Monthly Archives: March 2023

Review of Sunyi Dean The Book Eaters

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Sunyi Dean. The Book Eaters

For me a five star book is something that either I want to read again or something that is so profound it makes an immediate impact. There are lots of ways that books can be compelling: a unique idea, an interesting set of characters, a complex plot, an artistic use of the English language and more. Reading is also a subjective experience, so what appeals to me as a reader may be very different for you. I read a lot for both pleasure and work but these short reviews are a way for me to show my appreciation for the work and the craft of the author of the reviewed work.

The Book Eaters is a work of dark fantasy set in contemporary England. The first time I saw the title and read the synopsis I was intrigued by the idea of a people who ate books instead of food and I was curious to see how this idea played out in the story. The story alternates between the present-day struggle of Devon and her son Cai and the traumatic story that places this mother and son on the run from the families of book eaters. Devon grows up in a world where she is isolated from the rest of the world by her family and grows up on fairy tales of princesses. These carefully curated stories are fed to her (literally since she is a book eater) and form her world and imagination, but she is also curious for the other stories that she is not supposed to read or eat. She begins to see signs that life is not the fairy tales she has been fed as a child, but as an adult she discovers that her role in the families is to be essentially breeding stock and she will be unable to raise the children she bears. Devon is permanently scared when the connection with her daughter is severed suddenly and she is sent to another marriage to bear her second child.

Devon’s second child, Cai, is a mind eater. Among the book eaters there are children born who consume human minds instead of paper and although there is a drug that allows them to consume books instead of minds they are always looked upon as a danger. Most of these children will become ‘dragons’ who are kept by the ‘knights’ in the story but as the time near for Cai to be taken by the knights and Devon to be removed from his life the family who produces the drug to treat the mind eaters disappears. In the present day the story follows Devon and Cai as they attempt to find the Ravenscar family who manufactures this drug which will allow five-year-old Cai to no longer eat human minds. In the meantime Devon must find a human for her son to feed on every two weeks as she attempts to avoid the families and the knights who want her and her son dead.

What makes The Book Eaters a compelling read is the realistic character development of both Devon and Cai who are looked upon as monsters but are bound together by the love of a mother and son. It is a book full of betrayals and broken people, of fairy tales that hide the darker side of reality, of the difficult choices love can cause us to make, and princesses who find a way to save themselves. The isolation of the families reminded me a little of the Ravenwood/Duchennes family in the Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl series Beautiful Creatures although that is set in a Southern U.S. gothic world rather than an English one. A compelling plot which realistically develops a group of characters who are shaped by the curated narratives they have been fed and the trauma inflicted upon them as they attempt to survive in a world that views them as monsters.

1 Kings 14 The End of Kings Jeroboam and Rehoboam

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By Charles Horne – [2], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9390700

1 Kings 14:1-20

1 At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2 Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go, disguise yourself, so that it will not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh; for the prophet Ahijah is there, who said of me that I should be king over this people. 3 Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what shall happen to the child.”

4 Jeroboam’s wife did so; she set out and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age. 5 But the LORD said to Ahijah, “The wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son; for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall say to her.”

When she came, she pretended to be another woman. 6 But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam; why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with heavy tidings for you. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because I exalted you from among the people, made you leader over my people Israel, 8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David to give it to you; yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my sight, 9 but you have done evil above all those who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods, and cast images, provoking me to anger, and have thrust me behind your back; 10 therefore, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will consume the house of Jeroboam, just as one burns up dung until it is all gone. 11 Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, the dogs shall eat; and anyone who dies in the open country, the birds of the air shall eat; for the LORD has spoken.’ 12 Therefore set out, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. 13 All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him; for he alone of Jeroboam’s family shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the LORD, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.

14 Moreover the LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel, who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today, even right now! 15 “The LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; he will root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their ancestors, and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their sacred poles, provoking the LORD to anger. 16 He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and which he caused Israel to commit.”

17 Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and went away, and she came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. 18 All Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by his servant the prophet Ahijah.

19 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred and how he reigned, are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel. 20 The time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years; then he slept with his ancestors, and his son Nadab succeeded him.

Jeroboam’s rise to power over ten of the twelve tribes of Israel began with the prophet Ahijah tearing his new robe into twelve pieces and symbolically giving Jeroboam ten to represent God handing ten tribes over to Jeroboam and away from the house of David. The downfall of the house of Jeroboam begins with Jeroboam’s unnamed wife approaching the prophet Ahijah with ten loaves of bread, cake and honey, the offering of a poor person to inquire about the health of their son. Ahijah has disappeared from the narrative until his reemergence as an elderly prophet whose eyesight is failing but is still able to discern the voice of the LORD when God speaks to him. Jeroboam may be aware that Ahijah is at Shiloh, but this prophet seems to have been otherwise neglected during the reign of Jeroboam.

