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JEROBOAM

(Heb. yāroḇʿām)

1. The first king of the northern state of Israel (ca. 924-903 b.c.e.); an Ephraimite from Zeredah, the son of Nebat and the widow Zeruah. Solomon set him over “all the forced labor of the house of Joseph” (1 Kgs. 11:28), but after becoming involved in rebellion (v. 27) and being designated by the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite as the one who would receive, after Solomon’s death, rule over 10 tribes of Israel (vv. 29-39), Jeroboam was forced to flee to Egypt, where he remained under Pharaoh Shishak’s protection until Solomon’s death (v. 40). When the assembly of Israel gathered at Shechem to make Rehoboam their king, Jeroboam joined them, and after Rehoboam rejected their request for a more lenient rule, the northern tribes rejected him as king and chose Jeroboam instead (1 Kgs. 12:1-20). (The LXX gives a substantially different account of Jeroboam’s rise to power and later rule, but its value for historical reconstruction is unclear.)

Jeroboam strengthened his power over Israel by building programs and cultic reforms. He built Shechem and then Penuel, presumably as his capital cities, and later apparently moved his capital to Tirzah (1 Kgs. 12:25; 14:17; 15:33). In addition, he erected golden calves at sanctuaries in Dan and Bethel, established other centers for worship at high places in the land, installed nonlevitical priests as cultic officials, and instituted changes in the cultic calendar (1 Kgs. 12:26-32; cf. 2 Chr. 11:13-16; 13:8-9). These religious innovations were probably understood in the north as an attempt to return to the more traditional Israelite cultic practices, which allowed for worship at numerous shrines, did not observe the same limits on the priesthood as were observed at Jerusalem, and regarded the gold calf (bull?) as instituted by Aaron (cf. Exod. 32:1-6) as a divine pedestal, the same function as the ark of the covenant at the Jerusalem temple. The Deuteronomistic historian, however, regarded Jeroboam’s cultic policies as politically motivated attempts to dissuade Israelites from worshipping at Jerusalem, essentially idolatrous, and ultimately responsible for the destruction of the northern kingdom (1 Kgs. 12:26-32; 2 Kgs. 17:21-23). To this end, the Deuteronomistic historian reports that the Bethel cult was denounced by an unnamed prophet who traveled from Judah to Bethel to confront Jeroboam (1 Kgs. 13:1-10), and that Ahijah, who initially had named Jeroboam as king, later condemned his behavior and predicted the death of the royal son Abijah to Jeroboam’s wife, who had visited the prophet to request healing (1 Kgs. 14:1-6). Subsequent references to Jeroboam in 1-2 Kings typically reflect this view of him as an idolater who led Israel to ruin (e.g., 1 Kgs. 16:2, 31; 2 Kgs. 3:3; cf. Sir. 47:23).

Jeroboam’s reign was troubled by his ongoing conflict with Judah (1 Kgs. 14:30; cf. 2 Chr. 13:2b-20, which describes Abijah/Abijam’s miraculous victory over Jeroboam) and by the incursion of Pharaoh Shishak’s forces into Israel (1 Kgs. 14:25-26 mentions the latter only to note its effects on Judah, but the principal object of the attack was apparently Israel). Finally, the reader is told that Jeroboam’s death (smitten by God, according to 2 Chr. 13:20) was followed by the succession of his son Nadab (1 Kgs. 14:20).

Bibliography. C. D. Evans, “Naram-Sin and Jeroboam: The Archetypal Unheilsherrscher in Mesopotamian and Biblical Historiography,” in Scripture in Context II, ed. W. W. Hallo, J. C. Moyer, and L. G. Perdue (Winona Lake, 1983), 97-125; B. Mazar, “The Campaign of Pharaoh Shishak to Palestine,” VTSup 4 (Leiden, 1957), 57-66; W. I. Toews, Monarchy and Religious Institution in Israel under Jeroboam I. SBLMS 47 (Atlanta, 1993).

2. King of Israel (ca. 785-745), son of Joash and grandson of Jehu (2 Kgs. 14:23). Jeroboam II’s reign over Israel was apparently characterized by military success and economic prosperity. 2 Kgs. 14:25-27 reports that the nation’s borders were extended northward to the entrance of Hamath (i.e., probably to the southern end of the Beqaʿ Valley) and southward to the Dead Sea, thus recovering the idealized extent of the land of Israel (cf. Amos 6:13-14). This expansion took place to fulfill the (otherwise unrecorded) prophecy of Jonah “son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher” (i.e., the prophet for whom the book of Jonah is named) and so satisfy God’s desire to rescue Israel from her affliction (2 Kgs. 14:25-26). In addition, 2 Kgs. 14:28 claims that Jeroboam II “returned Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel,” a statement that is problematic on two counts: (1) most historians are reluctant to accept this claim that Jeroboam II conquered the two cities, and (2) it is unclear what role Judah is presumed to have played in the conquest. Various emendations of the text have been proposed to resolve these difficulties, but no consensus has been achieved. The economic prosperity of the land at this time is surmised from the prophecies of Amos and Hosea, both of whom prophesied during Jeroboam II’s reign (Amos 1:1; Hos. 1:1) and condemned the extravagance of the nation’s urban elite (Amos 4:1; 5:11-12; 6:4-6; Hos. 10:1; 12:8). The peculiar reference in 1 Chr. 5:17 to a census of Gadites during the reigns of Jeroboam II and Jotham of Judah, whose reigns may have barely overlapped, may point to some collaboration between Israel and Judah in the rule of the Transjordan but is itself unclear.

Little is known of Jeroboam II’s religious policies, since 2 Kgs. 14:24 issues only a general condemnation of the king for continuing the practice of Jeroboam I, and Amos 7:10-17 describes a conflict between the prophet Amos and the priest Amaziah at the royal sanctuary at Bethel. The books of Amos and Hosea indicate, though, that there was a general prophetic critique of Jeroboam II’s reign, addressing political affairs, social injustice, and religious infidelity. In fact, the priest Amaziah quotes Amos as predicting that Jeroboam II would “die by the sword” and that Israel would go into exile (Amos 7:11). Nevertheless, 2 Kgs. 14:29 indicates that the king died peacefully and was succeeded by his son Zechariah.

Bibliography. M. Haran, “The Rise and Decline of the Empire of Jeroboam ben Joash,” VT 17 (1967): 266-97.

M. Patrick Graham

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

JEROBOAM

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)