The First Book of Kings


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The First Book of Kings
Chapter Twelve

The Division of the Israelite Nation into Two Separate Kingdoms.
What we can learn today.




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1-Kings 12
The Division of the Israelite Nation into Two Separate Kingdoms.


To Hear a Talk based on the Text below:
The Division of the Israelite Nation into Two Separate Kingdoms
http://www.britam.org/Broadcasts/newBAMBI/division12.mp3
(ca. 59 minutes)
Talk may include points not mentioned in the text.




The Israelite Kingdom

In  1-Kings 11 we saw how towards the end of his life King Solomon had sinned.  The Prophet Ahijah told him that as punishment the Kingdom would be split and that rulership over most of the Tribes would be taken away from his descendants (1-Kings 11: 11-13). We also met Jeroboam the son of Nebat who had been appointed by Solomon as  RULER OVER ALL THE CHARGE OF THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH (1-Kings 11:28). Ahijah encountered Jeroboam outside the city, stripped his cloak off him, and tore it into ten pieces saying that Ten Tribes would be given unto to rule over (1-Kings 11:31). Solomon then tried to kill Jeroboam (who may attempted a rebellion is protest at the corvee work exacted from Ephraim) who fled to Egypt. Solomon died and his son Rehoboam was in line of succession to rule after him.
 
[1-Kings 12:1] AND REHOBOAM WENT TO SHECHEM: FOR ALL ISRAEL WERE COME TO SHECHEM TO MAKE HIM KING. 
Schechem is in Samaria. It is now also known as Nablus.  "Nablus" is its Arab name which is a corruption of the Latin Neapolis.  The population consists of ca. 134,000 Arabic speaking mainly Muslims.  A few hundred Samaritans also live there.   Some of the Muslims in the area are descended from  Samaritans who were forced to convert to Islam. Everywhere Islam went it forced others to become Mohammedans.  It would do the same in America and Europe if and when it could.
Schechem is situated  between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. Joseph was buried in Schechem  (Joshua 24:32). It was in the territory of Ephraim bordering on that of Manasseh.
For pictures of
Schechem see:
http://www.bibleplaces.com/shechem.htm

  The verse above tells us that all of  Israel came to Schechem to coronate Rehoboam. They did not come to Jerusalem.  It may be that at this stage the de facto demographic and economic center of power had already moved northward.
 
[1-Kings 12:2] AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN JEROBOAM THE SON OF NEBAT, WHO WAS YET IN EGYPT, HEARD OF IT, (FOR HE WAS FLED FROM THE PRESENCE OF KING SOLOMON, AND JEROBOAM DWELT IN EGYPT;)                     
 
[1-Kings 12:3] THAT THEY SENT AND CALLED HIM. AND JEROBOAM AND ALL THE CONGREGATION OF ISRAEL CAME, AND SPAKE UNTO REHOBOAM, SAYING,
Jeroboam had been in rebellion against Solomon.  When Solomon died Jeroboam should still have been in a state of outlawry.  Calling Jeroboam back to serve as their representative was derogatory to Rehoboam and the House of David. It should have been considered as an act of defiance.                    
 
[1-Kings 12:4] THY FATHER MADE OUR YOKE GRIEVOUS: NOW THEREFORE MAKE THOU THE GRIEVOUS SERVICE OF THY FATHER, AND HIS HEAVY YOKE WHICH HE PUT UPON US, LIGHTER, AND WE WILL SERVE THEE.  
Daat Mikra (Yehudah Kiel, "Sefer Malacim") says that their major complaint was not taxation but rather the corvee or forced labor that Solomon had imposed towards the end of his days to complete his building projects.   Before his rebellion and flight from Solomon Jeroboam had been appointed the Minister in charge over the labor of Ephraim.
Jeroboam is described both in the Bible and in
Talmudical tradition as being highly gifted:
AND THE MAN JEROBOAM WAS A MIGHTY MAN OF
VALOUR: AND SOLOMON SEEING THE YOUNG MAN THAT HE WAS INDUSTRIOUS, HE MADE HIM RULER OVER ALL THE CHARGE OF THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH   [1-Kings 11:28].
      
[1-Kings 12:5] AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, DEPART YET FOR THREE DAYS, THEN COME AGAIN TO ME. AND THE PEOPLE DEPARTED.                     
 
