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Home , House of Jeroboam, Jeroboam, Shishak

977 I. King of Israel 978

Bibliography: ■ Fries, J., “Im Dienst am Hause des Herrn”: Lite- gious identity he erected golden calves in the tem- raturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zu 2 Chr 29–31: Zur Hizki- ples of and . From a later Judean view, jatradition in Chronik (ATSAT 60; St. Ottilien 1998). which supported the centralized cult in , Martin Prudký this was seen as a deliberate move to discourage See also /Jeremoth northerners from worshipping in the temple built by . In fact it might have been the continu- ation of local sanctuaries. The la- Jerioth beled this act as the “sin of Jeroboam” that had pol- luted the Northern Kingdom. This later perspective The female name Jerioth (MT Yĕrîôt; LXX Ιεριωθ) comes to the fore in the narrative of 1 Kgs 13 : 1–6. appears in 1 Chr 2 : 18 in the section of Judah (1 Chr Here a “,” the visionary , is said to 2 : 3–4 : 23) inside the Chronicler’s opening geneal- have warned the king that a later king of Judah by ogy (1Chr 1–9). Since the text is corrupt, several hy- the name of will destroy the altar in Bethel. potheses are discussed: (1) She is one of the wives In the aftermath of his usurpation Jeroboam had to of Caleb besides Azubah and others. (2) According wage war with Judah. to the Syr. and the Vg., she is the daughter of Caleb The account by the Chronicler on Jeroboam I and Azubah; (3) She is the mother of Azubah. (4) reveals the pro-Judaean point of view of this histo- For the Talmud, she is identified with Azubah and rian. The military conflict mentioned above is Miriam, since her name, explained through the brought to mythical dimensions by the Chronicler word  (curtain), could refer to the paleness of yĕrî â who assumed hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the illness of Miriam (bSot 12a). The corrupt text both sides (2 Chr 13). According to this late tradi- and the postexilic dating of 1 Chr 2 : 18 make it dif- tion Jeroboam left the battlefield crippled and lost ficult to know anything about her. the southern part of his territory which included Bibliography: ■ Klein, R. W., 1 Chronicles (Hermeneia; Min- the illicit cultic center of Bethel. neapolis, Minn. 2006). Bibliography: ■ Bodner, K., Jeroboam’s Royal Drama (Oxford Fabian Pfitzmann 2012). ■ Chung, Y. H., The Sin of the Calf: The Rise of the Bible’s Negative Attitude Toward the (LHBOTS 523; New York 2010). ■ Debus, J., Die Sünde Jerobeams: Studien Jeroboam I. King of Israel zur Darstellung Jerobeams und der Geschichte des Nordreichs in der deuteronomistischen Geschichtsschreibung (FRLANT 93; Göttin- I. /Old Testament gen 1967). ■ Williamson, H. G. M., Israel in the Book of II. Judaism Chronicles (Cambridge 1977). [Esp. 97–118] III. Literature Bob Becking

I. Hebrew Bible/Old Testament II. Judaism Jeroboam (MT Yorobām, “the people/Uncle [theo- The 1st-century CE Lives of the Prophets 22 : 1 is the phoric title] judges”; LXX Ιεραμ), the son of Ne- earliest source of the tradition, “found in the writ- bat, was the first king to rule over the Northern ings of certain Church fathers that one of Jero- kingdom of Israel. According to biblical traditions, boam’s golden calves was set up in Gilgal instead he reigned for twenty-two years. The exact dates of Dan” (Charlesworth 2 : 397, n. 22b). cannot be settled, but generally he is seen as reign- Not surprisingly, the sages took a rather dim ing in the second part of the 10th century BCE. view of Jeroboam. They explained his name Jero- The HB depicts him as follows – the historicity boam (Heb. Yarav‘am) as meaning that “he debased of this depiction cannot be verified due to the lack (ribba‘) the nation (‘am)”; or “he fomented strife of extra-biblical evidence: Jeroboam was the son of (merivah) within the nation,” or strife between Israel Nebat, an Ephraimite, and Zeruah, who is pre- and their Father in heaven.” The son