All the kings of Israel. Kings of Israel
Kings of Israel- 1) kings who ruled after the period of the judges, until the loss of independence and independence by the Jewish people; 2) kings who ruled in the Northern Kingdom (formed as a result of the split of the united Israeli state into two parts) until the end of its existence.
Why, if initially the people of Israel were ruled by the Lord Himself, then later earthly kings began to rule over them?
Having led the Israeli people out of Egypt, freeing them from the shackles of many years of slavery, he concluded with them ().
One of the conditions of the Covenant was that God would undertake to govern Israel personally. In turn, the Jews were required by the Lord to comply with the requirements of His law.
Thus, God Himself was considered the King in Israel. Moses, Joshua, and other leaders who participated in the leadership of society ruled not by their own will, but by the Divine. They were considered God's representatives, intermediaries between the Heavenly King and His people.
Despite numerous promises to remain faithful to God, the sons of Israel regularly apostatized from the faith and fell into grave sins. However, the Lord never left them without proper care.
The relationship between the Jews and God changed fundamentally when they wanted to install an earthly king over themselves. God regarded this desire not only as another apostasy, but also as a betrayal ().
Why? The fact is that by their desire to live under the authority of an earthly king, as was the case among the pagan peoples, the sons of Israel showed that they preferred an earthly one to the Supreme Lord, and a kingdom from this world to the God-established kingdom. With this conscious choice, they also revealed their distrust of God.
Meanwhile, the Lord accepted their choice and did not stop caring for them.
In a number of cases, He indicated through His servants who exactly should be appointed to the kingdom. Thus, with Divine support, David (), Jehu () and others were awarded power.
Time passed and the people realized: life under the leadership of earthly rulers does not and cannot give advantages over life under God’s leadership.
As before, the well-being of Jewish society continued to depend on the level of faith and obedience to God (), and this is what they lacked. Just as the people sinned before the beginning of the period of kings, so they sinned later, and even more, especially under wicked rulers.
As a result, the united people were divided. First one part of it, and then the other, fell under the rule of the pagans. Thus the people of the Covenant lost their independence. With this loss, the period of the kings also ended.
In tradition Jewish people there wasn't royal power. They led a nomadic lifestyle and from time immemorial were ruled by patriarchs, elders, judges... Since the time of Moses, a theocratic system of government has been built in Judea: people - elders - judges - high priest (sometimes a prophet next to him) - God. And it justified itself in those conditions. However, the transition to a settled life, the experience of communicating with neighboring peoples (Canaanites, Philistines...), greed and the inability of the ruling elite to protect the people from the external expansion of the same neighbors led to the fact that the people demanded a king for themselves, turning to the the highest authority of that time, the prophet Samuel.
Samuel, realizing that the new type of government threatened the future power of his sons, resisted this decision, but in the end he still made a choice in favor of the young man Saul, the son of Kish from a noble family with a good name from the small tribe of Benjamin. At first, Samuel secretly anointed him to the kingdom, and then after some time the lot fell on the anointed one in front of the people. This is how Josephus Flavius recounts the story of the election of Saul.
Saul ruled for about 20 years and for the first time of his reign he acted according to the will of God, showing himself to be a worthy ruler. With many victories over his enemies, he gained the love of the people. At first he refused honors and peacetime he plowed his own field (1 Samuel 11:4). Over time, Saul stopped fulfilling the commands of God, becoming arrogant, and the Spirit of God left him. Realizing this, he fell into depression, and nothing made him happy. David, who was close to the king, was secretly anointed king by Samuel, dispelling the king’s melancholy by skillfully playing the harp.
Three sons of Saul were killed at the Battle of Gilboa. Surrounded by enemy archers and wounded by their arrows, Saul threw himself on his sword (1 Samuel 31:4).
David plays the harp in front of Saul.
Alexander Andreevich Ivanov. 1831 Paper pasted onto paper and cardboard, oil. 8.5 x 13.5.
On biblical story. Sketch of an unrealized painting.
Received in 1926 from the Rumyantsev Museum (gift of S. A. Ivanov in 1877). Inventory No. 7990.
State Tretyakov Gallery
http://www.tez-rus.net/ViewGood18360.html
The sorceress of Endor summons the shadow of the prophet Samuel.
Dmitry Nikiforovich Martynov (1826-1889). 1857
Ulyanovsk Art Museum
The story of the Witch of Endor is contained in the First Book of Kings (chapter 28). It tells how, after the death of the prophet Samuel, the Philistine armies gathered to fight Israel. King Saul of Israel tried to ask God about the outcome of the battle, “but the Lord did not answer him, either in a dream, or by the Urim, or by the prophets” (1 Sam. 28:6). Then he ordered the servants: “Find me a sorceress woman, and I will go to her and ask her.” The servants found a sorceress in Endor and Saul, changing his royal clothes to simple ones, took two people with him and went to her at night.
“And [Saul] said to her, I pray you, tell me a spell and bring out to me whom I will tell you about. But the woman answered him: you know what Saul did, how he drove the wizards and fortune-tellers out of the country; Why are you laying a net for my soul to destroy me? And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord lives! There will be no trouble for you for this matter. Then the woman asked: whom should I bring out for you? And he answered: Bring out Samuel to me. And the woman saw Samuel and cried out loudly; and the woman turned to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived me? you are Saul. And the king said to her: Do not be afraid; what do you see? And the woman answered: I see, as it were, a god emerging from the earth. What kind does he look like? - [Saul] asked her. She said: an elderly man comes out of the ground, dressed in long clothes. Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he fell face down to the ground and worshiped. (1 Samuel 28:8-14)“
Saul asked Samuel what he should do in the war with the Philistines, to which he received the answer: “Why do you ask me, when the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy?” The Lord will do what he spoke through me; The Lord will take the kingdom out of your hands and give it to your neighbor David.” (1 Samuel 28:16-17). Samuel further predicted that “tomorrow you and your sons [will be] with me.” Saul was afraid and fell to the ground. The sorceress approached him, offered him bread, after persuasion the king agreed and the woman slaughtered a calf for him and baked unleavened bread. After eating, Saul left.
The next day, in the battle, Saul's sons Jonathan, Aminadab and Malchisua were killed, and the king himself committed suicide (1 Sam. 31:15). The first book of Chronicles reports that “Saul died because of his iniquity, which he committed before the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord and turned to the sorceress with a question” (1 Chronicles 10:13).
The Sorceress of Endor summons the shadow of Samuel (Saul from the Sorceress of Endor).
Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge. 1856 Oil on canvas. 288x341.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
King David
David is the second king of Israel, the youngest son of Jesse. Reigned for 40 years (c. 1005 - 965 BC, according to traditional Jewish chronology c. 876 - 836 BC: seven years and six months he was king of Judah (with his capital in Hebron), then 33 years - king of the united kingdom of Israel and Judah (with its capital in Jerusalem). The image of David is the image of an ideal ruler, from whose family (through the male line), according to Jewish biblical prophecies, the Messiah will come, which has already come true, according to the Christian New Testament, which describes in detail the origin of the Messiah. - Jesus Christ from King David. The historicity of King David is a subject of debate among historians and archaeologists.
Tree of Jesse.
Marc Chagall. 1975 Oil on canvas. 130×81 cm.
Private collection
David and Goliath.
I. E. Repin. 1915 Paper on cardboard, watercolor, bronze powder. 22x35.
Tver Regional Art Gallery
Called to King Saul, David played the kinnor to drive away the evil spirit that was tormenting the king for his apostasy from God. After David, who came to the Israeli army to visit his brothers, accepted the challenge of the Philistine giant Goliath and killed him with a sling, thereby ensuring victory for the Israelites, Saul finally took him to court (1 Samuel 16:14 - 18:2).
Bathsheba.
Karl Pavlovich Bryullov. 1832 Unfinished painting. Oil on canvas. 173x125.5.
Received in 1925 from the Rumyantsev Museum (collection of K. T. Soldatenkov). Inventory No. 5052.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
http://www.tanais.info/art/brulloff6more.html
Bathsheba.
K.P. Bryullov. 1830s (?). Oil on canvas. 87.5 x 61.5.
Variant of the painting of the same name 1832 from the Tretyakov Gallery collection
Second Book of Samuel, 11, 2-4
On the left, on the tap, signature: K. P. Brullo.
