Bible

Kings of Israel — the 10 Northern Tribes

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The kings of Israel are the kings of the 10 northern tribes which revolted and became a separate kingdom shortly after Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, became king. The northern tribes were also referred to as Ephraim because Ephraim was the predominant or leading tribe.

https://www.gotquestions.org/tribe-of-Ephraim.html

Kings of Israel - The 10 Northern Tribes

Kings of all Tribes

Saul

  • reigned 40 years – Acts 13:21 – no mention in OT of how long Saul reigned.
  • Israel demands a king (1 Samuel 8:4-5)
  • told by God to do what Israel asks (1 Samuel 8:7-22)
  • –God shows Saul to Samuel (1 Samuel 9:17)
  • Samuel anoints Saul king (1 Samuel 10:1)
  • Saul proclaimed king to all of Israel (1 Samuel 10:21-24
  • Saul rejected by God because he rejected the word of the Lord. 1 Samuel 15:10-26)
  • Saul outwardly followed God, but inwardly went his own way. That was worse than a king who did not make any pretense of following God. (1 Chronicles 10:13 – Holman NKJV Study Bible notes)
  • Saul and his sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishau, killed in battle (1 Samuel 31:6)

David

  • Reigned 40 years – 7½ years over Judah and 33 years over Israel and Judah – (2 Samuel 5:5; 1 Kings 2:11)
  • Samuel told to anoint David king (1 Samuel 16:12)
  • David anointed king by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:13)
  • David anointed king of Judah (2 Samuel 2:4)
  • War between Israel and Judah (2 Samuel 2:12 – 4:12)
  • Anointed king of all Israel (Israel and Judah) after murder of Ishboshet – (2 Samuel 5:3)

**Diverted his strength to an affair, and it destroyed his judgment and ruined his family (Proverbs 31:3—Holman NKJV study Bible)

Solomon

  • made co-regent by David – (1 Kings 1:33-35; 1 Chronicles 23:1)
  • Made king by David – (1 Kings 1: 29-48) – reigned 40 years – (1 Kings 11:42)
  • Solomon’s heart turned from God (worshipped other god’s) so kingdom will be torn from Solomon and given to his servant (10 northern tribes) Won’t be done while Solomon is king, but when his son is king. (1 Kings 11:9-13)
  • But because of David, this would not happen during Solomon’s reign. Instead, it would happen during the reign of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam.
  • Solomon’s obituary carries neither praise nor condemnation. (2 Chronicles 9:29-31)
  • The infidelity of Jerusalem began with Solomon’s introduction of idolatry and his creation of multiple shrine sites for idol worship. (Ezekiel 16:10 Holman NKJV study Bible notes)

Rehoboam

  • Son of Solomon – (1 Kings 11:43) – reigned 17 years – (1 Kings 14:21)
  • Lost the 10 northern tribes shortly after his coronation.
  • Reign of Folly – (2 Chronicles 10)
  • Solomon had taxed the people heavily. The people, with Jeroboam as their spokesperson, asked Rehoboam for relief and pledged to serve him if he would. Rehoboam refused.
  • 10 northern tribes revolted shortly after his coronation (1 Kings 12:1-16)
  • Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day (2 Chronicles 10:19)
  • There were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually (2 Chronicles 10:19)
  • Rehoboam misleads Judah – (1 Kings 14:22-24)
  • Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him to jealousy more than all that their fathers had done, with the sins which they committed.
  • Built high places, sacred pillars and wooden images (Asherah, fertility goddess, mother of Baal) on every high hill and under every green tree.
  • There were also male cult prostitutes in the land.
  • They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord dispossessed before the sons of Israel.
  • Died – (2 Chronicles 12:16)

Kings of Israel – The 10 Northern Tribes

1st – Ishbosheth

  • Son of Saul – (2 Samuel 2:8-9) – 1st king of Israel. Reigned 2 years –
    (2 Samuel 2:10)
  • Made king of Israel by Abner, son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army after Saul died (2 Samuel 2:8-9)
  • Murdered by Rechab and Baanah – sons of Rimmon the Beerothite –
    (2 Samuel 4:1-8)

