{"id":62295,"date":"2019-09-04T14:48:48","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T11:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=62295"},"modified":"2023-03-30T07:50:19","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T04:50:19","slug":"jeroboam-misses-his-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/jeroboam-misses-his-chance\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeroboam Misses His Chance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A striking wordplay, recurring fifteen times throughout this episode, involves the Hebrew root sh-v, meaning to return or restore, and also to repent. Essentially, this is a story about whether it is possible to “return.” Jeroboam asks that his arm be “restored” to him, and it is. Yet the<\/span> \u201cman of God\u201d<\/span> \u00a0is forbidden to “return” along the same path, and when he does, he is not granted a second chance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What of Jeroboam? Can the ritual centrality of Jerusalem be “restored”? Can he “repent”? I would suggest that, unlike the \u201cman of God,\u201d the king retains the possibility of “returning” by abandoning and annulling his forbidden acts, just as his arm is restored to him. This chapter is his final warning. But he chooses to ignore it; he fails to return. We detect that this is a call to repent from the final lines of the chapter: \u201cEven after this incident, Jeroboam did not turn back (<\/span>shav<\/span><\/i>) from his evil ways, but continued (<\/span>vayashav<\/span><\/i>) appointing priests from the ranks of the people for the bamot…. Thereby, the house of Jeroboam incurred guilt, to its utter annihilation from the face of the earth (13:33-34).<\/span><\/p>\n

This story, then, expresses the confusion into which Jeroboam’s new religious centers thrust the nation. The chapter states unequivocally that even a leader designated by God may not abrogate God’s word. What were Jeroboam’s options? He knew that the Torah mandated a single place of worship (see Deut. 12); his <\/span>bamot<\/span><\/i> clearly violated this law. Jeroboam had been designated by God to establish a new administration for the nation, but Jerusalem and the Temple could have remained the religious focal point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, certain northern and southern kings cooperated with one another (Ahab and Jehoshaphat, for example). Had Jeroboam collaborated with Rehoboam, had he had not allowed his resentment of the house of David to dominate, then the Jewish people might have remained a single nation with two administrations \u2014 in Shechem and in Jerusalem. In the final reckoning, Jeroboam’s absolute severing of the two kingdoms weakened the nation religiously and politically.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Abba said: … The Holy One Blessed Be He seized Jeroboam by his garment and urged him, “Repent! Then I, you, and the son of Jesse [i.e., David] will walk in the Garden of Eden.” Jeroboam inquired: “And who shall be at the head?” <\/span>
\n<\/span>God answered: “The son of Jesse shall be at the head.” If so,” he replied, “I do not desire it.” (Sanhedrin 102b)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Alex Israel, 1 Kings: Torn in Two<\/em>, Maggid Books, 2013, Confrontation at Bethel\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":61437,"id":61437,"title":"alex israel - kings 1","filename":"alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/adonijahs-scheme-to-ascend-the-throne\/alex-israel-kings-1\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"alex-israel-kings-1","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":61414,"date":"2019-08-19 12:13:44","modified":"2019-08-19 12:13:53","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1020,"height":1304,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-235x300.jpg","medium-width":235,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-768x982.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":982,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-801x1024.jpg","large-width":801,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":1020,"1536x1536-height":1304,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":1020,"2048x2048-height":1304,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-939x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":939,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/alex-israel-kings-1-329x420.jpg","home_baner-width":329,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"Excerpts from: 1 Kings - 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