The events that led to the division of the kingdom of Israel show how the arrogance of a few powerful men can have repercussions that last for centuries. Yerovam began his career as a religious zealot and critic of King Solomon, but he ended it as one of the great villains of Jewish history, an idolatrous king who led ten of the twelve tribes into grievous sin. This absorbing lesson from the ancients reminds us of a pattern oft-repeated in history, that egotism can destroy not only one man, but an entire people.

• Yerovam's fatal question: "Who goes first?"
• Rechavam and the role of bad advice in politics
• the seductive lure of power
• the shunning of the Bais Hamikdash
• how decades of spiritual progress were undone in a flash