2nd – Jeroboam 1

  • All Israel made him king of Israel – (1 Kings 12:20) – reigned 22 years – (1 Kings 14:20)
  • Was originally a servant of Solomon – (1Kings 11:26)
  • The prophet Ahijah informed Jeroboam that God was going to tear ten tribes away from Solomon’s son because the kingdom left God, worshiped other gods and didn’t walk in the ways of God to do right and keep God’s statutes and judgments. (1 Kings 11:29-36)
  • Ahijah also told Jeroboam that he would be king over Israel and that if Jeroboam heeded everything that God commanded, walked in God’s ways, did what was right in God’s sight, kept God’s statutes and commandments that God would be with Jeroboam and build him an enduring house, as He built for David, and would give Israel to Jeroboam. (1 Kings 11:37-38)
  • Solomon found out and sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt. (1 Kings 11:40)
  • The people sent for Jeroboam to speak to Rehoboam for them to ask Rehoboam to lighten the tax burden, but Rehoboam refused. (1 Kings 12:3)
  • The people revolted and the kingdom was split just as Ahijah had said. (1 Kings 12:16)
  • Made two calves of gold and shrines and appointed priests from outside the tribe of Levi, to keep the people from going to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices and lead the people in worshiping and sacrificing to the calves. (1 Kings 12:28-33)
  • “Appointed priests and became one of the priests of the high places himself. And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth.” (1 Kings 13:33-34)
    • Led the people into false worship. (1 Kings 14:6-9 Holman NKJV study Bible notes)
    • Was the archetypical figure for the sin of Israel and the roots of Israel’s destruction are traced back to him. (2 Kings 17:20-23 Holman NKJV study Bible notes)

3rd – Nadab

  • Son of Jeroboam – (1 Kings 15:25)
  • “did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin by which he made Israel sin” (1 Kings 15:26)
  • Assassinated, after only 2 years on the throne, by Baasha. (1 Kings 15:27)

4th – Baasha

  • Son of Ahijah, became king over all Israel in Tirzah and reigned 24 years – (1 Kings 15:33)
  • Killed all the house of Jeroboam (1 Kings 15:29)
  • “did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin by which he had made Israel sin.” (1 Kings 15:34)
  • Walked in the way of Jeroboam and made Israel sin. “I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam.” (1 Kings 16:2-3)

5th – Ela

  • Son of Baasha reigned 2 years – (1 Kings 16:8)
  • Assassinated by Zimri, commander of half Ela’s chariots while Ela was “drinking himself drunk” in the house of Arza, his steward (1 Kings 16:9-10)

6th – Zimri

  • Killed Ela and reigned in his place – (1 Kings 16:10) – reigned 7 days – (1 Kings 16:15)
  • Killed all the household of Baasha, his relatives and his friends
    (1 Kings 16:11-13)
  • When Israel’s army heard Zimri had murdered the king, they proclaimed Omri, the commander of the army, king over Israel. (1 Kings 16:16)
  • Omri and all the Israelites with him laid siege to capital. (1 Kings 16:17)
  • When Zimri saw that the city was taken, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and set the palace on fire around him. (1 Kings 16:18)
  • So he died, because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and following the ways of Jeroboam and committing the same sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. (1 Kings 16:19)

7th – Omri

  • Killed his opponent, Tibni, for the throne, in battle (1 Kings 21-22)
  • Reigned 12 years – (1 Kings 16:23)
  • “did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and did worse than all who were before him.” “walked in all the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat
    (1 Kings 16:25-26)

8th – Ahab

  • Son of Omri reigned 22 years – (1 Kings 16:29)
  • “did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:33)
  • Made Baal worship the state religion of the northern kingdom. (2 Chronicles 18:1)“served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal” (1 Kings 16:31-32)
  • And Ahab made a wooden image (1 Kings 16:33) — Asherah was represented by a limbless tree trunk planted in the ground. The trunk was usually carved into a symbolic representation of the goddess. https://www.gotquestions.org/who-Asherah.html

