The Jeroboam Story in the (Re)Formulation of Israelite Identity: Evaluating the Literary-Ideological Purposes of 1 Kings 11–14

Abstract

The story of Jeroboam's secession from the Solomonic “empire” is an integral element of the process of identity reformulation within which context “Biblical Israel” asserted its antiquity. While this reading yields a greater understanding of its final form, it disassociates it from constituent elements preserving earlier versions. From an archaeological and historiographical point of view, this article examines those elements to argue that this complex accretion of collective memories has more to tell us about Israel's developing identity than first meets the eye.