In First Kings, chapter twelve, verse twenty, at the death of Solomon, the Hebrew nation split into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom, called Israel, was first ruled by Jeroboam. The southern kingdom, called Judah, was started to be governed by Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, as in verse seventeen. The division continued until the ten northern tribes were taken into captivity by Assyria (in 722 B.C.). The Babylonians carried the southern kingdom into captivity (in 586 B.C.). The history of these two kingdoms is recorded in First Kings twelve, verse twenty-two, Second Kings, chapters one through twenty-five, and Second Chronicles, chapters ten to thirty-six, respectively.
The story of Israel and Judah reveals their persistence in breaking God’s covenant. The Bible indicates that all the kings of the northern kingdom did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as in example verses, chapter sixteen, verse twenty-five, stanza thirty, chapter twenty-two, verse fifty-two, and Second Kings three, verse three, and chapter ten, verse twenty-nine. The majority of the kings of Judah departed from the covenant. Only a few of the kings of Judah, notably Hezekiah, in Second Kings eighteen one through chapter twenty, verse twenty-one, and Josiah, in Second Kings twenty-two, verse one through chapter twenty-three, verse twenty-nine, “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,” which states in Second Kings eighteen, verse three, and chapter twenty-two, verse two, accordingly.
Jeroboam has come again involved in the assembly at Shechem, probably broke up in disorder, carrying the news of the rebellion. It would be in harmony with Jeroboam’s astuteness if setting the revolution on foot, he stood aloof from leadership and waited till “the congregation,” the duly summoned assembly, sent for him and offered him the crown. The title “king over all Israel” certainly indicates a claim on the part of the ten tribes to be genuine Israel, relying perhaps on the prophetic choice and blessing of Jeroboam and professing to have risen in the name of the Lord against the idolatry of Solomon and his house. However, it also indicated a desire for the subjugation of Judah, which Jeroboam, with the aid of Shishak, certainly seems to have subsequently attempted.