977 Jeroboam 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 Bethel and Dan. From a later Judean view, jatradition in Chronik (ATSAT 60; St. Ottilien 1998). which supported the centralized cult in Jerusalem, Martin Prudký this was seen as a deliberate move to discourage See also /Jeremoth northerners from worshipping in the temple built by Solomon. In fact it might have been the continu- ation of local sanctuaries. The Deuteronomists 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 “man of god,” the visionary Iddo, 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 Josiah 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 Golden Calf (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. Hebrew Bible/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 Ahijah, 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 Pharaoh Shishak. 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 Rehoboam as their king. With or Ahab (85) (bSan 103b). First Kings 11 : 29, refer- the backing of Pharaoh Shishak and political sup- ring to Jeroboam and Ahijah the Shilonite being port from the local population, Jeroboam became alone in a field, was understood to mean that “all king over Israel. He made Shechem 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.