Jeroboam (King living at the time of United Monarchyand Divided Monarchy)

Jeroboam was an official under Solomon who led the ten northern tribes in breaking away to form a separate kingdom of Israel after Solomon's son Rehoboam refused to ease his father's harsh labor policies. To keep his new subjects from returning to Jerusalem to worship and possibly switching allegiance back to Judah, Jeroboam set up golden calves at Bethel and Dan and installed his own priesthood, a decision the Old Testament treats as the original sin that doomed every king of northern Israel after him. A later king of Israel, Jeroboam the second, ruled generations afterward during a period of unusual prosperity and military success.