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The son of Solomon, but the northern ten tribes and in fact the majority of the Jewish people and most of the territory of the land of Israel goes with a man called Yerovam ben Nevat, who mounts a rebellion against the Davidic Dynasty. Now he is supported originally by a prophet as a punishment for the excesses that King Solomon had had with wives and with wealth and with power, but the Temple remains in Jerusalem, and the Temple in Jerusalem is the center of the Jewish world, and that belongs to the Kingdom of Judah. In fact, the rabbis say that no one could sit in the Temple environs except for the king of the Davidic dynasty. You know, I was in Avignon, the Pope's Palace in Provence, and there they have this tremendous reception room, and there also there only was one chair. That was the entire furniture in this enormous room, because the Church always attempted to imitate the Davidic dynasty, from which they claimed that they were descended.
In any event, Yerovam in the north builds an iron curtain, a wall, to prevent the Jews from the north going south to participate in the Temple services. The reason for that is because he would have to stand while the king of Judah sits, and he does not want to undergo that humiliation. How personal pride plays a role in human history: he didn't want to be, in his mind, humiliated, and therefore he converts the northern kingdom into a kingdom of idolatry, of paganism, of going away from Judaism, all because of his own personal honor, or what he perceived to be his personal honor. The Talmud tells us a tremendous insight into him. The Talmud, in its inimitable fashion, says that he has a dream one night. The Lord, so to speak, appears to him, and the Lord says to him, "Listen, come back, forget all of this nonsense, and you and I, so to speak, and King David will walk together in the Garden of Eden." Yerovam's question to God is, "Who walks first, King David or me?" And when God tells him King David is first and then you, he says, "I don't want it." Well, that's a lesson on human hubris, on pride, and how people do stupid things for very, very petty reasons.
There ensues now a competition between Judah and the Kingdom of Israel in the north, a competition that lasts for centuries and sometimes even descends into civil war. The Kingdom of Israel will besiege Jerusalem and attempt to destroy it. Jerusalem, or rather Judah, will make an alliance with forces against Israel. It's unbelievable. The Jewish people split into two, and eventually the northern kingdom is destroyed by the king of Assyria. The king of Assyria attempts to destroy Jerusalem as well, but he cannot do so. His army is overcome by a plague that occurs on the night of Passover, and Jerusalem remains for another 150 years as the center of Jewish life, but now there's only the Kingdom of Judah. The Prophet Jeremiah restores many of the citizens of the northern kingdom and brings them back to live under Judah, and that becomes now the Jewish people. Eventually, though, because of the sins of paganism, of immorality, and of murder that the Jewish society allowed, the Temple in Jerusalem also will be endangered and finally destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, the Emperor of Babylonia. There's a whole discussion as to what year this happened, but nevertheless now both kingdoms are destroyed. The Jewish people are taken to exile. Ninety percent of the Jews end up in Babylonia, the Babylonian exile, and ten percent end up in Egypt, together with the Prophet Jeremiah. It looks like the end of the Jewish story, but my friends, we always know that there never is an end to the Jewish story. So stay with me, and we'll talk about it next time. Thank you for watching. I'm Bar El Wine. For more on Jewish history, go to jewishhistorydotorg.