Received in 1907 from A. A. Kozlova (St. Petersburg). Inv. No. Ж-5083.
http://www.tez-rus.net/ViewGood36729.html
Around 1832, Karl Bryullov created a painting that was a kind of result of his many years of creative quest in mythological and genre painting. Having conceived the painting “Bathsheba,” he selflessly begins to work on it for four years. The author was overwhelmed with the desire to depict a naked human body in the rays of the setting sun. The subtle play of light and shadow that permeates the picture, and the airiness of the environment surrounding the figure, did not prevent the author from giving the silhouette clarity and sculptural volume. In the painting “Bathsheba,” Bryullov skillfully depicts sensual eroticism, openly, like a man, admiring every fold on a slender body and every strand of fluffy thick hair. In order to enhance the impression, the master used a spectacular color contrast. We see how the whiteness of Bathsheba’s matte skin is set off by the dark dark skin of the Ethiopian maid, tenderly clinging to her mistress.
The film is based on a plot from Old Testament. In the Bible, “Bathsheba” is described as a woman of rare beauty. Walking on the roof of his palace, King David saw below a girl who was naked and was ready to enter the waters of the marble bath. Struck by the unique beauty of Bathsheba, King David experienced passion. Bathsheba's husband was away from home at this time, serving in the army of King David. Without trying to seduce the king, Bathsheba nevertheless appeared on his orders at the palace and after their relationship, Bathsheba became pregnant. King David gave the army commander an order in which he ordered her husband to be sent to the hottest place where he would be killed. In the end, this happened, after which King David married Bathsheba. Once born, their first child lived only a few days. David grieved for a long time and repented of what he had done. Despite her high position and status as David's most beloved wife, Bathsheba behaved very modestly and with dignity. Meanwhile, the Bible says that she had great influence on the king, this is proven by the fact that she convinced the ruler to appoint his eldest son Solomon as king. After a fierce struggle began between his sons for the throne of King David, she in every possible way contributed to the exposure of David’s fourth son Adonijah, who sought to remove his father from the throne. Bathsheba had two sons, Solomon and Nathan. All her life she loved and was devoted to King David, becoming a wonderful wife and a good mother. art-on-web.ru
David and Bathsheba.
Marc Chagall. Paris, 1960. Lithograph, paper. 35.8×26.5
Song of Songs
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Museum, Nice
King David.
Marc Chagall. 1962–63 Oil on canvas. 179.8x98.
Private collection
King David.
V.L. Borovikovsky. 1785 Oil on canvas. 63.5 x 49.5.
Below left is the date and signature: 1785, written by Vladimir Borovikovsky.
Received: 1951 from the collection of R.S. Belenkaya. Inv. No. Ж-5864
State Russian Museum
http://www.tez-rus.net:8888/ViewGood34367.html
King Solomon
Solomon is the third Jewish king, the legendary ruler of the united Kingdom of Israel in 965-928 BC. e., during its peak period. Son of King David and Bathsheba (Bat Sheva), his co-ruler in 967-965 BC. e. During the reign of Solomon, the Temple of Jerusalem was built in Jerusalem - the main shrine of Judaism, later destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Traditionally considered the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, the book Song of Solomon, the Book of Proverbs of Solomon, as well as some psalms. During Solomon's lifetime, uprisings of the conquered peoples (Edomites, Arameans) began; immediately after his death, an uprising broke out, as a result of which the single state split into two kingdoms (Israel and Judah). For later periods Jewish history Solomon's reign represented a kind of “golden age.” All the blessings of the world were attributed to the “sun-like” king - wealth, women, remarkable intelligence.
The Court of King Solomon.
N.N. Ge. 1854 Oil on canvas. 147 x 185.
Kyiv state museum Russian art
The student program work “The Judgment of King Solomon” was carried out according to all academic canons, in a somewhat constrained and restrained manner.
Then two harlot women came to the king and stood before him. And one woman said: Oh, my lord! This woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth in her presence in this house; On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth; and we were together, and there was no one else in the house with us; only the two of us were in the house; and the woman's son died in the night, because she slept with him; and she arose at night and took my son from me while I, your handmaid, was sleeping, and laid him to her breast, and she laid her dead son to my breast; In the morning I got up to feed my son, and behold, he was dead; and when I looked at him in the morning, it was not my son whom I gave birth to. And the other woman said: No, my son is alive, but your son is dead. And she told her: no, your son is dead, but mine is alive. And they spoke thus before the king.
And the king said: This one says: my son is alive, but your son is dead; and she says: no, your son is dead, but my son is alive. And the king said: Give me a sword. And they brought the sword to the king. And the king said, Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other. And that woman, whose son was alive, answered the king, for her whole inside was agitated with pity for her son: Oh, my lord! give her this child alive and do not kill him. And the other said: let it not be for me or for you, chop it down. And the king answered and said: Give this living child, and do not kill him: she is his mother. 1 Kings 3:16-27
Ecclesiastes or Vanity of Vanities (Vanity of Vanities and all kinds of vanity).
Isaac Lvovich Asknaziy. 1899 or 1900
Research Museum Russian Academy arts in St. Petersburg
The artist's largest, most serious and last work was painted in 1900 - the painting "Ecclesiastes" or "Vanity of Vanities." It was even exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in 1900.
The painting depicts King Solomon of Jerusalem sitting on the throne, his thoughts are gloomy, his lips whisper: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” The artist depicts the king as lonely, long abandoned by his children. Only two faithful servants - a bodyguard and a secretary - remained with him. The servants watch the movements of his lips with close attention, and the secretary writes down the sayings of the wise king on the board.
A precise composition, beautiful drawing, knowledge of the style of the era depicted - everything indicates that the picture was made by the hand of a master. The oriental luxury of the decoration of the interior of the palace and the clothes of King Solomon sitting on the throne only emphasize the main idea of the work: external splendor is all vanity. The work, to which Asknazi dedicated six years of his life, was included in the exhibition of the Russian department at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. The author dreamed that the painting would be acquired by the Academy of Arts for the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III. However, the painting, although purchased for five thousand rubles, did not end up in the new museum, remaining in the academic collection. Numerous studies and sketches for her were first shown at the “Posthumous Exhibition of Works by Academician I.L. Asknaziy,” which opened in the academic halls in 1903, which featured 110 paintings and more than 150 sketches and sketches. It was a personal exhibition of works by Isaac Asknazi. Parashutov
King Solomon.
Nesterov Mikhail Vasilievich (1862 - 1942). 1902
Fragment of the painting of the drum of the dome of the church in the name of the blessed prince Alexander Nevsky
http://www.art-catalog.ru/picture.php?id_picture=15191
The key to understanding the passion and power of the great biblical historical saga is to understand the unique time and place in which it was originally composed. Our narrative now approaches a great moment in religious and literary history, for it was only after the fall of Israel that Judah grew into a fully developed state with the necessary set of professional priests and trained scribes capable of taking on such a task. When Judah itself was suddenly confronted with the non-Israelite world, it needed a defining and motivating text. This text was the historical core of the Bible, compiled in Jerusalem during the 7th century BC. It is not surprising that the biblical text, from the very beginning of Israel's history, repeatedly emphasizes the special status of Judah, because Judah was the birthplace of the basic writings of ancient Israel.
It was in the ancient Jewish capital of Hebron that the respected patriarchs and foremothers were buried in the Cave of Machpelah, as we read in the book of Genesis. Among all the sons of Jacob, it was Judah who was appointed to rule over all the other tribes of Israel (Genesis 49:8). The Jews' devotion to God's commandments was unsurpassed by other Israelite warriors during the invasion of Canaan, only they are said to have completely eradicated the presence of the pagan Canaanites from their tribal inheritance. It was from the Jewish village of Bethlehem that David, Israel's greatest king and military leader, emerged onto the stage of biblical history. His described exploits and close relationship with God became important themes in Scripture. Indeed, David's conquest of Jerusalem symbolized the final act of the drama of the conquest of Canaan. Jerusalem, now transformed into a royal city, became the site of the Temple, the political capital of the Davidic dynasty, and the sacred center for the people of Israel forever.
However, despite the prominence of Judea in the Bible, until the 8th century BC. There is no archaeological indication that this small and rather isolated mountainous region, surrounded by arid steppe to the east and south, had any special significance. As we have seen, its population was meager, its cities (even Jerusalem) were small and few in number. It was Israel, not Judea, that initiated the wars in the region. It was Israel, not Judah, that carried out extensive diplomacy and trade. When the two kingdoms came into conflict, Judah typically went on the defensive and was forced to call on neighboring states for help. Until the late 8th century, there is no indication that Judea was a significant power in regional affairs. In a moment of revelation, the biblical historian quotes a fable in which he reduces Judah to the status of “the thistle of Lebanon” compared to Israel, the “cedar of Lebanon” (2 Kings 14:9). On the international stage, Judah was probably only a relatively small and isolated kingdom, which, as the great Assyrian conqueror Sargon II mockingly put it, “lies far away.”