If Jeroboam had realized that Ahijah’s eyes were failing him it would have been unnecessary to instruct his wife to go in disguise. Yet, this prophet of failing eyesight is given clear insight by the LORD into both the identity of his visitor, her quest, and God’s pronouncement to her. My impression of prophets as a youth was that they were holy and proper figures, but this is not reflective of the biblical prophets. Whether it is a direct relaying of the message from God which carries God’s disgust or whether the tone of the message is reflective of this elderly prophet who has lost his sense of awe towards the king, the language that Ahijah uses to relay God’s judgment is more vulgar than English translations show. While the NRSV is correct that God promises to cut off every male in verse ten, the Hebrew for male (mustin bequir) is literally ‘one who pisses against the wall’ (NIB III: 112) and later they are compared to dung. There is a parallel with the language of the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 (particularly verse 5-6), and the distinction of bond and free may be related either to slavery and freedom or being still under parental control and being an adult. Jeroboam’s wife has the unfortunate task of bearing both the message of her own son’s impending death as well as the dynasty of Jeroboam.

Unlike the dynasty of David, where the LORD seems content to allow the offspring of that line to continue despite their own abominable practices (see below) the LORD will continue to “tamper with dynastic politics” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 179) in Israel by selecting new kings and allowing an air of instability of persist in Israel. In a somewhat heretical line of thought I wonder if the LORD is really bad at picking qualified leaders for the people, or what causes these kings to fail to live into the vision that God has for them. But during this time of multiple dynasties in Israel we will see the rise of the prophets who challenge the actions of the kings and attempt to bring the people back to the worship of the LORD and the way of the Torah. God and Ahijah’s disappointment with Jeroboam goes back to his practices which violated the commandments and introduced images into the worship of God.

The death of Abijah, the son of the king, in the manner which the prophet spoke should be a call to Jeroboam’s family to repentance. Like with Solomon, the LORD seems willing to delay the judgment to the following generation as Jeroboam sleeps with his ancestors and his son, Nadab succeeds him. Yet, God has spoken through the rough words of the prophet about the impending doom upon Jeroboam’s household. But before we can learn the fate of the household of Jeroboam we will revisit the kingdom of Judah under Solomon’s son, Rehoboam.

1 Kings 14: 21-31

 

21 Now Rehoboam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. 22 Judah did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their ancestors had done. 23 For they also built for themselves high places, pillars, and sacred poles on every high hill and under every green tree; 24 there were also male temple prostitutes in the land. They committed all the abominations of the nations that the LORD drove out before the people of Israel.

25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; 26 he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made; 27 so King Rehoboam made shields of bronze instead, and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard, who kept the door of the king’s house. 28 As often as the king went into the house of the LORD, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.

29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah? 30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. 31 Rehoboam slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. His son Abijam succeeded him.

The wisdom of Solomon had been used to accumulate vast amounts of gold, create trading networks, acquire and trade in chariot and horses and dramatically reshape the tribes of Israel into a unified kingdom that was admired by Solomon’s neighbors. Five years later under Rehoboam the kingdom has split in two, the trading networks seem to have evaporated, and the military might and gold are returned to Egypt. The golden king is now succeeded by the son of brass and the sins of the father to create the high places where the Canaanite gods could be worshipped are continued by the son to disastrous consequences. Solomon’s peace has dissolved into Rehoboam’s continual warfare with Israel and his humiliation by King Shishak of Egypt.

Naamah, the mother of Rehoboam, is mentioned twice and may indicate the powerful role of the queen mother. It is possible that the author of 1 Kings views this Ammonite mother as a negative influence who encourages the religious practices that are labeled as abominations. These religious practices are labeled in two of the most rhetorically extreme terms: male prostitution and abominations. Although the meaning of the term that is rendered ‘male prostitution’ is debated it clearly refers to a practice that worshipers of the LORD found deeply offensive. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 181) Yet, even though the practices in Judah may receive a harsh rhetorical judgment the line of David is allowed to continue.

