Jeroboam was the first of 20 kings who ruled the Northern Kingdom during its 209 year history. He reigned for 22 years (931-910 B.C.). Not one of the kings of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, turned the people to a serious recommitment to the Mosaic Covenant. Consequently the writer judged all of them evil.
"The narrator introduces a new format and style at this point that enables him to state the essence of a king's reign with an economy of words. The introduction and conclusion of the account of each reign conform to a fixed pattern with only slight variations. The following information is regularly given in the introduction to the reigns of the kings of Judah: (1) date of beginning of reign, (2) age at beginning of reign (not noted consistently at first), (3) length and place of reign, (4) name of the queen mother, and (5) a theological evaluation. The pattern for the Israelite kings is the same except that their ages and the names of their mothers are not given. The reign of each king, both Judahite and Israelite, is normally concluded in this manner: (1) summary of reign and referral to the royal annals for additional information, (2) notice of death and place of burial, and (3) name of successor."149
Rehoboam succeeded Solomon and reigned over Judah for 17 years (931-913 B.C.).
Jerusalem was the only capital the Southern Kingdom ever had. In contrast to Israel's capitals, Jerusalem was God's chosen center for national life politically and religiously (v. 21).
Rehoboam permitted the re-establishment of pagan worship as it had existed in Israel before Joshua conquered the land (vv. 23-24).150Perhaps the king's Ammonite mother was responsible for some of this.
"Essentially, the religion of Canaan was based on the assumption that the forces of nature are expressions of divine presence and activity and that the only way one could survive and prosper was to identify the gods responsible for each phenomenon and by proper ritual encourage them to bring to bear their respective powers. This is the mythological approach to reality. Ritual involves human enactments, particularly by cultic personnel such as priests, of the activity of the gods as described in the myths."151
Asherah (v. 23) was the mother goddess of the Canaanite pantheon. However the word Asherah (pl. Asherim) also described a cult object: a tree, a grove of trees, or a pole.152
Pharaoh Shishak (Shoshenq I, 945-924 B.C.) was the king who had given Jeroboam refuge (11:40). He was a very powerful and effective ruler.153The campaign that brought him into Judah netted him 156 cities in Judah, Israel, Edom, and Philistia.154His invasion diminished much of the glory of the temple and of Yahweh (vv. 26-28). Shishak's offensive was the first serious attack against Judah by any foreign power since Saul's days.
The writer footnoted "The Chronicles of the Kings of Judah"when he wrote of 14 of those 19 kings (v. 29). Again, this document is not our 1 and 2 Chronicles. The war that kept flaring up between Rehoboam and Jeroboam (v. 30) was a consequence of their turning away from Yahweh. Rebellion against God brought war, but submission would have resulted in peace.
Abijam (or Abijah, lit. my father is Yah[weh]) reigned from 913-911 B.C. while Jeroboam ruled over Israel.155
"The accession formulae from this reign onwards make cross-references between Judah and Israel. It is not clear whether this was to correlate the sources for the reader or to emphasize the essential unity which should have marked both peoples."156
The king's mother was a descendant of "Absalom,"a variant spelling of "Abishalom"(v. 2). According to 2 Chronicles 13:2, Maacah was the daughter of Uriel and therefore the granddaughter of Absalom. Abijam continued to tolerate the pagan worship reintroduced to Judah during his father's reign (14:23-24). He experienced chastening from the Lord because his heart did not fully belong to Yahweh (vv. 3, 6; cf. 2 Chron. 13:2-20). God's patience with Abijam was due to His promises to David more than to Abijam's own character (vv. 4-5; cf. 2 Sam. 21:17; 1 Kings 11:36).157
Asa was the first of eight kings of Judah whom the writer of Kings judged as good. Four were reformers who sought to bring the nation back to the Mosaic Covenant, and Asa was the first of these. The writer of Chronicles described his reforms more fully in 2 Chronicles 14-16.
Nadab ruled Israel from 910-909 B.C. Evidently Baasha assassinated him during a battle with the Philistines. Gibbethon stood three miles west of Solomon's stronghold city of Gezer near the border where Israel, Philistia, and Judah met. Baasha not only killed Nadab but also all of Jeroboam's male descendants (v. 29). This was a fulfillment of Ahijah's prophecy that God would cut off Jeroboam's dynasty (14:14).
"Nothing is more characteristic of the northern state than its extreme internal instability."161
The writer of Kings noted carefully the prophecies of the blessings and cursings of the kings because of their obedience or disobedience to Yahweh's authority. This is one of the major motifs in Kings.162
Baasha's 24-year reign (909-886 B.C.), the third longest of any king of the Northern Kingdom, fell within that of Asa's rule over Judah (911-870 B.C.).
Baasha had an outstanding opportunity to lead Israel back to true covenantal worship after he had killed Nadab and terminated Jeroboam's dynasty. However, he chose not to do so. He evidently regarded his elevation from a lowly origin (v. 2) to Israel's throne as an opportunity to fulfill personal ambition rather than to glorify Yahweh. For his failure God announced that He would cut off his line as He had Jeroboam's (vv. 3-4; cf. 14:11).
