History of ancient Israel and Judah
History of Israel | |
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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 |
Part of a series on |
Jews and Judaism |
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The history of ancient Israel and Judah covers the history of the
According to the Hebrew Bible, a "United Monarchy" consisting of Israel and Judah existed as early as the 11th century BCE, under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon; the country later split into two kingdoms: Israel, containing the cities of Shechem and Samaria in the north, and Judah (containing Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple) in the south. The historicity of the United Monarchy is debated—as there are no archaeological remains of it that are accepted as consensus—but historians and archaeologists agree that Israel and Judah existed as separate kingdoms by c. 900 BCE[1]: 169–195 [2] and c. 850 BCE,[3] respectively.[4]
The Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire.[5] While the Kingdom of Judah remained intact during this time, it became a client state of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire. However, Jewish revolts against the Babylonians led to the destruction of Judah in 586 BCE, under the rule of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II. According to the biblical account, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem between 589–586 BCE, which led to the destruction of Solomon's Temple and the exile of the Jews to Babylon; this event was also recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles.[6][7] The exilic period saw the development of the Israelite religion towards a monotheistic Judaism.
The exile ended with the
Periods
The Iron Age II period is followed by periods named after conquering empires, such as the Neo-Babylonians becoming the "godfathers" for the Babylonian period (586–539 BCE).
Other academic terms often used are:
- First Temple or Israelite period (c. 1000 – 586 BCE)[13]
The return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple marked the beginning of the Second Temple period (c. 516 BCE – 70 CE).
Background: Late Bronze Age (1550–1150 BCE)
The
Canaan in the Late Bronze Age was a shadow of what it had been centuries earlier: many cities were abandoned, others shrank in size, and the total settled population was probably not much more than a hundred thousand.[16] Settlement was concentrated in cities along the coastal plain and along major communication routes; the central and northern hill country which would later become the biblical kingdom of Israel was only sparsely inhabited[17] although letters from the Egyptian archives indicate that Jerusalem was already a Canaanite city-state recognizing Egyptian overlordship.[18] Politically and culturally it was dominated by Egypt,[19] each city under its own ruler, constantly at odds with its neighbours, and appealing to the Egyptians to adjudicate their differences.[17]
The Canaanite city state system broke down during the Late Bronze Age collapse,[20] and Canaanite culture was then gradually absorbed into those of the Philistines, Phoenicians and Israelites.[21] The process was gradual[22] and a strong Egyptian presence continued into the 12th century BCE, and, while some Canaanite cities were destroyed, others continued to exist in Iron Age I.[23]
The name "Israel" first appears in the
Iron Age I (1150–950 BCE)
Archaeologist Paula McNutt says: "It is probably… during Iron Age I [that] a population began to identify itself as 'Israelite'," differentiating itself from its neighbours via prohibitions on intermarriage, an emphasis on
In the Late Bronze Age there were no more than about 25 villages in the highlands, but this increased to over 300 by the end of Iron Age I, while the settled population doubled from 20,000 to 40,000.[27] The villages were more numerous and larger in the north, and probably shared the highlands with pastoral nomads, who left no remains.[28] Archaeologists and historians attempting to trace the origins of these villagers have found it impossible to identify any distinctive features that could define them as specifically Israelite – collared-rim jars and four-room houses have been identified outside the highlands and thus cannot be used to distinguish Israelite sites,[29] and while the pottery of the highland villages is far more limited than that of lowland Canaanite sites, it develops typologically out of Canaanite pottery that came before.[30] Israel Finkelstein proposed that the oval or circular layout that distinguishes some of the earliest highland sites, and the notable absence of pig bones from hill sites, could be taken as markers of ethnicity, but others have cautioned that these can be a "common-sense" adaptation to highland life and not necessarily revelatory of origins.[31] Other Aramaean sites also demonstrate a contemporary absence of pig remains at that time, unlike earlier Canaanite and later Philistine excavations.
