POLITICAL CONDITJONS OF KINGDOM SPECIAL STUDY FIVE POLITICAL CONDITIONS OF THE DIVIDED KINGDOM by LeRoy Riley Solomon’s death (930 B.C.) brought the collapse of David‘s em- pire, and was followed by the disruption of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. The long separation of Judah from the northern tribes made rhem think of Judah as almost a separate territory. Delegates from all the tribes came together at Shechem to elect Solomon’s successor, Despite their differences the Northern tribes were prepared to accept Solomon’s son Rehoboam as king. That is, if he would agree to return to the terms of the ancient covenant which his father’s oppressive measures had violated. These requests would have to be granted if unity was to be preserved, But Rehoboam re- fused to give in to their request and did not promise to alleviate any of the burdens that Solomon had placed upon them. With this the northern tribes withdrew their support from Reho- boam and placed it in one of their own leaders, Jeroboam. Jeroboam was one of the leaders in stating terms of allegbce>to Rehoboam. The delegates from the (northern tribes proclaimed him king and he set up his capital there at Shechem. I Rehobm tried to exercise authority over the rebellidus tribes by sending the officer in charge of the delegates to them. They showed their rebellion further by stoning the officer to death. Reheboam was left with a tiny kingdom consisting of the small tribe of Benjamin on the north where Jerusalem was located and the tribe of Judah. He would have sent an army to try to regain the northern territory but the prophets of Judah would not let him. The division between the two parts of the nation had come to stay. At the time of the division of the kingdom Shishak (Sheshonk) was king of Egypt, In the fifth year of the divided kingdom (925) Shishak mounted an invasion of Palestine, We have accounts of this invasion in I Kings 14-25, I1 Chon. 12:lff and an Egyptian account preserved on a pylon of the temple of Omun at Karnak. The Biblical account concentrates on Shishak‘s appropriating the gold shields of the 59 MINOR PROPHETS royal bodyguard. The Egyptian account gives a list of cities conquered in Asia of which abaut 120 are legible. A number of these are Israelite cities. The invasion covered both Judah md Israel, for the list included cities as fat north as Megiddo and the Plains of Jezreel, and eastward across the Jordan. Both kingdoms suffered greatly be- cause of the invasion. In her weakened condition Judah could not think seriously of re- conquering the northern tribes. But this did not lead her to make peace with Israel either. Instead it caused her to seek allies. She found allies in the kings of Damascus (Syria), rhe successors of Rezin who founded a dynasty there during the reign of Solomon. The scvn of Rehoboam, Abijah became king of Judah in 913 and reigned until 911. During his short reign he enlisted the support of Tabrimmon, king of Damascus, from about 911 to 890. The same agreement was renewed between their sons; Asa who reigned in Judah, from 911 to 870, and Benhadad I who reigned in Damascus from 890 to 841. As a result of these alliances Israel had to watch both her north- ern and southern borders. If she tried to attack Judah she could ex- pect an iavasion from the north. During the period of time in Israel, Jerobmm I died (910) and was followed by his son Nadab. Nadabs wicked reign lasted only one year. He was assaissinated by Baasha who made himself king (909). Baasha fortified the frontier town of Ramah as an outpost against Judah. Asa Sent a message to Benhadad I, who responded by attack- ing Israel from the north. While Baasha was in the nmth fighting, Asa Sent work parties to demolish the fortification of Ramah. They carried the material back to Benjamin where they built two fortifica- tions for Asa. Asa was also victorious in battle against an Egyptian named Zerah. It was not the strength of Judah that won the battle, but it was the Lord's might. At the death of Baasha in Israel, civil war broke out. His son Elath a,scended to the throne only to be killed by a captain in his army, Zimri. Zimri reigned for only seven days when he himself was besieged by Olmri who was commander and chief of the army. Zimri committed suicide by burning the king's house over him: Omri reigned only eight years after his victory over Zimri, but during this time he was able to make Israel a stable country politically. His reign brought consolidation