Kingdom of Judah

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Kingdom of Judea" redirects here. For the Judean polity of the 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, see Hasmonean dynasty. For the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel, see Judea.
Not to be confused with Tribe of Judah.
Kingdom of Judah
𐤉𐤄𐤃
c. 930 BCE[1]–c. 587 BCE
LMLK seal (700–586 BCE) of Judah
LMLK seal (700–586 BCE)
House of David)
King 
• c. 931–913 BCE
Rehoboam (first)
• c. 597–587 BCE
Zedekiah (last)
Historical eraIron Age
c. 930 BCE[1]
c. 587 BCE
 Succeeded by
Yehud (Babylonian province)
Today part of

The Kingdom of Judah (

Imperial Aramaic: 𐤁‬𐤉‬𐤕‬𐤃𐤅‬𐤃 Bēyt Dāwīḏ, "House of David") was an Israelite kingdom of the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. Centered in the highlands of Judea, the landlocked kingdom's capital was Jerusalem.[3] Jews are named after Judah and are primarily descended from it.[4][5][6]

The

Tel Dan Stele, discovered in 1993, shows that the kingdom, at least in some form, existed by the middle of the 9th century BCE, but it does not indicate the extent of its power.[10][11][12] Recent excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa, however, support the existence of a centrally organized and urbanized kingdom by the 10th century BCE, according to the excavators.[7][13]

In the 7th century BCE, the kingdom's population increased greatly, prospering under Assyrian vassalage, despite Hezekiah's revolt against the Assyrian king Sennacherib.[14] Josiah took advantage of the political vacuum that resulted from Assyria's decline and the emergence of Egyptian rule over the area to enact his religious reforms. The Deuteronomistic history, which recounts the history of the nation from Joshua to Josiah and expresses a worldview based on the legal principles found in Deuteronomy, is assumed to have been written during this same time period and emphasizes the significance of upholding them.[15] With the final fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 605 BCE, competition emerged between Egypt and the Neo-Babylonian Empire over control of the Levant, ultimately resulting in Judah's rapid decline. The early 6th century BCE saw a wave of Egyptian-backed Judahite rebellions against Babylonian rule being crushed. In 587 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II besieged and destroyed Jerusalem, bringing an end to the kingdom.[16][15] A large number of Judeans were exiled to Babylon, and the fallen kingdom was then annexed as a Babylonian province.[15]

After

self-rule under Persian governance. It was not until 400 years later, following the Maccabean Revolt
, that the Jews fully regained independence.

Geography

The Kingdom of Judah was located in the Judean Mountains, stretching from Jerusalem to Hebron and into the Negev Desert. The central ridge, ranging from forested and shrubland-covered mountains gently sloping towards the hills of the Shephelah in the west, to the dry and arid landscapes of the Judaean Desert descending into the Jordan Valley to the east, formed the kingdom's core.[17]

The northern border of Judah extended east-west from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, passing near Jericho to the area of Gezer. To the west, the border ran from Gezer across the Shephelah to Beersheba in the northern Negev. In the east, Judah's boundaries followed the Arabah to the western shore of the Dead Sea. In prosperous periods, Judah's influence expanded, stretching southward to Beersheba and beyond, including Kadesh Barnea and likely Kuntillet Ajrud. Its influence possibly extended to the Gulf of Eilat.[17]

Archaeological record

See also:
The Bible and history

The formation of the Kingdom of Judah is a subject of heavy debate among scholars, with a dispute emerging between biblical minimalists and biblical maximalists on this particular topic.[18] Due to geopolitical factors like security issues, isolation, and political changes, the core area of the Kingdom of Judah on the south-central highlands has seen limited archaeological exploration compared to regions west of the Jordan River. Few excavations and surveys have been conducted there, creating a notable knowledge gap when compared to the extensively studied Shephelah region to the west, which has undergone systematic surveys and numerous scientific excavations.[19]