But starting from the end of the 8th century BC. something extraordinary happened. A series of epochal changes, beginning with the fall of Israel, suddenly changed the political and religious landscape. The population of Judea reached unprecedented levels. Its capital became for the first time a national religious center and a bustling metropolis. Intensive trade began with surrounding peoples. Finally, a major religious reform movement - centered on the exclusive worship of Yahweh in the Jerusalem Temple - began to develop a new revolutionary understanding of the God of Israel. Analysis of historical and social events in the Middle East in the 9th and 8th centuries BC. explains some of these changes. The archeology of Judea at the end of the monarchy offers even more important clues.
Good kings and bad ones
There is no reason to seriously doubt the reliability of the biblical list of kings of the Davidic dynasty who reigned in Jerusalem during the two centuries following the times of David and Solomon. The Books of Kings very intricately interweave the stories of the northern and southern kingdoms into a single, combined national history, often referring to the now lost royal chronicles called "the annals of the kings of Judah" and "the annals of the kings of Israel". The dates of the reigns of the kings of Judah are precisely compared with the dates of the reigns of the kings of Israel, as in the typical passage of 1 Kings 15:9, which reads: "In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa reigned over Judah". This cross-dating system, which can be verified by externally dated references to individual Israelite and Judah kings, has proven to be generally reliable and consistent—with a few minor chronological corrections to certain reigns and the addition of possible co-reigns.
KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH*
| Rehoboam | 931 – 914 | Jeroboam I | 931 – 909 |
| Aviya | 914 – 911 | Nadav | 909 – 908 |
| Asa | 911 – 870 | Vaasa | 908 – 885 |
| Yoshaphat | 870 – 846** | Ela | 885 – 884 |
| Yoram | 851 – 843** | Zamvriy (Zimri) | 884 |
| Ahaziah | 843 – 842 | Famniy (Tivni) | 884 – 880*** |
| Athaliah (Atalia) | 842 – 836 | Omri (Omri) | 884 – 873 |
| Joas | 836 – 798 | Ahab | 873 – 852 |
| Amaziah | 798 – 769 | Ahaziah | 852 – 851 |
| Uzziah | 785 – 733** | Joram | 851 – 842 |
| Jotham (Yotham) | 743 – 729** | Jehu (Yehu) | 842 – 814 |
| Ahaz | 743 – 727** | Joahaz | 817 – 800** |
| Hezekiah | 727 – 698 | Joash | 800 – 784 |
| Manasseh | 698 – 642 | Jeroboam II | 788 – 747** |
| Ammon | 641 – 640 | Zechariah | 747 |
| Yosia | 639 – 609 | Shallum | 747 |
| Joahaz | 609 | Manaim (Menachem) | 747 – 737 |
| Joakim | 608 – 598 | Fakia (Pekahia) | 737 – 735 |
| Jeconiah | 597 | Fakei (Pekah) | 735 – 732 |
| Zedekiah | 596 – 586 | Hosea | 732 – 724 |
* According to Anchor Bible Dictionary, Volume. 1, p. 1010 and Galil "Chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah"
** Including joint management
***Simultaneous reign with another rival
So we learn that 11 kings (all but one heir to the Davidic dynasty) ruled in Jerusalem from the late 10th to the mid-8th century BC. The accounts of each reign are laconic. But in neither case is there the dramatic, murderous portrayal of character that we see in the biblical representation of the northern king Jeroboam or the idolatrous house of Omri. But this does not mean that theology plays no role in the biblical account of the history of Judah. God's punishment was swift and crystal clear. When sinful kings reigned in Jerusalem and idolatry was rampant, we learn that they were punished and Judah suffered military failures. When righteous kings reigned over Judah and the people were faithful to the God of Israel, the kingdom prospered and expanded its territory. Unlike the northern kingdom, which throughout biblical text described in negative terms, Judea is basically good. Although the number of good and bad kings of Judah is almost equal, the length of their reign is not. Much of the history of the southern kingdom is covered by good kings.
So even in the days of Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon, “Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord,” and his people worshiped in high places “on every high hill” and imitated the customs of the foreigners (1 Kings 14:22-24). Punishment for this The apostasy was swift and painful. The Egyptian Pharaoh Shishak in the 5th year of Rehoboam (926 BC) marched on Jerusalem and took a huge tribute from the treasures of the Temple and the royal palace of the Davidic dynasty (1 Kings 14:25-26). was not adopted by Abijah, the son of Rehoboam, who “walked in all the sins of his father which he had committed before him, and his heart was not devoted to the Lord his God” (1 Kings 15:3). Judah's misfortunes continued with periodic conflicts with the armies of the kingdom of Israel.
Things took a turn for the better during the reign of Asa, who ruled Jerusalem for 41 years beginning in the late 10th century. Asa reportedly “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, as David his father did” (1 Kings 15:11). Therefore, it is not surprising that at one time Jerusalem was saved from the attack of the Israeli king Baasha. Asa sought help from the king of Aram-Damascus, who attacked Israel's far northern borders, thereby forcing Baasha to withdraw his invading forces from the northern outskirts of Jerusalem.
To the next king Jehoshaphat (the first Jewish monarch with a name consisting of a variation of the divine name Yahweh: Yeho + Shafat= "Yahweh judged") was praised for following the path of his righteous father Asa. He ruled Jerusalem for 25 years in the first half of the 9th century BC, made peace with the kingdom of Israel and joined it in a successful offensive operations against Aram and Moab.
Over the next centuries, the kingdom of Judah experienced ups and downs, reaching a low point when Jehoshaphat's son Jehoram became intermarried with the sinful family of Ahab and Jezebel. The predictable misfortune came: Edom (long dependent on Judah) rebelled, and Judah lost rich agricultural territories in the western Shephelah to the Philistines. Even more serious were the bloody consequences of the fall of the Omri dynasty, which shook the royal palace in Jerusalem. Ahaziah (son of Jehoram and Princess Athaliah of the House of Omri) was killed in Jehu's coup. Returning to Jerusalem and hearing the news of the death of her son and all her relatives at the hands of Jehu, Athaliah ordered the destruction of all the heirs of the royal house of David and took the throne herself. For 6 years, a Temple priest named Jehoiada waited. When the time came, he publicly announced that David's heir had been saved from the massacre of Athaliah, and presented the boy Joash, the son of Ahaziah by another wife. At the anointing of Joash as the rightful king of the Davidic dynasty, Athaliah was killed. The period of northern (Omrid) influence on the southern kingdom, during which the cult of Baal was introduced in Jerusalem (2 Kings 11:18), came to a bloody end.
Joash reigned in Jerusalem for 40 years and “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days” (2 Kings 12:2). His most important act was the renovation of the temple. At one time, Jerusalem was threatened by Hazael, the king of Aram-Damascus. He left the city alone only after demanding and receiving a crippling tribute from the king of Judah (2 Kings 12:18-19), but this was not as terrible as the destruction to which Hazael subjected the northern kingdom.
The Jewish pendulum of good and bad kings, and sometimes mixed ones, will continue. Amasia, moderate righteous king, who “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, yet not as his father David” (2 Kings 14:3), began a successful war against Edom, only to be defeated and captured by the armies of the kingdom of Israel, who invaded the territory of Judah and destroyed wall of Jerusalem. And so the story continues, through the reign of righteous Azariah (also known as Uzziah), who expanded the borders of Judah to the south, and his son Jotham.
A dramatic turn for the worse came with the death of Jotham and the coronation of Ahaz (743-727 BC). Ahaz is condemned by the Bible extremely harshly, far beyond the usual measure of apostasy:
And he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as David his father did, but walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, imitating the abominations of the nations whom the Lord drove out from before the children of Israel, and he made sacrifices and incense on the high places and on the hills and under every shade tree.. (2 Kings 16:2-4)
The result was catastrophic. The restive Edomites took Elath from the Gulf of Aqaba, and Rezin, the powerful king of Damascus, and his ally Pekah, the king of Israel, went to war against Judah and besieged Jerusalem. Pressed against the wall, King Ahaz turned to the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III for help with gifts from the temple: “And the king of Assyria listened to him; and the king of Assyria went to Damascus, and took it, and moved its inhabitants to Cyrus, and put Rezina to death. " (2 Kings 16:9) Judah was, at least temporarily, saved by the clever ploy of a wicked king who turned to the mighty Assyrian Empire.