[1-Kings 12:6] AND KING REHOBOAM CONSULTED WITH THE OLD MEN, THAT STOOD BEFORE SOLOMON HIS FATHER WHILE HE YET LIVED, AND SAID, HOW DO YE ADVISE THAT I MAY ANSWER  THIS PEOPLE?                     
 
[1-Kings 12:7] AND THEY SPAKE UNTO HIM, SAYING, IF THOU WILT BE A SERVANT UNTO THIS PEOPLE THIS DAY, AND WILT SERVE THEM, AND ANSWER THEM, AND SPEAK GOOD WORDS TO THEM, THEN THEY WILL BE THY SERVANTS FOR EVER.
The people were in effect already in near open rebellion. Rehoboam had been obliged to come to Schechem instead of having them come to Jerusalem. The arch-rebel Jeroboam had openly returned and assumed the position of popular spokesman. They were making demands. The elders advised the King to give in, at least temporarily.
One is reminded of English history when Henry-viii made a break away from Papal dominance over the English Church. The English and Welsh rebelled, Henry pretended to give in, the rebels dispersed, Henry then went back on his word and punished the rebels with a vengeance.  The Elders were not saying that
Rehoboam necessarily act as Henry later did rather that he should avoid open confrontation
And then take the time necessary to confirm his
rulership. Later events show that Rehoboam was already in a weak position and apparently the Elders were well aware of it.                   
 
[1-Kings 12:8] BUT HE FORSOOK THE COUNSEL OF THE OLD MEN, WHICH THEY HAD GIVEN HIM,  AND CONSULTED WITH THE YOUNG MEN THAT WERE GROWN UP WITH HIM, AND WHICH STOOD BEFORE HIM:                     
 
[1-Kings 12:9] AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, WHAT COUNSEL GIVE YE THAT WE MAY ANSWER THIS  PEOPLE, WHO HAVE SPOKEN TO ME, SAYING, MAKE THE YOKE WHICH THY FATHER DID PUT  UPON US LIGHTER?                     
 
[1-Kings 12:10] AND THE YOUNG MEN THAT WERE GROWN UP WITH HIM SPAKE UNTO HIM, SAYING, THUS SHALT THOU SPEAK UNTO THIS PEOPLE THAT SPAKE UNTO THEE, SAYING, THY  FATHER MADE OUR YOKE HEAVY, BUT MAKE THOU IT LIGHTER UNTO US; THUS SHALT THOU SAY UNTO THEM, MY LITTLE FINGER SHALL BE THICKER THAN MY FATHER'S LOINS.                     
#THE YOUNG MEN# In Hebrew "Yaladim" i.e. Children. In Hebrew "yeled" is "boy" or "lad". The Scottish word "lad" meaning boy comes from the Hebrew "yeled".   This usage of the term "yeledim" is unusual and comes to emphasize the childishness and inexperienced foolishness of his childhood advisors.
 
[1-Kings 12:11] AND NOW WHEREAS MY FATHER DID LADE YOU WITH A HEAVY YOKE, I WILL ADD TO YOUR YOKE: MY FATHER HATH CHASTISED YOU WITH WHIPS, BUT I WILL CHASTISE YOU WITH SCORPIONS.                     
#WHIPS# Hebrew "shotim" connoting ordinary horse-whips.
#SCORPIONS# Hebrew "
acrabin". We would suggest that this denoted a whip similar to the later English "cat-o'-nine tails" i.e. a whip with several extensions at its tail end each one laden down with a piece of metal.
 
[1-Kings 12:12] SO JEROBOAM AND ALL THE PEOPLE CAME TO REHOBOAM THE THIRD DAY, AS  THE KING HAD APPOINTED, SAYING, COME TO ME AGAIN THE THIRD DAY.                     
 
[1-Kings 12:13] AND THE KING ANSWERED THE PEOPLE ROUGHLY, AND FORSOOK THE OLD  MEN'S COUNSEL THAT THEY GAVE HIM;                     
 
[1-Kings 12:14] AND SPAKE TO THEM AFTER THE COUNSEL OF THE YOUNG MEN, SAYING, MY  FATHER MADE YOUR YOKE HEAVY, AND I WILL ADD TO YOUR YOKE: MY FATHER ALSO CHASTISED YOU WITH WHIPS, BUT I WILL CHASTISE YOU WITH SCORPIONS.                     
 