While it is generally agreed that the stories of David and Solomon in the 10th century BCE tell little about the origins of Judah, currently, there is no consensus as to whether Judah developed as a split from the United Kingdom of Israel (as the Bible tells) or independently.[20][21] Some scholars suggested that Jerusalem, the kingdom's capital, did not emerge as a significant administrative center until the end of the 8th century BCE. Before then, the archaeological evidence suggests its population was too small to sustain a viable kingdom.[22] Much of the debate revolves around whether the archaeological discoveries conventionally dated to the 10th century should instead be dated to the 9th century, as proposed by Israel Finkelstein.[23] Recent archaeological discoveries by Eilat Mazar in Jerusalem and Yosef Garfinkel in Khirbet Qeiyafa have been interpreted as supporting the existence of the United Monarchy, but the datings and identifications are not universally accepted.[24][25]

Tel Dan Stele, with the word(s) "House of David" highlighted (9th century BCE)

The

Assyrian cuneiform as Ya'uda or KUR.ia-ú-da-a-a),[28] while an earlier reference to a Judahite envoy seems to appear in a wine list from Nimrud dated to the 780s BCE.[29]

Jerusalem

Large Stone Structure

The status of Jerusalem in the 10th century BCE is a major subject of debate.

Large Stone Structure, which originally formed one structure, contain material culture dated to Iron I.[9] On account of the alleged lack of settlement activity in the 10th century BCE, Israel Finkelstein argues that Jerusalem was then a small country village in the Judean hills, not a national capital, and Ussishkin argues that the city was entirely uninhabited. Amihai Mazar contends that if the Iron I/Iron IIa dating of administrative structures in the City of David are correct, which he believes to be the case, "Jerusalem was a rather small town with a mighty citadel, which could have been a center of a substantial regional polity."[9] William G. Dever argues that Jerusalem was a small and fortified city, probably inhabited only by the royal court, priests and clerks.[31]

Literacy

A collection of military orders found in the ruins of a military fortress in the Negev dating to the period of the Kingdom of Judah indicates widespread literacy, based on the inscriptions, the ability to read and write extended throughout the chain of command from commanders to petty officers. According to Professor Eliezer Piasetsky, who participated in analyzing the texts, "Literacy existed at all levels of the administrative, military and priestly systems of Judah. Reading and writing were not limited to a tiny elite." That indicates the presence of a substantial educational infrastructure in Judah at the time.[32]

LMLK seals

Further information: LMLK seal
Storage jars handles marked with LMLK seals, Hecht Museum

Lachish.[33] None of the original seals has been found, but some 2,000 impressions made by at least 21 seal types have been published.[34]

LMLK stands for the Hebrew letters lamedh mem lamedh kaph (vocalized, lamelekh; Phoenician lāmed mēm lāmed kāp – 𐤋𐤌𐤋𐤊), which can be translated as:

  • "[belonging] to the king" [of Judah]
  • "[belonging] to King" (name of a person or deity)
  • "[belonging] to the government" [of Judah]
  • "[to be sent] to the King"

Everyday life

According to a 2022 study, traces of vanilla found in wine jars in Jerusalem might indicate that the local elite enjoyed wine flavored with vanilla during the 7–6th centuries BCE. Until very recently, vanilla was not at all known to be available to the Old World. Archeologists suggested that this discovery might be related to an international trade route that crossed the Negev during that period, probably under Assyrian and later, Egyptian rule.[35]

Cities

According to

Lachish.[36]

Tel Be'er Sheva, believed to be the site of the ancient biblical town of Beer-sheba, was the main Judahite center in the Negev during the 9th and 8th centuries BCE.[37]

Forts

The

casemate walls with chambers on the outside wall, and they were square or rectangular in shape.[37] Khirbet Abu et-Twein, which is situated on the Judaean Mountains between modern day Bat Ayin and Jab'a, is one of the most noteworthy fortresses from the period. Great views of the Shepehla, including the Judahite towns of Azekah, Socho, Goded, Lachish, and Maresha, could be seen from this fort.[38]

In the northern Negev,

French Hill and south to Giloh.[37]

It is clear from the position of Judaean strongholds that one of their primary purposes was to facilitate communications via fire signals across the Kingdom, a method well-documented in the Book of Jeremiah and the Lachish letters.[37]

Biblical narrative

Jeroboam's revolt and the partition of the United Monarchy

Part of a series on the
History of Palestine
Prehistory
Ancient history
Classical period
Islamic rule
Modern era
Part of a series on the
History of Israel
The Western Wall, Jerusalem
Early history
Prehistoric Levant

