(9) Extinction of the Dynasty. The con tumacy of Jeroboam eventually brought upon him the doom which he probably dreaded beyond all others-the speedy extinction of the dynasty which he had taken so much pains and incurred so much guilt to establish on firm foundations.
(10) His Wife Disguised. His son Abijah be ing sick, he sent his wife disguised to consult thc prophet Ahijah, who had predicted that he should be king of Israel. The prophet, although he had become blind with age, knew the queen, and saluted her with-`Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam, for I am sent to thee with heavy tid ings.' These were not merely that the son should die-for that was intended in mercy to one who alone, of all the house of Jeroboam, had remained faithful to his God, and was the only one who should obtain an honored grave-but that his race should be violently and utterly extinguished: 'I will take away the remnant of the house of Jero boam as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone' (1 Kings xiv:1-18).
(11) Death of the Son and Father. The son died so soon as the mother crosscd the threshold on her return; and as the death of Jeroboam him self is the next' event recorded, it would seem that he did not long survive his son. He died about 913 B. C. (1 Kings xiv :2o).
(12) Character. Jeroboam was perhaps a less remarkable man in character and ability than the circumstance of his being the founder of a new kingdom might lead tts to expect. The tribes would have revolted without him • and he was chosen king merely because he had' been pointed out by previous circumstances. His government exhibits but one idea-that of raising a barrier against the reunion of the tribes. Of this idea he was the slave and victim ; and although the barrier which he raised was effectual for its pur pose, it only served to show the weakness of the man who could deem needful the protection for his separate interests which such a barrier of fered.
2. Fourteenth king of Israel, son of Joash, whom (B. C. 783) he succeeded on the throne, and reigned forty-one years. He followed the example of the first Jeroboam in keeping up the idolatry of the golden calves. Nevertheless the Lord had pity upon Israel ; the time of its ruin was not yet come, and this reign was long and flour ishing. Jeroboam brought to a successful result the wars which his father had undertaken, and was always victorious over the powerful Syr ians. He even took their chief cities of Da
mascus (2 Kings xiv:28: Amos i :3-5) and Ha math, which had formelly been subject to the scepter of David, and restored to the realm of Israel the ancient eastern limits from Lebanon to the Dead Sea. He died B. C. 742 (2 Kings xiv :16, 23-29).
The Scriptural account of this reign is too short to enable us to judge of the character of a prince under whom the kingdom of Israel seems to have reached a *degree of prosperity which it had never before enjoyed, and was not able long to preserve. Jonah (2 Kings xiv:25) and Amos prophesied in the reign of Jeroboam II (Amos i:i). Amos draws a melancholy picture of the moral and religious state of Israel at the time (ii:6; v:27; viii :4-6, etc.), for which he predicts judgment from God (vii:t-g; viii :7 to). For these prophecies a complaint was made against him to Jeroboam by Amaziah the priest at Bethel, but it does not seem to have brought any penalty on the prophct (vii :to-17). Hosea also began his prophetic work in the northern king dom during the lifetime of Jeroboam. The first three chapters pertain to that period. On the death of Jeroboam, his son Zechariah ascended the throne (2 Kings xiv :29).
JEROHAM (Heb. yer-o khawne , compassionate).
1. Son of Elihu Elie!), and grandfather of Samuel (i Sam. i ; Citron. vi :27, 34). (B. C. before 1142.) 2. One of the leaders of the tribe of Benjamin ( Chron. viii:27). (B. C. probably before 588.) Apparently the sante as 3.
3. Father of Ibneiah, which latter was a Benja mite chief in Jerusalem Chron. ix:8). (B. C. apparently before 536.) 4. Son of Pashur, a descendant of Aaron, of the house of Immer (I Chron. ix:12). (B. C. be forc 536.) 5. Son of Pelaliah, and father of the priest Adaiah, who resided in Jerusalem after the exile (Neh. xi:12). (B. C. before 44o.) Perhaps he is identical with 4.
6. A resident of Gedor, father of two Benja mite archers who came to David at Ziklag (t Ch.ron. xii:7). (B. C. before to55.) 7. The father of Azareel who was head of the tribe of Dan in the time of David and Solomon (t Chron. xxvii :22). (B. C. before to17.) 8. Azariah's father ; the latter was one of thetwo of that name who planned with Jehoiada to re store Joash to the throne (2 Chron. xxiii:t). (B. C. before 76.)