[1-Kings 12:15] WHEREFORE THE KING HEARKENED NOT UNTO THE PEOPLE; FOR THE CAUSE WAS FROM THE LORD, THAT HE MIGHT PERFORM HIS SAYING, WHICH THE LORD SPAKE BY AHIJAH   THE SHILONITE UNTO JEROBOAM THE SON OF NEBAT.                     
## FOR THE CAUSE WAS FROM THE LORD## Note this very important statement. There was a Divine Purpose behind the Division.
The Divine Purpose for the Exile and Division of the Tribes
http://britam.org/tape3.html

http://www.britam.org/Broadcasts/Joseph1.mp3
 (1 hour 2 minutes)
 

 [1-Kings 12:16] SO WHEN ALL ISRAEL SAW THAT THE KING HEARKENED NOT UNTO THEM, THE PEOPLE ANSWERED THE KING, SAYING, WHAT PORTION HAVE WE IN DAVID? NEITHER HAVE WE  INHERITANCE IN THE SON OF JESSE: TO YOUR TENTS, O ISRAEL: NOW SEE TO THINE OWN HOUSE, DAVID. SO ISRAEL DEPARTED UNTO THEIR TENTS.                     
Concerning this verse, there is a Midrash that says that When Israel returns to seek  God, the Temple, and the kingdom of David then the redemption will come.

Extract below adapted from
"Joseph. The Israelite Destiny of America".
http://britam.org/bkjoseph.html
They were rejecting the House of David son of Jesse represented by
Rehoboam. They broke away from Jerusalem and the Temple Service and instituted their own religion. The Ten Tribes set up their own kingdom and made Jeroboam the son of Nebat from the Tribe of Ephraim their king. Later these Tribes were exiled and became known as the Lost Ten Tribes.
Concerning this event the
Midrash (Midrash Shmuel 13, Yalkut Shomeoni-2, remez 106, Rashi on Hosea 3;5) tells us:
##Against three things were the Children of Israel destined to show contempt: Against the Rule of Heaven, against the Kingdom of David, and against the Holy Temple. This occurred in the Reign of King Jeroboam. They said, WHAT PORTION HAVE WE IN DAVID? In effect this meant rebellion against the Kingdom of Heaven [by whom David had been appointed]. They also said, "NEITHER HAVE WE INHERITANCE IN THE SON OF JESSE": This meant a rejection of the House of David [son of Jesse] in general. They said too, "TO YOUR TENTS, O ISRAEL: NOW SEE TO THINE OWN HOUSE, DAVID": This meant turning their back on the Holy Temple.
[The expression TO YOUR TENTS, O ISRAEL in some opinions was a play on words. The real intention of the expression or the original expression had been "TO YOUR GODS O ISRAEL" (Rashi, Radak, Minchat Shi). The Hebrew for YOUR TENTS and YOUR GODS uses the same letters with only a slight change of order, Elohecha ("Your gods") versus Ohelecha ("Your tents"). The motivation for breaking away from the Kingdom of David had been at least in part a desire to commit idolatry. Jeroboam almost immediately set up two gold calves and all the Northern Kingdom began worshipping them].
            The Midrash continues:

##Rabbi Shimeon the son of Menasiah said: Israel will not see a blessing until they return and seek out the three things they rejected. As it says in Hosea:"AFTERWARD SHALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL RETURN, AND SEEK THE LORD THEIR GOD, AND DAVID THEIR KING; AND SHALL FEAR THE LORD AND HIS GOODNESS IN THE LATTER DAYS" (HOSEA 3:5). This means:
 [Hosea 3:5] AFTERWARD SHALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL RETURN, AND SEEK THE LORD THEIR GOD, - this is the Kingdom of Heaven.
 AND DAVID THEIR KING; - This is the Kingdom of the House of David.
 AND SHALL FEAR THE LORD AND HIS GOODNESS IN THE LATTER DAYS: This is the building of the Third Temple.

 
Another Midrash says:
##About the Ten Tribes it is written: "WOE TO THEM THAT DEVISE INIQUITY, AND WORK EVIL UPON THEIR BEDS! (Micah 2;1) which is at night. Also even during the day [they do the same] "WHEN THE MORNING IS LIGHT, THEY PRACTISE IT" (Micah 2;1). In the Generation of the deluge none survived. Why should these [from the Ten Tribes] have survived" They survived by virtue of the righteous men and women who were destined to emerge from them.##

[1-Kings 12:17] BUT AS FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WHICH DWELT IN THE CITIES OF JUDAH,  REHOBOAM REIGNED OVER THEM. 
The verse uses the expression  CHILDREN OF ISRAEL for those dwelling in the Cities of Judah since not only were there people there from the Tribe of Judah but also from Benjamin and from the other Tribes who preferred to dwell in Judah.                  
 
