JUST 120 years after Saul became the first king of Israel, the nation was torn in two. Why? Because of the apostasy of King Solomon. Desiring to please his foreign wives, Solomon allowed rank idolatry to infiltrate the nation, building ‘high places’ to false gods. This interfaith was abhorrent to Jehovah. Yet, loyal to his covenant with David, God did not cut short the Davidic dynasty. Rather, he decreed the ripping away of part of the nation.​—1Ki 11:7-13.

This occurred in 997 B.C.E. when the actions of Solomon’s headstrong son Rehoboam incited ten tribes to rebel and form a kingdom largely in the northern part of the land but also including Simeonite enclave cities scattered throughout Judah. Only the tribes of Benjamin and Levi remained loyal to the southern kingdom in Judah.

Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom, feared he would lose the allegiance of his people if they continued worshiping at Jerusalem, so he instituted a religion of his own. He placed golden calves at Dan far to the north and at Bethel just 17 km (11 mi) north of Jerusalem. He also installed his own priesthood and arranged for his own ‘holy days.’​—1Ki 12:26-33.

Israel thus became a land divided both politically and religiously, a land vulnerable to foreign aggression and wracked by civil war. Cut off from Jehovah’s pure worship, the ten-tribe kingdom sank deep into moral and spiritual corruption. Yet, Jehovah continued to send his prophets to urge them to repent.