Sacred Spaces

Upon King Solomon’s death, his kingdom split in two—the kingdom of Judah in the south and that of Israel in the north. A scion of David continued to sit on the Judahite throne in Jerusalem for more than 300 years—until the Babylonian conquest in 586 B.C.E. The north, however, witnessed a succession of rulers from a variety of dynasties. The first king in the north was Jeroboam, who had earlier been a subversive in Solomon’s court (1 Kings 11:26–39). When Solomon tried to kill him, the rebellious Jeroboam fled to Egypt (1 Kings 11:40). After Solomon’s death, Jeroboam returned and was proclaimed king of secessionist Israel.