But the time for far-reaching religious change has come. The endless cycle of apostasy, punishment and repentance had to be broken. For Ahaz's son Hezekiah, who reigned in Jerusalem for 29 years, embarked on radical religious reforms, restoring the purity and loyalty to Yahweh that had been lacking since the days of King David. One of the most enduring forms of cult practiced in rural Judea was the popularity of high places (open-air altars), which were rarely disturbed, even by the most righteous kings. In the summary of the deeds of each king, the Bible, like a mantra, repeats the formula that “the high places were not abolished,” the people of Judah continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense on the high places. Hezekiah was the first to remove the high places, as well as other objects of idolatrous worship:
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord in all things, just as David his father had done; he abolished the high places, broke the statues, cut down the oak grove and destroyed the bronze serpent that Moses had made, because until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it and called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; and there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, both after him and before him. And he clung to the Lord and did not depart from Him, and kept His commandments which the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord was with him: wherever he went, he acted wisely. (2 Kings 18:3-7)
Therefore, the biblical picture of Judah's history is clear in its belief that the kingdom was once exclusively righteous but sometimes deserted the faith. Only the accession of Hezekiah could restore the holiness of Judah.
However, archeology suggests a very different situation, in which the golden age of tribal loyalty to Yahweh was a late religious ideal rather than a historical reality. Instead of restoration, the evidence suggests that a centralized monarchy and a national religion centered in Jerusalem developed over the centuries and was new in Hezekiah's time. The idolatry of the people of Judah was not a departure from the previous monotheism. On the contrary, it was a custom that the people of Judah had worshiped for hundreds of years.
The Hidden Face of Ancient Judea
Just a few years ago, almost all biblical archaeologists accepted the biblical description of the sister states of Judah and Israel at face value. They portrayed Judah as a fully developed state from the time of Solomon and went out of their way to provide archaeological evidence of the building activities and effective regional administration of the early kings of Judah. However, as we have already shown, the supposed archaeological evidence for a united monarchy was nothing more than wishful thinking. This was the case with the monuments attributed to the successors of Solomon. Identification of forts reportedly built in Judah by Solomon's son Rehoboam (according to 2 Chron. 11:5-12), and linking the massive fortifications at the site of Tell en-Nasbeh north of Jerusalem to the defensive work undertaken by King Asa of Judah at the biblical city of Mizpah (1 Kings 15:22) turned out to be illusory. Like Solomon's gates and palaces, these royal building operations are now known to have taken place nearly two hundred years after the reign of these kings.
Table 6. Kings of Judah from Rehoboam to Ahaz
| Kings | Reign dates | Biblical Assessment | Bible Testimony | Non-biblical data |
| Rehoboam | 934 – 914 | Bad | First king of Judah; strengthens cities | Bigwig Campaign |
| Aviya | 914 – 911 | Bad | Fights with the Israeli king Jeroboam |
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| Asa | 911 – 870 | Good | Clears Judea of foreign cults; with the assistance of the king of Damascus, he fights with the Israeli king Baasha; builds two forts on the northern border of Judea |
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| Jehoshaphat | 870 – 846** | Good | He fights with the Arameans with Ahab and with the Moabites with Joram; marries his son to Ahab's daughter |
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| Joram | 851 – 843** | Bad | Edom rebels against Judah | |
| Ahaziah | 843 – 842 | Bad | Descendant of Omri; killed in Jehu's coup in Israel | Mentioned in the Tell Dan inscription? |
| Afalia | 842 – 836 | Bad | Kills many of the house of David; killed during a bloody coup |
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| Joash | 836 – 798 | Good | Restores the temple; saves Jerusalem from Hazael; killed during the coup |
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| Amaziah | 798 – 769 | Good | Edom wins; attacked by King Joash of Israel |
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| Azariah (Uzziah) | 785 – 733** | Good | Isolated in a leper's house; times of the prophet Isaiah | Two seals contain his name |
| Jotham | 759 – 743** | Good | Oppressed by the kings of Israel and Aram; times of Isaiah |
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| Ahaz | 743 – 727 | Bad | Attacked by the kings of Israel and Aram; calls Tiglath-pileser III for help; times of Isaiah | Pays tribute to Tiglath-pileser III, prosperity begins in the Judean Highlands |
* according to Anchor Bible Dictionary And The Chronology of the Kings of Israel and Judah G. Gallil
** including years of joint rule
Archeology shows that the early kings of Judah were not equal in power and administrative ability to their northern counterparts, despite the fact that their reigns and even accession dates are intertwined in the books of Kings. Israel and Judah were two different worlds. With the possible exception of the city of Lachish in the Shephelah foothills, there is no sign of developed regional centers in Judah comparable to the northern cities of Gezer, Megiddo and Hazor. In addition, Jewish town planning and architecture were more rustic. In the south, monumental building techniques such as the use of cut stone masonry and proto-Aeolian capitals, characteristic of the advanced building style of the Omri dynasty in the northern kingdom, do not appear until the 7th century BC. Even if the royal buildings of the House of David in Jerusalem (supposedly destroyed by later buildings) achieved some measure of imposingness, if not grandeur, there is no evidence of monumental construction in the few towns and villages anywhere on the southern hills.
Despite the long-standing claim that Solomon's luxurious court was a place of prosperity fiction, religious thought and historical writing, there is absolutely no evidence of widespread literacy in Judea during the divided monarchy. Not a single trace of the supposed literary activity in 10th century Judea has been found. Indeed, monumental inscriptions and personal seals - essential signs of a fully developed state - do not appear in Judea until 200 years after Solomon, at the end of the 8th century BC. Most of the known ostracons and inscribed weight stones - further evidence of bureaucratic accounting and orderly trading standards - did not appear until the 7th century. There is no evidence of mass production of pottery in centralized workshops or industrial production of olive oil for export until the same late period. Population estimates show exactly how unequal Judah and Israel were. As mentioned, archaeological research shows that before the 8th century, the population of the Judean highlands was about one-tenth of the population of the highlands of the northern kingdom of Israel.
In light of these findings, it is clear that Iron Age Judea did not have any precocious golden age. David, his son Solomon and subsequent members of the Davidic dynasty ruled a small, isolated, countryside, in which there were no signs of wealth or centralized control. This was not a sudden decline into backwardness and failure from an era of unprecedented prosperity. On the contrary, it was a process of long and gradual development, which lasted hundreds of years. The Jerusalem of David and Solomon was only one of a number of religious centers in the land of Israel; at the initial stage, it was, of course, not recognized as the spiritual center of the entire people of Israel.
So far we have given only negative evidence of what Judea was not. However, we have a description of what Jerusalem and its environs may have been, both in the times of David and Solomon and their early successors. This description does not come from the Bible. It comes from the Egyptian Late Bronze Age archive of Tell el-Amarna.
A distant city-state in the hills
Among more than 350 cuneiform tablets from the 14th century BC discovered in the ancient Egyptian capital of Akhetaten (modern Tel el-Amarna), containing correspondence between the pharaoh of Egypt and the kings of the Asian states, as well as the minor rulers of Canaan, a group of 6 tablets suggests A unique glimpse into royal rule and economic opportunity in the southern highlands—precisely where the kingdom of Judah would later emerge. Written by Abdi-Heba, king of Urusalim (the name of the later Jerusalem Bronze Age), the letters reveal the character of his kingdom as a sparsely populated highland region, loosely controlled from the royal citadel in Jerusalem.
As we now know from research and recognition of repeated cycles of settlement over millennia, Judea's distinctive society was largely determined by its remote geography, unpredictable rainfall, and rugged terrain. Unlike the northern highlands, with its wide valleys and natural overland routes to neighboring regions, Judea had always been agriculturally insignificant and isolated from major trade routes, offering only meager opportunities for wealth to any would-be ruler. Its economy was centered around the self-sufficient production of an individual farming community or pastoral group.
A similar picture emerges from Abdi-Heba's correspondence. He controlled the highlands from the area of Bethel in the north to the area of Hebron in the south - an area of about 2,300 square kilometers, in conflict with neighboring rulers in the northern highlands (Shechem) and Shephelah. Its land was very sparsely populated, with only 8 small settlements having been discovered so far. The settled population of the Abdi-Heba area, including people living in Jerusalem, probably did not exceed 1,500 people; it was the most sparsely populated area of Canaan. But in this remote mountainous frontier zone there were many pastoral groups, perhaps outnumbering the settled village population. It can be considered that the main power in the remote parts of Abdi-Heba territory was in the hands of bandits known as Apiru, Bedouin-like Shasu and independent clans.
Abdi-Heba's capital, Urusalim, was a small mountain fortress located on the southeastern edge of ancient Jerusalem, which would later be known as the City of David. No monumental buildings or fortifications from the 14th century BC were found there. and, as historian Nadav Naaman has suggested, the capital of Abdi-Heba was a modest settlement for the elite, who dominated a few agricultural villages and a large number pastoral groups in the surrounding area.