9th – Ahaziah

  • Son of Ahab – reigned 2 years – (1 Kings 22:51)
  • “did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother, Jezebel, and in the way of Jeroboam.” (1 Kings 22:52)
  • “served Baal and worshiped him.” (1 Kings 22:53)
  • Died with no son. (2 Kings 1:17)

10th – Jehoram/Joram

  • Son of Ahab – (2 Kings 1:17) – reigned 12 years – (2 Kings 3:1)
  • “did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and mother; for he put away the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless, he persisted in the sins of Jeroboam” – worshipped the golden calves
    (2 Kings 3:2-3)
  • Killed by Jehu after Jehu’s anointment as King of Israel by God’s command. (2 Kings 9:24)

11th – Jehu

  •  Anointed King of Israel by God’s command to Elisha the prophet – (2 Kings 9:1-3) – reigned 28 years – (2 Kings 10:36)
  • Told to kill the whole house of Ahab. (2 Kings 9:7-10)
  • Jehu kills Jehoram/Joram – (2 Kings 9:24)
  • Jezebel killed – thrown out the window by servants, at Jehu’s command. (2 Kings 9:30-37) – the prophecy in verse 10 fulfilled
  • “The dogs shall eat Jezebel on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.”
  • Ahab’s 70 sons killed – (2 Kings 10)
  • Remainder of Ahab’s relatives killed. (2 Kings 10:17)
  • All worshipers of Baal killed. (2 Kings 10:18-25)
  • Destroyed Baal from Israel (2 Kings 10:25-28)
  • Didn’t turn away from and reverse the illegal worship at the calf shrines (2 Kings 10:29,31)

12th – Jehoahaz

  • Son of Jehu – (2 Kings 10:35) – reigned 17 years – (2 Kings 13:1)
  • “did evil in the sight of the Lord and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.” (2 Kings 13:2)

13th – Jehoash/Joash

  • Son of Jehoahaz – reigned 16 years – (2 Kings 13:10)
  • “did evil in the sight of the Lord…did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, …but walked in them” (2 Kings 13:11)

14th – Jeroboam II

  • Son of Jehoash/Joash – (2 Kings 13:13; 14:16, 23) – reigned 41 years –
    (2 Kings 14:23)
  • “did evil in the sight of the Lord…did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.” (2 Kings 14:24)

15th – Zechariah

  • Son of Jeroboam II – (2 Kings 14:29) – reigned 6 months – (2 Kings 15:8)
  • “did evil in the sight of the Lord as his fathers had done; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.” (2 Kings 15:9)
  • Killed by Shallum in front of the people (2 Kings 15:10)

16th – Shallum

  • Son of Jabesh –reigned 1 month – (2 Kings 15:13)
  • Killed by Menahem, son of Gadi (2 Kings 15:14, 17)

17th – Menahem

18th – Pekahiah

  • Son of Menahem – (2 Kings 15:22) – reigned 2 years – (2 Kings 15:27)
  • “did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat” (2 Kings 15:24)
  • Killed by Pekah, son of Remaliah (2 Kings 15:25)

19th – Pekah

  • Son of Remaliah – (2 Kings 15:25, 27) –– reigned 20 years – (2 Kings 15:27)
  • ‘did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat” (2 Kings 15:28)
  • Killed by Hoshea, son of Elah (2 Kings 15:30)

20th – Hoshea

  • son of Elah – (2 Kings 15:30; 17:1) – reigned 9 years – (2 Kings 17:1)
  • “did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him” (2 Kings 17:2)
  • Was a vassal to Shalmaneser king of Assyria and was required to pay heavy tribute. (2 Kings 17:3)
  • Shut up and bound in prison by the King of Assyria for bringing no tribute and conspiring against the King of Assyria (2 Kings 17:4)
  • The Assyrian army then invaded Israel. (2 Kings 17:5)
  • Capital city of Samaria besieged for three years and eventually captured. (2 Kings 17:6)
Israel carried away to Assyria in the ninth year of Hoshea’s reign.
(2 Kings17:6)

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