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[[Jeroboam II]] ([[Hebrew]] '''ירבעם השני''', he pleads the people's cause) (vr. 836-r. 825-784 BC according to [[James Ussher|Ussher]]<ref name=Ussher>[[James Ussher]], ''[[The Annals of the World]]'', [[Larry Pierce]], ed., Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003 (ISBN 0890513600), pghh. 547, 551-2, 554, 556-8, 564</ref>, or vr. 793-r.782-753 according to [[Edwin R. Thiele|Thiele]]<ref name=Wood>Leon J. Wood, ''A Survey of Israel's History'', rev. ed. David O'Brien, Grand Rapids, MI: Academie Books, 1986 (ISBN 031034770X), pp. 276-277</ref>) was the thirteenth king of the [[Northern Kingdom]] of [[Israel]] and the third generation after [[Jehu]] in the [[House of Jehu]].<ref name=Catholic>Driscoll, James F. "[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08340a.htm Entry for Jeroboam]." ''The Catholic Encyclopedia'', vol. VIII. New York. Robert Appleton Co., 1910. Retrieved June 8, 2007 from [http://www.newadvent.org/ New Advent].</ref><ref name=GeoCities>Authors unknown. "[http://www.geocities.com/thekingsofisrael/biography_JeroboamII.html King Jeroboam II - Biography]." ''The Kings of Israel'', hosted at http://www.geocities.com/ Retrieved June 8, 2007.</ref> He was the definitive instrument of [[God]]'s deliverance of that kingdom from [[Syria]]n harassment<ref name=GeoCities/> and had a grand and prosperous reign. However, because he never suppressed the golden-calf cult of his namesake [[Jeroboam I]], God ultimately brought his kingdom to ruin.<ref name=Catholic/><ref name=GeoCities/> Indeed, Ussher<ref name=Ussher/> infers that a twelve-year interregnum intervened between the death of Jeroboam II and the accession of his son [[Zachariah]]. (Thiele mentions no such interregnum in his system.<ref name=Wood/>)
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== Viceroyalty and Accession ==
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Both Ussher<ref name=Ussher/> and Thiele<ref name=Wood/> agree that Jeroboam began as [[viceroy]] in the reign of his father [[Joash of Israel|Joash]]. He held this position for twelve  years, during which Joash fought three successful battles against the Syrians and dealt a devastating counterattack against [[Amaziah]] of [[Southern Kingdom|Judah]], who had attacked him without provocation. Both men infer this viceroyalty from these two statements:
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# Amaziah outlived Joash by fifteen years,<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=14|verses=17}}</ref> and
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# [[Uzziah]], Amaziah's son, began to reign "in the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel."<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=15|verses=1|version=KJV}}</ref>
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The difference of twelve years is best reckoned as the years of Jeroboam's viceroyalty.
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Here, however, Ussher and Thiele differ significantly (beyond, of course, the year of his viceroyalty). Ussher says that Jeroboam's viceroyalty and lone reign ran consecutively; Thiele says that they ran concurrently. In any case, the [[Bible]] says that Jeroboam II began to reign "in the fifteenth year of [[Amaziah]] the son of [[Joash]] king of Judah."<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=14|verses=23}}</ref> It further says that he reigned for forty-one years--but whether that forty-one years includes the twelve-year viceroyship, or began after it, remains in dispute between the Ussher and Thiele camps.