[1-Kings 12:18] THEN KING REHOBOAM SENT ADORAM, WHO WAS OVER THE TRIBUTE; AND ALL  ISRAEL STONED HIM WITH STONES, THAT HE DIED. THEREFORE KING REHOBOAM MADE SPEED  TO GET HIM UP TO HIS CHARIOT, TO FLEE TO JERUSALEM. 
#ADORAM# Also referred to as Adoniram (1-Kings 4:6 5:4).
It has been claimed that an inscription was once found on  a sepulcher in
Sarguntium in Spain that recalled Adoniram being buried there and having come there to collect taxes on behalf of King Solomon.  This seems somewhat unlikely. Whyb should Adoniram be buried in Spain if he was kilelled in Smaria? Nevertheless it is as a tradition that was reported by Abarbanel and had been extant long before him. 
See also:
MASS CONVERSION AND GENEALOGICAL MENTALITIES:
JEWS AND CHRISTIANS IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY SPAIN

http://webdrive.service.emory.edu/users/
mrustow/Nirenberg%20Mass%20conversion
%20(Past%20&%20present).pdf

In Murviedro [near Toledo?], for example, a tombstone was discovered purporting to be that
of
Adoniram, a high official of King Solomon. On the eve of the expulsion [1492] the grammarian Moses ben Shem Tov ibn H1abib visited the same cemetery and deciphered an inscription for the minister of war of the biblical King Amatzya of Judah.
                 
71 Francisco
Cantera Burgos and Jos ar ill Vallicrosa, Las inscripciones
hebraicas de Espana (Madrid, 1956), 2978, 3035. These are also discussed in
Shatzmiller, Politics and the Myth of Origins, 59.
 

ANCIENT ISRAEL IN SPAIN AND BRITAIN
http://www.ensignmessage.com/
archives/spainandbrit.html

(A Review of an important 1846 work authored by historian and theologian DR. MOSES MARGOLIOUTH: 'THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS IN GREAT BRITAIN'

In the year 1480 at Saguntum, Spain, "a Hebrew epitaph" of great antiquity was discovered. It reads, 'This is the grave of Adoniram, the servant of King Solomon, who came to collect the tribute, and died on the day...' (page 23) This Adoniram is mentioned in both I Kings 5:14 and 4:6, "and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute." From this we understand that Adoniram was sent by Solomon to the Hebrew colony in Spain, where raw materials were collected for the Temple and other building projects in Palestine. This large stone sepulchre has been called, "the stone of Solomon's collector."

A second monument discovered in Spain with ancient Hebrew lettering, reads, "Raise with a bitter voice, a lamentation for the great prince; YAH has taken him. Amaziah." An old Hebrew book, called "Darcay Noam," or "Ways of Pleasantness," gives an account of this epitaph.

[1-Kings 12:19] SO ISRAEL REBELLED AGAINST THE HOUSE OF DAVID UNTO THIS DAY.                     
 
[1-Kings 12:20] AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN ALL ISRAEL HEARD THAT JEROBOAM WAS COME  AGAIN, THAT THEY SENT AND CALLED HIM UNTO THE CONGREGATION, AND MADE HIM KING OVER  ALL ISRAEL: THERE WAS NONE THAT FOLLOWED THE HOUSE OF DAVID, BUT THE TRIBE OF JUDAH ONLY.   
They made Jeroboam king over them.                 
#BUT THE TRIBE OF JUDAH ONLY# It may be that most of Judah followed
Rehoboam and only part of Benjamin in line with opinions that we have explained above.  Nevertheless from the point of view of Tribal expression  the ultimate self-realization of Benjamin seems to have been that destined to take place through his association with Judah.
 