In
These surveys revolutionized the study of early Israel. The discovery of the remains of a dense network of highland villages – all apparently established within the span of few generations – indicated that a dramatic social transformation had taken place in the central hill country of Canaan around 1200 BCE. There was no sign of violent invasion or even the infiltration of a clearly defined ethnic group. Instead, it seemed to be a revolution in lifestyle. In the formerly sparsely populated highlands from the Judean hills in the south to the hills of Samaria in the north, far from the Canaanite cities that were in the process of collapse and disintegration, about two-hundred fifty hilltop communities suddenly sprang up. Here were the first Israelites.[34]
Modern scholars therefore see Israel arising peacefully and internally from existing people in the highlands of Canaan.[35]
Extensive archaeological excavations have provided a picture of Israelite society during the early Iron Age period. The archaeological evidence indicates a society of village-like centres, but with more limited resources and a small population. During this period, Israelites lived primarily in small villages, the largest of which had populations of up to 300 or 400.
Iron Age II (950–587 BCE)
According to Israel Finkelstein, after an emergent and large polity was suddenly formed based on the Gibeon-Gibeah plateau and destroyed by Shoshenq I, the biblical Shishak, in the 10th century BCE,[43] a return to small city-states was prevalent in the Southern Levant, but between 950 and 900 BCE another large polity emerged in the northern highlands with its capital eventually at Tirzah, that can be considered the precursor of the Kingdom of Israel.[44] The Kingdom of Israel was consolidated as an important regional power by the first half of the 9th century BCE,[3] before falling to the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 722 BCE, and the Kingdom of Judah began to flourish in the second half of the 9th century BCE.[3]
Unusually favourable climatic conditions in the first two centuries of Iron Age II brought about an expansion of population, settlements and trade throughout the region.
Judah emerged as an operational kingdom somewhat later than Israel, during the second half of 9th century BCE,[43] but the subject is one of considerable controversy.[49] There are indications that during the 10th and 9th centuries BCE, the southern highlands had been divided between a number of centres, none with clear primacy.[50] During the reign of Hezekiah, between c. 715 and 686 BCE, a notable increase in the power of the Judean state can be observed.[51] This is reflected in archaeological sites and findings, such as the Broad Wall; a defensive city wall in Jerusalem; and the Siloam tunnel, an aqueduct designed to provide Jerusalem with water during an impending siege by the Neo-Assyrian Empire led by Sennacherib; and the Siloam inscription, a lintel inscription found over the doorway of a tomb, has been ascribed to comptroller Shebna. LMLK seals on storage jar handles, excavated from strata in and around that formed by Sennacherib's destruction, appear to have been used throughout Sennacherib's 29-year reign, along with bullae from sealed documents, some that belonged to Hezekiah himself and others that name his servants.[52]
Archaeological records indicate that the Kingdom of Israel was fairly prosperous. The late Iron Age saw an increase in urban development in Israel. Whereas previously the Israelites had lived mainly in small and unfortified settlements, the rise of the Kingdom of Israel saw the growth of cities and the construction of palaces, large royal enclosures, and fortifications with walls and gates. Israel initially had to invest significant resources into defence as it was subjected to regular
In the 7th century Jerusalem grew to contain a population many times greater than earlier and achieved clear dominance over its neighbours.[58] This occurred at the same time that Israel was being destroyed by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and was probably the result of a cooperative arrangement with the Assyrians to establish Judah as an Assyrian vassal state controlling the valuable olive industry.[58] Judah prospered as a vassal state (despite a disastrous rebellion against Sennacherib), but in the last half of the 7th century BCE, Assyria suddenly collapsed, and the ensuing competition between Egypt and the Neo-Babylonian Empire for control of the land led to the destruction of Judah in a series of campaigns between 597 and 582.[58]
Aftermath: Assyrian and Babylonian periods
After its fall, the former Kingdom of Israel became the Assyrian province of Samerina, which was taken over about a century later by the Neo-Babylonian Empire, created after the revolt of the Babylonians and them defeating the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Babylonian Judah suffered a steep decline in both economy and population
The Babylonian conquest entailed not just the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, but the liquidation of the entire infrastructure which had sustained Judah for centuries.