Five years into the reign of Rehoboam the former trading partner of Solomon has become a military invader. King Shishak of Egypt rolls into Judah, humiliates the forces of Judah and pillages the golden stores of Solomon. Although the text does not explicitly indicate this is God’s judgment on the reign of Rehoboam[1] the positioning of this humiliation after the narration of the unfaithfulness of the people implies it. Yet, the LORD does not allow Judah to be overthrown, merely humiliated. The golden shields are replaced by bronze ones and they continue their conflicts with Israel. Yet, the seventeen-year reign of Rehoboam is not worth much consideration by the author of 1 Kings. He lives in the aftermath of Solomon’s glories and Solomon’s sins and dies the bronze son of the golden father.

[1] 2 Chronicles 12 does make this explicit link, but Rehoboam and the people 2 Chronicles humble themselves and submit to God, where 1 Kings has no indication of Rehoboam making any changes.

Review of The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood

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Time Magazine Top 100 Novels

Book 12: The Berlin Stories by Christopher Isherwood

This is a series of reflections reading through Time Magazine’s top 100 novels as selected by Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo published since 1923 (when Time magazine was founded). For me this is an attempt to broaden my exposure to authors I may not encounter otherwise, especially as a person who was not a liberal arts major in college. Time’s list is alphabetical, so I decided to read through in a random order, and I plan to write a short reflection on each novel.

The Berlin Stories is actually two books written based on the author’s time in Berlin from 1929-1933. The Last of Mr. Norris narrates Christopher Isherwood’s relationship with Arthur Norris and several other figures from his circle of acquaintances. Arthur Norris as a character is both charming and paranoid and is a complex collection of contradictory eccentricities and collaborations. Arthur can rally a communist rally or manipulate Arthur into entrapping a fellow friend Kuno (Baron von Pregnitz) in  a trip to Switzerland. The character of Arthur with his unappealing assistant Schmidt is always one step away from disaster and early 1930s Berlin is a dangerous place for a trickster like Arthur. The Berlin Diaries is a collection of shorter encounters with characters set in the same time period. The character of Sally Bowles, who would later be adopted to the stage in “I Am Camera” and the movies in “Cabaret” is the shining star among this collection as this young woman navigates the nightlife of Berlin as an aspiring actor and dancer in a cabaret. Peter and Otto, an older man and a younger man in an arranged relationship, form the second group of characters with Peter jealous of Otto’s other attractions. In a time when his finances are challenging Christopher Isherwood moves into the slums with Otto’s family in Berlin, the Nowaks with their sick mother, alcoholic father, two sons and one daughter. Moving in opposite directions Christopher also shows us into his connections with the wealthy Jewish family, the Landauers, where he has an initially friendly if formal relationship with the Natalia Landauer and is taken into the confidence of Bernard who runs the family business. Connecting the two stories is the landlady Fraulein Schroeder in whose house Christopher lives through much of this time.

The environment of early 1930s Berlin also plays a crucial role in these two books and it gives a window into this desperate time. Berlin is a place of conflict and danger where communists and fascists are vying for power, where poverty and depression are constantly present, where anything is available for sale and where people will do anything to survive. It does illuminate both the violence of the emerging Nazi movement but also gives a perspective why hopeless people would be drawn to it or its communist alternative. It is a dark environment to write a story within and none of the characters would be considered heroic, but they are survivors. Seeing the environment of pre-Nazi Berlin through the characters eyes helps make the time more vivid, but the understanding of the environment also helps the characters more understandable.

1 Kings 13 A Man of God, the King and a Prophet at Bethel: A Strange Story

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Gustave Dore, Prophet Slain by a Lion (1866)

1 Kings 13

1 While Jeroboam was standing by the altar to offer incense, a man of God came out of Judah by the word of the LORD to Bethel 2 and proclaimed against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, “O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: ‘A son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'” 3 He gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign that the LORD has spoken: ‘The altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.'” 4 When the king heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Seize him!” But the hand that he stretched out against him withered so that he could not draw it back to himself. 5 The altar also was torn down, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. 6 The king said to the man of God, “Entreat now the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated the LORD; and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as it was before. 7 Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and dine, and I will give you a gift.” 8 But the man of God said to the king, “If you give me half your kingdom, I will not go in with you; nor will I eat food or drink water in this place. 9 For thus I was commanded by the word of the LORD: You shall not eat food, or drink water, or return by the way that you came.” 10 So he went another way, and did not return by the way that he had come to Bethel.