[1-Kings 12:21] AND WHEN REHOBOAM WAS COME TO JERUSALEM, HE ASSEMBLED ALL THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, WITH THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN, AN HUNDRED AND FOURSCORE THOUSAND CHOSEN MEN, WHICH WERE WARRIORS, TO FIGHT AGAINST THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL, TO BRING THE KINGDOM AGAIN TO REHOBOAM THE SON OF SOLOMON.
We see here Judah with Benjamin following after Rehoboam.
Notice here we have  THE HOUSE OF JUDAH going up to fight against THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL meaning the Ten Tribes.      
             
 
[1-Kings 12:22] BUT THE WORD OF GOD CAME UNTO SHEMAIAH THE MAN OF GOD, SAYING,                     
SHEMAIAH was a prophet (2-Chronicles 12:5) probably from Jerusalem. The Sages said that every Prophet whose hometown is not mentioned came from Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem was the place where all the Second Tithe had to be devoured. This (as the Sages pointed out) would have led every family to have an incentive to permanently station one of their member in Jerusalem to benefit from Second Tithe produce. There thus developed the custom amongst many families that at least one of their members permanently study the Torah in Jerusalem being supported from the Second Tithe of all the other family members.
[Similarly the Irish often had large families and there was a practice amongst some of them that in every generation for at least one of them become a priest.  The Irish were Roman Catholics but in many ways they followed  at times "Old Testament" practices].
At all events the large number of full-time students of the Torah in Jerusalem along with the Temple etc and the unique atmosphere of the city would have been conducive to Prophecy.

 
[1-Kings 12:23] SPEAK UNTO REHOBOAM, THE SON OF SOLOMON, KING OF JUDAH, AND UNTO  ALL THE HOUSE OF JUDAH AND BENJAMIN, AND TO THE REMNANT OF THE PEOPLE, SAYING,                     
 
[1-Kings 12:24] THUS SAITH THE LORD, YE SHALL NOT GO UP, NOR FIGHT AGAINST YOUR BRETHREN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL:  RETURN EVERY MAN TO HIS HOUSE; FOR THIS THING IS FROM  ME. THEY HEARKENED THEREFORE TO THE WORD OF THE LORD, AND RETURNED TO DEPART,  ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD.
We see here again the emphasis that the Division had a Divine Purpose behind it.                    
 
[1-Kings 12:25] THEN JEROBOAM BUILT SHECHEM IN MOUNT EPHRAIM, AND DWELT THEREIN;  AND WENT OUT FROM THENCE, AND BUILT PENUEL. 
Schechem had already existed but Jeroboam apparently greatly expanded it. It may be that the city he built was just beside the original one and not in place of it.
PENUEL was east of the Jordan River. The Lands of Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon, as well as other areas should by rights belong to Israel. The Arabs are illegally squatting on Israelite territory.                   
 
[1-Kings 12:26] AND JEROBOAM SAID IN HIS HEART, NOW SHALL THE KINGDOM RETURN TO THE  HOUSE OF DAVID:   
Certain Ephraimite religious leaders who believe in the Two Houses and that their peoples may be descended from Israel nevertheless sometimes seem to go out of their way to distance themselves from Judah.  Are they afraid of something?               
 
[1-Kings 12:27] IF THIS PEOPLE GO UP TO DO SACRIFICE IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD AT   JERUSALEM, THEN SHALL THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE TURN AGAIN UNTO THEIR LORD, EVEN UNTO REHOBOAM KING OF JUDAH, AND THEY SHALL KILL ME, AND GO AGAIN TO REHOBOAM KING OF  JUDAH.                     
 
[1-Kings 12:28] WHEREUPON THE KING TOOK COUNSEL, AND MADE TWO CALVES OF GOLD, AND  SAID UNTO THEM, IT IS TOO MUCH FOR YOU TO GO UP TO JERUSALEM: BEHOLD THY GODS, O ISRAEL, WHICH BROUGHT THEE UP OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT.                     
#THE KING TOOK COUNSEL#. He took advice. He discussed the issue with his advisors who knew what was posssible and what the people would accept.
#CALVES# The word used here is "
Aegel" meaning "bull-calf".
"
Aegel" was also a nickname for Ephraim and eventually another name in Europe for the "Angle" who together with the Saxons conquered England and gave England (Angle-land) its name.
The figure of a bull to represent the Almighty or rather to represent the Divine Presence as expressing itself in human affairs was apparently well-known in Ancient Israel. It is hinted at in the Bible. It has both Biblical and pagan (especially Egyptian) parallels.  It was not necessarily considered idolatrous, at least not at first.
The
Kuzari by Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi and other sources say that these golden bull calves were intended to represent the God of Israel but because they made them without Divine Sanction it was considered as if they were committing idolatry and later they did indeed take on idolatrous signifincance.
Archaeological evidence shows that the northern Kingdom quickly become suffused with pagan images taken from Canaanite and Egyptian mythology. Jeroboam had spent many years in exile in Egypt before returning to rule over Israel.
#BEHOLD# Hebrew "
Heneh" which probably permutated into the English expression "then".
#THY GODS# Hebrew "
Eloheca" in the plural but not necessarily meaning more than one.
 