God ended Baasha's reign for two primary reasons: his continuation of Jeroboam's cult, and the motive and manner with which he assassinated Nadab (v. 7).
"Besides providing information on Baasha's death, these verses [16:5-7] reemphasize the author's theological approach to history. Three issues deserve mention. First, God's word dictates history, a fact Jehu's prophetic rebuke and prediction divulges. Second, Jeroboam and Baasha are judged unfavorably because they use their God-given political authority to preserve their own position rather than to glorify God among the people. Third, the text stresses cause and effect, not fatalistic determinism. God gives both Jeroboam and Baasha the opportunity to follow the covenant. Baasha eliminates Jeroboam's family, as God said would happen, yet becomes like Jeroboam, which makes him a murderer, not a reformer."163
The dynasties that Jeroboam and Baasha established were alike in several respects. Both were only two generations long. The first king in each dynasty reigned for a fairly long time, Jeroboam 29 years and Baasha 24. Assassins who were apparently confidants the kings trusted terminated both dynasties. Each assassin not only killed the king but also all his male descendants, as was customary. Perhaps the most significant difference is that Baasha, the first assassin, successfully established his own dynasty and ruled for many years. The second, Zimri, could not do so. He committed suicide seven days after he became king.
Elah reigned from 886-885 B.C. His assassin, Zimri, was one of his chariot commanders. As the prophet had foretold (v. 3), Baasha's dynasty ended with Elah's death (v. 11).
Zimri's seven-day reign in 885 B.C. was the shortest in the history of the Northern Kingdom.
Omri was commander-in-chief of Israel's army. He outranked Zimri. When word of Zimri's assassination of Elah reached the soldiers at Gibbethon (cf. 15:27), they immediately sided with their general and marched back to the capital to claim the throne for Omri. Zimri realized he could not oppose Omri successfully and chose suicide over execution. He also destroyed the palace in the process.
It was because of his sins in following Jeroboam's ways that God permitted Zimri to fail in his coupand to die (v. 20).
"Out of the chaos portrayed in this section will come Omri, a man who will stabilize the Northern Kingdom, establish a new capital, and begin a new dynasty. His family will rule through 2 Kings 10. They will therefore occupy more of the story than any other northern dynasty. Omrides will also serve as active opponents of the prophets and as patrons of idolatry, especially of Baal worship."164
Controversy over who should succeed to Israel's throne raged for six years (885-880 B.C.) in Israel and threatened to consume the nation. Civil war followed Zimri's death (vv. 21-22). Omri finally overpowered Tibni and probably executed him (v. 22). One writer argued that Tibni did not necessarily die but simply passed off the scene.165The text seems to contradict this view.
For the last six years of his 12-year reign (880-874 B.C.), Omri reigned from Samaria. This was the new capital he built on a centrally located and easily defended hilltop 12 miles west of Tirzah.
Omri was probably the most capable king Israel had enjoyed since the division of the kingdom. Assyrian records refer to Israel as "the land of Omri."166His influence extended far. He defeated the Moabites the record of which constitutes one of the inscriptions on the famous Moabite Stone. He also made a treaty with Ethbaal, king of Tyre and Sidon (887-856 B.C.), that involved the marriage of his son, Ahab, and Ethbaal's daughter, Jezebel.
Still the writer of kings did not mention these strengths, only the fact that he was the worst king Israel had had spiritually (v. 25). He was very bad because he personally followed Jeroboam's cult and caused the people to sin by allowing it to flourish in Israel.
". . . Omri, the builder of Samaria and a man of high international fame, is dismissed in eight verses (1 Kgs 16:21-28). Why? Probably because he plays no particularly significant role in Israel's decline. Again, characterization is based largely on its role in plot development, not on how it will or will not satisfy modern historians."167
The first period of antagonism between Israel and Judah ended about 874 B.C. when Ahab made a treaty with King Jehoshaphat of Judah.
"Comparing the political histories of the two kingdoms [during this first period of antagonism], one is struck by the turmoil in Israel and the stability in Judah. There were three violent disruptions of government and a civil war in Israel. In Judah, by contrast, the succession was orderly and routine.
"The reasons for the differences are geographical, political, and theological. Judah was relatively isolated, cut off from the coastal plain by the Philistines and from Transjordan by the Dead Sea. Israel, on the other hand, was neighbor to Syria and Phoenicia, and the major thoroughfares of Palestine passed through its territory, linking Israel to the larger biblical world and making it vulnerable to political developments there. Ethnically and culturally Judah was comparatively homogeneous. Israel with its ten tribes and large Canaanite population (Judg. 3:1-5) had a history of tribal rivalries (Judg. 8:1-3; 12:1-6) and had to contend with differing culture patterns. There were also basic differences in the understanding of kingship."168
