|
|
|
Jewish World Review 23 Sivan 2964 (795 BCE) King Jeroboam of Israel prevents pilgrimage to Jerusalem By Rabbi Yonason Goldson
Our sages teach us that jealousy, desire, and the craving for honor destroy a person's portion in the World to Come. Jeroboam ranks among the most infamous figures in Jewish history, a brilliant Torah scholar with the potential to achieve immeasurable greatness who overreached himself by setting his sights on that which G-d had not intended for him. In his quest for power and position that he was not meant to have, Jeroboam forfeited all the honor and influence that could have been his, including eternal reward in the World to Come
But even when all is well people find excuses to complain. The Jewish people, resentful of Solomon's heavy taxation and conscription of workers, sent a delegation to Solomon's son, Rehoboam, asking him to lighten their load. Rehoboam understood that what they really wanted was for the king to concede a measure of his own authority to the people in the form of a limited monarchy.
The tribal leaders had orchestrated events to pressure Rehoboam into making concessions. They had waited for his coronation, on the occasion of which custom demanded that the king offer a gesture of mercy, to present their grievances. They had arranged for the coronation ceremony to take place in the territory of Ephraim rather than in the king's own territory of Judah. And they had had appointed Jeroboam ben Nevat to present their demands to Rehoboam.
Once a high-ranking official in the royal service, Jeroboam had fled to Egypt after publicly rebuking Solomon for showing inadequate sensitivity for the poor pilgrims who traveled to Jerusalem for the festivals. Although his brazenness had branded him a rebel, it was precisely because of Jeroboam's passionate defense of his countrymen, together with his unparalleled scholarship, that G-d sent the prophet Achiyah HaShiloni to proclaim his destiny. "I shall build for you an enduring dynasty," declared the prophet in the name of the Almighty, "just as I built for David, and I shall give Israel to you."
However, where David had earned the merit to establish an eternal dynasty through a lifetime of self-sacrifice, Jeroboam's claim upon the monarchy remained conditional: G-d promised him a dynasty like David's only "if you walk in My ways and keep My Torah."
THE DISREGUARDED COUNSEL
Rehoboam received the elders' counsel with skepticism and turned to his friends for advice. Well-intentioned but inexperienced, his friends warned him that the people would exploit any show of weakness. If Rehoboam lost the people's respect now, his friends cautioned, he might never gain it back. Preferring the advice of his friends, Rehoboam returned to the people and declared that, "my father flogged you with whips, but I will flog you with the tails of scorpions."
Concerning Rehoboam the Talmud says: "The building of youth is destruction and the destruction of elders is building." The counsel of Rehoboam's young friends, intended to strengthen the kingdom by coercing the people into submission, achieved precisely the opposite effect. The counsel of the elders, although appearing to weaken the power of the king, would have won the people's loyalty and secured the stability of the monarchy.
Angered by Rehoboam's threats, and having Jeroboam to lead them, the people declared their secession from Rehoboam's authority and made Jeroboam their king. Of the twelve tribes descended from the sons of Jacob, ten joined together in their rebellion against Rehoboam and formed the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Only two tribes remained loyal to Rehoboam: his own tribe of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, whose territory included a portion of the Temple and who therefore felt more closely connected to the Davidic dynasty.
To his credit, Rehoboam followed the orders of G-d's prophet and did not lead his army into a civil war. In later years, however, the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel would clash violently over disputed borders until the unity that is the most essential element for the success of the Jewish people disintegrated entirely.
THE FORGOTTEN PROMISE
But the same jealousy and contempt for the House of David that had prompted Jeroboam to publicly rebuke Solomon now metastasized into a paranoid obsession that his own kingdom might somehow be torn away from him even before it had become fully established.
With the ripening of the first fruits in early summer, the Jews of the Northern Kingdom prepared to bring their yearly offerings to Jerusalem. This vexed Jeroboam, who feared that when the people arrived in the Holy City they would become so swept up in the joy, the grandeur, and the solidarity of the moment that they would long for the days when the Jews were one nation. Imagining the worst, Jeroboam convinced himself that the people would then forsake him and declare their loyalty once again to Rehoboam and Judah.
Jeroboam had good reason for concern. No structure in the world inspired such awe and majesty as the Solomon's Temple. The facade was 120 cubits (180 feet) high with huge golden doors. The great stone altar in the court yard towered over the heads of the people who came to bring their offerings in an unceasing procession of animals as the Levites sat upon the courtyard steps and played upon their instruments while reciting King David's Psalms set to beautiful music.
Of course, the prophecy that Jeroboam's dynasty would endure should have assured him that the people would not reject him. But his paranoia so affected his reasoning that he could conceive no other outcome if he allowed his subjects to go up to Jerusalem.
And so Jeroboam contrived a plan to prevent the people from going. On the 23rd day of the month of Sivan, he placed border guards along the roads leading from Israel into Judah. Knowing that the people might rebel against him if he didn't allow them access to their place of worship, Jeroboam erected two golden calves, one in the northern territory of Dan and one in the southern city of Beth-El, then issued a proclamation that the people were to worship before these calves instead of traveling to the Temple.
A LESSON UNLEARNED
Although the people began worshipping at Jeroboam's altars only as a means of directing their offerings and their prayers to the Divine, over time many began to worship the calves themselves and to believe that they possessed independent power. Jeroboam continued erecting altars and appointing invalid non-priests in positions of divine service, until all resemblance to authentic Jewish worship had disappeared. For this reason, every evil king of Israel is said to have "continued in the way of Jeroboam;" having laid the path, he bears responsibility for everyone who followed it.
Our sages teach us that jealousy, desire, and the craving for honor destroy a person's portion in the World to Come. Jeroboam ranks among the most infamous figures in Jewish history, a brilliant Torah scholar with the potential to achieve immeasurable greatness who overreached himself by setting his sights on that which G-d had not intended for him. In his quest for power and position that he was not meant to have, Jeroboam forfeited all the honor and influence that could have been his, including eternal reward in the World to Come.
Moreover, Jeroboam set his kingdom on a course the led to its ultimate destruction. Eventually, the Northern Kingdom was conquered by the Assyrian King Sancheriv, who dispersed the captive Jews among his empire until all knowledge of them was lost. And the Kingdom of Judah, influenced by the idolatry of its neighbor, slipped into corruption itself and was subsequently conquered by the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar.
But the lessons of history did not go unlearned forever. Babylon fell, and the Jews returned to their homeland to rebuild their Temple, to try again to learn the lessons of history.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes inspiring articles. Sign up for our daily update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Rabbi Yonason Goldson teaches at Block Yeshiva High School in St. Louis. Comment by clicking here.
First printed Torah commentary
© 2006, Rabbi Yonason Goldson | ||||||||||
