Northern Kingdom of Israel

The Northern Kingdom of Israel emerged after the united monarchy was divided following the death of King Solomon. Ten of the twelve tribes of Israel—Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Ephraim—formed this kingdom. Jeroboam, its first king, initially established Shechem as the capital before relocating it to Tirzah. Later, Omri, the sixth king, built the city of Samaria and made it the new capital. In the Bible, this kingdom is referred to simply as "Israel," but to distinguish it from the united monarchy, it is commonly called the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

From Jeroboam’s reign onward, the kingdom turned to idolatry and failed to keep the commandments of God. As a result, it was regarded as evil in the sight of the LORD. The kingdom was plagued by frequent rebellions, with many kings assassinated and replaced by usurpers. Ultimately, it fell to the Assyrian Empire around 721 B.C.

Formation of the Northern Kingdom

In his later years, Solomon, Israel’s third king, turned away from the LORD’s decrees and statutes. He took many foreign wives and committed idolatry by worshiping gods such as Ashtoreth, Chemosh, and Molech, even building high places for them. Angered by Solomon’s unfaithfulness, God sent the prophet Ahijah to proclaim that the kingdom would be taken from Solomon and given to his servant Jeroboam. Yet, for the sake of David, who had faithfully kept God’s commands and statutes, the LORD declared that this would not happen during Solomon’s lifetime, but during the reign of his son.

When Solomon attempted to kill Jeroboam, Jeroboam fled to Egypt, then ruled by Shishak (Shoshenq I). He remained there until Solomon’s death. Afterward, Jeroboam returned, and tensions among the Israelites had reached a peak. The people were burdened by the heavy labor and taxes imposed during Solomon’s extensive building projects. Jeroboam, along with the assembly of Israel, appealed to Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, asking him to ease their burden. However, Rehoboam rejected their request and answered harshly. In response, the ten northern tribes—excluding Judah and Benjamin—rejected Rehoboam’s rule and made Jeroboam their king. This marked the division of the united monarchy into two separate kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

Key Historical Events

Jeroboam’s Idolatry

Jeroboam Sacrificing to Idols, Jean Honoré Fragonard, 1752: The prophet of God warned Jeroboam against making golden calves and worshiping them.

• Worship of Golden Calves

Before the kingdom was divided, the Israelites gathered in Jerusalem to worship at the temple and to keep the feasts of God. However, after becoming king, Jeroboam feared that if the people continued traveling to Jerusalem for these feasts, their loyalty would shift to Rehoboam, and they would ultimately turn against him. To prevent this, Jeroboam made two golden calves and set them up in Bethel and Dan. He proclaimed to the people, “Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt,” and told them they no longer needed to go to Jerusalem. Jeroboam also appointed priests who were not from the tribe of Levi, choosing them instead from among the common people. He instituted a festival similar to that of the LORD’s, leading the people to offer sacrifices to the golden calves. Because of this great sin, God declared that He would bring disaster on Jeroboam’s house and reject Israel, for Jeroboam had led the people into idolatry.

The pattern of idolatry established by Jeroboam was perpetuated by the kings who followed him. The Bible repeatedly states that they walked in “the ways of Jeroboam” and committed “the sins of Jeroboam.”

• Kings Who Walked in the Ways of Jeroboam

All the kings of the Northern Kingdom followed in Jeroboam’s footsteps, doing evil in the eyes of the LORD and causing the people to sin. Their frequent rebellions and dynastic shifts are portrayed in the Bible as the consequence of the kings’ persistent idolatry. Nadab, Jeroboam’s son and Israel’s second king, was assassinated by Baasha while besieging the Philistine city of Gibbethon. Baasha then became king and destroyed the entire house of Jeroboam, just as Ahijah the Shilonite had warned Jeroboam’s wife.

Baasha’s own son, Elah—the fourth king—was killed in a coup by his official Zimri. As foretold by the prophet Jehu, Zimri also wiped out the house of Baasha. However, upon hearing of Zimri’s conspiracy, the people made Omri commander of the army, and he marched against the capital Tirzah. After reigning for only seven days, Zimri took his own life. At that time, a civil war broke out as half of the people supported Tibni and the other half supported Omri. After four years, Omri prevailed and became king. As Israel’s sixth king, he purchased the hill of Samaria, built the city of Samaria, and made it the new capital. Although Omri strengthened the kingdom politically, he is remembered in Scripture as having done more evil in the eyes of the LORD than all who came before him.

