves,one inBetheland the other inDan.[5]Although the Biblical text criticises Jeroboam for his cultic activities in 1 Kings,[9]calf worship was not new in Israelite ritual, but a reintroduction of an earlier ritual. Bethel and Dan were already established cultic sites. According toRabbinic literature,Gehazipossessed a magnet by which he lifted up the idol made by Jeroboam, so that it was seen between heaven and earth; he had "Yhwh" engraved on it, and in consequence the idol (a calf) pronounced the first two words of the Decalogue (ib.).[10]

According to 1 Kings,[11]while Jeroboam was engaged in offering incense atBethel,a "man of God" warned him that "a son named Josiah will be born to the house of David", who would destroy the altar (referring toKing Josiah of Judahwho would rule approximately three hundred years later). When Jeroboam attempted to have the prophet arrested for his bold words of defiance, the king's hand was "dried up", and the altar before which he stood was rent asunder. At the entreaty of the man of God, his hand was restored to him again, but the miracle made no abiding impression on him.[12]Jeroboam offered hospitality to the man of God but this was declined, not out of contempt but in obedience to the command of God.[13]The prophecy is fulfilled in 2 Kings.[14]

Identity of related figures[edit]

Gerard Hoet,Ahijah's prophecy to Jeroboam,1728.

JosephusandJeromeidentify the "man of God" who warned Jeroboam as the seer namedIddo.[15]

Thewife of Jeroboamis a character in theHebrew Bible.Though unnamed in theMasoretic text,she appears in theSeptuagintas anEgyptianprincess called Ano:

AndSousakimgave to Jeroboam Ano the eldest sister ofThekeminahis wife, to him as wife; she was great among the king's daughters...[16]

In 1 Kings,[17]Jeroboam's sonAbijahfalls ill, and Jeroboam sends his wife to the prophet Ahijah. Ahijah's message, however, is that Abijah will die, which he does. According toThe Jewish Encyclopedia,the good that Abijah did for which he would be laid in the grave ( "Rabbinical Literature: The passage, I Kings, xiv. 13, in which there is a reference to" some good thing [found in him] toward the Lord God of Israel ") is interpreted (M. Ḳ. 28b) as an allusion to Abijah's courageous and pious act in removing the sentinels placed by his father on the frontier between Israel and Judah to prevent pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Some assert that Abijah himself undertook a pilgrimage."[18]

War with Judah[edit]

Main article:Jeroboam's Revolt

According to the Hebrew Bible, Jeroboam was in "constant war with the house of Judah".[19]While the southern kingdom made no serious effort militarily to 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(also known as Abijam), Rehoboam's son, became king of Judah.[20]During his short reign of three years, Abijah went to considerable lengths to bring theKingdom of Israelback under his control. He wageda major battleagainst Jeroboam in the mountains ofEphraim.According to the Book of Chronicles Abijah had a force of 400,000 and Jeroboam 800,000.[21]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,[22]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 apincer movementto rout Jeroboam's troops, killing 500,000 of them.[23]

Jeroboam was crippled by this severe defeat to Abijah and posed little threat to theKingdom of Judahfor the rest of his reign.[24]He also lost the towns of Bethel,Jeshanah,andEphron,with their surrounding villages.[25]Bethel was an important centre for Jeroboam'sGolden Calfcult (which used non-Levites as priests),[26]located on Israel's southern border, which had been allocated to theTribe of BenjaminbyJoshua,as was Ephron, which is believed to be theOphrahthat was allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin by Joshua.[27]

Jeroboam died soon after Abijam.

Commentary on sources[edit]

Jeroboam setting up two golden calves,Bible Historiale,1372

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".[28]

"TheChronicles 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 theHouse of Jeroboamand the northern kingdom as a whole ( "For the Lord shall smite Israel..., and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river",[29]might have been composed retroactively, after the events described had already come to pass. Alternatively, the prophecy could have been a logical deduction. Judah had just been conquered and turned into a vassal of Egypt, while Israel stood between the Egyptian and Mesopotamian empires.