of Nebat [de- sented as a widow (1 Kgs 11 : 26). Two of his sons, notes that] “he [Nebat] beheld (i.e., had a vision; Abijam and Nadab, succeeded him on the throne. nibbat), but did not see (i.e., did not interpret it cor- In his younger days, Jeroboam was a protégé of rectly, thinking that he would become king rather king Solomon. The prophet , however, urged than his son)” (bSan 101b). him to conspire against Solomon in order to be- 1. His Learning. Yet, despite his later idolatry, Jer- come king over the ten tribes (1 Kgs 11 : 29–39). His oboam is also portrayed as a great Torah scholar, plot was discovered and he was forced to flee to whose knowledge was without defect (bSan 102a). Egypt coming under the ward of . He expounded the book of Leviticus 103 different After Solomon’s death the ten northern tribes ways, more than either kings Manasseh (55 ways) appointed his son as their king. With or (85) (bSan 103b). First Kings 11 : 29, refer- the backing of Pharaoh Shishak and political sup- ring to Jeroboam and being port from the local population, Jeroboam became alone in a field, was understood to mean that “all king over Israel. He made his capital and the other scholars were as grasses of the field com- fortified the city. As an expression of northern reli- pared to them, and all the wisdom of the Torah

Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 13 Authenticated | [email protected] © Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2016 Download Date | 1/2/19 1:27 AM 979 Jeroboam I. King of Israel 980 was an open field to them and they discovered new As a way of alluding to the far-reaching conse- insights that no ear had ever heard” (ibid.). Ahijah quences of Jeroboam’s actions, one rabbi mused and Jeroboam (before he went astray) were even that on the day that Jeroboam set up two calves, mystical adepts capable of clarifying the work of the Remus and Romulus arose and built two forts in chariot (ma‘aseh merkavah)(MidTeh 5 : 8). Ahijah was Rome (Sifrei, end of ‘Eqev; cf. bShab 56b). blind in his old age (1 Kgs 14 : 4) because he had 4. His Demise. Jeroboam was killed on the twenty- raised a wicked disciple – Jeroboam (BerR 65 : 10). fifth day of Sivan (end of MegTa). His arrogance 2. His Kingship. Jeroboam merited kingship for drove him out of the world (bSan 101b). Opinions rebuking Solomon, but he was punished for rebuk- differ as to whether he had a share in the World to ing him in public (bSan 101b). He became king at Come (yes: bSan 90a; no: ySan 10). However, in the the conclusion of the sabbatical (shemittah) year days of the Messiah, even the likes of Jeroboam son (yAZ 1 : 1). When the people asked Jeroboam to be of Nebat and his colleagues will be resurrected (yKil their king, he told them he was poor and they of- 9 : 3, commenting on Ps 116 : 9). fered him silver and gold (YalqMa 17 : 12). The rab- 5. In Karaism. The early Karaites saw Jeroboam as bis likened him to a man who found a garment on the main instigator of the rabbinic movement. For the road and brought it into the city, proclaiming Ya‘qūb al-Qirqisānī, the great 10th-century Karaite “Who lost this?” Impressed by his virtue, the theologian and historiographer, in his account of townspeople made him their leader. By the time a Jewish sects (ch. 1 of his “Book of Lights and Watch- few years had passed, however, he had destroyed towers,” Kitab al-anwār wal marāqib [KAM]), Jero- the entire city (YalqShim Be-shallaḥ 268). boam is the first heretic, “the first to propagate dis- 3. His Idolatry. When Jeroboam was scheming to sension in religion and to sow rebellion in the wrest the throne from Rehoboam, he “took counsel family of Israel” (KAM 1.2.1; Chiesa/Lockwood: 95; and made two golden calves” (1 Kgs 12 : 28). The Astren: 114). Oddly enough, though, he denies that rabbis wondered what counsel he took and imagine Jeroboam was an idolater: “for Jeroboam did not the following scenario: “He seated a wicked man deny or