JEROBOAM jĕr’ ə bō’ əm (יָרָבְעָ֔ם, LXX ̔Ιεροβοαμ, meaning may the people increase; the name itself is known from Biblical times from a beautiful jasper seal picturing a roaring lion and inscribed, lshm’ ’bd yrb’m, “belonging to Shema, the minister of Jeroboam”). The name of two kings of the northern kingdom of Israel.

I. Jeroboam i

As the first king of the secessionist kingdom of Israel, he reigned twenty-two years (1 Kings 14:20; 931-910 b.c. according to Thiele; 922-901 according to Albright) and established a short-lived dynasty. Jeroboam’s son Nadab was assassinated by Baasha after a reign of less than two years (1 Kings 15:25-30). His career is described in 1 Kings 11:26-14:20 and 2 Chronicles 10:1-13:20.

A. His rise to power

1. Three different accounts. There are three different accounts of Jeroboam’s life prior to his becoming king—two in the LXX, and a third in the MT which forms the basis of most Eng. trs.

a. 1 Kings 11:26-12:24 LXX. With three important exceptions, this Gr. VS in its various recensions agrees in substance with the MT. The exceptions are (1) 11:43— “And Solomon slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David his father. And when Jeroboam son of Nebat—now he was yet in Egypt, as he had fled from before Solomon and dwelled in Egypt—heard, he went directly and came to his city, to Sarira in the hill country of Ephraim. King Solomon slept with his fathers, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.” (2) 12:2, 3a (MT and Eng. VSS) is not found in numerous LXX MSS. (3) 12:12a—“And all Israel came to King Rehoboam on the third day.”

b. 1 Kings 12:24a-z LXX. This account differs markedly from the previous one and often contradicts it, and various estimates are made of its worth: “there seems...to be a genuine historical source behind the variant account” (Gray, Kings, p. 268) and “in this second account, vilifying of Jeroboam is not a superimposed addition; it is the very substance and the basic design” (Gooding, Vet Test., XVII, 188).

Among the midrashic elements added to put Jeroboam in the worst possible light are the following: (1) his mother Sarira was a harlot so his father is unnamed (v. 24b; contra MT and LXX of 11:26); (2) he attempted a siege of Jerusalem during Solomon’s reign (12:24b, which is a distortion of MT 11:27 in which Solomon is said to have repaired a breach in the walls); (3) having fled to Egypt, he married Shishak’s eldest and most prominent daughter Ano who bore him a son Abia (v. 24e; cf. the story of the rebel Hadad the Edomite in 1 Kings 11:14-22; cf. LXX v. 19 with LXX 12:24e to see that Ano was thought to be the daughter, not the sister-in-law, of Shishak’s wife Tahpenes. The key words of v. 24e are, tēn Anō adelphēn Thekeminas tēn presbyteran tēs gynaikos autou, “Ano, sister of Thekemina, the eldest of his wife”); and (4) Shemaiah (not Ahijah; cf. 1 Kings 11:29-39) the prophet was told by the Lord to go to Jeroboam at Shechem, to tear a new garment into twelve pieces and to tell Jeroboam, “Take for yourself ten shreds for you to wear (tou peribalesthai se—a rather sarcastic purpose clause!).” Each of these details seeks to discredit Jeroboam and should prob. be ignored when reconstructing his rise to power.

c. 1 Kings 11:26-12:24 MT. There are two differences between MT and LXX of this section: (1) When did Jeroboam return from his exile in Egypt? Immediately upon hearing of the death of Solomon (LXX 11:43) or after Israel had assembled in Shechem to make Rehoboam king (MT 12:1-3a)? (2) What part did Jeroboam play in the negotiations with Rehoboam? Did he stay in the background until after the revolt, or did he take a prominent role, perhaps even lead, in the grievances against the king (MT vv. 3a and 12a)? Furthermore, it has become an almost unchallenged opinion that the MT is inconsistent but that the LXX is internally consistent and to be preferred (e.g. Burney, Montgomery, and Gray; contra Gooding).

