King Jeroboam I (Israel)

Jeroboam son of Nebat rose as Solomon's overseer of forced labor. After the prophet Ahijah promised him ten tribes, he fled to Shishak (Shoshenq I) in Egypt. When Solomon died, the northern tribes met Rehoboam at Shechem and asked for lighter burdens; Rehoboam answered, "My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions", and they cried "To your tents, O Israel!" and made Jeroboam king (1 Kings 12). To keep his people from going up to the Temple in Jerusalem, he set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan with the words "Here are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt", echoing Aaron's calf. He appointed non-Levite priests and moved the autumn festival to the eighth month. A man of God from Judah foretold at Bethel that King Josiah would one day burn priests' bones on its altar (1 Kings 13).

Kings repeatedly condemns later rulers for "the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin", and the Mishnah (Sanhedrin 10:2) denies him a share in the world to come. At Tel Dan, Avraham Biran excavated a large cultic platform from this period, often linked to Jeroboam's shrine.