Why did Israel become divided?

Answer 1

Answer

This happened over the issue of taxes. See 1 Kings 12. This is the story of how Israel became divided.

After Solomon's death, the people approached his son Rehav'am (Rehoboam) and asked that he now lower the tax. He ignored the counsel of his elder advisers and refused the people's request. This led the Ten Tribes to turn away from him (1 Kings ch.12).

Christian Answer

Actually in Hosea we discover that the "house" of Israel God divorced and their identity was absorbed into the kingdom of Judah described as the "children" of Israel (Hosea 1:4-11) in which Christ is the head.

If you are referring to ancient times; King Solomon became idolatrous and cruel in his old age. After his death the Israelites asked his successor, Rehoboam, to be easier on them. Rehoboam took bad advice and refused,, so the majority of the tribes ceded from his rulership and came under the rulership of his rival Jeroboam. Then Israel was split into the nation of Judah , in the south, and the nation of Israel , in the north.

Answer 2

They did not "split" as spliting requires one thing to then become two distinct things and the Jewish community (that would become Israel) and the Muslim and Christian communities (that would overwhelmingly become Palestine) were never unified. Under the successive states since the Middle Ages, the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities in the historic region of Palestine lived separately. Relations between the communities were, at best, unequal strained friendship and amity, and at worst, violent pogroms and massacres. When the possibility of true Jewish self-determination became viable, the separations between the Jewish community and Muslim community became more apparent. The Muslims wished to retain their historic place of superiority over the other communities and the Christians wished to avoid anatagonizing the Muslims and avoid the crossfire between the ascendant Jewish community and the historic-ruling Muslim community.

As Israel materialized and Palestine materialized, the community divisions became clearer in some respects, but the stark community dysfunctions were nothing new. In fact, the integration of Arab-Israelis as equals under Israeli law has helped resolve a small part of this dysfunction.

Answer 3

Rehoboam's father, King Solomon, had levied relatively heavy taxes, which had been used for such large-scale endeavors as building the First Temple. The fact that the nation was so prosperous and happy in his time (1 Kings 4:20) demonstrates that Solomon conducted his governance in a praiseworthy manner.

After Solomon's death, the people approached his son Rehav'am (Rehoboam) and asked that he now lower the tax. He ignored the counsel of his elder advisers and refused the people's request. This led the Ten Tribes to turn away from him (1 Kings ch.12).

The background reason was because King Solomon had been less than perfectly righteous. This led God to punish him by diminishing his dynasty in the lifetime of his son (Rehoboam). 1 Kings ch.11.

A deeper reason is that God wanted the more righteous people of Judah to be influenced by the Ten Tribes as little as possible.

See also the Related Links.

Link: Solomon's errors

Link: List of kings

Link: Jewish history timeline

Answer 4

Around 930 BCE the United Monarchy was split into the Kingdom of Israel to the north and the Kingdom of Judah to the south. The Bible accounts for this in 1 Kings, chapter 16.