[1-Kings 12:29] AND HE SET THE ONE IN BETHEL, AND THE OTHER PUT HE IN DAN. 
There were two townships of Bethel. One was in Benjamin in the territory of the Kingdom of Judah and the other was in the territory of Ephraim in the Kingdom of Israel. The two settlements may well have adjoined each other.                   
 
[1-Kings 12:30] AND THIS THING BECAME A SIN: FOR THE PEOPLE WENT TO WORSHIP BEFORE   THE ONE, EVEN UNTO DAN. 
Dan was in the Northern Galilee. There was another contingent of Dan far to the north in  present-day southwest Turkey just to the north of  Syria. There is a possibility that this other Dan far to the north is what is intended here.   
See:
Dan and the Serpent Way. Dan in Northern Israel, Greece, and Elsewhere
 http://britam.org/dan3.html

I, like many others, have a certain sympathy for the Tribe of Dan. Nevertheless Dan is often associated with idolatry and with the far north.              
 
[1-Kings 12:31] AND HE MADE AN HOUSE OF HIGH PLACES, AND MADE PRIESTS OF THE LOWEST OF THE PEOPLE, WHICH WERE NOT OF THE SONS OF LEVI.
As a result of this the Levites moved south into the Kingdon of Judah and so did other Israelites who remained faithful to the God of Israel.
#THE LOWEST# In Hebrew "
Miktsot" or literally the "ends". This has been understood to mean the lowest section or the dregs but I saw a Commentary that claimed that it could alternatively mean the better or more elevated section. In Hebrew the word "Katsin" (from the same root, katseh,  as "Miktsot") means officer. 
 
 [2-Chronicles 11:13] AND THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES THAT WERE IN ALL ISRAEL RESORTED TO HIM [i.e. to Rehoboam of Judah] OUT OF ALL THEIR COASTS.
 
[2-Chronicles 11:14] FOR THE LEVITES LEFT THEIR SUBURBS AND THEIR POSSESSION, AND CAME TO JUDAH AND JERUSALEM: FOR JEROBOAM AND HIS SONS HAD CAST THEM OFF FROM EXECUTING THE PRIEST'S OFFICE UNTO THE LORD:

Note that the Bible speaks of the Levites leaving the northern Kingdom and moving into Judah for relgious reasons. This process may have continued over several generations since the dispossession of the Levites from their religious duties is attributed to both Jeroboam and his sons i.e. successors.
 
[2-Chronicles 11:15] AND HE ORDAINED HIM PRIESTS FOR THE HIGH PLACES, AND FOR THE DEVILS, AND FOR THE  CALVES WHICH HE HAD MADE.
 
[2-Chronicles 11:16] AND AFTER THEM OUT OF ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL SUCH AS SET THEIR HEARTS TO SEEK THE  LORD GOD OF ISRAEL CAME TO JERUSALEM, TO SACRIFICE UNTO THE LORD GOD OF THEIR FATHERS.
           
[1-Kings 12:32] AND JEROBOAM ORDAINED A FEAST IN THE EIGHTH MONTH, ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH, LIKE UNTO THE FEAST THAT IS IN JUDAH, AND HE OFFERED UPON THE ALTAR. SO DID HE IN BETHEL, SACRIFICING UNTO THE CALVES THAT HE HAD MADE: AND HE PLACED IN  BETHEL THE PRIESTS OF THE HIGH PLACES WHICH HE HAD MADE.  
The feast of Succoth falls in the seventh Month (Tishrei).  Apparently put the feast of for a month. The harvest season in the region of Samaria falls somewhat later than that in Judah so by postponing the feast he may have made it more in synchrony with the local season.  According to tradition Jeroboam cahnged the Calendar. Certain Ephraimites who had begun to adopt Hebraic customs and laws have also invented calendars of their own. They are repeating the sin of  Jeroboam.                
 
