Replacing a judahite with an ephraimite taskmaster

The story of the assembly at Shechem (I Reg 11, 26-28.40; 12,1-20*) was composed within a sapiential circle of literati in the Kingdom of Judah in about the mid-seventh century. Underlying the story is a subversive account that depicts sarcastically the establishment of the Israelite monarchy and ridicules the figure of Jeroboam, its founder. In essence, the setting of the new king comprises the replacement of the former Judahite taskmaster by an Israelite one. The Deuteronomist cut short the account of Jeroboam's rebellion and inserted the episode of Ahijah and Jeroboam. Thereby, he blurred the message of the early story and fitted the sequence of events to his ideological presentation of Israel's history.