Israel and the Palestinian Territories/History: The Israelite Monarchies

The Bible described Saul(Sha’ul), a scion of the Tribe of Benjamin(Binyamin), as the first King of Israel. The Bible described him as being abandoned by God, who chose David, a scion of the Tribe of Judah, as King of Israel.

David first appeared in the Hebrew Bible as a young boy who defeated Goliath, the giant Philistine warrior, with a stone. He befriended Jonathan(Yonatan), son of Saul, but was feared by Saul, who knew that David would become King. Ultimately, as Saul and Jonathan were killed in the battle, David became King, and ruled for 40 years. Under David, Jerusalem, which until then was controlled by Jebusites, was conquered by Israelites and became the capital of the Kingdom.

Solomon(Shelomoh) succeeded David after a brief succession struggle, and, according to the Bible, built a Holy Temple at Jerusalem and engaged in trade with far across the ocean. The Bible described his dominion as extending from Gulf of Elat to the Euphrates, which, of course, was not backed by archaeological evidence(although the existence of the House of David who ruled from Jerusalem had been proven by archaeological discoveries).

The Hebrew Bible described the split of the Kingdom of Israel into Kingdom of Israel in the North and the Kingdom of Judah(Yehuda) in the South. The struggle between monotheism and polytheism and over the cult of Golden Calf continued. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Israel was engaged in conflict with Aram as the latter was allied with Judah.

During the rule of Omrites in Kingdom of Israel, the conflict between polytheism and monotheism was at the most intense, and two prominent prophets emerged during the time- Eliyah(Eliyahu) and Elisha. Jezebel(Izevel), a Tyrian princess who married Ahab(Aẖˈav), persecuted the monotheists and promoted her Phoenician polytheism, and was killed along with the entire House of Omri and most of the House of David(who were in the Kingdom of Israel at the time).

The rise of Assyrian Empire ultimately caused the end of the Kingdom of Israel, and most of the Northern Israelites were dispersed across the Empire. The remaining part mixed with newcomers to form the Samaritans. All other peoples in the region(except Judah, which formally kept its independence while paying tribute to Assyria) were annexed into the Assyrian Empire.

In Kingdom of Judah, Hezekiah(Hizkiyyahu), a monotheist, tried to resist Assyria but was ultimately forced to pay tribute, and only a pandemic kept Jerusalem from being sacked. Hezekiah’s successor, Manasseh(Menasheh) was a weak king leaning towards polytheism, while his son Josiah(Yoˈshiyyahu) tried to revive the old glory of the Davidic house and to enact religious reforms to consolidate monotheism as the religion of southern Israelites, or Jews as they would come to be called. It’s believed by some that the reign of Josiah was when the codification of Jewish scriptures and laws began.

As Assyria fell, Josiah tried to strengthen his kingdom, but died as he was in battle with Egypt. Amidst the collapse of Assyria, Chaldeans, or Neo-Babylonian Empire, became powerful. After taking much of the Judean elites in 605 and 597 BCE, Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 BCE, and all but the poorest in the Kingdom of Judah had been taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II.