We do not know the fate of the Abdi-Heba dynasty, and we do not have sufficient archaeological evidence to understand the changes that occurred in Jerusalem during the transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Early Iron Age. And yet, from the broader point of view of the environment, settlement patterns and economics, nothing seems to have changed dramatically over the subsequent centuries. Several agricultural villages existed on the central plateau (though in slightly increased numbers), pastoral groups continued to follow seasonal cycles with their herds, and a tiny elite exercised nominal rule over them all from Jerusalem. Of the historical David, little can be said except to note the uncanny resemblance between the rabble of bands of Apiru who threatened Abdi-Heb and the biblical accounts of the bandit chief David and his band of brave knights roaming the hills of Hebron and the Judean desert. But whether David actually conquered Jerusalem in a swashbuckling raid like Apiru, as described in the books of Kings, or not, it is clear that the dynasty he founded represented a change in rulers, but was unlikely to change the basic way of ruling the southern highlands.
All this suggests that the institutions of Jerusalem - the Temple and the palace - did not dominate the life of the rural population of Judea to the great extent implied by the biblical texts. In the early centuries of the Iron Age, the most obvious characteristic of Judea was continuity with the past, rather than sudden political or religious innovation. Indeed, this should be clear even in the religious practices with which later historians of the kingdom of Judah seem to have been so particularly obsessed.
Traditional religion of Judea
The books of Kings are frank in their description of the apostasy that brought so much misery to the kingdom of Judah. In the report of Rehoboam's reign it is set out in typical detail:
And Judas did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and they provoked Him more than all that their fathers had done by the sins which they had committed. And they built themselves high places and statues and temples on every high hill and under every shady tree. And there were also fornicators in the land, and they did all the abominations of those nations whom the Lord drove out from before the children of Israel. (1 Kings 14:22-24)
Likewise, in the time of King Ahaz, 200 years later, the nature of the sins seems to have been largely the same. Ahaz was a famous apostate who walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even put his son through fire (2 Kings 16:2-4).
Biblical scholars have demonstrated that they are not arbitrary isolated pagan rituals, but are part of a set of rituals for addressing heavenly powers for the fertility and well-being of people and land. According to them appearance they resembled the methods used by neighboring peoples to honor and receive the blessings of other gods. Indeed, archaeological finds throughout Judea of clay figurines, incense altars, libation vessels, and offering stands suggest that religious practice was highly varied, geographically decentralized, and certainly not limited to the worship of Yahweh only in the Temple of Jerusalem.
Indeed, for Judea, with its relatively undeveloped state bureaucracy and national institutions, religious rituals were carried out in two different places, sometimes working in harmony and sometimes in open conflict. The first site was the temple in Jerusalem, for which there are numerous biblical accounts from different periods, but (since its site was destroyed in later construction works) there is virtually no archaeological evidence. The second branch of religious practice was used by clans scattered throughout the countryside. There, all stages of life, including religion, were dominated by a complex network of kinship relationships. Rituals for the fertility of the land and blessings of the ancestors gave people hope for the well-being of their families and sanctified their ownership of their rural fields and pastures.
Biblical historian Baruch Helpern and archaeologist Lawrence Stager compared the biblical description of clan structure with the remains of Iron Age mountain villages and revealed a distinctive architectural picture of extended family holdings, whose inhabitants likely performed rituals sometimes quite different from those used in the Jerusalem Temple. Local customs and traditions insisted that the Jews inherited their homes, their land, and even their graves from their God and their ancestors. Sacrifices were offered at shrines within the domain, at family graves, or on open altars throughout the countryside. These places of worship were rarely disturbed even by the most "pious" or aggressive kings. It is therefore not surprising that the Bible repeatedly notes that “the high places were not taken away.”
The existence of high places and other forms of tribal and household worship of God was not - as the books of Kings imply - a departure from earlier and earlier pure faith. This was part of the timeless tradition of the mountain settlers of Judah, who worshiped Yahweh along with various gods and goddesses known or adapted from the cults of neighboring peoples. In short, Yahweh was worshiped in a variety of ways, and was sometimes depicted along with a heavenly retinue. From the indirect (and demonstrably negative) evidence of the books of Kings, we learn that in rural areas, priests also regularly burned incense to the sun, moon and stars on high.
Since the heights were probably open areas or natural elevations, no definite archaeological traces of them have yet been identified. So clear archaeological evidence of the popularity of this type of worship throughout the kingdom is the discovery of hundreds of figurines of naked fertility goddesses in every village in Judea at the end of the monarchy. More suggestive are inscriptions found at the early 8th century village of Kuntillet Ayrud in northeastern Sinai, a site that shows cultural ties to the northern kingdom. They apparently refer to the goddess Asherah as the consort of Yahweh. And lest we suggest that Yahweh's married status was only a sinful northern hallucination, a somewhat similar formula speaking of Yahweh and his Asherah appears in an inscription of the end of the monarchy from the Jewish Shephelah.
This deeply rooted cult was not limited to rural areas. There is ample biblical and archaeological information that the syncretic cult of Yahweh in Jerusalem flourished even at the end of the monarchical period. The condemnation of various Jewish prophets makes it abundantly clear that Yahweh was worshiped in Jerusalem along with other deities such as Baal, Asherah, the heavenly hosts, and even the national deities of neighboring lands. From Solomon's biblical criticism (probably reflecting the realities of the end of the monarchy), we learn of the worship in Judah of the Ammonite Milcome, the Moabite Chemosh, and the Sidonian Asherah (1 Kings 11:5; 2 Kings 23:13). Jeremiah tells us that the number of deities worshiped in Judah equaled the number of cities and that the number of altars of Baal in Jerusalem equaled the number of market stalls in the capital (Jeremiah 11:13). Moreover, cult objects dedicated to Baal, Asherah and the heavenly host were installed in the Jerusalem temple of Yahweh. Chapter 8 of the book of Ezekiel details all the abominations practiced in the Jerusalem Temple, including the worship of the Mesopotamian god Tammuz.
Thus, the great sins of Ahaz and the other wicked kings of Judah should not be regarded as in any way exceptional. These rulers simply allowed rural traditions to pass unhindered. They and many of their subordinates expressed their devotion to Yahweh in rites performed at countless tombs, shrines, and high places throughout the kingdom, with occasional and ancillary worship of other gods.
Sudden coming of age
For most of the 200 years of the divided monarchy, Judea remained in the shadows. Its limited economic potential, its relative geographic separation, and the traditional conservatism of its clans made it much less attractive to Assyrian imperial exploitation than the larger and wealthier Kingdom of Israel. But with the arrival of the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 BC) and the decision of Ahaz to become his vassal, Judah entered the game with huge stakes. After 720, with the conquest of Samaria and the fall of Israel, Judah was surrounded by Assyrian provinces and Assyrian vassals. And this new situation will have consequences for the future far greater than could have been imagined. The royal citadel of Jerusalem was transformed in a single generation from the seat of a very minor local dynasty into the political and religious leadership center of regional power, both due to dramatic internal events and due to the thousands of refugees from the conquered kingdom of Israel who fled to the south.
Here archeology has made an invaluable contribution in charting the pace and extent of Jerusalem's sudden expansion. As first proposed by the Israeli archaeologist Magen Broshi, excavations carried out here over the past decades have shown that suddenly at the end of the 8th century BC. Jerusalem underwent an unprecedented population explosion as its residential areas expanded from their former narrow spine - the City of David - to cover the entire western hill (Figure 26). In order to cover the new suburbs, a formidable defensive wall was built. Over the course of several decades - certainly within a generation - Jerusalem grew from a modest mountain town of 4-5 hectares into a huge urban area of 60 hectares of densely packed houses, workshops and public buildings. From a demographic point of view, the city's population was expected to increase by as much as 15 times, from about 1 thousand to 15 thousand inhabitants.
Rice. 26. Expansion of Jerusalem from the City of David to the Western Hill
A similar picture of enormous population growth comes from archaeological research in the agricultural outskirts of Jerusalem. Not only were numerous estates built in the immediate vicinity of the city at this time, but in areas south of the capital, the previously relatively empty countryside was flooded with new agricultural settlements, large and small. The old sleepy villages grew in size and became, for the first time, real cities. Also in Shephele, a big step forward was made in the 8th century, with a sharp increase in the number and size of villages. Lachish, the most important city in the region, can serve good example. Until the 8th century it was a modest city; it was surrounded by a formidable wall and turned into the main administrative center. Additionally, the Beersheba valley far to the south witnessed the creation of a number of new cities in the late 8th century. Overall, the expansion was astounding; at the end of the 8th century, Judea had about 300 settlements of all sizes, from the metropolis of Jerusalem to small hamlets where there had once been only a few villages and modest towns. The population, which had long hovered at several tens of thousands, has now grown to approximately 120 thousand.