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== Wars with Syria ==
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Jeroboam followed up on his father's campaigns against the Syrians,<ref name=Catholic/><ref name=GeoCities/> recaptured the city of [[Hamath]], and thus recaptured the coast of Israel from Hamath to the shoreline. The prophet [[Jonah (prophet)|Jonah]] had predicted this.<ref name=Catholic/><ref name=GeoCities/> He even managed, however briefly, to capture the Syrian capital of [[Damascus]].<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=14|verses=24-29}}</ref>
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The Catholic Encyclopedia states<ref name=Catholic/> that an [[Assyria]]n ruler identified as Rammanirar III, laid Israel, Syria, and [[Phoenicia]] under a heavy tribute in 802 BC. This ''would not'' have had anything to do with Jeroboam II in the Thiele system, but only in Ussher's system. If this Rammanirar was in fact a contemporary of Jeroboam II, then he was probably King [[Ashur-Dan III]], also known as "Pul" or "Anabaxares." Ussher<ref name=Ussher/> explicitly identifies this particular Assyrian ruler as the contemporary of Jonah who received a visit from that prophet and led his nation into repentance. Ussher further states that this same ruler later invaded the Northern Kingdom when King [[Menahem]] was in command.<ref name=Ussher2>[[James Ussher|Ussher]], ''[[The Annals of the World|op. cit.]]'', pghh. pghh. 570, 573-6, 581</ref>
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== Prosperity and decline ==
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No less than five named prophets were contemporaries of Jeroboam: [[Isaiah (prophet)|Isaiah]], [[Joel (prophet)|Joel]], [[Amos (prophet)|Amos]], [[Jonah (prophet)|Jonah]], and [[Hosea (prophet)|Hosea]].<ref name=Catholic/><ref name=WebBible/> Of these, Jonah prophesied in Jeroboam's favor, and specifically that he would enjoy military victory over Syria. But Amos and Hosea both predicted ruin for the Northern Kingdom. Amos, in particular, predicted a dire judgment against another Amaziah, the priest of the golden-calf cult at [[Bethuel]].<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Amos|chap=7|verses=10,12-13,17}}</ref><ref name=WebBible/> Hosea predicted the eventual destruction of the kingdom and the carrying away of all its people into captivity.<ref>{{Bible ref|book=Hosea|chap=1|verses=1}}</ref>
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== Death, Interregnum, and Succession ==
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The Bible says that Jeroboam ruled for forty-one years.<ref name=WebBible>Authors unknown. "[http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/jeroboam.html Entry for Jeroboam]." WebBible Encyclopedia. Retrieved June 8, 2007.</ref> Yet his son Zachariah is said to have succeeded him "in the thirty and eighth year of [[Uzziah|Azariah]] king of Judah."<ref>{{Bible ref|book=II_Kings|chap=15|verses=8|version=KJV}}</ref> In the Ussher system,<ref name=Ussher/> the 38<sup>th</sup> year of Uzziah did not fall until 772 BC, fully twelve years after Jeroboam's death. Ussher infers that an ''interregnum'' took place at this time, and cites {{Bible ref|book=Amos|chap=7-8}} as his authority for this.
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In contrast, the Thiele system<ref name=Wood/> mentions ''no'' such interregnum. This, and Thiele's assumption of concurrency of Jeroboam's viceroyalty and lone reign, require that Uzziah started his reign, ''as viceroy in the reign of Amaziah'', twenty-four years ''earlier'' in the history of the Southern Kingdom than a strict reading of Kings and Chronicles would suggest. For the history of the Northern Kingdom, this presents no obvious problem. The problem is in accounting for the reign of Uzziah.
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== Possible Egyptian Synchrony ==
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In 1910, [[Harvard University]] professors [[G. A. Reisner]], [[O. S. Fisher]], and [[D. G. Lyon]] excavated what they believed to be the Northern Kingdom palace at [[Samaria]].<ref name=Velikovsky>[[Immanual Velikovsky|Velikovsky, Immanuel]]. "[http://www.varchive.org/tac/jeroboam.htm Jeroboam II and Osorkon II]." ''[http://www.varchive.org/tac/index.htm The Assyrian Conquest]''. Retrieved June 8, 2007.</ref> There they found sixty-three inscribed potsherds allegedly bearing inscriptions that mentioned Jeroboam II and speaking of the "seventeenth year" of the reign of some Northern king. Above the room that sheltered these potsherds was found a jar containing multiple references to [[Pharaoh]] [[Osorkon II]].
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The [[Archaeology|archaeologist]] [[Immanuel Velikovsky]] suggests from these findings that [[Pharaoh]] [[Osorkon II]] cannot have been a contemporary of [[Ahab]], as conventionally assumed.<ref name=Velikovsky/> Of all the kings of the [[Northern Kingdom]], only Jeroboam II and [[Pekah]] reigned as long as, or longer than, seventeen years. (Pekah reigned for twenty years.) Furthermore, because the Osorkon jar was found at a higher level than were the potsherds, Velikovsky further concludes that Osorkon was later even than Jeroboam II. [[Pekah]] becomes the most likely candidate to be synchronized with Osorkon.
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This identification is, however, tentative and constitutes only one piece of evidence among many.
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== References ==
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<references/>
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== See Also ==
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* [[Joash of Israel]]
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* [[Amaziah]]
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* [[Uzziah]]
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* [[Zachariah]]
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* [[Northern Kingdom]]
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* [[Southern Kingdom]]
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* [[Biblical chronology dispute]]
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[[Category:Kings of Israel]]
 
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