Jeroboam was from the tribe of Benjamin. In the days of Solomon he had been placed in charge of one of the forced labor crews working in Jerusalem.

One day the prophet Ahijah came to him and foretold that ten of the twelve tribes would be taken from the descendants of Solomon and given to Jeroboam.

This action was reminicent of the time that Saul had pleaded with Samuel and inadvertantly ripped his cloak. Samuel had told him that in a similar way the kingdom would be ripped from his grasp and given to David.

Solomon responded to this prophecy by calling for Jeroboam's death. He was forced to flee to Egypt until the death of Solomon.

The 21st Dynasty of Egypt had been friendly to Israel to the point of Pharaoh's daughter being wedded to King Solomon. But now there came a Libyan to the throne who founded a new ruling family - the 22nd Dynasty. He is known in historical records as Sheshonq (the Biblical Shishak). He was able to reunify the country which had been previously divided and brought a certain amount of stability to the crown. He would ultimately become an enemy of Israel.

The act of succession of the ten northern tribes threatened to bring about a civil war. It was only through the intervention of the prophet Shemaiah that this was averted.

From this time onward, Israel was to remain a divided kingdom. To the south was the tribe of Judah with the small tribe of Benjamin. To the north and to the east were the other ten tribes which now became a separate independent nation. These ten northern tribes are known collectively as:

Shechem was already an ancient city, nearly a thousand years old dating back before the days of Jacob. Jeroboam built up this city and made it his initial capital. Later he built a secondary palace at Penuel, the place where Jacob had wrestled with the angel on the Jabbok River.

These two sites were located amidst the center of the Northern Kingdom and were designed to unify the people under his rule. To further cement this unity, Jeroboam determined to change the manner of worship in Israel.

Jeroboam was now the king of the Northern Kingdom. But he was a king with a problem. The law of the Lord mandated that all Israelites make a pilgrimage three times a year to worship the Lord in His Temple. And here lay the problem. The Temple was in Jerusalem. And Jerusalem was in Judah.

And this land was under the domain of Rehoboam. This state of affairs would give Rehoboam ample opportunity to wage a propaganda campaign which could ultimately result in Jeroboam being removed and the Kingdom being reunited.

Jeroboam came up with an alternative plan of worship. It was a plan which appealed to convenience. The plan was for two centers of worship to be set up within the Northern Kingdom. They would be located at the extreme northern and southern borders of the kingdom.

a. Bethel ("House of God").

b. Dan.

At each of these two locations there was erected a golded calf. Perhaps it was reasoned that such a means of worship had been instituted by Aaron at Mount Sinai. In actuality, both Aaron and Jeroboam had borrowed this calf worship from Egypt where the sacred cow was the symbol of the goddess Hathor.

Many of the Hebrews who remained faithful to the teachings of the Law fled to the south to where they could worship in peace. Included in this exodus were many of the Levites. As this strong core of faithful moved out, the Northern Kingdom would find itself subject to apostasy and eventual ruin.

The reign of Nadab was short. He continued his father's policy of leading the people in idolatry. It was not long before he fell to the hand of an assassin. The assassin's name was Baasha and he did not stop until the entire house of Jeroboam had been murdered.

Israel and Judah had been constantly at war since the days of Jeroboam. Throughout most of this period it was Judah who had the upper hand. There were two reasons for this:

a. The wealth of Judah.

b. Spiritual source.

As the war progressed, Judah formed an alliance with Ben-hadad of Damascus. Baasha found himself surrounded by enemies both to the north and to the south. Because of this, Israel was forced to give up large amounts of territory.

Baasha's son was a drunk and Israel floundered without a leader. Elah was quickly assassinated by one of his captains who took the throne in his place.

Zimri was the captain who murdered his drunken king. He made a grab for the throne and managed to hold on to it for seven days. In those seven days, he murdered everyone from the house of Baasha.

When news of Elah's death reached the Israelite army that was involved in a campaign with the Philistines, the army declared that their commanding general, Omri, should be their new king. Zimri heard of this and committed suicide.

After a civil war which lasted 6 years, it was Omri who came out as the winner in the conflict - he seems to have had both the military expertise as well as the support of the army it taking the throne.

Samaria was to become the new capital city of Israel. It was located on a large oval hilltop, 300 feet above the surrounding plain. From the top of the hill the Mediterranean Sea is visible to the west. It lay 6½ miles northwest of Shechem and along the major north-south highway.

The summit of the hill was leveled and enclosed with a double wall with towars and bastions. In later years, the city would spread downward from the summit.

The main gate faced east where a low ridge joins the hill of Samaria to the major north-south mountain range. The city held large cisterns of water since there was no natural spring of water on the site.

The site was originally excavated in 1908-10 by Harvard University under Reisner, Fisher and Lyon. The following levels were uncovered.