In the wake of the Assyrian campaigns in the north, Judah experienced not only sudden demographic growth, but also real social evolution. In a word, it became a full-fledged state. Starting from the end of the 8th century, archaeological signs of a mature state formation appeared in the southern kingdom: monumental inscriptions, seals and seal impressions, ostracons for the royal administration; sporadic use of cut stone masonry and stone capitals in public buildings; mass production of ceramic vessels in central workshops; other crafts, as well as their spread throughout the countryside. Equally important was the emergence of medium-sized cities serving as regional capitals, as well as the development of a large oil and wine pressing industry, which transformed from local, private production into a state-owned industry.
Evidence of new burial customs, mainly but not exclusively in Jerusalem, shows that a national elite emerged at this time. In the 8th century, some residents of Jerusalem began carving elaborate tombs into the rock of the ridges surrounding the city. Many were extremely elaborate, with peaked ceilings and architectural elements, such as cornices and capped pyramids, skillfully carved from the rock. There is no doubt that these graves were used for the burial of nobility and high officials, as indicated by a fragmentary inscription on one of the tombs in the village of Siloam near Jerusalem (east of the city of David), dedicated to “[...]Yah, who is in charge of the house.” It cannot be ruled out that this was the tomb of Shebna (whose name, perhaps combined with the divine name, became Shebnayahu), the royal steward whom Isaiah (22:15-16) condemns for his arrogance in cutting the tomb in the rock. Elaborate tombs have also been found at several sites in Shephele, indicating a sudden accumulation of wealth and division social status in Jerusalem and surrounding area in the 8th century.
The question is, where did this wealth and apparent movement towards full public education come from? The inevitable conclusion is that suddenly Judah was united and even integrated into the economy of the Assyrian Empire. Although King Ahaz of Judah began to cooperate with Assyria before the fall of Samaria, the most significant changes undoubtedly took place after the collapse of Israel. A sharp increase in settlement far to the south in the Beersheba valley may hint that the Kingdom of Judah took part in the increased Arab trade in the late 8th century under Assyrian rule. There is good reason to believe that new markets opened up for Jewish goods, stimulating an increase in the production of olive oil and wine. As a result, Judea went through an economic revolution from a traditional system based on villages and clans to export production and industrialization under state centralization. Wealth began to accumulate in Judah, especially in Jerusalem, where the diplomatic and economic policies of the kingdom were determined and where national institutions were controlled.
The birth of a new national religion
Along with the extraordinary social transformation at the end of the 8th century BC. came an intense religious struggle directly related to the emergence of the Bible as we know it today. Before the kingdom of Judah became a completely bureaucratic state, religious ideas were varied and scattered. Thus, as we have already mentioned, there was a royal cult in the Jerusalem temple, countless ancestor and fertility cults in the countryside, and a widespread mixture of worship of Yahweh along with other gods. As far as we can tell from the archaeological evidence of the northern kingdom, there was a similar variety of religious practices in Israel. Apart from mentioning the harsh preaching of figures like Elijah and Elisha, the anti-Omrid puritanism of Jehu, and the harsh words of prophets like Amos and Hosea, there was never any concerted or sustained effort on the part of the Israelite leadership to establish worship of Yahweh alone.
But after the fall in Samaria, as the kingdom of Judah became increasingly centralized, a new, more focused approach to religious law and customs began to emerge. Jerusalem's influence - demographic, economic and political - was now enormous and linked to a new political and territorial agenda: the unification of all of Israel. And the determination of its priestly and prophetic elites to determine the "correct" methods of worship for all the inhabitants of Judah - and even for those Israelites who lived in the north under Assyrian rule - grew accordingly. These dramatic changes in religious leadership have led biblical scholars such as Baruch Helpern to suggest that during a period of no more than a few decades in the late 8th and early 7th centuries B.C.E. The monotheistic tradition of Judeo-Christian civilization was born.
It is a great claim to be able to pinpoint the birth of modern religious consciousness, especially when its central scripture, the Bible, places the birth of monotheism hundreds of years earlier. But even here, the Bible offers a retrospective explanation rather than an accurate description of the past. Really, social development, set in Judea in the decades following the fall of Samaria, offers a new look at how traditional stories of the patriarchs' journeys and the great national liberation from Egypt gave rise to religious innovation - the emergence of a monotheistic idea - within the newly transformed Judean state.
Sometime at the end of the 8th century BC. a more vocal school of thought arose which insisted that the cults of the countryside were sinful, and that Yahweh alone was worthy of worship. We can't be sure where this idea originated. It is expressed in the cycle of stories about Elijah and Elisha (set down in writing long after the fall of the Omri dynasty) and, more importantly, in the writings of the prophets Amos and Hosea, both of whom were active in the north in the 8th century. As a result, some biblical scholars have suggested that this movement arose in the last days of the northern kingdom among dissident priests and prophets who were overwhelmed by the idolatry and social injustice of the Assyrian period. After the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel, they fled south to propagate their ideas. Other scholars point to circles associated with the Jerusalem Temple intent on exerting religious and economic control over the increasingly developed countryside. Perhaps both of these factors played a role in the densely packed atmosphere of Jerusalem after the fall of Samaria, when refugees from the north, the priests of Judah, and royal officials acted together.
Whatever its composition, the new religious movement (dubbed the "Yahweh One Movement" by the iconoclastic historian Morton Smith) engaged in a bitter and ongoing clash with adherents of older, more traditional Jewish religious customs and rituals. It is difficult to assess their relative strength in the kingdom of Judah. Even if they were probably initially in the minority, they were the ones who later created or influenced much of the surviving biblical historiography. The moment was favorable for this; with the development of bureaucratic management came the spread of literacy. For the first time, written texts, rather than narrated epics or ballads, gained enormous influence.
As should be clear by now, passages in the books of Kings about the righteousness and sinfulness of the former kings of Judah reflect the ideology of the “Yahweh-one movement.” If the proponents of the traditional modes of syncretistic worship had ultimately prevailed, we might have had a completely different Scripture, or perhaps none at all. For it was the “Yahweh One movement” that was determined to create an unquestionable orthodoxy of worship and a unified national history centered in Jerusalem. And this was brilliantly achieved in the creation of what would later become the legislation of Deuteronomy and Deuteronomic history.
Biblical scholars have tended to emphasize the strictly religious aspects of the struggle between the Jerusalem factions, but there is no doubt that their positions also included a strong stance on internal and foreign policy. In the ancient world, as today, the sphere of religion could never be separated from the spheres of economics, politics and culture. The ideas of the "Yahweh One" group had a territorial aspect - the search for the "restoration" of the Davidic dynasty over all of Israel, including over the territories of the defeated northern kingdom, where, as we have seen, many Israelites continued to live after the fall of Samaria. This would lead to the unification of all Israel under one king ruling from Jerusalem, the destruction of the cult centers in the north, and the centralization of Israelite cult in Jerusalem.
It is easy to understand why the biblical writers were so upset about idolatry. It was a symbol of chaotic social diversity; clan leaders in the surrounding areas managed their own systems of economics, politics, social relations without direction or control from the royal court in Jerusalem. However, this rural independence, respected for centuries by the people of Judah, began to be denounced as a "return" to the barbarism of Israel's previous times. Thus, ironically, what was most sincerely Jewish came to be labeled as the Canaanite heresy. In the arena of religious disputes and polemics, what was old suddenly began to be seen as foreign, and what was new suddenly began to be seen as correct. And what could only be called an extraordinary outpouring of retrospective theology, a new centralized kingdom of Judah, and the worship of Yahweh centered in Jerusalem, was carried back into the history of the Israelites as what should have always been.
King Hezekiah's reforms?
It is difficult to understand when the new exceptionalism theology first had a practical influence on the state of affairs in Judea; various reforms towards worshiping Yahweh alone are mentioned in the books of Kings as early as the time of King Asa in the early 9th century BC. But their historical authenticity is questionable. One thing seems fairly certain: the ascension of King Hezekiah to the throne of Judah in the late 8th century BC. was remembered by the authors of the books of Kings as an unprecedented event.
