ii. A second adversary appeared in the north-eastern provinces of the empire. ♦REZIN, the Syrian, the son of Eliadah, flying from the defeat which his feudal lord Hadadezer, king of Zobah, had sustained at the hands of David, put himself at the head of a band of adventurers and seized Damascus. Here he set up a petty kingdom, and _became an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon_, and an impediment to the king’s commerce with Tadmor and the Euphrates (1 K. xi. 23–25). iii. But a far more formidable adversary appeared nearer home. When Solomon was constructing the fortifications of Millo under the citadel of Zion, he observed the industry and activity of JEROBOAM, already known as a man of valour, the son of an Ephraimite, named Nebat. Perceiving his worth, the king not only employed him on the works, but elevated him to the rank of collector of the taxes from his native tribe. On one occasion as he was going out of Jerusalem, Jeroboam encountered the prophet Ahijah of the ancient sanctuary of Shiloh, and accompanied him to a neighbouring field. When they were alone, the prophet rent the new outer robe in which he was attired into twelve pieces, and gave ten of them to Jeroboam, assuring him at the same time that he should reign over ten of the tribes, and that if he proved faithful to His laws God would establish his dynasty as he had done that of David (1 K. xi. 26–39). News of this mysterious intimation in some way reached the ears of Solomon, and he sought to put Jeroboam to death, but the latter fled for refuge to the court of Shishak (_Sheshonk_ I.), a powerful monarch, who was bent on restoring Egypt to its former greatness. Here he remained during the rest of Solomon’s reign. Departing from his earlier policy the king had laid the burden of compulsory labour not only on the remnant of the Canaanites, but on the Israelites themselves (1 K. v. 13, 14). This increased the old jealousy of the great house of Joseph, and a man like Jeroboam was certain at any time to rally round him all the national discontent and ill-feeling against the once prosperous monarch.