11 Now there lived an old prophet in Bethel. One of his sons came and told him all that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; the words also that he had spoken to the king, they told to their father. 12 Their father said to them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him the way that the man of God who came from Judah had gone. 13 Then he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey for him, and he mounted it. 14 He went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak tree. He said to him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He answered, “I am.” 15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.” 16 But he said, “I cannot return with you, or go in with you; nor will I eat food or drink water with you in this place; 17 for it was said to me by the word of the LORD: You shall not eat food or drink water there, or return by the way that you came.” 18 Then the other said to him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD: Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat food and drink water.” But he was deceiving him. 19 Then the man of God  went back with him, and ate food and drank water in his house.

20 As they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21 and he proclaimed to the man of God who came from Judah, “Thus says the LORD: Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment that the LORD your God commanded you, 22 but have come back and have eaten food and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, ‘Eat no food, and drink no water,’ your body shall not come to your ancestral tomb.” 23 After the man of God had eaten food and had drunk, they saddled for him a donkey belonging to the prophet who had brought him back. 24 Then as he went away, a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body was thrown in the road, and the donkey stood beside it; the lion also stood beside the body. 25 People passed by and saw the body thrown in the road, with the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the town where the old prophet lived.

26 When the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the LORD; therefore the LORD has given him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him according to the word that the LORD spoke to him.” 27 Then he said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled one, 28 and he went and found the body thrown in the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside the body. The lion had not eaten the body or attacked the donkey. 29 The prophet took up the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back to the city,  to mourn and to bury him. 30 He laid the body in his own grave; and they mourned over him, saying, “Alas, my brother!” 31 After he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying that he proclaimed by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places that are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass.”

33 Even after this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but made priests for the high places again from among all the people; any who wanted to be priests he consecrated for the high places. 34 This matter became sin to the house of Jeroboam, so as to cut it off and to destroy it from the face of the earth.

To the modern mind this is a strange story. We rebel against the punishment that is given to the man of God from Judah who is tricked by the old prophet from Bethel. We puzzle at the inclusion of a prophecy about a king who will not come for three hundred years being brought into a scene immediately after the separation of Israel from Judah. The strange actions of both the lion and the donkey in the story acting contrary to their natures and the cursing and healing of King Jeroboam seem to come from a different world than our own lives. Even the prohibition preventing the man of God from Judah from eating or drinking until he returns home seems out of step with our way of thinking about food and drink. It is a strange story with strange characters, but it is also the beginning of the prophetic stories told in parallel the stories of the kings throughout the remainder of First and Second Kings.

In ancient storytelling repetition can often help us to understand the story and the world of the story better. The commands and the appeals to the LORD the God of Israel are continual throughout the story indicating a world where God’s power is potent and dangerous. The word of the LORD appears throughout the story along with appeals to the LORD, crying out to the LORD, and prayers to the LORD. The man of God from Judah is given a concrete message and a straightforward command not to eat or drink until he returns home and to return home by a different path.

The indication that, in the context of this festival where the king is acting as a priest, the man of God comes to Bethel with a word of the LORD for the altar starts the story with a distance between the altar at Bethel and God’s presence among the people. The LORD either chooses not to use one of the prophets in Bethel, which we learn exist in this story, or the worship in Bethel has deviated from the worship of the LORD. It is likely that prophets in Bethel would receive support from Jeroboam and would be expected to speak in ways that are favorable to their king. Later prophets like Amos would later be told to return to Jerusalem if their messages were not in alignment with the king and priests. The proclamation against the altar while the king is standing there, especially as a person from the neighboring realm of Judah would be a direct challenge to the policies of Jeroboam. Just as Jeroboam once lifted his hand against Solomon (1 Kings 11: 26-27) now he raises his hand against this man of God from Judah. Previously God had allowed Jeroboam to raise his hand against Solomon, now God protects the man of God by causing the king’s hand to wither and placing him at the mercy of this man of God’s entreaty.

First and Second Kings is a historical narrative that attempts to theologically wrestle with the heartbreaking fall from the hope at the beginning of the reign of Solomon to the destruction of both Israel and Judah from the perspective of those from Judah that are exiled to Babylon. One of the fundamental human questions that is asked in the aftermath of tragedy is why this happened. The narrative of the books of Kings is an attempt to answer this question. In looking at this broader perspective, King Josiah becomes for the writer of First and Second Kings, an important figure. Josiah, whose story is told in 2 Kings 22-23, is the primary example of what a king of Judah (and by extension Israel) should be and his reign delays the judgment of God upon Judah. The reforms of Josiah are a moment where from the perspective of Judah there is a potential for Israel and Judah to be reunited and the places of worship, like Bethel, are eliminated as the worship is centered around the temple in Jerusalem. The man of God introduces the actions of Josiah that will happen centuries later when he defiles the altar at Bethel as a sacrilegious place (2 Kings 23: 15-16). The proclamation of the man of God against the altar may also give temporary pause to the people who are being allowed to act as priests by Jeroboam.

