The Divided Kingdom

Solomon dies. Rehoboam goes to Shechem, where all Israel has gathered to make him king. They ask Jeroboam, back from Egypt, to speak for them. Lighten the hard service of your father, and we will serve you. The old men tell Rehoboam to be a servant to the people this once and they will be his forever. The young men tell him to say his little finger is thicker than his father's waist, and that he will discipline them with scorpions. He answers with the young men. 1 Kings 12:10 1 Kings 12:14

The north answers with the old shout. What portion do we have in David? To your tents, Israel. 1 Kings 12:16 Rehoboam sends Adoram, who is over the forced labor, and they stone him. The king flees to Jerusalem. Judah and Benjamin stay. The prophet Shemaiah tells Rehoboam not to fight his brothers. This thing is from the LORD. 1 Kings 12:24 The tearing Ahijah promised has happened. It is a judgment, and it is also a grief. The book never treats the split as a clever political solution.

Jeroboam is afraid that if the people go up to the temple in Jerusalem, their heart will turn back to Rehoboam. He makes two calves of gold and says, behold your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. One he sets in Bethel, one in Dan. He makes temples on the high places, priests who are not Levites, and a feast in the eighth month like the feast in Judah. 1 Kings 12:28 A man of God from Judah cries against the altar at Bethel. The altar is torn down as a sign. Jeroboam does not turn.

In the fifth year of Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt comes up against Jerusalem and takes the treasures of the temple and of the king's house, including the gold shields Solomon had made. Rehoboam replaces them with bronze. 1 Kings 14:25 Sheshonq I of Egypt records a campaign into this land on the wall at Karnak, usually dated about 925 BC. He lists cities. He does not narrate the temple vessels. The campaign and the fifth year fit each other well enough to be one of the earlier outside checks on the divided kingdom. The timeline calls 930 an estimate and the campaign something a record lines up with.

From here the line carries two crowns. The small reigns are grouped so the page can be read. Ahab, Jehu, Hezekiah, and Josiah are large enough to stand in their own place. Every king is named in those lessons.