Like Uzziah, his near contemporary, Jeroboam II enjoyed a long and prosperous reign. The biblical account is surprisingly ambivalent to him. On the one hand he is subject to the same judgment of "following in the footsteps of his ancestor Jeroboam" (his namesake), while his expansion of Israel's borders was announced by the prophet Jonah (a message not found in the book that bears the prophet's name) and is described as "Adonai saving [Israel] by the hand of Jeroboam" (II Kgs 14:25,27).
The territory he is said to have restored to Israel "from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah" corresponds to the ideal boundaries of the promised land (Num 13:21; 34:8ff.; Josh 13:5; Judg 3:3; 1 Kgs 8:65; Am 6:14). Jeroboam's success was made easier by Assyria's relative weakness at this time, and facilitated by close cooperation with Judah.
This page is part of the Hypertext Bible Commentary - Amos,
© Tim Bulkeley, 1996-2005, Tim Bulkeley. All rights reserved.