The Transgressions of King Ahab

• Worship of Baal

Ahab, the seventh king of the Northern Kingdom, is described in the Bible as doing more evil in the eyes of the LORD than all those before him. He married Jezebel, a Sidonian princess and devoted worshiper of Baal. After becoming queen of Israel, Jezebel influenced Ahab and led the nation into the worship of Baal and Asherah, deepening Israel’s idolatry.

During this period of rampant wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel, the prophet Elijah appeared and declared to Ahab that there would be neither dew nor rain in the land except at his word. A severe drought followed, lasting more than three years. At God's command, Elijah eventually summoned Ahab and challenged the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah to a contest on Mount Carmel. In a dramatic confrontation before all Israel, Elijah called upon the LORD, who answered with fire from heaven—proving that He alone is God. The prophets of Baal were seized and put to death. Afterward, Elijah prayed, and the long drought finally ended as rain returned to the land, marking the end of three and a half years of divine judgment.

For details, refer to: Elijah § The Confrontation on Mount Carmel

• War Against Aram

Elijah Rebukes Ahab at Naboth's Vineyard, Caspar Luyken, 1712

King Ben-Hadad II of Aram besieged Samaria, but Ahab, acting according to the word of the LORD, defeated the Aramean forces and won a great victory. The following year, Ben-Hadad launched another attack. Once again, with God’s help, the Israelites prevailed. In the aftermath, Ben-Hadad offered to return the cities his father had captured and to allow Israelite merchants to trade in Damascus. Ahab accepted the offer and spared Ben-Hadad’s life. However, a prophet of the LORD confronted Ahab and rebuked him for letting go a man who had been marked for destruction. Because Ahab spared Ben-Hadad, the prophet declared that Ahab’s own life would be taken in exchange, and Israel would suffer in place of Aram.

• Naboth’s Vineyard Incident

Ahab later sought to acquire a vineyard belonging to Naboth of Jezreel, offering to buy it or exchange it for another. Naboth refused, citing the LORD’s command not to sell ancestral land. Ahab became sullen and resentful. Seeing this, Jezebel took matters into her own hands. She conspired with the elders and nobles of Jezreel to proclaim a fast, seat Naboth in a prominent place, and have two scoundrels falsely accuse him of cursing both God and the king. As a result, Naboth was taken outside the city and stoned to death.

When Ahab went to take possession of the vineyard, the prophet Elijah met him there and pronounced God’s judgment: both Ahab and Jezebel would die violent deaths because of their wickedness. Ahab was later struck by an arrow in battle against Aram and died. Jezebel was thrown from a window, trampled, and eaten by dogs.

Revolution of Jehu

Jehu Destroying the Temple and Statue of Baal, Philippe Gall and Marten van Hemskerk, 1569

• Judgment on the House of Ahab

Although God had commanded Elijah to anoint Jehu as king over Israel, the task was later fulfilled by Elisha. A student of the prophets sent by Elisha anointed Jehu and delivered the LORD’s message: that Jehu was to become king and bring judgment on the house of Ahab for murdering God’s servants.

As the 10th king of the Northern Kingdom, Jehu fulfilled this mission by killing King Joram (Jehoram), the son of Ahab, with an arrow and casting his body into Naboth’s vineyard. He also killed Ahaziah, king of Judah and Ahab’s grandson. Jehu had all seventy sons of Ahab put to death, along with all Ahab’s officials and supporters. Jehu summoned all the Baal worshipers under the pretense of offering a great sacrifice and slaughtered them. He burned the sacred stone of Baal and demolished its temple, turning it into a latrine. God promised Jehu, who had fulfilled his mission, that his descendants would sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.

• Jehu’s Idolatry

Although Jehu destroyed the idolatrous house of Ahab, he did not completely turn away from the path of idolatry himself. Like the previous kings, he continued in the sin of Jeroboam by worshiping the golden calves, and did not keep the law of God.

