The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah

1. The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah Iron II Period

2. Traditional/Conventional Chronology: Iron I (1200-1000 BC): The Period of the Conquest and the Judges; Iron IIA (1000-925 BC): The Period of the United Monarchy, that is, the time of David and Solomon; Iron IIB (925-720 BC): The Divided Monarchy: Israel in the north with its capital at Samaria; Judah in the south with its capital at Jerusalem; Iron IIC (720-586 BC): The Northern Kingdom of Israel is no more; the Southern Kingdom of Judah continues until the Babylonians destroy it in 586 BC.

3. See Textbook, p. 122 Mazar’s “The Modified Conventional Chronology”

4. Biblical Data: 1 Kings 11.26-14.21: • 1 Kings 11.26-40: The revolt of Jeroboam (against Solomon’s son Rehoboam); - 1 Kings 11.41-43: The end of the reign of Solomon; - 1 Kings 12: Political and Religious Schism: Jeroboam king of Israel and the setting up of the two golden calves: at Bethel, just to the N of Jerusalem; and at Dan, in far N. - Now two kingdoms: Judah in the south with its capital at Jerusalem; - Rehoboam, a son of Solomon, is King of Judah (1 Kings14.21).

5. 1 Kings: - Jeroboam, a former servant of Solomon and from the tribe of Ephraim, is King of Israel (1 Kings 12.20 [“There was no one who followed the house of David, except the tribe of Judah alone”]). • Israel in the north with its capital at Shechem – Israel separated from the House of David; • under the Omrides, the capital will later be transferred to Penuel, Tirzah, and finally Samaria; • Thus, two kingdoms, Israel in the north and Judah in the south; so we now have the so-called “Divided Kingdom.”

7. Capital Cities of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

8. Mahanaim (?) and Peniel in Transjordan.

9. 1 Kings: • 1 Kings 14.19-20: reign of Jeroboam. His death and the “Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel”; • 1 Kings 14.25: “in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt came up against Jerusalem….”; • 1 Kings 14.30: “There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually”; • 1 Kings 14.29: “the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?” • 1 Kings 14.31ff: Rehoboam’s death and his successors;

11. 1 Kings: • 1 Kings 16.23: Omri began to reign over Israel; • 1 Kings 16.24: Omri and the city of Samaria; • 1 Kings 16.29: Ahab, son of Omri, began to reign over Israel in Samaria; • 1 Kings 19.15-16: Hazael king over Aram; and Jehu will be anointed king over Israel; • 1 Kings 20.1-2: King Ben-hadad of Aram …. Marched against Samaria (see also 20.26); • 1 Kings 22.39-40: death of Ahab and his acts written in the “Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel”, etc.;

13. 2 Kings: • 2 Kings: opens during the short reign of Ahaziah king of Israel (mid-9th century BC); • 2 Kings 1.1: “After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel” (see also 2 Kings 3: Israel, Judah, and Edom go to war against Moab); • 2 Kings 6: wars continue between Israel and Aram; • 2 Kings 10: Jehu king over Israel; • 2 Kings 14.23-29: The reign of Jeroboam, that is, Jeroboam II;

14. 2 Kings: • 2 Kings 17.5: the King of Assyria invaded all the land of Samaria, captured Samaria, and carried the Israelites away to Assyria; • 2 Kings 17.7-18: possible explanation for the end of the Northern Kingdom; an extended exposition of the Deuteronomistic theology; • 2 Kings 17.24: king of Assyria brought people and placed them in the cities of Samaria;

15. Samaria: Capital City of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

19. 2 Kings: • 2 Kings 18.1: King Hezekiah (727/715-698/687 BC) king of Judah; • 2 Kings18.9-10: King Shalmaneser (705-681 BC) of Assyria besieged Samaria and took it; • 2 Kings 18.13: Shalmaneser came up against all the cities of Judah and captured them (during the reign of Hezekiah); • 2 Kings 18.15: Hezekiah pays tribute to Shalmaneser; as a result, the Assyrians did not take Jerusalem (19.32-34);

22. 2 Kings: • 2 Kings 22.1-30: Josiah (640-609 BC): a righteous king; a second Moses or Joshua to match the second David (Hezekiah); • 2 Kings 22.3-13: the Book of the Law (some form of Deuteronomy) found during repairs to the Temple; • 2 Kings 23.1-3: Josiah’s reform of religion; - 2 Kings 23.31-25.30: The end of Judah. - 2 Kings 24: King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, captured and destroyed it.