It is likely that the story of thegolden calfin the wilderness[30]was composed as a polemic against Jeroboam's cultic restoration by claiming that its origins were inconsistent with worship of YHWH.[7]

Thomas Römerhas argued that Jeroboam I may not have existed and that Deuteronomistic redactors transferred data from the reign ofJeroboam IIto Jeroboam I,[31]althoughLester L. Grabbefinds this theory unlikely.[32]

In popular culture[edit]

Jeroboam is portrayed byNickolas GraceinSolomon & Sheba(1995) and byRichard DillaneinSolomon(1997). Both of these are television films.

References[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^An alternative interpretation of the English text claimsZeruahwas thegrandmotherof Jeroboam, being the mother ofNebat.But this is not supported by the Hebrew source. Additionally throughout theBooks of Kings,it is standard practice to also list the names of kings' mothers, on the occasion of the beginning of their reign.

Citations[edit]

  1. ^Thiele 1983.
  2. ^"Study dictionary: Jeroboam".NeXtBible Learning Environment. Archived fromthe originalon 2007-03-15.Source of transliterations and explanation of significance.
  3. ^Bible1 Kings 11:26
  4. ^Bible1 Kings 14:1
  5. ^abDriscoll 1910.
  6. ^Bible1 Kings 11:29–39
  7. ^abcOded & Sperling 2006,p. 142.
  8. ^Collins, John J.,A short introduction to the Hebrew Bible,Fortress Press (2007), p. 47
  9. ^Bible1 Kings 12:25–33
  10. ^Gehazi at Jewish Encyclopedia
  11. ^Bible1 Kings 13:1–6
  12. ^Bible1 Kings 13:33
  13. ^Gill, J.,Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible on 1 Kings 13,accessed 19 October 2017
  14. ^Bible2 Kings 23:15–16
  15. ^"IDDO - JewishEncyclopedia.com".www.jewishencyclopedia.com.
  16. ^1 Kings 12:24e,New English Translation of the Septuagint
  17. ^Bible1 Kings 14
  18. ^Jewish Encyclopedia- "The passage, I Kings, xiv. 13, in which there is a reference to 'some good thing [found in him] toward the Lord God of Israel,' is interpreted (M. Ḳ. 28b) as an allusion to Abijah's courageous and pious act in removing the sentinels placed by his father on the frontier between Israel and Judah to prevent pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Some assert that he himself undertook a pilgrimage."
  19. ^Smith's Bible Dictionary: Jeroboam,accessed 2 August 2017
  20. ^Bible2 Chronicles 13:1
  21. ^Bible2 Chronicles 13:3
  22. ^Bible2 Chronicles 13:4–12
  23. ^Bible2 Chronicles 13:17
  24. ^Bible2 Chronicles 13:20
  25. ^Bible2 Chronicles 13:19
  26. ^Bible1 Kings 12:25–33
  27. ^BibleJoshua 18:20–28,esp. 23
  28. ^Bible1 Kings 14,19
  29. ^Bible1 Kings 14:15
  30. ^(cf.1 Kings 12:28withExodus 32:4
  31. ^Römer, Thomas. “How Jeroboam II became Jeroboam I”, HeBAI 6/3, 2017, 372-382. “The Deuteronomistic redactors of the book of Kings are almost silent about the reign of Jeroboam II. This can be explained by the fact that they transferred the foundation of the sanctuaries of Dan and Bethel to the time of Jeroboam I.”
  32. ^Grabbe, Lester L. (2017). "Jeroboam I? Jeroboam II? Or Jeroboam 0? Jeroboam in History and Tradition". In Lipschits, O.; Gadot, Y.; Adams, M. J. (eds.).Rethinking Israel: Studies in the History and Archaeology of Ancient Israel in Honor of Israel Finkelstein.Eisenbrauns. pp. 115–123.ISBN978-1-57506-787-2.

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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Jeroboam
Regnal titles
Preceded by King of Israel
931–910 BCE 		Succeeded by
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