disbelieve in the Creator … nor did he wor- beside a righteous man [in the council chamber] ship idols, as some imagine” (KAM 1.2.2; Chiesa/ and asked them if they would vouch for everything Lockwood: 97; Astren: 114 attributes this to his de- he did. They both agreed. He told them he wanted sire to keep Jeroboam within the fold of religion). to be king and they agreed. He asked them if they He further claims that the Rabbanites followed the would fulfill everything he commanded and they practices inherited from Jeroboam, which they es- agreed. Then he asked if that included worshiping tablished, advocated for, and codified in the Mish- idols. The righteous man said “Heaven forbid” but nah and other works (KAM 1.2.6; Chiesa/Lockwood: the wicked man said Jeroboam was only testing 101; Astren: 118). Jeroboam is also blamed for in- them to see if they would obey him. Everyone troducing his own system of calendar intercalation signed on including Ahijah (bSan 101b-102a). Ac- which was adopted by the Samaritans (Astren: 118). cording to the Jerusalem Talmud, the people were In the Ḥilluq ha-Qari’im weha-rabbanim (The differ- eager to worship idols and could not wait for Jero- ence between the Karaites and the Rabbanites), an boam to lead them into idolatry. When Jeroboam 11th-century Byzantine tract attributed to said to them that he feared that the Sanhedrin ben Abraham, Jeroboam is designated as the origi- would kill them they answered “we will kill them” nator of the “new Torah called the Oral Torah” (As- (yAZ 1 : 1). tren: 144). Later Karaite accounts accuse Jeroboam Jeroboam’s sin is compounded, because he of deviant practices, but do not blame him for the sinned and caused others to sin (mAv 5 : 21). Until Jeroboam, the Israelites derived nourishment [for Karaite-Rabbanite schism. B.D.W. their sinful disposition] from one calf. Subse- 6. Modern Judaism. Most modern Jewish histori- quently, they nourished from two or three [the ans, in rewriting the story of Jeroboam, have tended calves in Beth El and Dan]. The rabbis applied the to accept the details of the story as historical, but epithet “destroyer” (ish mashḥit; Prov 28 : 24) to Jer- to reject what they see as the southern (Judahite) oboam because he destroyed [the allegiance] of Is- bias of the biblical narrator. Modern historians fo- rael to their Father in Heaven (bSan 102a). Accord- cus on Jeroboam’s political motives, and many ing to the rabbis, God gave Jeroboam a golden praise his shrewdness. Heinrich Graetz remained opportunity to repent, but his arrogance stood in very critical of Jeroboam and his rebellion, suggest- the way. They see this alluded to in 1 Kgs 13 : 38, ing that it had been bankrolled by Pharaoh Shishak “after this thing.” They explain that the thing re- (Graetz: 1 : 184). But even Graetz is careful to de- ferred to was God seizing Jeroboam’s garment and fend Jeroboam from the charge of polytheism. In urging him to repent; if he did, he would stroll to- Graetz’s view, Jeroboam merely presented the peo- gether with God and King in the Garden of ple with “incarnations of the deity symbolizing Eden. Jeroboam asked, “who would be first?” and strength and fruitfulness” (ibid.: 1 : 187). (Cf. Isaac when God said, “the son of Jesse,” he declined the Abarbanel’s commentary on Jeroboam’s rebellion, offer (bSan 102a). which is precociously modern.) Simon Dubnow

Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 13 Authenticated | [email protected] © Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2016 Download Date | 1/2/19 1:27 AM 981 Jeroboam I. King of Israel 982 who was more sympathetic to Jeroboam than III. Literature Graetz, argued, as do other historians, that Jero- Jeroboam tends in literature to reflect ideas regard- boam’s rebellion was politically and culturally con- ing perverted or cursed leadership, sometimes with servative, and intended to restore the pre-Davidic the implicit suggestion that such leadership will religious situation. Hayim Tadmor argued that the entail wider hardship or tragedy. bulls were not even idols, in the sense of representa- Edward Hall (1498–1547) adopts the model of tions of God; but were merely pedestals upon which the corrupt in structuring his the God of Israel was believed to be enthroned (Tad- famous work, The Union of the Two Noble and Illustrate mor: 115). Famelies of Lancastre and Yorke (or, Hall’s Chronicle; In the latter part of the 20th century, many Jew- 1548 [= 21550]). The Chronicle is widely understood ish historians became more skeptical, and stopped to have been one of William Shakespeare’s chief writing sketches of the Israelite king. But the ear- sources in the writing of his history plays. lier, less skeptical trend persists in connection with This motif of the degenerate leader becomes Tel Dan. Avraham Biran, who excavated the site somewhat bifurcated in the 17th-century, however. and wrote a book on it in the early 1990s, endorsed In John Milton’s work, Jeroboam is used differently the biblical claim that Jeroboam founded the shrine in prose and poetry. In Paradise Lost (1667), “the there, and built a golden calf. The Tel Dan excava- rebel king” is mentioned as part of a catalogue of tion website, written in 2008, is more cautious. But biblical infamy: the monarch that “doubl’d that sin the authors still speculate about Jeroboam and his in Bethel and in Dan” (1.484–86). By contrast, in motives, which they cast in a positive light. “He set Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649), Milton refer- up a golden bull calf, calling them Elohim, the gods ences Jeroboam not as a rebel but as a biblical exem- who brought the Israelites out of Egypt. This ap- plar of a just rebellion against an unjust ruler. In propriation of the Hebrew name for God and the his Defensio pro Populo Anglicano (1651), Milton di- Exodus tradition signified a savvy political attempt rectly denies Jeroboam was a rebel at all, equating to construct a new national epic for the north, cen- him with the revolutionaries who deposed Charles tered around the resonant themes of the erstwhile I. John Overton makes similar use of Jeroboam in United Monarchy” (”Israelite Temple”). his An Appeal from the Degenerate Representative Body … In the culture of Israeli tour guides, the Jero- to the Body Represented (1647). In the same year, the boam of Jewish historiography, not the Jeroboam ballad “The Penitant Traytor” was anonymously of the biased Bible, is alive and well. The veteran published. It uses the figure of Jeroboam as part of tour guide Julie Baretz focuses her discussion of Tel a sustained attack on the actions of the Long Parlia- Dan on Jeroboam, and redeems him (as Dubnow ment. Jacob Worm, the Danish satirist launched an did in his day) from the enmity of the biblical nar- attack on King Christian V in 1679 in an affectation rator. She is effusive in her praise of Jeroboam: “A of an academic thesis on 1 Kgs 12–14. Worm was natural leader, he represented the will of the peo- deported to India in punishment. Voltaire’s Treatise ple … Young, ambitious, charismatic, [he was] em- on Tolerance (1763), by contrast, uses Jeroboam and powered by a great sense of justice” (198). J.D. his apostasy to argue that religious tolerance ex- Bibliography: ■ Astren, F., Karaite Judaism and Historical Un- isted in ancient Israel. Since no constraint was derstanding (Columbia, S.C. 2004). ■ Baretz, J., The Bible on placed on “unapproved” worship in the ancient Location (Philadelphia, Pa. 2015). ■ Biran, A., Biblical Dan world, France too, Voltaire says, should adopt a tol- (Jerusalem 1994); trans. of id., Dan: 25 shenot ḥafirot be-Tel erant attitude toward religious expression. Dan (Tel-Aviv 1992). ■ Charlesworth, J. H. (ed.), OTP, 2 vols. (New York 1983–85). ■ Chasidah, Y. Y., Encyclopedia of Bibli- Jeroboam’s profile subsequently becomes less cal Personalities (Brooklyn, N.Y. 1994); trans. of id., Ishei