24. 1 and 2 Chronicles (we saw this previously): • “Chronicles” – a summary of divine history; • the Chronicler wrote during the Persian period (539-332 BC); • dependence upon the Books of Samuel is clear in the narration of Saul’s demise and David’s reign (1 Chr 10-29); • dependence upon the Books of Kings is unmistakable in the narration of Solomon and the Judahite kingdom (2 Chr 1-36); • the United Monarchy (1 Chronicles 10-2 Chronicles 9); • the Chronicler has access to other biblical sources as well as non-biblical ones; • the Chronicler’s problem was how to reconcile all these sources.

25. 2 Chronicles 10-36: • The emergence, continuation, and fall of the kingdom of Judah. • the Chronicler concentrates his attention upon the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, who make up the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

27. Finkelstein: What was the first Israelite territorial entity? No direct proof in the archaeological record for the existence of an elaborate polity (political organization) in the highlands in the late-Iron I period (the late-11th century) and the early Iron II period (much of the 10th century BC); Iron I sites, ca. 90% of them, continued to be inhabited in the Iron II period; Exception for area north of Jerusalem, that is, around Gibeon and Bethel; He attributes this to Pharaoh Sheshonq’s (Shishak) campaign (late-10th century BC; ca. 945-924 BC).

28. 1 Kings 11.40; 14.25; invasion documented in Egyptian sources and in the archaeological record

29. Finkelstein: The rise of an Israelites entity farther north; The Northern Kingdom in the time of the Omrides (early 9th century BC); Extra-biblical Textual Evidence: Shalmaneser III (859-824 BC), king of Assyria, mentions “Ahab the Israelite” as one of his opponents in the battle of Qarqar in western Syria in 853 BC; The Mesha Inscription (ca. 850 BC) mentions how the Omrides had conquered territories in Moab (mid-9th century); Tel Dan Inscription (9th or 8th century; excavator dates it to the mid-9th century) states that Israel took land from Aram;

31. Tell Qarqur in the Orontes River Valley in Syria.

32. Tell Qarqur – An ASOR Sponsored Excavation.

33. Stele of Shalmaneser III that reports on Battle of Qarqar (Kurkh Stele) (853

34. The Mesha Inscription/Moabite Stone (ca. 850 BC)

35. Tel Dan Inscription with phrases “King of I[s-]rael” and “House of David” (9th or 8th century BC).

36. Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, King of Assyria (reigned 858-824 BC)

37. “Jehu, son of Omri” (845/841-818/814 BC), on the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III

39. Finkelstein: Archaeology: • Building operations on the part of the Omrides: • Megiddo: two or three ashlar palaces; • Samaria, Jezreel, and Hazor: monumental architecture with large-scale filling and leveling operations; • The palace at Samaria is the largest and most elaborate Iron Age structure known in the Levant.

40. Megiddo – artistic reconstruction.

41. Palaces: Nos. 1723, 6000, 338.

42. Mason Marks on Ashlar Blocks from Palace 1723 at Megiddo.

43. Hazor – Upper City.

44. Finkelstein: Northern Kingdom: • A territorial state comprised of both highland and lowland areas; • the hills of Samaria inhabited by 2nd millennium sedentary and pastoralist population; • Cultural continuity of Canaanite traits: at Taanach and Megiddo (Textbook, p. 150); • Ethnic and cultural diversity: see in the Omride architecture; • Fortified compounds: at Megiddo and Jezreel; at Hazor on the border with Aram-Damascus; and at Gezeron the border with Philistia.

47. Finkelstein: Northern Kingdom: • A short period of time; • political circumstances change dramatically; • a break in Assyrian pressure in the west led to the rise of Aram-Damascus; • result: the collapse of the Omride dynasty; - This in turn led to the rise of the first “national state” farther to the south, first and foremost in Judah (Textbook, p. 151).

48. Finkelstein: Judah: • In 10th and early-9th century (Textbook, p. 151): • Jerusalem: a relatively poor village; • ruled over a sparsely inhabited southern highland; • In 9th century: • first signs of statehood in Judah: • in the Shephelah in the west and the Beer-sheba Valley in the south;

50. Finkelstein: Judah: • In the Shephelah: Lachish and Beth-shemesh; • Lachish: the “second city” of Judah; • Beth-shemesh: massive fortifications and an elaborate water system; • in the Beer-sheba Valley: Arad and Beer-sheba; • both fortified for the first time in the 9th century;