Canaan

Ancient Israel and Judah
Iron Age I 12th–10th centuries BCE
United Monarchy 10th century BCE
Kingdom of Israel 10th century BCE–720 BCE
Kingdom of Judah 10th century BCE–587 BCE
Babylonian rule 587–538 BCE
Persian Yehud
 538–333 BCE
Hellenistic period 333–164 BCE
Hasmonean dynasty 164–37 BCE
Herodian dynasty 37 BCE–6 CE
Roman Judaea
  • (
    Jewish-Roman Wars
    )
    		•  6 CE–136 CE
    Late Antiquity and Middle Ages
    Syria Palaestina 136–395
    Byzantine Palaestina 638–1099
    Kingdom of Jerusalem 1099–1291
    Ayyubid dynasty 1174–1260
    Mamluk Sultanate 1260–1517
    Modern history
    Modern history (1517–1948)

    State of Israel (1948–present)

    By topic
    Related
    flag Israel portal

    According to the biblical account, the United Kingdom of Israel was founded by Saul during the late-11th century BCE, and reached its peak during the rule of David and Solomon. After the death of Solomon circa 930 BCE, the Israelites gathered in Shechem for the coronation of Solomon's son and successor, Rehoboam. Before the coronation took place, the northern tribes, led by Jeroboam, asked the new king to reduce the heavy taxes and labor requirements that his father Solomon had imposed. Rehoboam rejected their petition: “I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, I will chastise you with scorpions" (1 Kings 12:11). As a result, ten of the tribes rebelled against Rehoboam and proclaimed Jeroboam their king, forming the northern Kingdom of Israel. At first, only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the House of David, but the tribe of Benjamin soon joined Judah. Both kingdoms, Judah in the south and Israel in the north, co-existed uneasily after the split until the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel by Assyria in 722/721.

    Relations with the Kingdom of Israel

    For the first 60 years, the kings of Judah tried to re-establish their authority over Israel, and there was

    sack of Jerusalem (10th century BCE)
    , Rehoboam gave them all of the treasures out of the temple as a tribute and Judah became a vassal state of Egypt.

    Rehoboam's son and successor, Abijah of Judah, continued his father's efforts to bring Israel under his control. He fought the Battle of Mount Zemaraim against Jeroboam of Israel and was victorious with a heavy loss of life on the Israel side. According to the Books of Chronicles, Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter, so that 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain,[39] and Jeroboam posed little threat to Judah for the rest of his reign, and the border of the tribe of Benjamin was restored to the original tribal border.[40]

    Abijah's son and successor, Asa of Judah, maintained peace for the first 35 years of his reign,[41] and he revamped and reinforced the fortresses originally built by his grandfather, Rehoboam. 2 Chronicles states that at the Battle of Zephath, the Egyptian-backed chieftain Zerah the Ethiopian and his million men and 300 chariots were defeated by Asa's 580,000 men in the Valley of Zephath near Maresha.[42] The Bible does not state whether Zerah was a pharaoh or a general of the army. The Ethiopians were pursued all the way to Gerar, in the coastal plain, where they stopped out of sheer exhaustion. The resulting peace kept Judah free from Egyptian incursions until the time of Josiah, some centuries later.

    Palestine from 720 BC to the exile of Judah.

    In his 36th year, Asa was confronted by Baasha of Israel,[41] who built a fortress at Ramah on the border, less than ten miles from Jerusalem. The capital became under pressure, and the military situation was precarious. Asa took gold and silver from the Temple and sent them to Ben-Hadad I, the king of Aram-Damascus, in exchange for the Damascene king cancelling his peace treaty with Baasha. Ben-Hadad attacked Ijon, Dan and many important cities of the tribe of Naphtali, and Baasha was forced to withdraw from Ramah.[43] Asa tore down the unfinished fortress and used its raw materials to fortify Geba and Mizpah in Benjamin on his side of the border.[44]

    Asa's successor, Jehoshaphat, changed the policy towards Israel and instead pursued alliances and co-operation with the northern kingdom. The alliance with Ahab was based on marriage. The alliance led to disaster for the kingdom with the Battle of Ramoth-Gilead.[45] He then entered into an alliance with Ahaziah of Israel for the purpose of carrying on maritime commerce with Ophir. However, the fleet that was then equipped at Ezion-Geber was immediately wrecked. A new fleet was fitted out without the co-operation of the king of Israel. Although it was successful, the trade was not prosecuted.[46][47] He joined Jehoram of Israel in a war against the Moabites, who were under tribute to Israel. This war was successful, and the Moabites were subdued. However, on seeing Mesha's act of offering his own son in a human sacrifice on the walls of Kir-haresheth filled Jehoshaphat with horror, and he withdrew and returned to his own land.[48]