ha- ambiguous. In Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure Tanakh ba-aspaqlarya shel Ḥ azal (Jerusalem 1964). ■ Chiesa, (1894), Sue likens her and Jude’s misfortunes to the B./W. Lockwood (trans.), Yaqub al-Qirqisani on Jewish Sects and malediction that hung over the family of Atreus, Christianity: A translation of «Kitab al-anwar», Book I, with two while Jude prefers a comparison with the “house of introductory essays (Frankfurt a.M. 1984). ■ Dubnow, S., His- Jeroboam.” Later events play out upon Jude’s tory of the Jews, 5 vols. (South Brunswick, N.J. 1967–73); household something of the violent tragedy prom- trans. of id., Weltgeschichte des jüdischen Volkes, 10 vols. (Berlin ised to the biblical king (1 Kgs 14). 1925–29). ■ Graetz, H., History of the Jews, 6 vols. (Phila- delphia, Pa. 1891–98); trans. of id., Geschichte der Juden von In Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick (1851), the ill- den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart (Leipzig 11853–76). fated Ahab encounters a whaling vessel called The ■ “Israelite Temple,” Tel Dan Excavations homepage Jeroboam of Nantucket. The Jeroboam’s captain has (www.teldan.wordpress.com). ■ Qirqisānī, Y. al-, Kitāb al- lost effective control over the vessel to a raving, anwār wal-marāqib: Code of Karaite Law, 5 vols. (ed. L. Nemoy; usurping Scaramouch who claims to be the archan- New York 1939–45). [Arab. and Heb.] ■ Tadmor, H., “The gel Gabriel. In the wake of this tacit mutiny, the Period of the First Temple, the Babylonian Exile and the Restoration,” in A History of the Jewish People (ed. H. H. Ben- unfortunate ship reports that it has also been struck Sasson; Cambridge, Mass. 1976) 89–182; trans. of chapter by a “malignant epidemic” and the reader is invited by id., in Toledot ‘am Yiśra’el, vol. 1 (ed. H. H. Ben-Sasson; to consider the relationship between the Jeroboam’s Tel-Aviv 1969). sickness and her crew’s superstition and insubordi- Barry Dov Walfish and Joseph Davis nation.

Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 13 Authenticated | [email protected] © Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2016 Download Date | 1/2/19 1:27 AM 983 Jeroboam II. King of Israel 984

James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake (1939) mentions earthquake in the area in 750 BCE. Jeroboam is Gubbs Jeroboam, “the frothwhiskered pest of the mentioned only once in extra-biblical sources, in a park, as per act one, section two, schedule three, seal with the following inscription: “belonging to clause four of the fifth of King Jark” (3.4.558.15). Shema / the servant of Jeroboam” (Davies: 100.068; As with the rest of the Wake, simple extrapolations Fig. 1). According to the palaeography this inscrip- of meaning elude us, but here Gubbs appears as an tion is to be dated in the 8th century BCE. It can orbital character related to the domestic drama of therefore not refer to Jeroboam I. The authenticity book 3.4, but one that also harks back to “Yawn’s of this seal is however disputed. Inquest” in book 3.3. Again, Jeroboam sits as one In rabbinic sources, Jeroboam is praised for his judged and requiring of “mercy” on “his hurlybur- respect for the prophets, for which he was rewarded lygrowth” (558.20). by being allowed to conquer nations that The Trails of Brother Jero (1960) is a satirical com- and David could not (SEZ 7). He also did not believe edy by the Nigerian playwright Akinwande Oluw- the slanderous reports of Amaziah against Amos ole “Wole” Soyinka. It mocks religious hypocrisy (Am 7 : 10-11), claiming that Amos had predicted through its protagonist, brother Jeroboam, who Jeroboam’s death by the sword and Israel’s exile. preaches on a beachside bar in roguish and manipu- The Talmud records Jeroboam’s reply as follows: lative ways, promising his followers financial and Heaven forbid that that righteous man should have social advancement. spoken thus! Yet if he did, what can I do to him! The