Category:Kings (subject)

Kings ruled over the land of Israel from 1047 to 598 BCE, or from Saul, David and Solomon to the time of the Babylonian Exile.

< Kings : {Judges} -- United Monarchy (1047-930 BCE) -- Kingdoms of Judah and Israel (930-722 BCE) -- Neo-Assyrian Period (722-626 BCE) -- Kingdom of Josiah (626-609 BCE) -- Neo-Egyptian Period (609-605 BCE) -- Babylonian Period (605-539 BCE) -- {Second Temple Judaism}>

< People : Kings of Judah - Kings of Israel -- Saul - David - Solomon - Hezekiah - Josiah >

< Hebrew Bible Studies: (1) Creation - (2) Progenitors - (3) Patriarchs - (4) Exodus - (5) Judges - (6) Kings -- Babylonian Exile -- Second Temple Studies >

This page is edited by Gabriele Boccaccini, University of Michigan.

Kings -- Literary Sources

Book of Kings -- Book of Chronicles -- Josephus

Overview

The origins of Israel are obscure. The Jewish tradition provides a series of accounts that give a "foreign" origins to Israel from Mesopotamia (the Patriarchs) and Egypt (the Exodus). After "conquering" the land of Israel the Israelite tribes lived as a confederation under ad hoc charismatic leaders called Judges.

Between 1047 BCE and 930 BCE the Israelite tribes supposedly unified as a United Monarchy under Saul (1047-1010) and then under the dynasty of the House of David: David (1008-970) and his descendants, Solomon (970-931) and Rehoboam (931-930).

Around 930 BCE, the country split into two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Israel (including the cities of Shechem and Samaria) in the north and the Kingdom of Judah (containing Jerusalem) in the south.

Neither ancient sources nor archaeology give any support to the mythical origins of Israel. Everything seems to point out that Israel was one of the native peoples of Canaan.

The first reference to "Israel" appears in the Merneptah Stele (around 1207 BCE) in a list of Canaanite tries subjugated by the Pharaoh in a military campaign in the region.

The united monarchy is also held by contemporary scholarship to be a literary construction and not a historical reality. It is generally accepted that a House of David existed, but his power was limited to the small Kingdom of Judah, while the northern kingdom was a separate development.

The kingdoms of Judah and Israel were two of the several small kingdoms that existed at the time in the Syria-Palestine region (also called Canaan). Their political fortunes (as well as the fortunes of the other Canaanite kingdoms) depended on the mood of two powerful neighbors, Egypt and Mesopotamia. The region of Canaan was poor but strategically important; it was the bridge between the two superpowers of antiquity and consequently, the battlefield of their ambitions of expansion.

The history of the two kingdom in their early stages is quite obscure for the lack of documentation. It becomes clearer starting from the 8th century BCE, as it was recorded also in Assyrian and Babylonian sources.

From 722 to 626 BCE the area was under Assyrian control (see Neo-Assyrian Period, then after a period of independence under Josiah (626-609 BCE) it was from 609 to 598 BCE under Egyptian control (see Neo-Egyptian Period), until it fell in 598 BCE under Babylonian control (see Babylonian Exile).