Religion
Although the specific process by which the Israelites adopted monotheism is unknown, it is certain that the transition was a gradual one and was not totally accomplished during the First Temple period.[77] Yet, over time, the number of gods that the Israelites worshipped decreased, and figurative images vanished from their shrines. Yahwism, as some scholars name this belief system, is often described as a form of henotheism or monolatry. Over the same time, a folk religion continued to be practised across Israel and Judah. These practices were influenced by the polytheistic beliefs of the surrounding ethnicities, and were denounced by the prophets.[78][79][80]
In addition to the Temple in Jerusalem, there was public worship practised all over Israel and Judah in shrines and sanctuaries, outdoors, and close to city gates. In the 8th and 7th centuries BCE, the kings Hezekiah and Josiah of Judah implemented a number of significant religious reforms that aimed to centre worship of the God of Israel in Jerusalem and eliminate foreign customs.[81][82][83]
Henotheism
During this intermediate period of henotheism many families worshipped different gods. Religion was very much centred around the family, as opposed to the community. The region of Israel and Judah was sparsely populated during the time of Moses. As such many different areas worshipped different gods, due to social isolation.[91] It was not until later on in Israelite history that people started to worship Yahweh alone and fully convert to monotheistic values. That switch occurred with the growth of power and influence of the Israelite kingdom and its rulers. Further details of this are contained in the Iron Age Yahwism section below. Evidence from the Bible suggests that henotheism did exist: "They [the Hebrews] went and served alien gods and paid homage to them, gods of whom they had no experience and whom he [Yahweh] did not allot to them" (Deut. 29.26). Many believe that this quote demonstrates that the early Israelite kingdom followed traditions similar to ancient Mesopotamia, where each major urban centre had a supreme god. Each culture embraced their patron god but did not deny the existence of other cultures' patron gods. In Assyria, the patron god was Ashur, and in ancient Israel, it was Yahweh; however, both Israelite and Assyrian cultures recognized each other's deities during this period.[91] Some scholars have used the Bible as evidence to argue that most of the people alive during the events recounted in the Hebrew Bible, including Moses, were most likely henotheists. There are many quotes from the Hebrew Bible that are used to support this view. One such quote from Jewish tradition is the first commandment which in its entirety reads "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: You shall have no other gods before me."[92] This quote does not deny the existence of other gods; it merely states that Jews should consider Yahweh or God the supreme god, incomparable to other supernatural beings. Some scholars attribute the concept of angels and demons found in Judaism and Christianity to the tradition of henotheism. Instead of completely getting rid of the concept of other supernatural beings, these religions changed former deities into angels and demons.[86]
Iron Age Yahwism
The religion of the Israelites of Iron Age I, like the
Yahweh, the
The Babylonian exile and Second Temple Judaism
According to the
The
Administrative and judicial structure
As was customary in the ancient Near East, a king (Hebrew: מלך, romanized: melekh) ruled over the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The national god Yahweh, who selects those to rule his realm and his people, is depicted in the Hebrew Bible as having a hand in the establishment of the royal institution. In this sense, the true king is God, and the king serves as his earthly envoy and is tasked with ruling his realm. In some Psalms that appear to be related to the coronation of kings, they are referred to as "sons of Yahweh". The kings actually had to succeed one another according to a dynastic principle, even though the succession was occasionally decided through coups d'état. The coronation seemed to take place in a sacred place, and was marked by the anointing of the king who then becomes the "anointed one (māšîaḥ ,the origin of the word Messiah) of Yahweh"; the end of the ritual seems marked by an acclamation by the people (or at least their representatives, the Elders), followed by a banquet.[104]
The Bible's descriptions of the lists of dignitaries from the reigns of David and Solomon show that the king is supported by a group of high dignitaries. Those include the chief of the army (Hebrew: שר הצבא, romanized: śar haṣṣābā), the great scribe (Hebrew: שר הצבא, romanized: śar haṣṣābā) who was in charge of the management of the royal chancellery, the herald (Hebrew: מזכיר, romanized: mazkîr), as well as the high priest (Hebrew: כהן הגדול, romanized: kōhēn hāggādôl) and the master of the palace (Hebrew: על הבית, סוכן, romanized: ʿal-habbayit, sōkēn), who has a function of stewardship of the household of the king at the beginning and seems to become a real prime minister of Judah during the later periods. The attributions of most of these dignitaries remain debated, as illustrated in particular by the much-discussed case of the “king's friend” mentioned under Solomon.[104][105]
See also
- Biblical archaeology
- Chronology of the Bible
- Early Israelite campaigns
- Habiru
- History of Israel
- History of Palestine
- Assyrian captivity
- Babylonian captivity
- History of the ancient Levant
- Jewish diaspora
- Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)
- Kings of Israel and Judah
- Kings of Judah
- Lachish reliefs
- Shasu
- Ten Lost Tribes
- Timeline of Jewish history
- Timeline of the Palestine region
- Time periods in the Palestine region
References
Citations
- ISBN 978-0-684-86912-4.
