After the death of Solomon (Peaceful), his son Rehoboam (A People has been Enlarged.) went to the ancient capital of Shechem and met with the tribal leaders of the tribes of Israel. The leaders asked Rehoboam to lighten the heavy yoke of taxation which King Solomon had put upon them. Rehoboam asked the leaders to return in three days and he would let them know what he had decided. 1 Kings 12:1-15. During those three days Rehoboam counseled with the old men who were counselors to his father Solomon. They encouraged him to “speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever.” Rehoboam then asked his young friends that he had grown up with as to what he should say to the tribal leaders. The young men counseled Rehoboam to be tougher on the tribes than his father. When Rehoboam met with the tribal leaders he told them, “My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.”
The leaders of the Northern Tribes rejected Rehoboam with these words, “Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel!” This was about 930 BC. Jeroboam (People will Contend), of the Tribe of Ephraim was invited to be the king of the new Northern Kingdom of Israel with their capital in Shechem. The Prophet Ahijah (Jehovah is my Brother)[1] prophesied 1 Kings 11:29-40. It will be remembered that Jeroboam fled to Egypt and sought asylum. The Pharaoh Shishak protected him. Later this same Shishak attack Jerusalem and plunder the Temple as an ally to Jeroboam. Following his rejection Rehoboam sent a tax collector named Adoram (Lord of Heights) to collect a tribute. He was stoned to death. Rehoboam organized an army of 180, 000 men from Judah and Benjamin and was going to war with the Northern Tribes. The Prophet Shemaiah (Jehovah has heard) told the people of Judah and Rehoboam that it was not the Lord’s will to go to war with their brethren. 1 Kings 12:22-24. To his credit Rehoboam did not go to war at that time.
After the threat of war Jeroboam moved to the east side of the River Jordan near the place where Jacob saw God “face to face.” Gen. 32:30. It was called Penuel (Face of God) and served as the new capital for both Jeroboam and his son, Nadab (Liberal) who followed his father as the second king of Israel. It was a fortified city. Of the nearly 40 kings of divided Judah and Israel only eight were accounted as righteous.
“A: In all, there were 42 kings (and one queen who ruled instead of a king. Her name was Athaliah
[Jehovah has constrained]). Saul was the first king, and he ruled over all of the 12 tribes of Israel for 40 years. After Saul’s death, the kingdom became temporarily divided, with Saul’s son Ishbosheth [Man of Shame] ruling 11 of the tribes for two years, while David ruled Judah. After Ishbosheth was assassinated, David became king over all 12 tribes. His son Solomon followed him as king, and also ruled over a unified kingdom of 12 tribes. Both David and Solomon ruled for 40 years each.After Solomon’s reign ended, the kingdom divided into what became known as the Southern Kingdom (Judah and Benjamin: but simply called Judah) and the Northern Kingdom (the remaining 10 tribes: called Israel). This resulted in a string of 19 kings ruling over Israel and 19 kings (plus one queen) ruling over Judah. I will list them in order, with the number of years they ruled in parenthesis. [The righteous kings are in bold, below their name is the italicized meanings of their Hebrew names.]
Kings Of Israel | Kings Of Judah |
1. Jeroboam 1 (22 yrs) People will Contend | 1. Rehoboam (17 yrs) The People will be Enlarged |
2. Nadab (2 yrs) Liberal | 2. Abijam (3 yrs) Father of the Sea |
3. Baasha (24 yrs) Domineering | 3. Asa (41 yrs) Uncertain |
4. Elah (2 yrs) Oak | 4. Jehoshaphat (25 yrs) Jehovah Served |
5. Zimri (7 days) Musical | 5. Jehoram (8 yrs) Jehovah Raised |
6. Omri (12 yrs) *** Heaping | 6. Ahaziah (1 yr) Jehovah has Strengthened |
7. Ahab (22 yrs) Brother | 7. Athaliah (Queen) (6 yrs) Jehovah has Constrained |
8. Ahaziah (2 yrs) Jehovah has Seized | 8. Joash (40 yrs) Jehovah Brothered |
9. Jehoram (Joram)(12 yrs) Jehovah Raised | 9. Amaziah (29 yrs) Jehovah Said |
10. Jehu (28 yrs) Jehovah is He | 10. Azariah (Uzziah)(52 yrs) Jehovah has Strength |
11. Jehoahaz (17 yrs) Jehovah Seized | 11. Jotham (16 yrs) Jehovah is Perfect |
12. Jehoash (16 yrs) Jehovah Fired | 12. Ahaz (16 yrs) Possessor |
13. Jeroboam 2 (41 yrs) People will Contend | 13. Hezekiah (29 yrs) Strengthened by Jehovah |
14. Zachariah (6 mos) Jehovah Remembered | 14. Manasseh (55 yrs) Causing to Forget |
