Ahijah HaShiloni

Ahijah commissions Jeroboam as the future king of Israel.

Ahijah HaShiloni, also known as Ahijah the Shilonite, was a prophet of Shiloh (1 Kings 11:29 in the Old Testament. 14:2). He was called "the Shilonite" in the days of Rehoboam, to distinguish him from other men named Ahijah.

After King Solomon offended the prophetic ideal by erecting altars to non-Israelite gods, Ahijah was instrumental in the division of Solomon's domain into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah. He commissioned the northern labor leader Jeroboam to become the future king of Israel, promising him that the blessings originally intended for the Davidic kings would be fulfilled in Jeroboam's lineage 1 Kings 11:31-39. However, when Jeroboam displeased Ahijah by bypassing Shiloh in favor or northern sanctuaries at Bethel and Dan, and when Jeroboam erected golden bull statues at these shrines, Ahijah broke with his protege and predicted God's doom upon his lineage 1 Kings 14:6-16.

Jeroboam gave testimony to the high esteem in which he was held as a prophet of God (1 Kings 14:2,3).

Biblical data

Shiloh

Shiloh was a major religious center in Israel during the time of the judges. The Tabernacle was set up at Shiloh semi-permanently during the later days of the period, and it was here that the Ark of the Covenant was usually housed, except when used as the standard of an Israelite army, or, later, when captured by the Philistines.

At Shiloh, the "whole congregation of Israel assembled," (Joshua 18:1). According to Talmudic sources, the Tabernacle rested at Shiloh for 369 years. At some point during its long stay at Shiloh, the portable tent seems to have been enclosed within a compound or replaced with a standing structure with "doors" (1 Samuel 3:15) a precursor to the Temple.

The prophet and judge Samuel was raised at the shrine in Shiloh by the high priest Eli. Ahijah was Eli's grandson. Ajijah's father and uncle, however, were corrupt, bringing God's displeasure. Despite God's presence with Samuel, the Israelites suffered two defeats by the Philistines. During the second of these, the sacred Ark of the Covenant was seized. Ahijah's father Phinehas was slain, as well as his uncle Hophni, and his grandfather Eli died from a fall and shock upon hearing the news (1 Samuel 4). Although the Ark was eventually returned to Israel, it would no longer be housed at Shiloh.

Ahijah's background

Ahijah himself first appears among Saul's men as a young man at Gibeah during a battle against the Philistines. He is already allowed to wear the priestly ephod at this time, and has charge of the Ark of the Covenant. Saul commands that Ahijah bring forth the Ark, causing increased panic in the Philistine camp. The Israelites consequently win a major battle with God's help (1 Samuel 14).

Ahijah disappears from the record at this point until the reign of Solomon. In the interim Shiloh and the other local sites of Israelite worship fell under hard times as Solomon's Temple of Jerusalem became the official center of the Israelite religion.

Despite Solomon's prosperity and skills as an administrator, tensions between the northern tribes, which had been loyal to Saul, and the southern tribe of Judah, which had been loyal to David, remained. David had faced civil war between his forces and those of Saul's son Ish-bosheth in the early days of his reigned, followed by a rebellion by his own son Absalom, who received support from the northern tribes. Solomon's reign was relative peaceful, but he imposed forced labor on the northern tribes, increasing the tension between them and the south.

Solomon brought Ahijah into the picture again after he decided to appease his Moabite and Ammonite vassals by erecting altars to their gods near Jerusalem in honor of the princesses that the kings of these nations had offered to David as his wives. This toleration and state support of idolatry stimulated Ahijah to act as God's messenger to Jeroboam and ultimately spelled the end of David and Solomon's united kingdom.

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