As described in 2 Kings 18:3-7, the ultimate goal of Hezekiah's reform was to establish exclusive worship of Yahweh in the only legitimate place of worship, the Temple in Jerusalem. But Hezekiah's religious reforms are difficult to verify with archaeological evidence. The evidence found for them, especially at two sites in the south (Arad and Beersheba), is controversial. In this regard, Baruch Helpern proposed that Hezekiah prohibited rural worship, but did not close the state temples in the administrative centers of the kingdom. However, there is no doubt that profound changes came to the land of Judah with the reign of King Hezekiah. Judah now became the center of the people of Israel. Jerusalem became the center of Yahweh's worship. And the members of the Davidic dynasty became the only legal representatives and means of Yahweh's rule on earth. The unpredictable course of history chose Judea for special status at a particularly important moment.
The most dramatic events were yet to come. In 705 BC. The venerable Assyrian king Sargon II died, leaving his throne to his largely untested son Sennacherib. Troubles ensued in the east of the empire, and Assyria's once invincible façade seemed in danger of toppling over. To many in Jerusalem, it must have seemed that Yahweh was miraculously preparing Judah, just in the nick of time, to fulfill his historical destiny.
The history of the kingdom of Israel and all the kings of Israel begins with the reign of the first king - Saul; this demand of the people was not according to the heart of God, since they rejected the rule of the Lord over themselves. As the book of Kings says, the first king did not remain God's faithful servant and servant of the people of Israel for long. He did not follow the orders of the Lord, and therefore was deprived of the Lord’s protection and his affection. The reign of the first king Saul ended with the fact that in the next war with the Philistines, Saul’s son died, and the first king of Israel himself also died.
The Lord God commanded Samuel to anoint the young shepherd David, who at that time was shepherding his father’s flocks, as king. After David defeated the giant Goliath in battle, which determined the outcome of the battle between the Israeli army and the Philistines, the popularity of young David increases sharply among the people of Israel. Saul is afraid 
that David, taking advantage of the right of the winner, would remove him from the royal throne, and raised persecution against David, but the God of Israel was with him and his kingdom lasted 40 years. David made the city of Jerusalem the capital of the state. He expands the city, builds new neighborhoods and streets. David plans to build the Temple. David's plans for the construction of the Temple were later implemented by one of the kings of Israel - Solomon, David's son and successor. Solomon went down in the history of Israel as the wisest and richest king; he became the creator of the Jerusalem Temple. The reign of Solomon - 40 years - became the best time of Israel.
There were many kings of Israel in the subsequent history of the country. But, the heyday of Israel and its golden age occurred at the time when the kings of Israel David and Solomon ruled the kingdom. After the death of Solomon, the united state of Israel ceased to exist. Since then, the kings of Israel ruled over two states, each of which had its own King. Ruling dynasties began to change one after another during coups d'etat. Two tribes remained loyal to the throne of David and his son, and 10 tribes formed another state in the north of Israel. In 722 BC. ten tribes were captured by Assyria and taken into slavery, after which their fate is unknown. The southern kingdom of Judah existed for more than 300 years, and in 606 it was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. All its inhabitants were resettled to Babylon, and according to prophecy, in 536, the Persian king Cyrus issued a decree on the return of Israel and the restoration of the temple, which was accomplished 70 years after the destruction - in 516 BC.
The kings of Judah represented the same dynasty of David
Rehoboam (932-915) - 17 years old, bad. He had Maacah, the daughter of Absalom, as his wife. The Egyptian Susakim captured Jerusalem and plundered the wealth of its father Solomon.
Avia (915-913) - 3 years, bad. He had Ana as his wife, his mother’s sister, the daughter of Absalom.
Asa (913-872) - 41 years old, good. He led a pious life, eradicated idolatry, for which he also deprived his mother Anu of the title of queen.
Jehoshaphat (872-850) - 25 years good. He taught the people the law of God and had a large army.
Joram (850-843) - 8 years old, bad. He had Athaliah as his wife, and probably, following her teaching, killed all his brothers. Died from a cruel illness.
Ahaziah (843) - 1 year, bad. Probably named after stepbrother to his mother Athaliah, son of Ahab. He was killed while visiting Joram in Jezreel.
Athaliah (843-837) - 6 years old, bad, daughter or granddaughter of Omri, also called the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. After the death of her son, Ahaziah killed all her descendants. She was killed in the conspiracy of the priest Jehoiada.
Joash (843-803) - 40 years old, good, was hidden for 6 years from Athaliah by his aunt Joshabetha. At the age of 7 he reigned and, under the leadership of Jehoiada, cleansed Judea of idols. After the death of Jehoiada, he turned to idolatry and killed his son Zechariah. Died from a conspiracy.
Amaziah (803-775) - 29 years old, started out not bad, until after the victory over the Edomites in the salt valley he brought their idols to Jerusalem and began to worship them. Joash of Israel destroyed and plundered Jerusalem and maimed Amaziah. Amaziah died from a conspiracy.
Uzziah (775-735) - 52 years old, good. The name Uzziah was a common name and his throne name was Azariah. (Brackhaus encyclopedia). The first years he reigned with his father Amaziah, the last years of his life he became proud and was a leper, and his son Jotham was on the throne.
Jotham (749-734) - 16 years old, good. He was practically a co-ruler with his father Uzziah.
Ahaz (741-726) - 16 years old, bad. At the beginning he was co-ruler with Jotham, and changed the altar according to the model of Damascus. 
Hezekiah (726-697) - 29 years old, good. In the fourth year of his reign in 722, the northern kingdom of Israel fell. In the 14th year, Sennacherib went to the whole land of Judea, God granted a miraculous deliverance from the king of Asyria and a miraculous recovery from illness with a sign.
Manasseh (697-642) - 50 years old, bad. Because of his wickedness, God did not want to forgive Judas. According to legend, he sawed down the prophet Isaiah.
Ammon (642-640) - 2 years, bad. Killed in a conspiracy.
Josiah (639-608) - 31 years old, good. At the age of 8 he became king and carried out pious reforms among the people. Killed by Pharaoh Necho.
Joahaz (608) - 3 months, bad. Captured by Pharaoh.
Joachim (608-597) - 11 years old, bad.
Eliakim was appointed Pharaoh in place of his brother Jehoahaz. At first, he paid tribute to the pharaoh and 3 years later, after the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar, to Babylon.
Jehoiachin (597) - 3 months, bad. He went out to Nebuchadnezzar and was taken to Babylon, where he lived for 37 years. He was taken out of prison and received support from the king until the day of his death.
Zedekiah (Matthania) 597-586) - 11 years old, bad. (Matthanah), Jehoiachin's uncle, was taken to Babylon where he was put on trial. Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed and remained in ruins for 70 years.
Gedaliah, the last ruler of Judah, installed as king of Babylon, ruled for 2 months and was killed, he was not from the royal family of David
After the death of Solomon, the kingdom was divided, ten tribes made up the northern kingdom called “Israel”; Judah and Benjamin formed the southern kingdom, called “Judah.”
Israel's 19 kings comprised 9 different dynasties
Jeroboam (932-911) - 22 years old, bad. Founder of the Northern Independent of Judah. Jeroboam, like the Jews on the way from Egypt, introduced Egyptian idolatry of the calf into the country. Probably in memory of work in copper mines, where often after a dying candle the exit depended on the instinct for a fresh stream of oxen that pulled heavy loads. All 19 kings worshiped the calf.
Navat (911-910) - 2 years, bad. He walked in the ways of his father and was killed by Baasha and all the house of Jeroboam.
Vaasa (910-887) - 24 years old, bad. Conspired against Navat and fought with the Kingdom of Judah.
Ila (887-886) - 2 years, bad. He was a libertine, killed in a drunken state by Zamri, who destroyed the entire house of Ila.
Zimri (Jehu) (886) - 7 days, bad. Burned in the fire.
Omri (886-875) - 12 years old, bad. Under him, Israel began to act worse than the surrounding nations.
Ahab (875-854) - 22 years old, bad. He married the daughter of the Sidonian priest Ethbaal, who destroyed the prophets of the Lord and introduced in Israel the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, which was eradicated by the prophets Elijah, Elisha and Ju.
Ahaziah (855-854) - 2 years, bad. Walked in the ways of his mother, when mysterious circumstances fell through the bars of the house and died.
Joram (854-843) - 12 years old, bad. Killed by the military commander Jehu.
Jehu (843-816) - 28 years old, bad. The commander of Ahab's bodyguard, he destroyed his entire house and the worship of Baal.
Joahaz (820-804) - 17 years old, bad. He walked in the ways of his father Jehu. 
Joash (806-790) - 16 years old, bad. He fought and destroyed the walls of Jerusalem.
Jeroboam 2 (790-749) - 41 years old, bad.
Zechariah (748) - 6 months, bad. Publicly killed by Sellum.
Sellum (748) - 1 month, bad. Killed by Menaim from Tirzah.
