Most infamously remembered in the Old Testament as the man who broke up the united monarchy soon after the death of Soloman to become the first king of the break-away nation of Israel, reigning for twenty-one years, c.922-901 BC. In order to forstall any possible temptation of rebellion among the northern tribes by their annual return to celebrate the festivals in the temple of Jerusalem, he established the twin altars in Dan and Bethel and so drawing the nation away from the temple in Jerusalem and into apostasy. This act of covenantal rebellion is remembered repeatedly in the book of Kings and used as a measure of each Israelite king's way of life by whether or not he "walked in the ways of Jeroboam and caused my people Israel to sin."
A member of the tribe of Ephraim ("from Zeredah, and his mother was a widow named Zeruah"( 1 Ki 11:26), Jeroboam was one of Solomon's official whose industry impressed Solomon enough for the king to promote him to being put "in charge of the whole labor force of the house of Joseph" (1 Ki 11:26-28). Though the text is silent about it, he seemed to have risen up in rebellion against the king soon after he was told by the prophet Ahijah that Yahweh would split Solomon's kingdom and give him ten of the twelve tribes to rule over, for Solomon sought to kill him (1 Ki 11:19-40). Thereupon he fled to Egpyt and found refuge with the Egyptian king Shishak.
Upon Solomon's death, Jeroboam returned (2 Chron 10:2) and in the wake of the failure of Rehoboam's refusal to grant a lightening of the burden upon the people, Jeroboam broke off and took the ten northern tribes with him to form the northern kingdom of Israel, leaving Rehoboam with a rump of Judah.
To strengthen his hold on the nation Jeroboam established a cult of the golden calf at two centres—one in Dan in the far north and the other in Bethel, just across from the border with Judah—where he "appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar" (1 Ki 12:31). From this point the northern tribes would slide ever deeper down the slippery slope into apostacy. Despite the clear warning from the un-named man of God who came to preach, with great miraculous signs, at Bethel, Jeroboam "did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places" (v33). Ahijah, who prophesied his kingship, was left to prophesy to his wife, when she disguised herself to seek the prophet's counsel on account of their son's illness, that Yahweh was "going to bring disaster on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone. Dogs will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds of the air will feed on those who die in the country" (1 Ki 14:10-11).
Afterwards in the rest of the book of Kings, whether any king walked or did not walk in "the sins/ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to commit" would become the hallmark by which every subsequent king was measured (1 Ki 16:2, 26, 31; 22:52; 2 Ki 3:3; 10:29, 31; 13:2, 11; 14:24; 15:9, 18, 244, 28; 17:22).
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