    Jehoshaphat's successor, Jehoram of Judah, formed an alliance with Israel by marrying Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab. Despite the alliance with the stronger northern kingdom, Jehoram's rule of Judah was shaky. Edom revolted, and he was forced to acknowledge its independence. A raid by Philistines, Arabs and Ethiopians looted the king's house and carried off all of his family except for his youngest son, Ahaziah of Judah.

    Clash of empires

    "To Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah" – royal seal found at the Ophel excavations in Jerusalem

    After

    Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem[53][54]
    in 701 BCE though the city was never taken.

    Broad Wall, built during the reign of king Hezekiah (late-8th century BCE)

    During the long reign of Manasseh (c. 687/686 – 643/642 BCE),[55] Judah was a vassal of Assyrian rulers: Sennacherib and his successors, Esarhaddon[56] and Ashurbanipal after 669 BCE. Manasseh is listed as being required to provide materials for Esarhaddon's building projects and as one of a number of vassals who assisted Ashurbanipal's campaign against Egypt.[56]

    Siloam inscription found in the Siloam tunnel, Jerusalem
    Megiddo, where a fierce battle was fought and Josiah was killed.[58] Necho then joined forces with the Assyrian Ashur-uballit II, and they crossed the Euphrates and lay siege to Harran. The combined forces failed to hold the city after capturing it temporarily, and Necho retreated back to northern Syria
    . The event also marked the disintegration of the Assyrian Empire.

    On his return march to Egypt in 608 BCE, Necho found that Jehoahaz had been selected to succeed his father, Josiah.[59] Necho deposed Jehoahaz, who had been king for only three months, and replaced him with his older brother, Jehoiakim. Necho imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver (about 33⁄4 tons or about 3.4 metric tons) and a talent of gold (about 34 kilograms (75 lb)). Necho then took Jehoahaz back to Egypt as his prisoner,[60] never to return.

    Babylonian Empire.[69] Among them was Ezekiel. Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah
    , Jehoiakim's brother, the king of the reduced kingdom, who was made a tributary of Babylon.

    Destruction and dispersion

    The Flight of the Prisoners (1896) by James Tissot; the exile of the Jews from Jerusalem to Babylon

    Despite the strong remonstrances of Jeremiah and others, Zedekiah revolted against Nebuchadnezzar by ceasing to pay tribute to him and entered an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra. In 589 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar II returned to Judah and again besieged Jerusalem. Many Jews fled to surrounding Moab, Ammon, Edom and other countries to seek refuge.[70] The city fell after a siege, which lasted either eighteen or thirty months,[71] and Nebuchadnezzar again pillaged both Jerusalem and the Temple[72] and then destroyed both.[73] After killing all of Zedekiah's sons, Nebuchadnezzar took Zedekiah to Babylon[74] and so put an end to the independent Kingdom of Judah. According to the Book of Jeremiah, in addition to those killed during the siege, some 4,600 people were deported after the fall of Judah.[75] By 586 BCE, much of Judah had been devastated, and the former kingdom had suffered a steep decline of both its economy and its population.[76]

    Aftermath

    Babylonian Yehud

    Jerusalem apparently remained uninhabited for much of the 6th century,[76] and the centre of gravity shifted to Benjamin, the relatively unscathed northern section of the kingdom, where the town of Mizpah became the capital of the new Babylonian province of Yehud for the remnant of the Jewish population in a part of the former kingdom.[77] That was standard Babylonian practice. When the Philistine city of Ashkelon was conquered in 604 BCE, the political, religious and economic elite (but not the bulk of the population) was banished and the administrative centre shifted to a new location.[78]

    Gedaliah was appointed governor of the Yehud province, supported by a Babylonian guard. The administrative centre of the province was Mizpah in Benjamin,[79] not Jerusalem. On hearing of the appointment, many of the Judeans who had taken refuge in surrounding countries were persuaded to return to Judah.[80] However, Gedaliah was soon assassinated by a member of the royal house, and the Chaldean soldiers killed. The population that was left in the land and those who had returned fled to Egypt for fear a Babylonian reprisal, under the leadership of Yohanan ben Kareah. They ignored the urging of the prophet Jeremiah against the move.[81] In Egypt, the refugees settled in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph and Pathros,[82] and Jeremiah went with them as a moral guardian.