The prohibition against eating and drinking was probably to keep the man of God from Judah from indulging in any type of activity which could be viewed as idolatrous or as an act of favor towards Jeroboam or the shrine at Bethel. Feasting, especially at festival times like this one, is often associated with worship and this concern continues into the New Testament as we see in 1 Corinthians 8. Meat in an era before refrigeration was often consumed at religious festivals and partaking in the food was also considered partaking in the worship of the deity being celebrated. It can also be viewed as an act of reconciliation between the man of God and Jeroboam, but no reconciliation has occurred because the actions of Jeroboam towards the LORD have not fundamentally changed. The man of God from Judah is not to become an authorized participant or supporter of the work at Bethel, and even the participation in a meal could be viewed as tacit support for the king or Bethel.

Most modern readers of scripture assume far greater uniformity of belief than the text bears witness to. Even if the law as we encounter it in Deuteronomy exists[1] in the form we now have it, it would not be readily available to the people and its observance disappears for long periods of time. The practices at Bethel and the practices in Jerusalem were probably not identical, and the presence of a prophet at Bethel does not indicate complete Torah observance. It is likely that this prophet, like many people who hold the title of prophet, are authorized by the king or by the temple. Although the text does not give the motive of the old prophet in Bethel for seeking out the man of God from Judah those motives may not be collegial. The prophet in Bethel may feel that the man of God from Judah is interfering in his territory and undermining what he views as the acceptable practices of his fellow worshippers in Bethel. He seeks him out on his return home, and perhaps in light of the action against the altar, wants to attempt to bring this man of God in to bless, and reauthorize, the worship at Bethel and the dedication of a new altar.

The interaction of the man of God and the old prophet from Bethel under the oak tree reminds me of the interaction between the serpent and Eve in Genesis 3: 1-6. In contrast to this narrative where the serpent’s questions cause Eve to question, the old prophet tells a lie about an angelic invitation. The man of God from Judah apparently had a clear set of instructions about delivering this message in Bethel, but now the reported words of God by another prophet causes him to question these previous words. Morally we may find the trickster behavior of this prophet of Bethel unsavory and many readers of this text want this prophet to be punished rather than the man of God who is tricked. But the bible is full of strange stories of tricksters and seemingly righteous people led astray. But rather than return to Judah, the man of God returns to Bethel with this prophet.

We may question the morality of the prophet from Bethel, but while he feasts with this man of God he does receive a prophetic message. The man of God hears the declaration that he will not be buried in the tomb of his family. We may rebel at the punishment of this man of God for this simple trespass, but his return to Bethel may be viewed from the perspective of the temple and the king as the man of God sharing the feast with them and granting them favor.

The man of God departs on a donkey provided by the old prophet and is soon killed by a lion. Yet, neither the lion nor the donkey act like these animals normally act. The lion does not maul the man of God, nor does the donkey flee the lion as both stand a sentinels over this dead messenger of God. This strange story is remembered by the people and reported to the prophet of Bethel. In another strange turn of the story the prophet journeys to the fallen man of God, brings him once again to Bethel, mourns over his dead body and buries him in his tomb. The prophet and the man of God are linked together link Judah and Israel are supposed to be. (Israel, 2013, p. 176)

This is a strange story to modern ears, but it is a story that will echo across centuries and will be remembered by people when Josiah is king and decides not to use the bones from the tomb where the man of God and the prophet’s bones are laid (2 Kings 23:17). The words of the man of God, and the mourning of the prophet of Bethel do not lead King Jeroboam to repent and in the view of First Kings this leads to Jeroboam’s dynasty ending. Although First and Second Kings will follow both the northern and southern kingdoms the bulk of the text through the remainder of First Kings and the first ten chapters of Second Kings will focus on northern Israel. It is in the aftermath of the reign of Jeroboam that prophets like Elijah and Elisha will emerge and these wonder working prophets will exercise a powerful place in the memory of the people of both kingdoms.

[1] Many scholars assume the final form of many of the books that make up the Hebrew Scriptures reach their final canonical form during the Babylonian exile as a part of the collection and preservation of the traditions and stories to hand on to future generations. It is impossible to go back and historically document what textual resources were available three thousand years ago, but the historical recollection in Judges, 1&2 Samuel and 1&2 Kings points to numerous points where the law is either unknown or forgotten.