Ahab, the son of Omri and successor to his throne, entered into an alliance with the Phoenicians, sealing it by taking a Phoenician princess to be his wife. This alliance would have long-lasting repercussions in Israel.

a. Baal Worship.

b. The Battle of Qarqar.

c. The rebuilding of Jericho.

d. Alliance with Judah.

3. Ahaziah (853-852 B.C.).

Ahaziah came to the throne, but his mother, Jezebel, remained a major influence in the policies of the nation so that Israel continued to turn further and further from the Lord. He died from injuries sustained in a fall when a portion of the lattice within his palace gave way beneath him. He had left no children to succeed him to the throne, so his younger brother Joram became king.

Joram seems to have been a vacilating character. He often listened to the advice of the prophet Elisha and obeyed the will of the Lord. On the other hand, he seems to have been reluctant to go against his mother in doing away with Baal worship. He would eventually turn against Elisha and seek to kill him.

a. The Moab Campaign.

Jehoahaz found himself a vassal to Damascus and was bound by a disarmament treaty in which he was only allowed to maintain 10 chariots, 50 cavalry and 10,000 infantrymen.

The future of Israel at this point looked bleak. Damascus seemed to be toying with Israel the way a cat toys with a captured mouse.

In 804 B.C. Adad-Nirari 3rd of Assyria marched south and besieged Damascus. Although he failed to take the city, the action was sufficient to force Aram to release her hold on Israel. The Northern Kingdom had been saved for a time.

It was around this time that Jonah was sent to prophesy to the city of Nineveh with the result that the city saw a great revival as people turned in faith to Yahweh.

When Jehoash came to the throne of Israel, he faced a Syria that was much weaker than the one to which his father had submitted. He attacked Syria successfully and pushed her national boundaries far to the north.

Next, Jehoash turned to the south and attacked Judah where he again was successful. He even reached Jerusalem, breaking down a portion of the northern wall. After taking hostages, he returned to Samaria.

When Jeroboam came to the throne following the death of his father, Israel was the strongest nation in that part of the ancient world.

a. Expansion of the Northern Kingdom.

b. Ministries of Hosea and Amos.

Zechariah succeeded his father to the throne and reigned for only six months before being assassinated by Shallum.

Shallum tried to place himself on the throne, but was only able to hold it for a month before he was also assassinated.

Although the details are unknown, Menahem murdered Shallem and took the throne of Israel for himself.

Just three years earlier, Tiglath-Pileser 3rd had come to the throne of Assyria, marking a new period of Assyrian strength.

When Tiglath-Pileser 3rd marched into Israel, Menahern swore allegiance to him and paid an enormous tribute for the privilege of being allowed to remain intact.

Pekahiah continued his father's submission to Assyria. However, there was a strong anti-Assyrian faction growing in Israel which thought that they should fight rather than pay the tribute. This resentment grew so high that one of Pehshiah's own generals led a conspiracy, assassinated him, and took the throne for himself.

Realizing that Assyria would soon return to put an end to Israel's anti-Assyrian government, Pekah allied himself with Damascus against Assyria.

This Israelite/Syrian Confederation approached Ahaz, king of Judah and urged him to join their alliance. When he refused, they attacked and besieged Jerusalem.

Instead of trusting the Lord, Ahaz sent a message to Tiglath-Pileser 3rd, asking him to come down and deliver Judah.

Tiglath-Pileser 3rd swept down from the north, sacked the city of Damascus, and took many of the cities of Israel including Ijon, Abel-beth-maacha, Janoah, Kadesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee — all the land of Naphtali (2 Kings 15:29). The inhabitants of these cities were deported to Assyria. The annuls of Tiglath-Pileser give this record:

Again, he says:

Bit-Humria or "House of Omri" had been the common Assyrian name for the country of Israel ever since the days of King Omri.

In an effort to pacify Assyria, the inhabitants of Samaria murdered Pekah and placed Hoshea, a pro-Assyrian leader, upon the throne.

When Hoshea became king, it was a greatly reduced Israel which he ruled. Tiglath-Pileser had taken all of the Israelite holdings in Trans-Jordan, in Megiddo, in Galilee, and the lands along the Mediterranean, annexng them to Assyria. Israel retained only Samaria and the surrounding hill country.

Tiglath-Pileser 3rd died in 727 B.C. and Hoshea took this opportunity to revolt. He sent messengers to Egypt to form an alliance against Assyria. At the same time, he stopped payment of the annual tribute.

In 724 B.C. Shalmanesser 5th, the new king of Assyria, marched south into Israel. Hoshea surrendered himself and offered to pay the tribute, but this time he had gone too far and was thrown into chains. He was taken to Assyria where he died in captivity.