The Text
Last Time on Tales of Faith
When we last left our heroes, King David was consolidating his power in Jerusalem with the Ark of the Covenant. He offered to build YHWH a temple, but it would be his son, Solomon, who would end up building it (with slave labor). Solomon married a ton of wives, and generally amassed a load of wealth while his people suffered. We now hear of the split between the southern tribes of Judah/Benjamin, and the Northern tribes (collectively referred to as Israel) after the death of Solomon.
Overview of Kings
1 Kings
1:1-53 David on hospice, Solomon named as king
2:1-46 Solomon enacts revenge on David’s political enemies
3:1-4:34 Solomon’s wisdom
5:1-9:25 Solomon builds and dedicates the Temple
9:26-11:13 Solomon’s wealth
11:14-14:31 A kingdom divided
11:14-25 Political opposition
11:26-40 Jeroboam is chosen as king of Israel, flees to Egypt
11:41-43 the death of Solomon
12:1-19 Rehoboam is named king of Judah, Jeroboam leads Israel away
12:20-24 the civil war that wasn’t
12:25-33 Jeroboam casts golden calves and temples in Bethel and Dan (dun dun duun)
13:1-34 the Man of God warns Jeroboam
14:1-20 reign and death of Jeroboam
14:21-31 Reign of Rehoboam
15:1-16:28 A Royal Rogues Gallery
16:29-2 Kings 1:18 King Ahab of Israel and Elijah the Man of God
2 Kings
2:1-12 Elijah’s Ascension
2:13-6:23 Elisha the Man of God
6:24-7:20 The Siege of Samaria
8:1-29 Elisha’s continued ministry
9:1-10:36 Jehu’s Coup
11:1-17:4 Kings of Judah and the last Kings of Israel
17:5-41 The Assyrian defeat of Israel
18:1-25:26 Jerusalem’s overall demise, Exile
25:27-30 Postscript: A New Hope
Characters
Jeroboam (he that opposes the people)
Rehoboam (the people are enlarged)
Today’s Story
Political Trouble:
Our story today begins in a politically divided time which BeARs no reSEmbLaNCE tO tHe UNITed StAtES RighT NoW1. As always, there are several factors and characters who have led to this situation:
Solomon: son of king David and Bathsheba (yes, that Bathsheba) has been reigning for the last forty years. Solomon is famous for being the most wise person ever, and there certainly is an element of the narrative that holds this up. Solomon is also famous for building the Temple, which had been a dream of his father David. However, he uses forced labor in order to build it, so that is not ideal. He also uses forced labor for the building of his own house, and building various walls around the city. “But of the Israelites Solomon made no slaves” (1 Kings 9:22). In usual ‘the Bible’ fashion, this recounting of history is not given an interpretation (e.g. and it was terrible in YHWH’s sight), however Biblical interpreters’ ears should perk up comparing Solomon to another certain king/ruler who used the enslaved labor of not-his-people to build his city (it’s the pharaoh of Exodus, that's the one I’m thinking of). In fact, Solomon also marries the daughter of Pharaoh, and a whole bunch of other daughters for a total of 700 princesses and 300 concubines. These relationships have a little to say about a BiBLIcal ACcouNt of MArRiAGe, but also presents challenges for the writer of Kings. First, each of these marriages are that each one of them represents a political alliance with a foreign nation. This is obviously not a bad thing in itself, but the sheer number speaks to the amassing of power for Solomon and his dynasty. The number is also probably hyperbolic since I doubt there were seven hundred nations in the known world at the time. Secondly, the religious and cultural implications of all these marriages lead to the worship of all sorts of other idols. For the priestly writers and casts, who tend towards Jerusalem centralization and ethnocentrism/xenophobia, this is a big deal. The amassing of wealth, power, and semi-official support of idolatry will continue to be a problem. Unsurprisingly, these issues do not go away when Solomon dies.
Solomon’s actions naturally lead to opposition. Interestingly, the narrative does not say much about their actual opposition, but does clearly say that YHWH themselves raise them up as an adversary to Solomon.
Hadad the Edomite (1 Kings 11:14-22): Hadad is a survivor of the Edomite genocide perpetrated by David and Joab. Hadad escapes with some other Edomites to Egypt, where he is welcomed into Pharaoh's house. When he hears of David and Joab’s death, he returns to Canaan to take revenge(?). There are some interesting parallels between Hadad’s story and those of both Moses and Jesus which would be interesting to meditate on more.
Rezon son of Eliada (1 Kings 11:23-25): Rezon was a former servant of King Hadadezer of Zobah who became the king of Aram. “He was an adversary (satan) of Israel all of the days of Solomon” (11:25).
Jeroboam son of Nebat (1 Kings 11:26-40): Jeroboam son of Nabat of the tribe of Ephraim oversaw the construction of the Millo wall (southern wall between the Temple Hill and the City of David) as well the repair of the wall around the City of David. There are some interesting tidbits in his narrative which suggests some funny aspects. First of all, he is described as the son of Nabat and Zeruah, “a widow” (11:26). We have no indication what happened to Nabat, but with all of the wars of David, we might make some guesses. However, later we hear that “The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all of the forced labor of the house of Joseph” (11:28). In this reading, this simple explanation gives me some really creepy vibes. Solomon takes this young man who has few options and no male role model, and uses his labor and abilities. We also have an interesting note that he oversaw the forced labor of the house of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh), so maybe the whole ‘never made slaves of the Isrealites’ thing is in question.
