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After the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam ascended the throne in Jerusalem. He was immediately confronted with a crisis in the kingdom. Jeroboam, who had been a servant of Solomon, and who had been exiled by the king, returned and led a group of ten tribes who were discontented. They approached Rehoboam to see if a compromise solution could be found, but the new king obeyed the advice of his young advisors, ignoring the advice of those who were older, and determined to enforce his authority over all the twelve tribes. This disastrous response resulted in the ten tribes breaking away to form the northern kingdom of Israel, establishing a divided nation, and this division was never healed (1 Kings 12.19-20).
The chart shows that nineteen kings ruled this breakaway kingdom over a period of approximately 250 years. There were nine dynasties or families from whom these kings came, and it can be seen quite clearly that, whereas in the small southern kingdom of Judah the kings were all of the legitimate royal family of David, in Israel such a claim to legitimacy could never be made. Israel had not a "seed royal" and a change of ruling family was often by the murder of the incumbent. The right to reign was on the basis of force.
The worship of the nation
The fear of Jeroboam I was that the worship of Jehovah would cause the people to return to Jerusalem for the annual feasts which demanded their attendance at the Temple. In order to discourage this Jeroboam made two calves of gold and had them set up, one in Bethel and the other in the territory of the tribe of Dan (1 Kings 12.26-29). The call then went out to all of the ten tribes: "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" (v.28). Around these idolatrous images he established a priesthood "of the lowest of the people which were not of the sons of Levi" (v.31). An annual feast was arranged to take place on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. By this means he established an alternative to the worship of the true God in Jerusalem. It is little wonder that Jeroboam was constantly referred to as the king "who made Israel to sin". It can be seen clearly from observing how many of the kings were put to death that the history of this kingdom was marked by violence.
The dynasties
The dynasty of Jeroboam
The first of the families who held sway over Israel was that of Jeroboam. Rehoboam, king of Judah, was instructed by the Lord not to go to war with Jeroboam (2 Chr 11.2-4), but Abijah, who succeeded Rehoboam, did so and won a decisive victory over him (2 Chr 13.1-20). The eldest son of Jeroboam, also named Abijah, died, and it was at that time that the prophet Ahijah told Jeroboam’s wife that the house of Jeroboam would be cut off. Jeroboam died after his defeat at the hands of Abijah, and Nadab, the son who succeeded him, was murdered by Baasha. In total, these two monarchs occupied the throne for twenty-four years.
The dynasty of Baasha
Baasha put to death all the house of Jeroboam, and in this way the prophecy of Ahijah was fulfilled. Between Baasha and Asa, king of Judah, there was constant war. Baasha built a fortress at Ramah with the intent of closing the route out of Judah and therefore controlling all who entered and left. This would have seriously affected the trade routes of the southern kingdom. An agreement between Judah and Syria, however, brought that scheme to naught.
Following the death of Baasha, his son Elah became king. His brief rule of two years was ended when he was put to death. After a time of drunken debauchery, his servant Zimri, who was captain of half his chariots, murdered him.
The dynasty of Zimri
This was the shortest dynasty of them all. It lasted for a mere seven days. In that short space of time Zimri had all the family and friends of Baasha put to death. However, Omri, the captain of the army, besieged Tirzah, the capital city where Zimri was to be found, and took it. Zimri went to the palace and burned it down, in this way dying by his own hand. This ended the short vicious tenure of the house of Zimri.
The dynasty of Omri
Civil war marked the first six years of Omri’s reign and in the second six he occupied the capital, Tirzah. Little is known of the detail of his reign, but we read that he was a king worse than those who had gone before him.
He was followed by his son Ahab who married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre, who was an idolater. It was this king whom Elijah withstood to the face and whose conduct led to the drought which was foretold by the prophet. Jehoshaphat, king of Judah sought an alliance with him in order to stop the antagonism between the two kingdoms. In this the king of Judah was wrong, but as a result of this alliance for the first time the armies of Judah and Israel stood together in battle. The enemy was Syria, but the battle went against the two allies and Ahab died as a result of his wounds.
Ahab’s son, Ahaziah followed him for a brief reign of two years. He served Baal and "did very wickedly" (2 Chr 20.35). He also entered into a commercial treaty with Judah, but this failed disastrously. He died as a result of injuries sustained when he fell from an upper window.
Joram (also called Jehoram), who now ascended the throne, reigned during the times of Elisha. He was slain by Jehu who had been anointed on the instruction of Elisha. His body was cast into the field of Naboth who had been slain by Ahab so that the king could obtain the field. At this time Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was put to death.
The dynasty of Jehu
Once again a new dynasty meant the death of the surviving sons of the previous ruling family. The seventy sons of Ahab were beheaded. Jehu was zealous in his work to rid his kingdom of the worship of Baal, but he did not submit to the Lord and walk according to the Law. He saw his kingdom coming under attack from Hazael, King of Syria and lost territory to him.
He died after twenty-eight years on the throne and his son Jehoahaz reigned. He also was attacked by Syria and defeated. Although God delivered them, he was reduced to leading a paltry military force of fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen. His son Jehoash reigned after him but little is recorded of him, except that he fought against Judah.
Jeroboam II reversed the fortunes of the embattled kingdom. His forty-one years on the throne saw Israel strengthened and once again become a force to be reckoned with. It is of interest to note that Jonah, the same Jonah who was swallowed by the great fish, prophesied this resurgence in the power of the northern kingdom. The borders of his kingdom were secured and the enemies repulsed.
An interregnum of about eleven years followed his death, after which Zachariah, his son, and the last king of this dynasty, reigned for six months. He in turn was assassinated by Shallum.
The dynasties of Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea
Shallum reigned only for one month before he was put to death by Menahem. Pekahiah, Menahem’s successor, was slain with his companions in Samaria, by Pekah who assumed the throne and held it for twenty years. During that time the Assyrians carried away captive many from his kingdom and he was slain by Hoshea who became the last king of Israel.
During his nine-year reign he "walked in the statutes of the heathen", and all forms of idolatry, with their attendant murderous practices, flourished. The Lord, therefore, "removed them out of his sight". Assyria carried them away captive and peopled the land with Gentiles.
The history of the ten tribes is a salutary lesson that the pathway of disobedience to the Word of God is a hard one. The violence, intrigue, and corruption which marked this history was the outcome of going after false gods and refusing to bow to the God who had delivered them out of Egypt and blessed them beyond measure. Let us remember this in our own lives!
