Jeroboam begins

Jeroboam's story starts in 1 Kings 11.  This chapter recounts how Solomon's wives and concubines led him astray from the one true God, and he followed after their false gods.  At some point in time, Solomon had put Jeroboam in charge of his forced labor.  While he was walking along one day, Ahijah the Shilonite took Jeroboam's robe and tore it into twelve pieces.  Jeroboam got to keep 10 parts, showing that he would be king of ten tribes of Israel while Judah got to keep two parts: Judah and Benjamin.  Solomon heard about this and turned into king Saul, seeking out the life of his successor.  Jeroboam fled to Egypt until Solomon's death.

Then he returned and had his famous spat with king Rehoboam.  In chapter 11, God had told Jeroboam that if he would be faithful, he would keep his kingdom going.  Jeroboam was not faithful.  He set knew that the people of the northern kingdom would still want to go to Jerusalem to make sacrifices to God, so he set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan for the people to worship.  Thus the people of northern Israel, later known as Ephraim (Jeroboam was from Ephraim's tribe), bowed down to graven images while pretending to worship the one true God.  However, you cannot worship the one true God with images because he commanded not to be worshiped through images.  If you are using images, you are worshiping a lesser god.  Jeroboam's kingdom would not last.

Through reading George Schwab's book on Judges, Right in Their Own Eyes, Schwab makes a point that Judges, Samuel, and Kings were written as an apologetic as to why the ruler of Israel must come from Judah's tribe and no one else.  Although I somewhat disagree as to the symbolization of many names and places that he seems to make, his point is valid.  Solomon made a mess of Judah, and his sons made it even worse, but in the end, the southern kingdom of Judah stayed faithful to true worship of YHWH while Ephraim fell into idolatrous worship and found no cure.  All of the northern kings, though set up by God, worshiped the golden calves and moved on to even more wicked worship of Baal which led to cult prostitution and child sacrifice.  And it is through Judah that Jesus came.  Although his kingly ancestors eventually fell into exile, he rose up and remains a king and priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. 

And we must also remember that even if names and places turn into symbols and parables, it does not mean that they did not happen.  The accounts of God's historical narratives in Scripture really happened in history from creation to the exile of Israel.  They may point to a tabernacle or the need for a Judaean king, but they are types and shadows God established to point to his true King and Temple.  And some of the bizarre and disturbing stories that soon follow are definitely object lessons for Israel while they certainly occurred in real time and space.