[1-Kings 12:33] SO HE OFFERED UPON THE ALTAR WHICH HE HAD MADE IN BETHEL THE   FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE EIGHTH MONTH, EVEN IN THE MONTH WHICH HE HAD DEVISED OF HIS OWN  HEART; AND ORDAINED A FEAST UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL: AND HE OFFERED UPON THE ALTAR, AND BURNT INCENSE.
 
Regarding the two bull calves and the declaration of Jeroboam,
IT IS TOO MUCH FOR YOU TO GO UP TO JERUSALEM: BEHOLD THY GODS, O ISRAEL, WHICH BROUGHT THEE UP OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT [1-Kings 12:28],


The following extract from our book, "Ephraim" is appropriate:  
 
["Ephraim" was first published in 1995. In this work we warned (based on Hosea chapter 9) that the Muslims would use terror against the West. We also pointed out that "Ephraim" (i.e. the Ten Tribes) would attempt to reach a modus vivendi or friendly agreement with Islam and that this is liable to end in a great clamity for Ephraim.]                 
 
     
ISAIAH AND THE RETURN OF THE LOST TEN TRIBES
 
Extracts:
The Lost Ten Tribes will return. The Jews of Judah will meet the return of the Lost Ten Tribes with mixed reactions:
 
ISAIAH (49:21) DESCRIBES HOW THE JEWISH PEOPLE UPON SEEING  MASSES OF LOST ISRAELITES RETURNING TO THE HOLY LAND WILL HAVE A SERIOUS QUESTION:
 
            "THEN
SHALT THOU SAY IN THY HEART, WHO HATH BEGOTTEN ME THESE, SEEING I HAVE LOST MY CHILDREN, AND AM DESOLATE, A CAPTIVE, AND REMOVING TO AND FRO? AND WHO HATH BROUGHT UP THESE? BEHOLD, I WAS LEFT ALONE; THESE WHERE HAD THEY BEEN?" (Isaiah 49:21).
 
In other words, the Jews will ask where were all those now identified as Israel when the Jews needed help and were alone?
            On the one hand those few people among the Gentiles who have helped the Jews have more often than not belonged to the Lost Ten Tribes. On the other hand these nations were powerful and rich ones and they could have done much more to help than they did. There were times even when the Lost Ten Tribes had acted as the adversaries of Judah.
            A reflection on this future conundrum is provided by a passage in the
Zohar.                 
            The
Zohar (Breishit, VaYechi, 88m, Sulam edition) comments on the expression "WHO HATH BEGOTTEN ME THESE? in the verse we are here concerned with (ISAIAH 49:21). The Zohar notes an emphasis in the question on the Hebrew word "EYLEH" i.e. "these"':
 
            The verse says: "THEN SHALT THOU SAY IN THY HEART, WHO HATH BEGOTTEN ME THESE, SEEING I HAVE LOST MY CHILDREN, AND AM DESOLATE, A CAPTIVE, AND REMOVING TO AND FRO? AND WHO HATH BROUGHT UP THESE? BEHOLD, I WAS LEFT ALONE; THESE WHERE HAD THEY BEEN?" (ISAIAH 49:21)
 
The
Zohar emphasizes the emphasis on the expression these: "WHO HATH BEGOTTEN ME THESE.....? AND WHO HATH BROUGHT UP THESE...THESE, WHERE HAD THEY BEEN?"
            The
Zohar then refers back to the time when the Patriarch Israel was about to die and his son Joseph had brought his grandsons, Ephraim and Menasseh, to him to receive a final blessing.
 
            "WHEN ISRAEL SAW JOSEPH'S SONS, HE SAID, WHO ARE THESE?" (Genesis 48;8).

 
            [Said Rabbi Yehudah bar Shalom, "And why did he did he not   recognize them?" Had he not been familiar with them?... "And now he asks, Who are these?"..."But rather he must have foreseen [through Divine Inspiration] Jeroboam son of Nebat and Ahab son of Omri [both future kings of the northern separated Ten-Tribes of Israel] who would arise from Ephraim and worship idolatry" Midrash Tanchuma, VaYichi,6.]
 