    Exile of elites to Babylon

    Further information: Babylonian captivity

    The numbers that were deported to Babylon and that made their way to Egypt and the remnant that remained in the land and in surrounding countries are subject to academic debate. The Book of Jeremiah reports that 4,600 were exiled to Babylonia.[75] The Books of Kings suggest that it was 10,000 and later 8,000.

    Yehud under Persian rule

    Main article: Yehud Medinata

    In 539 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire conquered Babylonia and allowed the exiles to return to Yehud Medinata and to rebuild the Temple, which was completed in the sixth year of Darius (515 BCE)[83] under Zerubbabel, the grandson of the second to last king of Judah, Jeconiah. Yehud Medinata was a peaceful part of the Achaemenid Empire until its fall in c. 333 BCE to Alexander the Great.

    Religion

    The major theme of the Hebrew Bible's narrative is the loyalty of Judah, especially its kings, to Yahweh, which it states is the God of Israel. Accordingly, all of the kings of Israel (except to some extent Jehu) and many of the kings of Judah were "bad" in terms of the biblical narrative by failing to enforce monotheism. Of the "good" kings, Hezekiah (727–698 BCE) is noted for his efforts at stamping out idolatry (in his case, the worship of Baal and Asherah, among other traditional Near Eastern divinities),[84] but his successors, Manasseh of Judah (698–642 BCE) and Amon (642–640 BCE), revived idolatry, which drew down on the kingdom the anger of Yahweh. King Josiah (640–609 BCE) returned to the worship of Yahweh alone, but his efforts were too late, and Israel's unfaithfulness caused God to permit the kingdom's destruction by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the Siege of Jerusalem (587/586 BCE).

    It is now widely agreed among academic scholars that the Books of Kings are not an accurate portrayal of religious attitudes in Judah or Israel of the time.[85][86]

    Evidence of cannabis residues has been found on two altars in Tel Arad dating to the 8th century BC. Researchers believe that cannabis may have been used for ritualistic psychoactive purposes in Judah.[87]