2. Evaluation of the accounts. The reason for the scholarly skepticism of the MT account and preference for the LXX of 1 Kings 11:26-12:24 (but not LXX additions to v. 24, i.e. vv. 24a-z) is a supposed contradiction in the MT account. It is thought, the argument runs, that MT vv. 1-3a and 12a place the return of Jeroboam in the context of the Shechem conference, but that MT v. 20 places his return to prominence after the revolt. By omitting any reference to Jeroboam in these same verses, LXX&supbl; (L = lucianic rescension) represents a better Heb. vorlage than that preserved in MT, which has borrowed 2 Chronicles 10:2, 3a, placed it in its present location as MT 1 Kings 12:2, 3a, and changed v. 12 to include Jeroboam.

On the contrary, the evidence presently available argues that the MT represents the original text. The following reasons can be cited: (1) It is not true that LXX&supbl; have omitted what MT preserved as 1 Kings 12:2, 3a. Rather, these recensions have placed their account in LXX 11:43, modified it to suit their own purposes, and, in the process, left a clue that this is, in fact, what has occurred. In fitting in the account, the LXX has interrupted the stock formula, “X slept with his fathers, he was buried in Y, and Z reigned in his stead.” Thus, in LXX 11:43, with the insertion, the result is as quoted in 1.a. above, and the unparalleled result is in the form “X,” “Y,” inserted account of Jeroboam, “X,” and “Z.” (2) It is far more probable that the LXX felt the same difficulty with its vorlage as modern scholars do with the MT and excised or repositioned the offending texts (vv. 12a, “Rehoboam” and 2, 3a) than that MT added vv. 2, 3a from 2 Chronicles and the name “Rehoboam” to v. 12, which in fact would create a difficulty. (3) The grammatical difficulty in the Heb. text of vv. 2, 3a can be solved simply by ending the parenthesis, not at the end of v. 2 (as KJV does), rather at the words, “...and they sent and called him” (RV). (4) It is more likely that the Chronicler quoted 1 Kings 12 extensively with slight changes to suit his purposes than that a later recension of Kings added vv. 2, 3a from the parallel in Chronicles. First, as the texts now stand, 2 Chronicles 10:2 has “Solomon the King” (shlmh hmlk), whereas 1 Kings 12:2 has the reverse order, “King Solomon” (hmlk shlmh). The former order is typical of later Heb. and the latter is typical of earlier Heb. (BDB, p. 573a). This is a difference, but it is a minor one. All that can be said is that, if the recension of Kings had borrowed from 2 Chronicles, one could expect to find the normal late order of these words preserved in Kings. Second, 1 Kings 12:2 has wyshb yrb’m bmşrym. The key point is that the “b” in the word bmşrym is an old way of saying “from” in Heb. By the time of the Chronicler, this use of “b” had passed out of common use, so he replaced it with the common word for “from,” min, which appears in the consonantal text of 2 Chronicles 10:2 as “m” on the word mmşrym. Later, when the MT was pointed (i.e. when vowels were added to the consonantal text; the process began about a.d. 500), this special, early use of b had long been forgotten. Faced with the reading bmşrym, which the Masoretes read in its normal sense, “in Egypt,” they pointed wyshb as if it were from yāshab: wayyēsheb, “and he dwelled.” However, in 2 Chronicles 10:2, they found mmşrym, “from Egypt,” so they pointed the preceding wyshb as if from shub: wayyāshob, “and he returned.” Thus, the MT 1 Kings 12:2 is incorrectly pointed to read, “And Jeroboam dwelled in Egypt,” but it should be in accordance with the author’s earlier Heb. vocabulary, “And Jeroboam returned from Egypt.” (On this special use of b, “from,” see entry no. 13 of L. Koehler, Hebräisches und aramäisches Lexicon zum A. T., E. J. Brill [1967], p. 101; or Nahum M. Sarna, “The Interchange of the Prepositions Beth and Min in Biblical Hebrew,” JBL, LXXVIII [1959], 310-316.) Third, there is no sufficiently good reason to suppose that the reference to “all the congregation (qhl) of Israel” (1 Kings 12:3a) and to “the congregation” (’dh, v. 20) indicates two different sources, with the earlier reference and its context supposed to be an insertion from Chronicles; 2 Chronicles 10:3 does not even have the word qhl, and it is more likely that there were in fact two assemblies. If so, the reference in 1 Kings 12:3a would refer to the assembled group which had come to meet with Rehoboam, and the more specific term ’dh would refer to the national assembly convened at Shechem for the express purpose of making Jeroboam king (v. 20).