1 Kings 12: A Divided Kingdom

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By Hans Holbein the Younger – Christian Müller; Stephan Kemperdick; Maryan Ainsworth; et al, Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel Years, 1515–1532, Munich: Prestel, 2006, ISBN 9783791335803., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5977456

1 Kings 12: 1-24 A Divided Kingdom

1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt. 3 And they sent and called him; and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, 4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you.” 5 He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.

6 Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the older men who had attended his father Solomon while he was still alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” 7 They answered him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” 8 But he disregarded the advice that the older men gave him, and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and now attended him. 9 He said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” 10 The young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus you should say to this people who spoke to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you must lighten it for us’; thus you should say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s loins. 11 Now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.'”

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had said, “Come to me again the third day.” 13 The king answered the people harshly. He disregarded the advice that the older men had given him 14 and spoke to them according to the advice of the young men, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” 15 So the king did not listen to the people, because it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfill his word, which the LORD had spoken by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

16 When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king,

“What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David.”

So Israel went away to their tents. 17 But Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah. 18 When King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam then hurriedly mounted his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. 19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was no one who followed the house of David, except the tribe of Judah alone.

21 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred eighty thousand chosen troops to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon. 22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God: 23 Say to King Rehoboam of Judah, son of Solomon, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, 24 “Thus says the LORD, You shall not go up or fight against your kindred the people of Israel. Let everyone go home, for this thing is from me.” So they heeded the word of the LORD and went home again, according to the word of the LORD.

At the end of Solomon’s reign, Israel is only three generations removed from a United Israelite kingdom being a collection of loosely affiliated tribal groups and territories. Solomon’s forty year reign put the kingdom on a fast track to becoming a powerful monarchy involved in global trade and with an aggressive set of building projects. Although Solomon attempted to replace the tribal power structures with a regional set of administrators to deliver the taxes and to conscript labor for the state projects there is a growing tension between Solomon’s Jerusalem based monarchy and the population which has borne the burden of these projects through both taxation of their (primarily) agricultural production and the physical labor of construction. The prosperity of Solomon’s reign may have given the illusion of Israel being a modern unified kingdom, but as Alex Israel states, “the seam between Judah and the other tribes is prone to unravelling.” (Israel, 2013, p. 154)

Rehoboam the son of Solomon comes to Shechem, one of the most important cities of the northern tribes of Israel, to be anointed as king. We do not know whether this is, at the behest of his advisors, a strategic political and symbolic move to honor the northern tribes and attempt to provide unity or a move to assert control over these tribes but it leads to the people giving voice to their dissatisfaction with the administration of Rehoboam’s father and their desire for change. There still seems to be a chance for the kingdom to remain united if Rehoboam will make some concessions to the people who have borne the taxation and labor of Solomon’s kingdom building. Additionally, the northern tribes may be concerned about the security situation on their borders with the rise of Rezon in Damascus and the selling off of Cabul to finance Solomon’s construction and acquisition of gold and other precious resources. It is likely that the northern tribes felt that they were being asked to carry a heavy yoke on behalf of the Solomon’s monarchy without sharing in the benefits of their burden. (Cogan, 2001, pp. 351-352) Jerusalem and Judah have grown wealthy and prosperous while northern Israel has lost territory, security, and the fruit of their labor. With their taxation they ask not for representation, but for their monarch to hear their plight and to be a king for all Israel, not merely the king of Judah and Jerusalem.

During the three days intermission in the story, Rehoboam consults two distinct groups of counselors for advice. One group of counselors are his father’s men who may remember a time before Solomon’s forty-year reign or who may have seen the cost the people of the land bore. Their advice of serving the people and giving kind words to them has the potential to ease the tensions which threaten to pull the seam between Judah and the other tribes apart. But the advice of the group derogatorily in Hebrew called ‘boys’ (hayla-dim) (NIB III: 102) only inflames the tensions. Rehoboam identifies with this group saying, “What do you advise that we answer this people.” It is likely that these comrades of Rehoboam have grown up knowing the affluence of Solomon’s court and have been insulated from the burden of the people. They probably have grown up in an environment where they never knew, in Brueggemann’s words,

anything but extravagant privilege and a heavy sense of their own entitlement. They likely take their affluence as normal and have never known anything other than a standard of living supported by heavy taxation. (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 156)

These ‘boys’ counsel their king and companion to display strength in defending their way of life. Solomon may have been a strong king who demanded much of the people, but Rehoboam will be build a stronger kingdom by being more demanding. The childish advice includes a graphic illustration of the potency of the new king by saying that his member[1] is larger than his father’s thigh. Rehoboam does not reiterate this part of the advice at the gathering of the people but he accepts the counsel of those who, like him, have benefited from the policies of his father and attempts to bluster the people into submission.