    See also

    References

    Citations

    1. ^ Pioske, Daniel (2015). "4: David's Jerusalem: The Early 10th Century BCE Part I: An Agrarian Community". David's Jerusalem: Between Memory and History. Routledge Studies in Religion. Vol. 45. Routledge. p. 180.
      ISBN 978-1-317-54891-1
      .
    2. ISBN 978-0-7432-2338-6
      .
    3. S2CID 162036657
      .
    4. OCLC 798209542.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link
      )
    5. OCLC 894671497
      .
    6. ISBN 9780495502883
      . The people of Judah survived, eventually becoming known as the Jews and giving their name to Judaism, the religion of Yahweh, the Israelite God.
    7. ^ a b Garfinkel, Yossi; Ganor, Sa'ar; Hasel, Michael (19 April 2012). "Journal 124: Khirbat Qeiyafa preliminary report". Hadashot Arkheologiyot: Excavations and Surveys in Israel. Israel Antiquities Authority. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
    8. S2CID 161627736
      . Retrieved 12 June 2018.
    9. ^ a b c d Mazar, Amihai. "Archaeology and the Biblical Narrative: The Case of the United Monarchy". One God – One Cult – One Nation. Archaeological and Biblical Perspectives, Edited by Reinhard G. Kratz and Hermann Spieckermann in Collaboration with Björn Corzilius and Tanja Pilger, (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 405). Berlin/ New York: 29–58. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
    10. ISBN 978-0-567-25171-8
      . The Tel Dan inscription generated a good deal of debate and a flurry of articles when it first appeared, but it is now widely regarded (a) as genuine and (b) as referring to the Davidic dynasty and the Aramaic kingdom of Damascus.
    11. ISBN 978-0-19-971162-8
      . Today, after much further discussion in academic journals, it is accepted by most archaeologists that the inscription is not only genuine but that the reference is indeed to the House of David, thus representing the first allusion found anywhere outside the Bible to the biblical David.
    12. ISBN 978-1-58983-062-2
      . Some unfounded accusations of forgery have had little or no effect on the scholarly acceptance of this inscription as genuine.
    13. ^ Garfinkel, Yosef (May–June 2011). "The Birth & Death of Biblical Minimalism". Biblical Archaeology Review. 37 (3). Archived from the original on 2011-09-08. Retrieved 2012-07-05.
    14. ISBN 978-0-674-39731-6
      . Retrieved 12 October 2018. Sargon's heir, Sennacherib (705–681), could not deal with Hezekiah's revolt until he gained control of Babylon in 702 BCE.
    15. ^
      JSTOR 10.5325/j.ctv1bxh5fd
      .
    16. ^ Lipiński 2020, p. 94.
    17. ^
      ISBN 9780199212972
      .
    18. ^ "Maximalists and Minimalists". livius.org. Retrieved 2021-07-18.
    19. ISBN 978-1-107-15668-5
      , retrieved 2024-03-25
    20. ^ Katz 2015, p. 27.
    21. ^ Mazar, Amihai (2010). "Archaeology and the Biblical Narrative: The Case of the United Monarchy". Archaeological and Biblical Perspectives. For conservative approaches defining the United Monarchy as a state "from Dan to Beer Sheba" including "conquered kingdoms" (Ammon, Moab, Edom) and "spheres of influence" in Geshur and Hamath cf. e.g., Ahlström (1993), 455–542; Meyers (1998); Lemaire (1999); Masters (2001); Stager (2003); Rainey (2006), 159–168; Kitchen (1997); Millard (1997; 2008). For a total denial of the historicity of the United Monarchy cf. e.g., Davies (1992), 67–68; others suggested a 'chiefdom' comprising a small region around Jerusalem, cf. Knauf (1997), 81–85; Niemann (1997), 252–299 and Finkelstein (1999). For a 'middle of the road' approach suggesting a United Monarchy of larger territorial scope though smaller than the biblical description cf. e.g., Miller (1997); Halpern (2001), 229–262; Liverani (2005), 92–101. The latter recently suggested a state comprising the territories of Judah and Ephraim during the time of David, which subsequently was enlarged to include areas of northern Samaria and influence areas in the Galilee and Transjordan. Na'aman (1992; 1996) once accepted the basic biography of David as authentic and later rejected the United Monarchy as a state, cf. id. (2007), 401–402.
    22. ^ Moore & Kelle 2011, p. 302.
    23. ^ Finkelstein & Silberman 2002.
    24. S2CID 147053561
      .
    25. ^ "Crying King David: Are the ruins found in Israel really his palace?". Haaretz. Retrieved 2021-07-18. Not all agree that the ruins found in Khirbet Qeiyafa are of the biblical town Sha'arayim, let alone the palace of ancient Israel's most famous king
    26. ^ Pioske 2015, p. 180.
    27. ^ Corpus of West Semitic Stamp Seals. N. Avigad and B. Sass. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1997, nos. 4 and 3 respectively; Identifying Biblical Persons in Northwest Semitic Inscriptions of 1200–539 BCE Lawrence J. Mykytiuk. SBL Academia Biblica 12. Atlanta, 2004, 153–59, 219.