For these reasons, the MT is to be preferred to the LXX in its account of Jeroboam’s rise to power.

3. Resultant picture. Jeroboam the son of Nebat and Zeruah, a widow, became a recognized leader of men during the reign of Solomon, who put him in charge of the forced labor crew from the house of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh). Meeting Jeroboam alone in the country, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh tore his own new garment into twelve pieces and had Jeroboam take ten to symbolize the fact that God was about to tear ten of the tribes away from Solomon and his son. Only one tribe, Judah (Benjamin, which never seems to have recovered from the slaughter and near extinction mentioned in Judges 20 and 21, was counted with Judah; cf. 1 Kings 11:32, 36; 12:20f.), would remain to perpetuate the Davidic line. When Solomon heard of the prophecy, or perhaps of a plot by Jeroboam to bring Ahijah’s prophecy to an early fulfillment, he sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to safety in Egypt. (The full account is in 1 Kings 11:26-40.)

When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam went to Shechem to be made king over the twelve tribes. “And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt, and they sent and called to him, and Jeroboam and all of the assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam” (1 Kings 12:2, 3; for the basis of this tr. see reason [4] in A.2., above). With Jeroboam leading a delegation, the twelve tribes demanded that Rehoboam lighten the demands of the monarchy. Instead, three days later, he announced burdensome increases. At that, the northern tribes revolted. Soon afterward, Rehoboam foolishly sent the worst possible man he could have chosen, Adoram, who headed the hated corvée, to try to pacify the northern ten tribes. They stoned Adoram to death and forced Rehoboam to flee back to Jerusalem. By now it was widely known that Jeroboam had returned from exile in Egypt, that he had played a prominent part in the futile negotiations with King Rehoboam and was sympathetic to their cause, and most importantly, that one of their own prophets, Ahijah from Shiloh, had prophesied that Jeroboam would be king after the death of Solomon. So northern Israel called Jeroboam to the coronation convocation (’dh) to make him their king (cf. the reaction later to the prophetic word that Jehu was to be king, 2 Kings 9:1-13). (See 1 Kings 12:1-20.)

B. His reign. The first threat to newly crowned Jeroboam came from Rehoboam, who massed an army for an invasion of Israel. Shemaiah intervened with a word from the Lord not to begin intertribal warfare, so the troops returned home. Meanwhile, Jeroboam fortified Shechem and Penuel, both in strategic passes and both connected with the patriarchs.

1. The sins of Jeroboam. Contrary to the prophecy of Ahijah which brought him to power (1 Kings 11:38f.), Jeroboam perverted the worship of the Lord by reviving the Mesopotamian bull worship of pre-Abrahamic days as Aaron had done (12:27-30; Exod 32:1-5; Josh 24:14f.; on comparisons between Jeroboam and Aaron, see JBL, LXXXVI [1967], 129-140, and U. Cassuto, Exodus, ET, pp. 407-410), to keep the people from making religious pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Golden bulls (not just bull-pedestals; see R. K. Harrison, OT Times, Eerdmans [1970], p. 210f.) became the objects of worship at Bethel and at Dan, contrary to the law (Exod 20:4). This was the great sin of Jeroboam. Further, he promoted worship at the high places, appointed non-Levites as priests, and changed the date of the Feast of Tabernacles (perhaps by changing the calendar: see JBL, LXXXIII [1964], 109-118). An unnamed prophet from Judah prophesied at Bethel against the altar there: Josiah would profane it by burning dead men’s bones upon it and tear it down (fulfilled about 300 years later, 2 Kings 23:15ff.). Jeroboam continued his policies and became the prime Biblical example of an idolatrous king.

