Ancient Israel and Judah

In compiling the history of ancient Israel and Judah , there are many available sources, including the Jewish Tanakh (the Old Testament of the Christian Bible ), other Jewish texts such as the Talmud , the Ethiopian book of history known as the Kebra Nagast , the writings of historians such as Nicolaus of Damascus , Artapanas , Philo of Alexandria and Josephus , other writings, and archaeological evidence including Egyptian , Moabite , Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions. Depending on their interpretation, some writers see these sources as being in conflict. See The Bible and history for several views as to how the sources are best reconciled. This is a controversial subject, with important implications in the fields of religion , politics and diplomacy . This article attempts to give a conservative scholarly view which would currently be supported by most historians. The precise dates and the precision by which they may be stated are subject to continuing discussion and challenge. There are no biblical events whose precise year can be validated by external sources before the early 9th century BCE (The rise of Omri, King of Israel). Therefore all earlier dates are extrapolations . Further, the Bible does not render itself very easily to these calculations: mostly it does not state any time period longer than a single life time and a historical line must be reconstructed by adding discrete quantities, a process that naturally introduces rounding errors . The accuracy in which dates are represented here reflects a maximalist view, namely one that takes the Bible as mostly literally true. Some dispute that many of the events happened at all, making the dating of them moot: if the very existence of the united kingdom is in doubt, it is pointless to claim that it disintegrated in 922 BC. However, many of the events from the 9th century onward do have corroborations; see for example Mesha Stele .

The Kingdom of Israel emerged as an important local power by the 9th century BCE before falling to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE. Israel's southern neighbor, the Kingdom of Judah , emerged in the 8th century BCE and enjoyed a period of prosperity as a client-state of first Assyria and then Babylon before a revolt against the Neo-Babylonian Empire led to its destruction in 586 BCE. Following the fall of Babylon to the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE, some Judean exiles returned to Jerusalem, inaugurating the formative period in the development of a distinctive Judahite identity in the Persian province of Yehud . Yehud was absorbed into the subsequent Hellenistic kingdoms that followed the conquests of Alexander the Great , but in the 2nd century BCE the Judaeans revolted against the Hellenist Seleucid Empire and created the Hasmonean kingdom. This, the last nominally independent Judean kingdom, came to an end in 63 BCE with its conquest by Pompey of Rome . With the installation of client kingdoms under the Herodian Dynasty , the Kingdom of Israel was wracked by civil disturbances which culminated in the First Jewish–Roman War , the destruction of the Temple, the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity .

The Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah were related kingdoms from the Iron Age period of the ancient Levant . The Kingdom of Israel emerged as an important local power by the 10th century BCE before falling to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE. Israel's southern neighbor, the Kingdom of Judah, emerged in the 9th or 8th century BCE and later became a client state of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire before a revolt against the latter led to its destruction in 586 BCE. Following the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE, some Judean exiles returned to Jerusalem , inaugurating the formative period in the development of a distinctive Judahite identity in the province of Yehud Medinata . During the Hellenistic classic period, Yehud was absorbed into the subsequent Hellenistic kingdoms that followed the conquests of Alexander the Great , but in the 2nd century BCE the Judaeans revolted against the Seleucid Empire and created the Hasmonean kingdom. This, the last nominally independent kingdom of Israel , gradually lost its independence from 63 BCE with its conquest by Pompey of Rome, becoming a Roman and later Parthian client kingdom. Following the installation of client kingdoms under the Herodian dynasty , the Province of Judea was wracked by civil disturbances, which culminated in the First Jewish–Roman War , the destruction of the Second Temple, the emergence of Rabbinic Judaism and Early Christianity . The name Judea (Iudaea) ceased to be used by Greco-Romans after the Bar Kochba revolt of 135 CE.