Kings III (2008) by Israeli novelist Yokhi Bran- Shekhinah told him [what to say]. (bPes 87b) des, tells the lost history of the house of , Bibliography: ■ Austin, S. A. et al., “Amos’s Earthquake: An through the eyes of his daughter Michal and his Extraordinary Middle East Seismic Event of 750 B.C.,” Inter- great-grandson Shelom’am, a fictional character. national Geology Review 42 (2000) 657–71. ■ Davies, G. I., She presents an alternative “history,” based on Jew- Ancient Hebrew Inscriptions, vol. 1: Corpus and Concordance ■ ish sources that puts the and Jero- (Cambridge 1991). Finkelstein, I., “Stages in the Territo- rial Expansion of the Northern Kingdom,” VT 61 (2011) boam in a much more positive light, than that pre- 227–42. ■ Mykytiuk, L. J., Identifying Biblical Persons in sented in the , which were written Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200–539 BCE (SBLABib 12; by scribes of the House of David. Atlanta, Ga. 2004). [Esp. 133–36] Israeli playwright, Nisim Aloni (1926-1998), Bob Becking wrote his first play in 1953, entitled Most cruel – the King (Akhzar mi-kol ha-melekh). It tells the story of the struggle between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. Jeroham

Bibliography: ■ Bryson, M., The Tyranny of Heaven: Milton’s In the HB/OT, the name Jeroham (MT Yĕrōḥām; LXX Rejection of God as King (Delaware, Del. 2004). ■ Higgins, B./ Ιερεμεηλ/Ιδαερ/Ηδαδ/Ιρααμ/Ιωραμ) is used of H. Parker (eds.), Critical Essays on Herman Melville’s Moby Dick seven individuals in the following biblical texts: (Wisconsin, Mich. 1992). ■ West, G. O./M. Dube (eds.), The 1 Sam 1 : 1; Neh 11 : 12; 1 Chr 6 : 27 [MT = 6 : 12], 34 Bible in Africa: Transactions, Trajestories, and Trends (Leiden [MT = 6 : 19]; 8 : 27; 9 : 8, 12; 12 : 7 [MT = 12 : 8]; 2000). 27 : 22; 2 Chr 23 : 1. The name is derived from the Chris Meredith Hebrew root, r–ḥ–m (be compassionate, have com- See also /Golden Calf passion), making the name a wish: “May he have compassion.” The assumption is that God is the subject (cf. Yĕraḥmĕēl [Jer 36 : 26; 1 Chr 2 : 9, 25, 26, Jeroboam II. King of Israel 27, 33, 42; 24 : 29]). It is interesting to note that, Jeroboam (MT Yorobām, “the people/Uncle [theo- apart from 1 Sam 1 : 1, all of the other occurrences phoric title] judges”; LXX Ιεραμ) the son of of the name are from texts that clearly date to the Joash was the second king by that name to rule over Persian period or later. This may say something the Northern Kingdom of Israel (2 Kgs 14 : 23–29). about the date of 1 Sam 1 : 1. According to biblical tradition he ruled for forty- one years, which cannot be dated exactly, but can 1. Father of Elqanah be placed in the middle of the 8th century BCE. A man by the name of Jeroham is mentioned in Due to the absence of external political threats his 1 Sam 1 : 1; 1 Chr 6 : 27 [MT v. 12], 34 [MT v. 19]. reign was very prosperous leading to the incorpora- Assuming the chronological primacy of 1 Sam 1 : 1, tion of Transjordan territory. A conquest of Damas- the reference in Chronicles probably constitutes the cus and the making of Hamath into a vassal (2 Kgs earliest reception of this character. In both texts, 14 : 25) are historically unlikely. The prosperity in Jeroham is described as the father of Elqanah, who his reign led to a differentiation between rich and in turn is the father of the judge-prophet Samuel. poor that was heavily criticized by the prophets First Samuel 1 : 1 indicates that Elqanah is an Hosea and Amos. During the reign of Jeroboam II Ephraimite, but the broader context places Jeroham a fierce earthquake took place (Amos 1 : 1). Archaeo- and (more significantly) Samuel himself into a levi- logical and seismic evidence hint at a force eight tical family line (1 Chr 6 : 16–30; MT 6 : 1–15).

Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol. 13 Authenticated | [email protected] © Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, 2016 Download Date | 1/2/19 1:27 AM