There is a common misperception among leaders, particularly leaders who are trying to portray themselves in a masculine manner, that misunderstands strength as toughness or cruelty. This occurs even in modern societies like the United States where a political leaders try to show how tough they are on crime or immigration by incredibly cruel policies or who try to assert dominance over their opponents. Often these leaders are not people of distinguished careers in the military or arenas of physical competition, but they create this persona of strength which may attempt to cover their own insecurities. This scene with the attempt by Rehoboam and his counterparts to bluster and dominate the nation with a heavier yoke and scorpions seems to be an attempt to show toughness through cruelty. The ‘scorpions’ mentioned may be a lash with metal edges, but whatever the meaning of this term it is designed to invoke pain greater than a whip.

The response of the people, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, O David.” echoes an earlier incident in the reign of King David. In the aftermath of the rebellion of David’s son Absalom as weakened David is reconsolidating power in Israel when Sheba son of Bichri utters identical words (2 Samuel 19:1). David rallies his forces and his general Joab pursues Sheba and besieges the town of Abel of Beth-maacah until the residents throw the head of Sheba to the general.[2] David, through Joab, decisively deals with this fraying of the seams between the Judah and the other tribes. Yet, here the seam will not hold as the ten pieces of the new robe of the prophet Ahijah[3] separate from the two remaining pieces. We will see that Rehoboam is no David.

Rehoboam’s inability to accurately perceive the situation and his own weakness continues to make itself clear in response to the declaration of the people. Jeroboam may have been at work sowing dissent among the people, or the disillusionment of the people may be so great that it would lead to the rupture without any encouragement by Jeroboam. Rehoboam’s decision to send Adoram who was in charge of forced labor probably intended to continue to show this strength through toughness and cruelty, but it is an inflammatory and politically insensitive response to the people which result in the outbreak of violence and causes the king to flee in his chariot to Jerusalem. The strength and toughness he desired to demonstrate only highlighted his own impotence in the face of the rising rebellion.

In a final attempt to demonstrate strength Rehoboam rallies the forces of Judah and Benjamin. Apparently the Benjaminites remained while the other tribes departed, but the stated 180,000 men rallied to hold the kingdom together by force may be able to strike before the northern tribes and Jeroboam can organize. Yet, Shemaiah the man of God is able to communicate to the king where the other older voices have not been able. In contrast to King David his grandson Rehoboam will not reunite the nation through military action and he has no Joab to demonstrate his strength. But like his grandfather, Rehoboam will be sensitive to hearing the word of God and in this case acts accordingly.[4] The seam that brought the tribes of Israel together has unraveled and throughout the remaining history of the kings we will follow a progression of kings of Israel (the northern tribes) and the kings of Judah. There kingdom is rent asunder and there is no king or prophet who will be able to reunite the tribes.

1 Kings 12: 25-33 The Worship Places at Bethel and Dan

25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and resided there; he went out from there and built Penuel. 26 Then Jeroboam said to himself, “Now the kingdom may well revert to the house of David. 27 If this people continues to go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, the heart of this people will turn again to their master, King Rehoboam of Judah; they will kill me and return to King Rehoboam of Judah.” 28 So the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. He said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” 29 He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. 30 And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one at Bethel and before the other as far as Dan. 31 He also made houses on high places, and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not Levites. 32 Jeroboam appointed a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the festival that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; so he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. 33 He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he alone had devised; he appointed a festival for the people of Israel, and he went up to the altar to offer incense.