15. Shallum (1 mo) Safety | 15. Amon (2 yrs) Skilled |
16. Menahem (10 yrs) Sigh | 16. Josiah (31 yrs) Jehovah Founded |
17. Pekhiah (2 yrs) Jehovah has Observed | 17. Jehoahaz (3 mos) Jehovah Seized |
18. Pekah (20 yrs) Watch | 18. Jehoiakim (11 yrs) Jehovah will Raise |
19. Hoshea (9 yrs) Deliverer | 19. Jehoiachin (3 mos) Jehovah will Establish |
20. Zedekiah (11 yrs) Right of Jehovah |
*** Zimri killed King Elah, and became king (1 Kin 16:8-10). When the army of Israel found out what Zimri had done, they (“all Israel”) made Omri, commander of the army, the new king (1 Kin 16:16). They attacked and overthrew the city of Tirzah where Zimri was, so Zimri killed himself (1 Kin 1:17-18). Afterwards, however, “half of the people followed Tibni… and half followed Omri” (1 Kin 16:21). There was war between them for about 4 years until Tibni died (we don’t know how he died). Then, Omri was the sole ruler.
Of the kings on this chart, the Bible says ALL of the kings of Israel were evil. Among the kings of Judah, 12 were evil and 8 were good (Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah).”[2]
Athaliah is usually considered the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel [or King Ahab’s sister]. Athaliah was married to Jehoram of Judah to seal a treaty between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and to secure his position Jehoram killed his six brothers. Jehoram became king of Judah in the fifth year of Jehoram of Israel’s reign. (2 Kings 8:16) Jehoram of Israel was Athaliah’s brother (or possibly nephew).
Jehoram of Judah reigned for eight years. His father Jehoshaphat and grandfather Asa were devout kings who worshiped the Lord and walked in His ways. However, Jehoram chose not to follow their example but rejected God and married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab in the line of Omri. Jehoram’s rule of Judah was shaky. Edom revolted, and he was forced to acknowledge their independence. A raid by Philistines, Arabs and Ethiopians looted the king’s house, and carried off all of his family except for their youngest son, Ahaziah.”[3]
The Kingdom of Israel lasted from 930 BC to 721 BC or about 209 years before they were carried away by Assyria to an area in the mountains called Ecbatana about 200 miles southwest of the bottom of the Caspian Sea and about 170 miles southeast of Tehran. They have been known as the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.
The Kingdom of Judah existed from 930 BC to 586 BC or about 344 years before they were carried off to Babylon. Many returned after 70 years of captivity in Babylon under Ezra (Help) and Nehemiah (Consolation of Jehovah). During their captivity in Babylon the Jews adopted many beliefs of the Persians including the Zoroastrian belief in a political Messiah (Saoshyant).[4] Because the Jews returned with this belief in a Babylonian-type Savior, they were expecting the Messiah to save the Jews from the Roman Empire. Jesus fulfilled the pre-Babylonian Jewish prophets’ description of the Messiah as a “man of sorrows…as a lamb to the slaughter” Isaiah 53:3-7. Healing the sick and a man of miracles were less important to the leaders of the Jewish Sanhedrin than being delivered from the Roman Empire. Evidence of how influenced the Jews were in Babylon can be seen in the current names of the Jewish months which are primarily the same as the Babylonian months. During the three generations of Jews in Babylon the Jewish beliefs were repeated, modified and passed down from one generation to another. These beliefs became the oral tradition written down and known as the Mishna. Jewish scholars and rabbis used the Mishna to write the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud hundreds of years later. Modern Judaism reflects more of a cultural heritage influenced by Babylon than it reflects the Law and the Prophets.
Lehi and the Book of Mormon were not a part of the Babylonian Captivity and record how the Law of Moses was to be lived independent from the Babylonian Jewish traditions.
[1] This is the literal translation “Brother of Jehovah.” Translators changed it to “Worshipper of Jehovah.” The Mormons and the Lacandon Maya are the only ones known to refer to Jehovah as “Elder Brother.”
[2] Steve Shirley, Kings of Judah and Israel. http://jesusalive.cc/ques128.htm, Comments within Brackets [ ] are John L. Lund’s.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athaliah
[4] http://www.crystalinks.com/saoshyant.html virgin birth and resurrecting the dead are characteristics of Saoshant