Jeroboam [JÔöÇ├▓robÔö╝├¼’am]…ENLARGES, STRUGGLER FOR THE PEOPLE or THE PEOPLE HAVE BECOME NUMEROUS.

1. The son of Nebat from Zereda in Manasseh, who became the first king of the ten tribes of Israel. This Ephraimite, Jeroboam I, reigned for twenty-two years. His mother's name was Zeruah, who was widowed at the time of his birth.

This is the Jeroboam who rebuked the unnamed prophet (1 Kings 11:26-40; 12-16).

1 Kings 11:26-40… There was also another person who became an enemy of Solomon. He was Jeroboam son of Nebat. He was an Ephraimite from the town of Zeredah. His mother was a widow named Zeruah. He was one of Solomon's servants, but he rebelled against the king.…This is the story about how Jeroboam turned against the king. Solomon was building the Millo and repairing the wall around the city of David, his father. Jeroboam was a free man. (free man Or "a nobleman," someone who could be called to war to protect his people.)Solomon saw that this young man was a skilled worker, so he made him the supervisor over all the workers from the tribes that descended from Joseph.29 One day as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah from Shiloh met him on the road. They were alone out in the country, and Ahijah was wearing a new coat.… Ahijah took his new coat and tore it into twelve pieces.Then he said to Jeroboam, "Take ten pieces of this coat for yourself because the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'I will tear the kingdom away from Solomon, and I will give you ten of the tribes. I will let David's family keep only one tribe. I will do this because of my servant David and because of Jerusalem, the city that I chose from among all the tribes of Israel. I will take the kingdom from Solomon because he stopped following me and began worshiping Ashtoreth, the goddess of Sidon; Chemosh, the god of Moab; and Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. Solomon stopped following my ways and doing what I say is right. He does not obey my laws and commands as his father David did. So I will take the kingdom away from Solomon's family. I chose David because he obeyed all my laws and commands. So for my servant David, I will let Solomon be the king for the rest of his life. But Jeroboam, I will take the ten tribes away from his son and give them to you. I will let Solomon's son keep one tribe to rule over. I will do this for my servant David, so he will always have someone to rule near me in Jerusalem, the city that I chose to be my own. But I will make you king of Israel.(IsraelThat is, the northern ten tribes.)You will rule over everything you want. If you live right and obey all my commands as David did, I will be with you and make your family a family of kings, just as I did for David. And you will have Israel as your kingdom. I will punish David's descendants because of what Solomon did, but not forever.'"

Solomon's Death… Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam ran away to Egypt. He went to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died.…1 Kings 11:12-16…But I loved your father David, so I will not take your kingdom away from you while you are alive. I will wait until your son becomes king. Then I will take it from him.13 Still, I will not tear away all the kingdom from your son. I will leave him one tribe to rule. I will do this for my servant David and for Jerusalem, the city I chose."

Solomon's Enemies… Then the Lord raised up Hadad the Edomite to become Solomon's enemy. Hadad was from the royal family of Edom. This is how it happened. In the past David fought against Edom. Joab was the commander of David's army. Joab went to Edom to bury his dead soldiers. While there Joab killed all the Edomite men who were still alive. Joab and the men of Israel stayed in Edom for six months until they killed all the men of Edom.

The Man Who Made Israel Sin

The dreadful description of Jeroboam tied to his name like a label, is that "he made Israel to sin." His sin-the root and fruit of it-are the chief things the Bible records of this widow's son. We are familiar with the incident of Ahijah taking Jeroboam's new garment and tearing it into twelve pieces, giving Jeroboam ten pieces and prophesying the rending of Solomon's kingdom, and the government of ten tribes of that kingdom passing into Jeroboam's hands. No wonder Solomon sought to kill him. But after the king's death and the refusal of Rehoboam to follow good advice, the kingdom split and ten tribes went with Jeroboam.

Solomon had lost his kingdom by idolatry and Jeroboam proposed to keep his ten-tribe kingdom by idolatry. So, abandoning the commandment and promise of God, Jeroboam set up golden bulls, one in Bethel and the other in Dan. People must have religion of some sort, Jeroboam reasoned, as he made the worship of the calves a part of the constitution of his kingdom. How sad it is to read that the Lord gave Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam! The consequences of national idolatry continued, for eighteen kings sat upon the throne of Judah after his death, but not one of them gave up the golden calves. Of fifteen of them it is said that they departed not from the sin of Jeroboam. As with the kings, so with the people who continued to walk in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did

2 Kings 17:22, 23…So the Israelites sinned in all the ways Jeroboam did. And they did not stop committing these sins………. until the Lord took Israel away from his sight. And he said this would happen. He sent his prophets to tell the people this would happen. So the Israelites were taken out of their country into Assyria. And they have been there to this day.…There is no need to linger over what befell Jeroboam himself. He was warned by the man of God from Judah, but without avail. His son fell sick and died, and Jeroboam shortly after was defeated by his enemies. Then the Lord struck him and he died. Yet his name lives on with the terrible mark against it. "He made Israel to sin."

