18. What happened to the Northern and Southern Kingdoms?

History: King Solomon created a very rich and powerful central government; however, he did it at a very high cost. Solomon gave away land and sold people into slavery in order to finance the government. After he died, between 926 and 922 BC, the ten northern tribes of Israel revolted against Solomon's son, Rehoboam. The state was split into two, the north, or Israel, with Samaria, and the south, or Judah, with capital Jerusalem. These kingdoms would remain separate for two hundred years. Both the kingdoms went through many ineffective and corrupt kings, and within 100 years after Solomon's death, Israel and Judah were no larger than modern day Connecticut. History tells us small kingdoms do not last long, and because of their location between Mesopotamia and Egypt, the two kingdoms were in a spot of military and commercial importance.

Fall of Israel: The first of the two kingdoms to be conquered was Israel, which fell to the mighty Assyrians in 722 BC. The Assyrians, in order to pacify the conquered territory, scattered the upper class Israelites all over Assyria. Because the were now single people in the midst of many Assyrians, the Israelites soon gave up their YHWH religion. These people are known as the "ten lost tribes of Israel."

The middle eastern people at this time; however, were very superstitious and feared that conquering peoples would lead to the local gods wreaking havoc upon them. For this reason, they assimilated YHWH into their own religion. In a short time, the Samaritans (Assyrians living in Samaria) were almost Israelites. The only difference was that the Samaritans thought it was just to sacrifice to YHWH outside of Jerusalem. For this reason, the Samaritans were frowned upon by the Hebrews who still remained in Israel.

Fall of Judah: When Johoahaz was king of Judah, Necho, the Assyrian king of Egypt conquered Judah, and Judah became an Egyptian tribute state. However, in 605 BC, Babylon defeated Egypt, and Judah became a tribute state to Babylon. IN 601 BC, Babylon suffered a defeat, so Jehoiakim, king of Judah defected to the Egyptians. Because of this, in 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took over Jerusalem and deported about 10,000 Jews to Babylon. This marked the beginning of the exile. Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah king of Judah. Zedekiah defected from Judah and Nebuchadnezzar re-conquered Jerusalem in 586 BC. Zedekiah was captured, forced to watch the murder of his sons, blinded, and then deported to Babylon. Once again, the high class citizens were deported, but not as many as in 597 BC.

Thus the Hebrew Kingdom, with so much promise and glory under David, disappeared. It would never appear again in history, except for a short part of the second century BC. It seemed as if YHWH had broken his covenant to the people. This period in which the Jews are homeless yet united in the streets of Babylon makes up one of the most important periods in Jewish history: The Exile.

Raunak Kundagrami

Ancient Origins Manual, Chapter Six: Mesopotamia, pages 99-100, Compiled by Rosie Lee Beniretto, Published by St. John's School in Houston TX.

The Two Kingdoms of Israel: Jewish Virtual Library: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Kingdoms1.html [1]