Jeroboam is told by the prophet Ahijah that YHWH is going to tear ten of the tribes away from Solomon, and give them to Jeroboam. The tribe of Judah will remain under Davidic reign “for the sake of my servant David.” (I would assume that since Ephriam and Manessa have been treated as ‘the tribe of Joseph’ that the twelfth tribe is Levi, which was not allotted tribal lands). Jeroboam is also told very clearly the expectation of his reign, “If you will listen to all that I commend you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did [and Solomon did not], I will be with you, and build you an enduring house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you” (1 Kings 11:38).
Solomon is not well pleased with this pronouncement, and so tries to kill Jeroboam (ala Saul). Jeroboam flees to Egypt.
This narrative establishment of Egypt as a place of refuge is a part of this overall theme of Jerusalem having become the new Egypt.
Union Negotiations:
Solomon dies, and Rehoboam son of Solomon goes to Shechem. The location of this narrative is telling in that it is not Jerusalem, which has operated as the capital city for some seventy years. Shechem was an already ancient city squarely in the center of the tribal lands of Manasseh, well north of Jerusalem. The narrative tells us that “all Israel” has gathered here to crown Rehoboam, thought the location might suggest otherwise, as well as the appearance of Jeroboam.
Jeroboam, makes demands of Rehoboam:
“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you” (1 Kings 12:4). They have been struggling under too much work with too little pay, and they are not going to take it any more. They are willing to continue to serve, but some things are going to have to change before that happens. Perhaps it is the times, but this negotiation feels very much like a labor negotiation. Union action has been increasing in the last few years with the unionization of Starbucks and Amazon, the recent successful strikes of the Teamsters with UPS and the Writers Guild of America, and the continued striking of SAG-AFTRA (just passing day 100 of strikes) and the UAW. It also bears a striking similarity to the GenX/Millennial/GenZ inheritance of a deeply broken economy, and the growing demands for something different.
Jeroboam makes these demands, and Rehoboam stalls (standard management tactic) for three days. He gets two sets of advice:
The older men (ironically, for our context) provide a labor-friendly perspective. “If you will be a servant for this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants for ever” (12:7). They advise him to listen to the legitimate concerns of his people, and do something to fix them. He does not need to continue the practices of the former CEO, he can make some structural changes that will lead to the overall flourishing of the company and well being of its employees.
Rehoboam also consults his college classmates, who advise him to make a penis joke (NRSV renders it “my little finger is thicker than my father’s loins” though the literal translation is “My little one is thicker than my father’s hips”) and tell them, “Now whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to that yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, I will discipline you with scorpions” (12:11)
Rehoboam opts for the union-busting penis reference. Unsurprisingly, Jeroboam and the tribes of Israel walk away.
Alternate Worship Site:
Shifting now from a Labor lens to an ecclesiastical lens: after a split of the church over politics, Jeroboam goes to start a new church, which is both good and bad.
On the plus side
Perhaps on the good news side is a rejection of the centralism of the Jerusalem Temple. Under David and Solomon, worship of YHWH had become increasingly centered in Jerusalem, which also meant a centralization of power and wealth. Historically, this can easily lead to not great places.
Jeroboam is also providing for the worship of YHWH by his people without having to go to Jerusalem. This is selfishly so that he does not lose power, but we can give it to him.
On the negative side
Jeroboam sets up temples for the worship of YHWH, yes; however, he does so by commissioning the casting of golden calves (“did you guys even watch the show?”). This is an OBVIOUS allusion to the golden calf that Aaron and the Hebrew people made when Moses was on the mountain receiving the Torah in Exodus 32. This is not good, at all.
“He also set up houses on high places, and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not Levites.” ‘High Places’ are often a reference to pagan worship places, though there is recent archaeological evidence that YHWH worship took place in some of these. The tribe of Levi had been appointed as priests.
However, there is already ample scriptural evidence that a hereditary priesthood does not eliminate corruption (see 1 Samuel 1-4), so perhaps this is not so bad, again a move away from the centralization of Jerusalem and the politics of the High Priestly family.
Jeroboam also sets up an alternative high holy day on the fifteenth day of the eighth month (not the seventh month, which gets a lot of action in the Torah).
These ‘reforms’ of Jeroboam doom Israel, at least according to the deuteronomistic interpretation. The next chapter tells of a prophet (a ‘man of God’) who drops a prophesy of a son of David (Josiah, who we will hear about in a few weeks) who will sacrifice the priests of the high places on the altar at Bethel.
We can also see the aftermath of this ‘which worship site’ controversy all the way in Jesus’ time when in John 4 the Samaritan woman (the cultural and maybe biological descendant of the Isrealites, as well as other peoples settled in the land by Assyria) asks him “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you [Jewish people] say that the place where people should worship is in Jerusalem” (John 4:19-20). Interestingly, Jesus espouses the decentralization of worship, and the omnipresence of God, in his response, “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship in spirit and truth.”
Pop Culture References
Again with Palpatine, but the relationship between Solomon and Jeroboam gives me real “Have you ever heard the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the wise?” vibes.
Also in the Star Wars universe, Marva’s monologue from Andor. Marva, the deceased mother of Cassian Andor, has her speech broadcast at the service where her funeral brick is placed in a wall. “The Empire is a disease that thrives in darkness,” she says to those assembled. Her call to fight the Empire kicks off a riot on Ferix, one of the many that later assembles into the Rebel Alliance.
More Links
The Bible Worm Podcast 508; Episode 108 (2019)
Bible Project: Kings (Read the Bible Series)
So I had a great conversation lately with someone on the autism spectrum who did not get that I was being sarcastic (“oh, did something important happen in 2016 that would cause you to reconsider your faith and political affiliation?”) so, I will attempt to mark out my sarcasm with the use of SpongeMock alternating lower case and uppercase letters. Hope that helps my fellow neurodivergent fam.