The history of ancient Israel and Judah begins in the Southern Levant region of Western Asia during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age . "Israel" as a people or tribal confederation (see Israelites ) appears for the first time in the Merneptah Stele , an inscription from ancient Egypt that dates to about 1208 BCE, with the people group possibly being older. According to modern archaeology, ancient Israelite culture developed as an outgrowth from the Semitic Canaanites . Two related Israelite polities known as the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) and the Kingdom of Judah had emerged in the region by Iron Age II. According to the Hebrew Bible , a " United Monarchy " (consisting of Israel and Judah) existed as early as the 11th century BCE, under the reigns of Saul , David , and Solomon ; the country later would split into two separate kingdoms: Israel, containing the cities of Shechem and Samaria in the north, and Judah (containing Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple ) in the south. The historicity of the United Monarchy is debated as there are no archaeological remains of it that are accepted as consensus, but historians and archaeologists agree that Israel and Judah existed as separate kingdoms by c. 900 BCE and c. 850 BCE , respectively. The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire . While the Kingdom of Judah remained intact during this time, it became a client state of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire . However, Jewish revolts against the Babylonians led to the destruction of Judah in 586 BCE, under the rule of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II . According to the biblical account, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem between 589–586 BCE , which led to the destruction of Solomon's Temple and the exile of the Jews to Babylon ; this event was also recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles . The exilic period, which saw the development of the Israelite religion ( Yahwism ) towards the distinct monotheism of Judaism , ended with the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid Persian Empire around 538 BCE. Subsequently, Persian king Cyrus the Great issued a proclamation known as the Edict of Cyrus , which authorized and encouraged exiled Jews to return to Judah. Cyrus' proclamation began the exiles' return to Zion , inaugurating the formative period in which a more distinctive Jewish identity was developed in the Persian province of Yehud . During this time, the destroyed Solomon's Temple was replaced by the Second Temple , marking the beginning of the Second Temple period . The Bible unearthed : archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its stories (1st Touchstone ed.). The Bible and Interpretation .

The history of ancient Israel and Judah spans from the early appearance of the Israelites in Canaan 's hill country during the late second millennium BCE, to the establishment and subsequent downfall of the two Israelite kingdoms in the mid-first millennium BCE. This history unfolds within the Southern Levant during the Iron Age . The earliest documented mention of "Israel" as a people appears on the Merneptah Stele , an ancient Egyptian inscription dating back to around 1208 BCE. Archaeological evidence suggests that ancient Israelite culture evolved from the pre-existing Canaanite civilization . During the Iron Age II period, two Israelite kingdoms emerged, covering much of Canaan: the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. According to the Hebrew Bible , a " United Monarchy " consisting of Israel and Judah existed as early as the 11th century BCE, under the reigns of Saul , David , and Solomon ; the great kingdom later was separated into two smaller kingdoms: Israel, containing the cities of Shechem and Samaria , in the north, and Judah, containing Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple , in the south. The historicity of the United Monarchy is debated—as there are no archaeological remains of it that are accepted as consensus—but historians and archaeologists agree that Israel and Judah existed as separate kingdoms by c. 900 BCE and c. 850 BCE , respectively. The kingdoms' history is known in greater detail than that of other kingdoms in the Levant, primarily due to the selective narratives in the Books of Samuel , Kings , and Chronicles , which were included in the Bible. The northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire . While the Kingdom of Judah remained intact during this time, it became a client state of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire . However, Jewish revolts against the Babylonians led to the destruction of Judah in 586 BCE, under the rule of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II . According to the biblical account, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem between 589 and 586 BCE, which led to the destruction of Solomon's Temple and the exile of the Jews to Babylon ; this event was also recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles . The exilic period saw the development of the Israelite religion towards a monotheistic Judaism . The exile ended with the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid Empire c. 538 BCE . Subsequently, the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great issued a proclamation known as the Edict of Cyrus , which authorized and encouraged exiled Jews to return to Judah. Cyrus' proclamation began the exiles' return to Zion , inaugurating the formative period in which a more distinctive Jewish identity developed in the Persian province of Yehud . During this time, the destroyed Solomon's Temple was replaced by the Second Temple , marking the beginning of the Second Temple period . The Bible unearthed : archaeology's new vision of ancient Israel and the origin of its stories (1st Touchstone ed.). The Bible and Interpretation .