Menaim (748-738) - 10 years old, bad. He paid off Phul, the king of Assyria.
Fakiya (738-736) - 2 years, bad.
Fakei (736-730) ~ 20 years old, bad. In 734 BC. Tiglathpileser took northern and eastern Israel into captivity.
Hosea (730-721) - 9 years old, bad. The Assyrian king Shalmaneser imposed tribute on him upon his death in 721 BC. Samaria and the rest of Israel were taken and carried into captivity by Sargon in 722.
Captivity and return from Babylon of Israel
The Babylonian captivity of Judah occurred in three stages:
1) In 606 BC.
2) In 597 BC.
3) In 586 BC.
The Babylonian captivity lasted 70 years, from 606-536 BC.
In 516 70 years later from the destruction and burning of the temple in 586, it was restored.
The return of Israel took place in three stages:
1) from the decree of Cyrus in 538-536;
2) under Artharxerxes the First and the priest Ezra in 458;
3) in the 20th year of the reign of Artharxerxes I, with cupbearer Nehemiah in 445.
What was the beginning of the time of allotment determined for Israel in 69 weeks until the death of Christ: “Know therefore and understand: from the time the commandment goes out to restore Jerusalem, until Christ the Lord, there are seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; and [the people] will return and streets and walls will be built, but in difficult times. And at the end of sixty-two weeks Christ will be put to death” (Dan.9:26)
In the IV century. conquest of the Greek Empire by A. Macedonian
IN III-II century Maccabean Wars with the Kings of Syria
In Iv. BC Formation of the Roman Empire, conquest of Pompey (63 BC)
37-4 to R/X. the kingdom of Herod Idumea, who destroyed the royal family of the Hasmoneans. To give his dynasty the royal connections of the Hasmonean family, Herod married the granddaughter of the high priest Hyrcanus IIMariamne, who was subsequently ordered to be executed with her two sons and her mother.
According to different sources, including the Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia (EEBE), kingdom of israel was founded in the ninth century BC by the prophet Samuel. The name of this man (transc. Hebrew Shmuel) means “heard by the Almighty.” He was considered the last and famous judge of Israel. Samuel lived during a difficult time when the Jewish people experienced a period of tribal violence and conflict with other ethnic groups. During the era of the Judges of Israel, the descendants of Joakov split into a dozen tribes based on blood kinship, which was accompanied by acts of mutual attacks and destruction of representatives of one or another “tribe.” For example, the massacre of the tribe of Ephim and the tribe of Benjamin resulted in the death of more than 90,000 Israelites. The tribes were nomadic and partly sedentary image life and had judges as their unique leaders, who could be prophets (the first ruler of the kingdom of Israel, Samuel) and even ladies (Deborah).
The Age of the Judges of Israel
The power of the judges was primarily based on moral authority and had no executive branch, no regular army, and no general taxation. The founder and first ruler of the Kingdom of Israel, Samuel, who became a reformer for his people, tried to correct these “shortcomings.” Attacked by the Philistines and defeated by them (the Philistines took the Israeli tribes as a trophy, they were united by Samuel and called to repentance in Mizp. Here the prophet managed to raise the spirit of his people so much that the people were able to throw off the yoke of the Philistines and get back their shrine (according to legend, the taken Ark brought so much misfortune to the new owners that they chose to return it back).
The people asked the prophet for a king
The formation of the Israeli kingdom under the leadership of Samuel was accompanied by the creation of prophetic schools, through which patriotism and public education spread. The prophet was a ruler until his old age and significantly improved the situation of his subjects, but his sons Abij and Joel turned out to be bribe-takers, so the Israelites asked to install a king “from among the people” over them. Samuel, having warned those asking about the possibility of despotism, chose for them the son of Kish, Saul, as king.
The first king of Israel was head and shoulders above the rest of the people
Saul, officially the first ruler of the kingdom of Israel after the prophet himself, according to the Bible, was very tall, handsome, brave and courageous in battle. Even after his anointing to the kingdom, he remained easy to handle, although he came from a wealthy family that lived in modern Tol-el-fur. According to legend, the Lord himself announced to Samuel that he would meet in certain time a young man from the tribe of Benjamin (by the way, the smallest), who would become the king of Israel. After the appointment, the prophet warned the Israelites that if they did not resist the will of the Almighty, then the Almighty would not be against them and against their king, wrote royal duties and placed them in the camp temple, the tabernacle.
How the king quarreled with the prophet
The first ruler of the kingdom of Israel, Saul, remained in office for about 20 years. He created a regular army of 3,000 people, successfully fought against the Philistines (one of the battles of this period is famous for the confrontation between Goliath and David), and was initially a very religious person (he wanted to execute his own son for breaking his fast once). However, before the battle in Gilgal, he personally made sacrifices, without waiting for Samuel (such actions were the duties of the prophet himself), and then refused to carry out Samuel’s order to completely destroy the Amalekites. The angry prophet announced the deprivation of Saul's royal title and the possible death of all his descendants. The king, deprived of the support of the prophet, lost heart, an evil spirit possessed him, and he lost interest in autocratic activities.
The prophet's choice fell on a blond young man
Samuel, heeding the voice of the Most High, went to Bethlehem, where he chose and anointed David from the tribe of Judah as king. It is interesting that, according to historical data, David did not have a Middle Eastern appearance. He had a pleasant face, handsome eyes and had blond hair, which was unusual for the inhabitants of this region. In addition, he was distinguished by physical strength (he defeated a bear and a lion) and meekness. And he sang and played the harp so well that the official King Saul lost his depressive mood to the sounds of his music.
Before the wedding of David and Saul's daughter, many Philistines were killed
After David's victory and his musical successes at the royal court, Saul made him his son-in-law, marrying him youngest daughter. At the same time, David exceeded the royal condition for the wedding - he took the lives of not one hundred, but two hundred Philistines with the help of troops in the next battle. David's popularity irritated the suspicious king, and he tried to kill him, after which the young man went to the prophet, who then lived in Rama. Saul pursued his son-in-law everywhere, killed almost all the priests who helped him escape, and gave his wife to another man as his wife. In this process, David did not reciprocate his feelings and many times spared Saul at moments when he could have killed him. King Saul committed suicide when, in another battle with the Philistines, he was surrounded and lost three sons. Before this, he turned to the famous sorceress of Endor to find out his fate. And, as expected, for this conversion he was left by the mercy of the Almighty.
David and his son Solomon brought prosperity to Israel
David, fleeing the persecution of Saul, went over to the Philistines, who later defeated Saul. In the resulting power vacuum, David came with his followers to the city of Hebron, where the Jews proclaimed him king. This is how two kingdoms were formed - Israel and Judah. The first was headed by Jephostheus (son of Saul), the second by David. These two states fought among themselves for about two years (Jephostheus ruled for so long), after which the victorious David was elected ruler of all Israel at the request of the Israeli elders. Subsequently, he conquered Jerusalem, Moab, some territories of Syria and the shores of the Euphrates, etc., subordinated spiritual power to secular power, placed the Ark of the Covenant on the surface and composed psalms. In old age, he transferred power to his son Solomon, born from a relationship with Bathsheba, who was the wife of another man.
Historians believe that the rulers of Judah, David and his son Solomon, brought a “golden age” to the people of Israel. The son of David managed to develop the domestic and foreign policy achievements of his father. According to religious sources, he received a prosperous reign, great wisdom and patience for not deviating from serving the Almighty. Under Solomon, united Israel and Judah were built; they were not in poverty due to the trade route from Damascus to Egypt, wars with the Egyptians stopped, since the daughter of Pharaoh became the first royal wife. The annual income of the kingdom under Solomon was estimated at more than 600 talents of gold (a talent is about 26 liters). But by the end of the reign, the state treasury was empty due to large expenses for the temple and palace, which led to the need to increase taxes, against which the subordinate tribes rebelled. The single state again split into Judea and Israel.
Why did the Kingdom of Judah last longer than the Kingdom of Israel?
Who was the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel? This territory was larger than the separated Judean south; up to two-thirds of the entire population of the former single state, were the most fertile lands. But in the south, among the Jews, Jerusalem remained with the main temple and national shrines. Therefore, the Jewish formation lasted longer, despite the worse economic situation. While the Northern Kingdom of Israel, led in the early years of its existence by Jeroboam, was in political map that time is about 250 years old, where the Age of Kings was established during this period. The kings of Israel from Jeroboam to Hosea retreated, as a rule, from serving the One God of Israel, erected a number of temples with or worshiped the deities of the Phoenician cult. The country suffered greatly from many coups d'etat and was conquered in 722 by Sargon the Second, king of Assyria.
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