2. A son of Joash or Jehoash the grandfather of Jehu, who succeeded Joash as king over the ten tribes, and who reigned for forty-one years…2 Kings 13:13

Jehoash died and was buried with his ancestors. Jeroboam became the new king and sat on Jehoash's throne. Jehoash was buried at Samaria with the kings of Isra

2 Kings 14:16-29

Jehoash died and was buried with his ancestors. He was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. Jehoash's son Jeroboam became the new king after him.

The Death of Amaziah

King Amaziah son of Joash of Judah lived 15 years after the death of King Jehoash son of Jehoahaz of Israel. All the great things that Amaziah did are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah. The people made a plan against Amaziah in Jerusalem, so he ran away to Lachish. But the people sent men after Amaziah to Lachish, and they killed him there. The people brought Amaziah's body back on horses. He was buried at Jerusalem with his ancestors in the City of David.

Azariah Begins His Rule Over Judah… Then all the people of Judah made Azariah the new king. Azariah was 16 years old. So King Amaziah died and was buried with his ancestors. Then Azariah rebuilt Elath and got it back for Judah.

Jeroboam II Begins His Rule Over Israel… King Jeroboam son of Jehoash of Israel began to rule in Samaria during the 15th year that Amaziah son of Joash was king of Judah. Jeroboam ruled 41 years.Jeroboam did what the Lord said was wrong. He did not stop committing the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin. Jeroboam took back Israel's land, which ran from the Lebo Hamath to the Arabah Sea.(Arabah Sea The Dead Sea ) This happened as the Lord of Israel had told his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher. The Lord saw that all the Israelites, both slaves and free men, had many troubles. No one was left who could help Israel. The Lord did not say that he would take away the name of Israel from the world. So he used Jeroboam son of Jehoash to save the Israelites.… All the great things that Jeroboam did are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Israel. This includes the story about Jeroboam winning back Damascus and Hamath for Israel. (These cities had belonged to Judah.) Jeroboam died and was buried with his ancestors, the kings of Israel. Jeroboam's son Zechariah became the new king after him.…2 Kings 15:1, 8…King Azariah son of Amaziah of Judah became king in the 27th year that Jeroboam was king of Israel…….Zechariah son of Jeroboam ruled over Samaria in Israel for six months. This was during the 38th year that Azariah was king of Judah.

1 Chron. 5:17

During the time of Jotham and Jeroboam, all these people's names were written in the family history of Gad. Jotham was the king of Judah and Jeroboam was the king of Israel.

Amos 1:1

This is the message of Amos, one of the shepherds from the city Tekoa. He saw visions about Israel during the time that Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Joash was king of Israel. This was two years before the earthquake.…Amos 7:9-11…Isaac's high places will be destroyed. Israel's holy places will be made into a pile of rocks. I will attack and kill Jeroboam's (Jeroboam The king of Israel. See verse 10 ) family with swords."

Amaziah Tries to Stop Amos

Amaziah, a priest at Bethel, (Bethel A town in Israel. This name means "God's house.")sent this message to Jeroboam, the king of Israel: "Amos is making plans against you. He is trying to make the people of Israel fight against you. He has been speaking so much that this country cannot hold all his words. Amos has said, 'Jeroboam will die by the sword, and the people of Israel will be taken as prisoners out of their country.'"

Both Hosea (Hos. 1:1) and Amos describe the temporary prosperity of Israel with the accompaniment of social and moral degeneracy during the reign of Jeroboam II. Under him, Israel regained the territory it lost to its hereditary enemy, Syria. The aspect of commanding interest in Jeroboam's age when materialism was in the saddle was the appearance of a man with a message. Amid the shallow optimism possessing king and people alike was the voice of Amos, the herdsman of Tekoa, saying in

effect: "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever."

Israel's prosperity ended with the death of this Jeroboam. A period of anarchy followed. Then he was succeeded by his son Zachariah, who after a reign of only six months, was murdered by Shallum who, in turn, was assassinated one month later. Think of it, three kings sat on Israel's throne in seven months!

Four out of six kings succeeding Jeroboam died violent deaths. In less than fifteen years four of Israel's kings were murdered.