Much of Solomon’s reign concentrated the worship of the LORD and the political power, military might, and the wealth of Israel in Jerusalem. Now as Jeroboam and the new kingdom of Israel finds itself adrift from this center of worship, power and wealth he begins to reestablish the nation around new centers and a new identity. Jeroboam’s position is tenuous as long as the central symbols of the people remain outside of the borders of this new territory. His reorganization of political life, religious life, and even the calendar will be judged harshly by the writer of 1 Kings who views these reforms through the perspective of Jerusalem and the temple. In the perspective of 1 Kings these are the ‘sins of Jeroboam’ that will become the reference for the negative evaluation of future kings of Israel.[5]

Jeroboam establishes two places of political and military power: Shechem and Peneul. Shechem is the site where the people rebelled against Rehoboam but it is also the site where Abimelech is the first in Israel to claim the title of king (Judges 9).[6] Yet, Shechem is probably chosen as a site due to its role in the stories of Abram and Jacob. Shechem is where God promises Abraham that his offspring will inherit the land (Genesis 12: 6-7), it is the unfortunate location of the rape of Dinah, the daughter of Jacob and her brothers’ revenge and where the family of Jacob leaves their foreign gods behind (Genesis 34) and where Joseph is sold into slavery by his brothers (Genesis 37: 12-36). Penuel also has a connection with the story of Abimelech’s father Gibeon (Judges 8)[7] but it is probably rebuilt for its connection to the story of Jacob. Penuel (or Peniel)[8] is the site where Jacob wrestles with the mysterious stranger and is renamed Israel (Genesis 32: 22-32). Establishing Israel’s new centers of political life around these two cities with associations with Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph gives a new geological and narrative root for this new nation of Israel to orient itself around.

Solomon’s centralization of the worship of the LORD around the temple in Jerusalem also presents a challenge for Jeroboam. He responds to this challenge by centering worship around two existing worship sites with new images. The narrator of 1 Kings wants us to hear in this story an echo of the story of the golden calf in Exodus 32 and places in Jeroboam’s mouth the same words that Aaron utters in that story, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 32:4) The two shrines at Bethel and in Dan become the locations of these new golden calves and for Israel replace the temple in Jerusalem. It is possible that the calves are not to be a replacement for the LORD, just a physical representation of the LORD (or like the bulls under the bronze sea in the temple designs ornamentation of the worship space). Yet, the author of 1 Kings views this innovation through the lens of the Exodus account of the golden calf and view Jeroboam’s reforms as evidence of his unfaithfulness to the LORD the God of Israel.

Additionally, the priests that Jeroboam appoints are not exclusively Levites. The text does not specifically state that no Levites were priests, but there were those from among the general public who became priests. In Exodus 32 the Levites were those who were most resistant to Aaron’s introduction of the golden calf and it is possible that there were Levites who resisted this, but there were Levites in the book of Judges who gladly used ephods and other icons as a part of the worship at shrines like the one in Dan.[9] Even the king functions as a priest, although Solomon also acted in this way in the dedication of the temple, but there is a complete reorganization of the religious life of the people around new shrines with new images and new priests. Finally there is a new calendar to orient the life of the people completely breaking with the ways of Judah.

In Canaan the bull is often associated with the deities of Baal and El[10] (Cogan, 2001, p. 358). 1 Kings tells us the narrative of Jeroboam from the perspective of Torah observance as shaped by the theology of Deuteronomy and Exodus. In light of that theological perspective the innovations of Jeroboam (like the innovations of Aaron) are judged negatively and harshly. The practices that Jeroboam adopts may have deeper roots in the worship history of the northern Israelite tribes that we will never know because their records have been lost to time. What we do have is the evaluation of those practices in the light of the perspective of 1 Kings which view this action as the ‘sin of Jeroboam’ that leads Israel astray.

[1] Can be translated finger but probably refers to his penis.

[2] This story in 2 Samuel 20 is a fascinating but twisted story of the power of David as exercised by Joab which is too complex to do more than point to as a parallel here.

[3] See previous chapter.

[4] In 2 Chronicles 12 Shemiah also confronts Rehoboam when King Shishak of Egypt attacks causing the king and his officers to humble themselves causing God to grant them deliverance. 1 Kings 14: 25-28 will mention the invasion of King Shishak but does not contain Shemiah’s role.

[5] Going forward I will follow 1 Kings’ practice of referring to the northern kingdom as Israel and the southern kingdom as Judah. The spilt is unfamiliar for many readers of scripture and the referral to the united monarchy as Israel along with the northern kingdom post Solomon can cause confusion, but no more than using other common references like Ephraim or even the northern kingdom.

[6] Abimelech never reigned over all Israel, he was a regional strongman whose short, violent domination of the area is the opposite of what judges were supposed to be.

[7] Gideon appeals to Penuel for food to support his pursuit of the kings of Midian but is rebuffed and later tears down their tower.

[8] Genesis uses both spellings in the story of Jacob.

[9] Judges 17-18

[10] El is a general term for god which is often a part of the names used to talk about the LORD the God of Israel, but may also refer to gods of other nations.