The Kingdom Divides
about 930 BC, estimated dateEstimated date
After Solomon’s death the northern tribes reject his son Rehoboam at Shechem and make Jeroboam their king. Israel in the north and Judah in the south become separate kingdoms, and Jeroboam sets up his own sanctuaries at Bethel and Dan.
Kings traces the division back to the reign of Solomon. Jeroboam I, an Ephraimite whom Solomon had put in charge of the forced labour of the house of Joseph, was met on the road by the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh. Ahijah tore a new cloak into twelve pieces and gave him ten: ten tribes would be taken from Solomon’s son, and one left to the house of David for the sake of David and of Jerusalem (1 Kings 11:26–36). Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, who fled to Shishak, king of Egypt (1 Kings 11:40).
When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had gathered to make him king. The assembly, with Jeroboam back from Egypt, asked him to lighten the heavy yoke his father had laid on them. The older counsellors advised him to agree. He took the advice of the young men he had grown up with and answered: “My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions” (1 Kings 12:1–14).
The northern tribes replied, “What portion have we in David?”, and went home. Rehoboam’s officer over the forced labour was stoned to death and the king fled to Jerusalem. Israel made Jeroboam king; only Judah, with Benjamin, stayed with the house of David. Rehoboam raised an army to win back the north, but the prophet Shemaiah forbade the war and the men went home (1 Kings 12:16–24). Kings says the outcome came from the Lord, to fulfil Ahijah’s word (1 Kings 12:15). Chronicles tells the story in the same terms (2 Chronicles 10:1–11:4).
Jeroboam made Shechem his residence. So that his people would not go up to sacrifice in Jerusalem, he set up two golden calves, one at Bethel and one at Dan, appointed priests who were not Levites and fixed a festival of his own in the eighth month (1 Kings 12:25–33). Chronicles adds that priests and Levites from the north moved to Judah (2 Chronicles 11:13–17). Kings calls the calves the sin of Jeroboam and measures later kings of Israel by it (1 Kings 12:30; 16:26; 2 Kings 10:29; 15:9).
From here the Old Testament follows two kingdoms. Israel, the larger, lasted until the Fall of Samaria; Judah, ruled by David’s line, lasted until the Fall of Jerusalem and the Destruction of the Temple. Ahijah’s oracle says that David’s descendants would be humbled, “but not forever” (1 Kings 11:39). Ezekiel later looks for a day when they will no longer be “divided into two kingdoms” and David will be king over them all (Ezekiel 37:22–24).
How this is dated
Estimated date. A scholarly estimate from primary evidence, with a margin of years.
Kings gives no calendar date. The year is reached by counting back from two points that Assyrian records fix for the northern kingdom: Ahab fought at Qarqar in 853 BC (Kurkh Monolith ii 91–92) and Jehu paid tribute in 841 BC (Shalmaneser III, Annals RIAo 12, lines 21–30). Kings gives the lengths of the two reigns between those kings (1 Kings 22:51; 2 Kings 3:1) and of the reigns from Jeroboam to Ahab (1 Kings 14:20; 15:25, 33; 16:8, 23, 29).
How those totals convert to years depends on whether a king’s first, partial year was counted. Edwin R. Thiele, The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (3rd ed., 1983), puts the division in 931/930 BC. W. F. Albright, “The Chronology of the Divided Monarchy of Israel”, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 100 (1945), put it in 922 BC. The timeline uses about 930 BC.
Primary sources
Scripture
The Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III
- Kurkh Monolith ii 91–92oracc.museum.upenn.edu
Annals of Shalmaneser III (Other Copies)
- Shalmaneser III, Annals RIAo 12, lines 21–30oracc.museum.upenn.edu
In context
Grows out of
- about 966 BC to 959 BC, estimated date
Leads to
- about 925 BC, estimated date
- about 860 BC, traditional date
- about 755 BC, estimated date