• Idolatry of the Kings After Jehu

In accordance with God’s promise, Jehu’s dynasty lasted for four generations. His son Jehoahaz (11th king) did not remove the Asherah pole and continued in the sins of Jeroboam. When King Hazael and his son Ben-Hadad III of Aram attacked, Jehoahaz pleaded with the LORD and was delivered, though his army suffered great losses. Jehoash (Joash), the 12th king, also did evil in the LORD’s eyes. Yet when the prophet Elisha was terminally ill, he visited and mourned for him. Elisha prophesied that Joash would strike Aram three times, and Joash recaptured several cities. Jeroboam II (13th king) restored Israel’s territory from Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, as prophesied by Jonah, yet continued in evil. At that time, Israel was economically prosperous, but society in general was corrupt as luxury and indulgence among the upper class grew, and class conflicts intensified. The prophet Amos rebuked the uncontrolled life of Samaria, the formal sacrifices at Bethel and Gilgal, and the immoral acts of the rich. Zechariah, the fourteenth and final king of Jehu’s dynasty, was assassinated by Shallum only six months after taking the throne.

Shallum (15th), Menahem (16th), Pekah (18th), and Hoshea (19th) all came to power through coups. Like their predecessors, they—along with Pekahiah (17th), the son of Menahem—did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam.

Kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel

Order	King	Length of Reign	Prophets	Biblical Reference
1	Jeroboam	22 Years	Ahijah, Iddo	1 Ki 12–14
2	Nadab	2 Years		1 Ki 15
3	Baasha	24 Years	Jehu	1 Ki 15–16
4	Elah	2 Years		1 Ki 16
5	Zimri	7 Days		1 Ki 16
6	Omri	12 Years		1 Ki 16
7	Ahab	22 Years	Elijah	1 Ki 16–22
8	Ahaziah	2 Years	Elijah, Elisha	1 Ki 22; 2 Ki 1
9	Jehoram (Joram)	12 Years	Elisha	2 Ki 1, 3, 5–9
10	Jehu	28 Years	Elisha	2 Ki 9–10
11	Jehoahaz	17 Years	Elisha	2 Ki 13
12	Joash	16 Years		2 Ki 13
13	Jeroboam II	41 Years	Amos, Hosea, Jonah	2 Ki 14
14	Zechariah	6 Months	Hosea	2 Ki 15
15	Shallum	1 Months	Hosea	2 Ki 15
16	Menahem	10 Years	Hosea	2 Ki 15
17	Pekahiah	2 Years	Hosea	2 Ki 15
18	Pekah	20 Years	Hosea, Oded	2 Ki 15
19	Hosea	9 Years	Hosea	2 Ki 17–18

Relations With the Southern Kingdom of Judah

For about sixty years after its formation, the Northern Kingdom of Israel was engaged in ongoing warfare with the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

During the reign of Ahab, Israel’s 7th king, a political alliance was formed through the marriage of Jehoram, son of King Jehoshaphat of Judah (4th king), and Athaliah, daughter of Ahab. However, this alliance was shattered when Jehu, the 10th king of Israel, killed Ahaziah, the 6th king of Judah.

Later, Joash, the 12th king of Israel, fought against Amaziah, the 9th king of Judah, at Beth Shemesh. He captured Amaziah, tore down a section of Jerusalem’s wall, and plundered the temple and royal treasuries, taking gold, silver, and hostages back to Samaria.

Pekah, the 18th king of Israel, allied with Rezin, king of Aram, to threaten Jerusalem. King Ahaz of Judah (12th) sought help from Tiglath-Pileser III, king of Assyria, by sending tribute. In response, Assyria attacked Israel, seized territories, and deported many Israelites.

Fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel

Hosea, the 19th king, was the last king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. In his reign, Hezekiah, the thirteenth king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah, sent messengers to the Northern Kingdom of Israel to celebrate the Passover, which had not been celebrated for a long time. The northern Israelites mocked and ridiculed the messengers and did not keep the Passover. Only a few humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem to observe the Passover.

In the seventh year of Hosea, Shalmaneser V, king of Assyria, led his army and besieged Samaria, the capital. After a three-year siege, in Hoshea’s 9th year (circa 721 BC), Samaria fell, and the Northern Kingdom was destroyed. The Bible attributes Israel’s fall to its failure to obey the LORD’s commands, breaking the covenant, and rejecting the statutes given through Moses. Assyria deported the Israelites to regions such as Media and settled foreigners in Israelite territory, initiating a policy of ethnic mixing.

See also

• Southern Kingdom of Judah
• Samaria
• Jeroboam
• Ahab and Jezebel
• Elijah
• Assyria

Related videos

• Sermon: The Sin of Jeroboam