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From Theocracy to Monarchy

#3b The Divided Kingdom
Part of the series on the Flow of OT History

Solomon’s diplomacy and alliance with other nations through marriage with foreign royalty proved to be his downfall. His many foreign wives and concubines worshipped foreign gods and they turned his heart away from the LORD to these other gods (1 Kgs. 11:1-8 cf. Deut. 7:3-4). 

REHOBOAM: After Solomon’s death, Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king. During his coronation at Shechem, the people asked for a lighter tax burden and a reduced conscription of labour. Solomon had placed oppressive taxes and large mobilization of people for his massive building projects and civil works (1 Kgs. 12:1-5).

The elders advised Rehoboam to grant the people’s requests. However, he forsook their advice. Instead, he listened to his contemporaries and replied, “My little finger is thicker than my father's waist!” The leaders of ten tribes then decided to withdraw from the union of tribes and left (1 Kgs. 12:6-17). 

Later the rebel tribes stoned the supervisor of forced labour but Rehoboam narrowly escaped and fled to Jerusalem. He assembled an army against the tribes in rebellion but civil war was averted by God through the prophet She-mai-ah (1 Kgs. 12:18-24).

JEROBOAM: He led the ten tribes in the collective bargaining with Rehoboam for the reduction of taxes and forced labour. Jeroboam became king of the king of the newly formed northern kingdom of Israel. He set up golden calf idols, one in Dan in the north and the other in Bethel in the south. He also appointed his own priests and instituted a feast one month later than the Feast of Booths (c.f. Lev. 23:34) so that his people need not travel to travel to Jerusalem in Judah thus breaking the connection with the southern kingdom under Rehoboam (1 Kgs. 12:25-33).  

THE DIVIDED KINGDOM: Thus the united kingdom of Israel was divided into two: Israel (10 tribes) in the north with Jeroboam as king and Judah (2 tribes) in the south with Rehoboam as king.  God sent many prophets to the people of Israel and Judah to bring them back to Him but they would not listen. Note the picture of “the sad face” in the diagram. 

The two kingdoms were constantly at war with each other till the reign of Jehoshaphat who made a marriage alliance with Ahab.
  1. NORTHERN KINGDOM OF ISRAEL - There were altogether 19 kings in the northern kingdom of Israel they were all wicked. Well-known kings in the north were Ahab, Jehu, Pekah and Hoshea, the last king.   The northern kingdom had five dynasties (i.e., a series of rulers were from the same family). Note the downward pointing arrows in the diagram above.  

    The Syro-Ephraimite War took place when Assyria became a regional superpower. The tributary nations of Syria (aka Aram) and the northern kingdom of Israel (aka Ephraim) decided to form an alliance to break away. They attacked the northern kingdom of Judah, ruled by King Ahaz when he refused to join the coalition.  

    HOSHEA: Hoshea, the last king of the northern kingdom of Israel, murdered Pekah, his predecessor and seized the throne in the wake of military failures against the invading Assyrian army. He rebelled against the Assyrians, to whom he was obligated to pay taxes. Assyria laid siege to the capital, Samaria. The siege lasted three summers. At its end, Samaria fell, the population was deported to Assyria, and foreign peoples were resettled into Samaria. Thus the kingdom of Israel came to its end (2 Kgs. 17:1-6; 18:9-12).
  2. SOUTHERN KINGDOM OF JUDAH - There were 19 kings and one queen in the southern kingdom of Judah, a few were good but many bad. Well-known kings in the south include Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Josiah and Zedekiah, the last king. With the exception of Queen Athaliah, Judah had only one dynasty – the Davidic dynasty.

    ZEDEKIAH: Zedekiah, the last king of the southern kingdom of Judah was placed on throne by the conquering King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. However, in his ninth year as king, Zedekiah severed relations with Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar led his army in a siege against Jerusalem. The siege lasted three summers. At its end, when the food supply was exhausted, the cowardly Zedekiah gathered his army, opened the city gate, and made a night-time escape but was soon captured. Tried for treason, his sentence was cruel. Zedekiah's sons and best friends were killed, right before his eyes — and then his eyes were gouged out. He was taken to Babylon to die of old age in prison.

    Nebuchadnezzar’s army broke down the protective walls surrounding Jerusalem. They burned the city of Jerusalem ... the king's palace, the LORD's temple ... to the ground. Everything of value was taken to Babylon. They deported the city's population to Babylon except the poorest. Thus the kingdom of Judah came to an end (2 Kgs. 24:17-25:21; 2 Chron. 36:11-20). 
For more information on the kings of Israel and Judah, visit http://www.vtaide.com/gleanings/Kings-of-Israel/kings.html

© April 2018 by Alan S.L. WONG