King Jeroboam

How He Became King: Anointed by the prophet Ahijah
When He Began Reigning: Uncertain
Reign Length: 22 years
Ruled Over: Israel
Type of King: Evil
Prophet: Ahijah
Death: Struck dead by God
Burial: Unknown

When Solomon sinned against the Lord and began serving other gods, the Lord sent the prophet Ahijah to anoint Jeroboam as ruler over 10 of the tribes of Israel:

I Kings 11:29: “And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field:
30 And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:
31 And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:
32 (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:)
33 Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.”

God told Jeroboam that if he followed then Lord then He would build him a sure house. (However, as we will see, Jeroboam did not follow the Lord, and his royal line was very short-lived.)

When Solomon found out about this, he tried to kill Jeroboam. However, Jeroboam escaped by fleeing to Egypt and staying there until the king died:

1 Kings 11:40: “Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.”

Keep in mind that God had told Solomon in advance that He was going to take these tribes away from Solomon’s children, and that this entire event was of God (1 Kings 11:11). However, Solomon did not care. At this point in his life he no longer cared about God’s laws or decrees. Solomon was determined to kill Jeroboam, even though God had chosen him – but Solomon failed.

After Solomon died, Jeroboam returned and asked Rehoboam to lighten the heavy load that Solomon had placed on the people:

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;)
3 That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying,
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.”

However, Rehoboam refused the request and said that he would make things even worse. When he did this Israel rebelled and made Jeroboam their king:

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.”

Once Jeroboam became king over Israel, he realized that people were going to continue to go to Jerusalem in order to worship God at the Temple. Since Jerusalem was under the control of Rehoboam, the king worried that the people would begin to like Rehoboam again and would stage a revolt. In order to stop people from going to Jerusalem, Jeroboam built two golden calves and commanded people to worship them:

I Kings 12:26: “And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David:
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.
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.
29 And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.
30 And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.”

Jeroboam also cast the Levites out of the land (2 Chronicles 13:9).

The Lord was very displeased with what Jeroboam had done. He sent a man of God to tell Jeroboam that one day a king named Josiah would take the king’s false priests and burn their bones on his false altar:

1 Kings 13:1: “And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense.
2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.”

Despite this warning, Jeroboam still refused to repent:

1 Kings 13:33: “After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way, but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high places: whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places.
34 And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.”

During Jeroboam’s reign there was war between him and Rehoboam, and between him and Abijah (Rehoboam’s son). However, when Jeroboam attacked Judah, Abijah cried out to God and the Lord defeated Jeroboam’s armies:

2 Chronicles 13:17: “And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers.
19 And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Bethel with the towns thereof, and Jeshanah with the towns thereof, and Ephraim with the towns thereof.”

This was a crushing blow to Jeroboam’s military might; he was never able to recover from this defeat (2 Chronicles 13:20).

When Jeroboam’s son became ill, he sent his wife in disguise to talk to the prophet Ahijah to see if his child would recover. Ahijah told her that the child would die and that God would utterly destroy Jeroboam’s house because of his sin:

I Kings 14:7: “Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel,
8 And rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in mine eyes;
9 But hast done evil above all that were before thee: for thou hast gone and made thee other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and hast cast me behind thy back:
10 Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone.
11 Him that dieth of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth in the field shall the fowls of the air eat: for the Lord hath spoken it.
12 Arise thou therefore, get thee to thine own house: and when thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die.”

God said that His wrath against Jeroboam was so great that the dead child would be the only one of his children that would be buried:

1 Kings 14:13: “And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him: for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.”

Jeroboam reigned for 22 years. The Lord then struck him and he died:

2 Chronicles 13:20: “Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah: and the Lord struck him, and he died.”

After he died, his son Nadab reigned in his stead.