from within, victory over the other nations and 60 POLITICAL CONDITIONS OP KINGDOM alliances, These factors held true during the reign of rhe rest of his dynasty. One other outstanding achievement of his reign was the mwing of the capital from Shechem to Samaria, Samaria could be more easily fortified than Shechem and ms therefore a much better place for the capital ro be located, Omri's son Ahab followed his father as king of Israel. He proved to be one of the strongest kings politically that Israel was to have. He also proved to be one of the most wicked. There was a friendship between Ahab and the new king of Judah, Jehoshaphat the son of Asa, This friendship caused a period of peace between Israel and Judah In order to cement an alliance with the king of Phoenicia, Ahab married his daughter, the wicked and idolatrous Jezebel, It was pri- marily her influence that caused the nation to fall into idolatry to the great extent: that it did during this period. Ahab was strong politically because of the army which he com- manded, He is credited with a fighting force of 2,000 chariots and 10,000. men, The number of chatims was greater than any other king at this time. He went to battle on three different occasions with Benhadad, king of Syria from 890 to 841. He was successful in the first two, but lost his life in the third. During his reign MoQb was forced to pay tribute to Ahab. In a complete contrast to Israel, Judah was experiencing a re- turn to the Lolrd. Jehoshaphat, wbo reigned from 873 to 848, was noted for his godliness. He tried to get the people to know the law of the Lord on an individual basis and n6t just as a nation. As a result of his respect for God, the surrounding nations including the Philistines and the Arabians paid tribute to Judah. Obadiah the prophet was probably a young man during the reign of Jehoshaphat. His friendship with Ahab of Israel proved to be his biggest mis- take. On one occasion it almost proved fatal. Ahab made a great show of hospitality to Jehoshaphat during a visit to Samaria and then asked him to be his ally in a campaign to recover Ramoth-Gilead. Jehoshaphat suggested that God's will should be determined before a decision was made. Ahab agreed aod asked his prophets for their advice. They prophesied success for the venture, But this did not satisfy Jehoshaphat, and he asked if there were not a real prophet of God there. Micaiah, a man of God, was sent for. He explained that God had put a spirit olf delusion in the minds of all the prophets so 61 MINOR PROPHETS , that Ahab might be doomed. Ahab went ahead with the plan with- out the aid of Jehoshaphat and was killed. The most lasting and probably the worst result ob their friendship was that Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, malrried rhe daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, Athaliah. She proved to be almost as wicked as her mother. At the death of Ahab his son Ahaziah became king. "he good feeling still held through his short reign. During the reign of Ahaziah (853-852) the Moabites, who had been paying a tribute of 100,000 lambs and 100,000 rams, revolted. Ahaziah would have put down the revolt but he was severely injured when he fell through the lattice in his palace icn Samaria. He sent messengers to inquire of Baalzebub, god of Ekron, whether he would live or not. Elijah intercepted them and prophesied that he would die. In his anger the king sent 50. men to capture Elijah, but they were consumed by fire. When Ahaziah died (852) his younger brother Jehoram became king in Israel (he had the same name as the son of Jehoshaphat as a result of the friendship thar existed between Jehoshaphat and Ahab) . Before Jehoshaphat died his son, Jehoram, began to reign (853), tak- ing over full control at the death af his father in 848. This resulted in a man named Jehoram reigning in both Judah and Israel. Jehoram of Israel made war agaisnst Maab during the time when Jehoshaphat and his son were reigning together. Jehoram invited Jehoshaphat to join him in the war. Jehoshaphat accepted. They, with the help of Edom, went up through Edom to fight Moab. When the water failed Elisha told them to dig ditches and they did. Water came and the Moabites, at sunrise, seeing the reflection of the water, thought it was bld and rushed in far the kill, but were badly-de- feated in the ensuing battle. Before Jehoshaphat died he gave his six younger sons gifts so that there would be no fighting among them over the throne.