THE KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH. George Rawlinson

      Jeroboam the First

       Table of Contents

JEROBOAM, the son of Nebat and Zeruah, who outlived her husband, was “an Ephrathite (or Ephraimite) of Zereda” (1 Kings xi. 26), and was born a subject of King Solomon. His native place, Zereda, lay probably in the valley of the Jordan, and is reasonably identified with Zeredathah, the town or village where Solomon established the foundries for the great works in bronze, which Hiram undertook to cast for the Temple. Nebat, Jeroboam’s father, seems to have died while Jeroboam was still a child, and he was brought up by his mother, “a widow woman,” of whom nothing more is told us.1 He belonged to the middle ranks of society, and, having reached the full vigour of his youth, was among the men of Ephraim impressed by Solomon to aid in constructing the fortifications by which he was seeking to render Jerusalem an impregnable fortress. It has been surmised that he was “among the lower overseers of the labourers;”2 but the Scripture narrative gives no indication of this; and it is most natural to regard him as merely one of the many “young Ephraimites employed on the works.”3 It was as such that, on one occasion, when Solomon was inspecting the progress of the fortification of Millo, which was situated between the Temple hill and the modern Zion, he specially attracted the attention of the monarch, who, noting his vigour and activity, promoted him to the position of head-overseer over the services due to the crown from the house of Joseph. This was a vast rise in the social scale, and gave him a position equal to that of almost any other subject. Whether there is any truth in the statement, that he began at once to affect an almost regal state, maintained a retinue of three hundred chariots, and secretly aspired to the sovereignty,4 is uncertain. The Septuagint “Additions” to the story of Jeroboam do not stand the test of a searching criticism, and if they have been accepted by some writers, as Ewald and Dean Stanley,5 it is rather because they are picturesque and striking, than because they are entitled to be regarded as of any historical value. We know nothing of Jeroboam’s life between his promotion by Solomon and his flight into Egypt, except that, apparently without any scheming of his own, he was the subject of a prophetical announcement, which provoked the anger of Solomon, and led him to seek the life of his too distinguished servant and subject (1 Kings xi. 40).

Ahijah the Shilonite was a prophet of repute under Solomon, who had succeeded to the position previously held by Nathan, and was Court Historiographer during Solomon’s later years (2 Chron. ix. 29). Shiloh, his native town, was one of the principal cities of Ephraim; and he may have been personally acquainted with his brother Ephraimite, whom Solomon had so greatly distinguished. At any rate, as a member of the Court, he would be familiar with Jeroboam’s habits and person. Having, therefore, received from God a commission to invest the young Ephraimite with a prospective sovereignty over ten of the twelve tribes, he took an opportunity of waylaying him on one of his numerous departures from Jerusalem in a place where they two would be alone. Here he made his meaning clear, and impressed it indelibly on the mind of his companion, by accompanying his words with an “acted parable,” according to a practice not uncommon among sages and teachers in the East.6 Jeroboam, proud of his high office, had recently clad himself in a new cloak or robe. Ahijah caught hold of this, and stripping it off him tore it into twelve fragments, one for each tribe, and retaining two, gave him the other ten, accompanying his gift with these words: “Take thou ten pieces; for thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee: but he shall have one tribe for My servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel: because that they have forsaken Me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways, to do that which is right in Mine eyes, and to keep My statutes and My judgments: as did David his father. Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David My servant’s sake, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes: but I will take the kingdom out of his son’s hand, and will give it unto thee—even ten tribes. And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David My servant may have a light always before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen to put My name there. And I will take thee, and thou shalt reign according to all that thy soul desireth,