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THE DIVIDED NATION 49 JEROBOAM 931–910 BCE As a young man, Jeroboam had been employed as a laborer on one of King Solomon’s many construction projects. Judged worthy of greater responsibilities, he was made a regional supervisor of the forced labor engaged in some of those enterprises. Despite his promotion, Jeroboam disapproved of fundamental aspects of how the land was being governed. He objected to the privileges awarded to the tribal region of Judah at the expense of the rest of the country and to generally heavyhanded rule from Jerusalem, as administered by regional civil servants like himself . By Jeroboam’s time, the kingdom of the Jews first established under King Saul had existed the better part of a century, more or less united during most of that time. But despite the attempt by Jerusalem to downgrade or discount tribal distinctions , they had become only marginally less significant to the people of the land, fueling enmity between the royally favored south and the less privileged territories of the other tribes. Even as David had gone about unifying the land of Israel, those territories had often also been known collectively and separately as Israel, distinguishing them from the tribes of Judah and Simeon, the latter having been largely absorbed into Judah. It was a relic of the real, though less defined, relationships they had enjoyed during the time of the Judges, before the establishment of the monarchy. Jeroboam’s tribal affiliation was significant. His tribe of Ephraim occupied much of the center of the land. Because of its size and geographic position, it had been the most eminent of the tribes before being superceded by Judah under King David. It was from Ephraim that the great Joshua—who had led the Jews into the land of Canaan after their trans-Sinai trek—had sprung. It was the site of the most revered ancient shrines at Shiloh and Shechem, both now overshadowed by the Temple in Jerusalem. During the closing years of Solomon’s reign, Jeroboam, encouraged by the prophet Ahijah, organized a rebellion against the king’s dictatorial rule. When it was crushed, he fled to Egypt, where he was given asylum by Pharaoh Shishak. When Solomon died and the future of the kingdom came into question, Jeroboam hurried back to claim leadership of the northern and central tribes. KINGS OF THE JEWS 50 By then, Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, had inherited Solomon’s crown and had assumed he would be his father’s unchallenged successor. But the elders of the alienated tribes were enraged when the new king rejected their demand that he lighten “the heavy yoke”[22] his father had imposed on their people—the forced labor and steep taxes. Joining together to reject Rehoboam, they seceded from his kingdom and created one of their own, with Jeroboam as its ruler. Thus was the northern kingdom of Israel established, leaving Rehoboam to rule only what became the smaller southern kingdom of Judah. On ascending his newly established throne, Jeroboam faced the enormous task of creating a nation where none had previously existed. There was no administrative center, no administration, and no army. Furthermore, the priesthood, loyal to the dynasty of David, was hostile, and he faced the danger that traditionally fractious northerners might be no more willing to be ruled by him than by Rehoboam . However, their tribal leaders recognized that this new kingdom had to be preserved under a central authority if Rehoboam’s intention of reasserting rule over them from Jerusalem were to be frustrated. Jeroboam was not totally without resources as he began his reign. He was able to gain the allegiance of elements of Solomon’s army that had been garrisoned in his territory, and he salvaged some of the intricate administrative structure Solomon had set up across the land. But he also needed a geographic focus in Israel to reduce the attractions of Jerusalem, across the border in Judah. For his capital, he first chose the ancient shrine city of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and fortified it against possible attack by the Judaeans. Shechem was imbued with much historical and religious symbolism. Abraham had built an altar there, the patriarch Jacob had lived there, Joseph had been buried there, and Joshua had held the first convocation of the tribes there. It was also the place where the gathering of the elders of the northern and central tribes had rejected Rehoboam’s demand that they accept him as their king...

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