    28. ISBN 978-0-567-63671-3
      . Retrieved 12 October 2018. For Israel, the description of the battle of Qarqar in the Kurkh Monolith of Shalmaneser III (mid-ninth century) and for Judah, a Tiglath-pileser III text mentioning (Jeho-) Ahaz of Judah (IIR67 = K. 3751), dated 734–733, are the earliest published to date.
    29. S2CID 166481059
      .
    30. ^ Sergi 2023, p. 197.
    31. ISBN 978-1-4674-5949-5
      .
    32. Times of Israel
      . Retrieved from TimesofIsrael.com, 30 January 2019.
    33. ^ Ussishkin (2004), The Renewed Archaeological Excavations at Lachish, p. 89 ("As the work of the renewed excavations developed it became clear that the destruction of Level III must be assigned to Sennacherib's attack in 701 BCE.").
    34. ^ "The LMLK Research Website". www.lmlk.com.
    35. PMID 35349581
      .
    36. S2CID 258896023
      .
    37. ^
      OCLC 368020822
      .
    38. JSTOR 23619437
      .
    39. ^ 2 Chronicles 13:17
    40. ^ 2 Chronicles 13:20
    41. ^ a b 2 Chronicles 16:1
    42. ^ 2 Chronicles 14:9–15
    43. ^ 2 Chronicles 16:2–6
    44. ^ 2 Chronicles 16:1–7
    45. ^ 1 Kings 22:1–33
    46. ^ 2 Kings 20:35–37
    47. ^ 1 Kings 22:48–49
    48. ^ 2 Kings 3:4–27
    49. ^
      ISBN 978-1-4412-3560-2
      . Retrieved 12 October 2018.
    50. ^ Isaiah 30–31; 36:6–9
    51. ^ 2 Kings 18:13
    52. ^ 2 Kings 18:14–16
    53. ^ James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Related to the Old Testament (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1965) 287–88.
    54. ^ 2 Kings 18:17
    55. ^
      ISBN 978-0-8254-3825-7
      .
    56. ^
      ISBN 978-0-664-22068-6
      . Retrieved 12 October 2018.
    57. ^ a b 2Kings 23:29
    58. ^ 2 Kings 23:29, 2 Chronicles 35:20–24
    59. ^ 2 Kings 23:31
    60. ^ 2 Chronicles 36:1–4
    61. ^ Dr. Shirley Rollinson. "The Divided Monarchy – ca. 931–586 BC". Retrieved 12 October 2018.
    62. ^ No 24 WA21946, The Babylonian Chronicles, The British Museum
    63. ^ Wigoder, Geoffrey (2006). The Illustrated Dictionary & Concordance of the Bible. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
    64. ISBN 978-0-304-33703-3
      .
    65. ^ Vincent, Robert Benn Sr. "Daniel and the Captivity of Israel". Retrieved 12 October 2018.
    66. ^ King, Philip J. (1993). Jeremiah: An Archaeological Companion. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 23.
    67. ^ 2 Chronicles 36:9
    68. ^ Coogan, Michael D., ed. (1999). The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford University Press. p. 350.
    69. ^ 2 Kings 24:14
    70. ^ Jeremiah 40:11–12
    71. JSTOR 27925138
      . The discrepancy between the length of the siege according to the regnal years of Zedekiah (years 9–11), on the one hand, and its length according to Jehoiachin's exile (years 9–12), on the other, can be cancelled out only by supposing the former to have been reckoned on a Tishri basis, and the latter on a Nisan basis. The difference of one year between the two is accounted for by the fact that the termination of the siege fell in the summer, between Nisan and Tishri, already in the 12th year according to the reckoning in Ezekiel, but still in Zedekiah's 11th year which was to end only in Tishri.
    72. ^ Ezra 5:14
    73. ^ Jeremiah 52:10–13
    74. ^ Jeremiah 52:10–11
    75. ^ a b Jeremiah 52:29–30
    76. ^
      ISBN 978-0-567-08998-4
      .
    77. ^ Davies 2009.
    78. ^ Lipschitz 2005, p. 48.
    79. ^ 2 Kings 25:22–24, Jeremiah 40:6–8
    80. ISBN 978-1-4267-3003-0
      .
    81. ^ 2 Kings 25:26, Jeremiah 43:5–7
    82. ^ Jeremiah 44:1
    83. ^ Ezra 6:15
    84. ^ Borowski, Oded. "Hezekiah's Reforms and the Revolt against Assyria". Archived from the original on 23 July 1997. Retrieved 12 October 2018., Emory University, 1997
    85. ISBN 978-0-8028-4161-2. Retrieved 13 January 2020 – via Internet Archive
      . It is fairly well established by now that the narrative of the book of Kings cannot be taken as an accurate reflection of the religious world of the nations of Judah and Israel.1{...}1 The historicity of certain sections of the narrative has been questioned for a long time within scholarly circles, even though the majority of the text is accepted to be historically trustworthy; this is particularly true of aspects of the depiction of the northern kingdom, Israel.
    86. ^ James Alan Montgomery (1951). A Critical and Exegetical Commentary of the Book of Kings. T. & T. Clark. p. 41 – via Internet Archive. The remaining Prophetical Stories of the North are midrash in the current sense of the word, of dubious historical value.
    87. doi:10.1080/03344355.2020.1732046
      .

    Sources

    External links
    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kingdom_of_Judah&oldid=1220179408"