2. The wars of Jeroboam. After the initial peace resulting from Shemaiah’s prophecy (1 Kings 12:22-24), Jeroboam’s kingdom was at war first with Rehoboam and then with Abijam of Judah (14:30; 15:6; 2 Chron 12:15b). In the fifth year of his reign, Shishak of Egypt invaded Judah and Israel in an attempt to gain control of Pal. during the civil war that had weakened both parties (1 Kings 14:25ff.; the invasion of Israel is not mentioned in the Bible, but Shishak’s victory inscr. at Karnak lists Taanach, Shunem, Rehob, Mahanaim and Megiddo—all Israelite cities—among the conquered places).

C. His ruin. Finally, in a decisive battle with Abijam, described in 2 Chronicles 13:1-22, Jeroboam’s forces were decisively defeated with the loss of Bethel and other border cities. Jeroboam never regained his power, and his son Nadab lasted only two years before Baasha’s coup d’etat. Ahijah’s second recorded prophecy had been fulfilled (1 Kings 14:2-18; 15:27-30). The dynasty of Jeroboam I was finished.

II. Jeroboam II

As the thirteenth (14th if Tibni is counted) king of Israel (co-regent 793-782 b.c.; king, 782-753 b.c. according to Thiele; c. 786-746 b.c. according to Albright), Jeroboam II extended the Israelite empire into Trans-Jordan from the Arabah to the borders of Hamath, in accordance with Jonah’s lesser-known prophecy of national expansion (2 Kings 14:25). The Biblical account is very short (14:23-29; he is mentioned in 1 Chron 5:17 in a genealogy), but his territorial expansion occurred in a power vacuum in the ancient Near E and can be pieced together from archeological sources (for the most thorough discussion, see Menahem Haran, “The Rise and Decline of the Empire of Jeroboam ben Joash,” Vet Test, XVII [1967], 266-297). Briefly, the Assyrians weakened Ben-hadad’s kingdom, Jeroboam recovered Trans-Jordania from Ben-hadad, and then the Assyrians were too busy with more important local and national problems to worry about Jeroboam’s increasing power until after his death.

During this period, Israel enjoyed a peace, political prestige and economic prosperity unparalleled since the days of Solomon, but its moral and religious life was bankrupt. Hosea and Amos reflect the religious and social decay (e.g., Hos 6:4-10; 10:1-15; Amos 2:6-8; 3:13-4:5) of this period. The prosperity was only temporary. When Jeroboam II died, his son Zechariah ruled only six months before he was murdered, ending the Jehu dynasty in the fourth generation (2 Kings 15:8-12). Thirty years later, Israel was no longer a nation.

Bibliography J. A. Montgomery, The Books of Kings (ICC, edited by H. S. Gehman [1951]); J. Bright, A History of Israel (1960), 208-219, 238ff. passim; W. F. Albright, The Biblical Period from Abraham to Ezra (rev. ed., 1963), 58ff., 116f.; J. Gray, I and II Kings (1963), 268-310, 556-559; E. R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (rev. ed., 1965); D. W. Gooding, “The Septuagint’s Rival Versions of Jeroboam’s Rise to Power,” Vet Test, XVII (1967), 173-189; E. W. Heaton, The Hebrew Kingdoms (1968), 69-75, 96-98; J. D. Shenkel, Chronology and Recensional Development in the Greek Text of Kings (1968); C. F. Burney, Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Kings (1918, 1970 with prolegomenon by W. F. Albright), proleg. 25-38, text 163-192, 319-321; R. W. Klein, “Jeroboam’s Rise to Power,” JBL, LXXXIX (1970), 217f.