  The Zohar relates:
            "Rabbi Abba began to explain [the above question of the Patriarch Israel, "Who are these?"] by relating it to [the verse in ISAIAH 49;21] "then
shalt thou  say in thy heart: `Who hath begotten me these?': What does this verse imply?
            -That the Heavenly Patriarch Israel foresaw the Children of Israel assembling before him in the future: `In that day the LORD shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left [FROM ASSYRIA, AND FROM
MITSRAYIM, AND FROM PATHROS, AND FROM CUSH, AND] FROM ELAM, AND FROM HAMATH, AND FROM THE ISLES OF THE SEA" (ISAIAH 11;11).
 
The above place names are those to where the Lost Ten Tribes were taken or went shortly after their Exile. Isaiah continues to speak of the ingathering of the Lost Tribes as well as that of Judah and of reconciliation between the Lost Tribes and Judah:
 
[ISAIAH 11:12] HE WILL RAISE AN ENSIGN FOR THE NATIONS, AND WILL ASSEMBLE THE OUTCASTS OF ISRAEL, AND GATHER THE DISPERSED OF JUDAH FROM THE FOUR CORNERS OF THE EARTH.                     
 
[ISAIAH 11:13] THE JEALOUSY OF EPHRAIM SHALL DEPART, AND THOSE WHO HARASS JUDAH SHALL BE CUT OFF; EPHRAIM SHALL NOT BE JEALOUS OF JUDAH, AND JUDAH SHALL NOT HARASS EPHRAIM.

 
            The question concerning "these" therefore refers to the Lost Ten Tribes (Ephraim) in the End Times.
            The
Zohar goes on to explain Isaiah 49;21, the question `WHO HATH BEGOTTEN ME THESE?'
 
            "And they shall assemble together and be
mutitudinous; the Divine Presence [i.e. Heavenly Israel] will wonder and ask, `Where did you all come from?'                          

 `And is it not possible that there exists amongst you someone blemished, of foreign seed?' "They will answer, `We are all your sons. There is no foreigner amongst us'.
            "And they will divide off from each other. The foreign non Israelite element will voluntarily separate from them, and they [i.e. the returning Israelites] will be circumcised, and convert, and these converts will return with [and to] Israel, and they shall be one."

 
            In other words the Zohar says that the returning Israelites will be renew the Covenant and be re-united with Israel meaning (in terms of the Zohar) with the Jewish people. In Biblical terms Israel can mean all of the 12 tribes together or it can mean the Lost Tribes ("Israel") as distinct from "Judah" (the Jews) or it can stand for the Jews and Judah alone. In religious terms "Israel" can mean those of Israel who did not lose their identity meaning Judah. In this case members of the Lost Ten Tribes will be rejoined to the spiritual reality of Israel represented by the Jews of Judah.
            The
Zohar states above that the non Israelites will have to be separated out from the real returning descendants of Israelites. The non-Israelites referred to in this case are of a specific type that never really wanted to belong to Israel anyway. They belong to the "mixed multitude". The real and proper attitude that will hold towards the non Israelite stranger (who previously of his own volition had joined himself to Israel) will be to accept him as a full-fledged citizen as stated in the Book of Ezekiel:
            Ezekiel (ch.47) spoke of the future apportionment of the Promised Land amongst the Twelve Tribes of Israel in the Messianic era. The area spoken of includes modern day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel, and additional parts of neighboring lands. This final re division of the land takes place after certain physical geographical and climatic changes occur. Ezekiel also speaks of apportioning The Land to "The strangers [i.e. non Israelites] that sojourn amongst you": The strangers who identify with you will be counted as the same as you. "So shall ye divide this land among you according to the tribes of Israel" (Ezekiel 47;21).
 
            "AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, THAT YE SHALL DIVIDE IT BY LOT FOR AN INHERITANCE UNTO YOU, AND TO THE STRANGERS THAT SOJOURN AMONG YOU, WHICH SHALL BEGET CHILDREN AMONG YOU; AND THEY SHALL BE UNTO YOU AS BORN IN THE COUNTRY AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.
            "AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, THAT IN WHAT TRIBE THE STRANGER
SOJOURNETH, THERE SHALL YE GIVE HIM HIS INHERITANCE.."
(Ezekiel 47;22 23)


After the Death of Solomon:
The Divided Kingdom

The Divided Kingdom
Source of Map:
www.ebibleteacher.com/imagehtml/otmaps.html






 
1-Kings ch.11
1-Kings Contents
harp
1-Kings ch.13