- ^ Wright, Jacob L. (July 2014). "David, King of Judah (Not Israel)". The Bible and Interpretation. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
- ^ a b c Finkelstein, Israel, (2020). "Saul and Highlands of Benjamin Update: The Role of Jerusalem", in Joachim J. Krause, Omer Sergi, and Kristin Weingart (eds.), Saul, Benjamin, and the Emergence of Monarchy in Israel: Biblical and Archaeological Perspectives, SBL Press, Atlanta, GA, p. 48, footnote 57: "...They became territorial kingdoms later, Israel in the first half of the ninth century BCE and Judah in its second half..."
- ^ The Pitcher Is Broken: Memorial Essays for Gosta W. Ahlstrom, Steven W. Holloway, Lowell K. Handy, Continuum, 1 May 1995 Quote: "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."
- ISBN 978-1-84127-201-6.
- ^ "British Museum – Cuneiform tablet with part of the Babylonian Chronicle (605–594 BCE)". Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
- ^ "ABC 5 (Jerusalem Chronicle) – Livius". www.livius.org. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
- ^ "Second Temple Period (538 BCE to 70 CE) Persian Rule". Biu.ac.il. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
- ^ Harper's Bible Dictionary, ed. by Achtemeier, etc., Harper & Row, San Francisco, 1985, p. 103
- ^ The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities,Megiddo. in Archaeology & History of the Land of the Bible International MA in Ancient Israel Studies, Tel Aviv University: "...Megiddo has...a fascinating picture of state-formation and social evolution in the Bronze Age (ca. 3500-1150 B.C.) and Iron Age (ca. 1150-600 B.C.)..."
- ^ Finkelstein, Israel, (2019).First Israel, Core Israel, United (Northern) Israel, in Near Eastern Archaeology 82.1 (2019), p. 8: "...The late Iron I system came to an end during the tenth century BCE..."
- ^ Finkelstein, Israel, and Eli Piasetzky, 2010. "The Iron I/IIA Transition in the Levant: A Reply to Mazar and Bronk Ramsey and a New Perspective", in Radiocarbon, Vol 52, No. 4, The Arizona Board of Regents in behalf of the University of Arizona, pp. 1667 and 1674: "The Iron I/IIA transition occurred during the second half of the 10th century...We propose that the late Iron I cities came to an end in a gradual process and interpret this proposal with Bayesian Model II...The process results in a transition date of 915-898 BCE (68% range), or 927-879 BCE (95% range)..."
- ^ Jerusalem in the First Temple period (c.1000-586 B.C.E.) Archived 9 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Ingeborg Rennert Center for Jerusalem Studies, Bar-Ilan University, last modified 1997, accessed 11 February 2019
- ^ Miller 1986, p. 36.
- ^ Coogan 1998, pp. 4–7.
- ^ Finkelstein 2001, p. 78.
- ^ a b Killebrew (2005), pp. 38–39.
- ^ Cahill in Vaughn 1992, pp. 27–33.
- ^ Kuhrt 1995, p. 317.
- ^ Killebrew 2005, pp. 10–16.
- ^ Golden 2004b, pp. 61–62.
- ^ McNutt (1999), p. 47.
- ^ Golden 2004a, p. 155.
- ^ Stager in Coogan 1998, p. 91.
- ^ Dever 2003, p. 206.
- ^ McNutt 1999, p. 35.
- ^ McNutt (1999), pp. 46–47.
- ^ McNutt (1999), p. 69.
- ^ Miller 1986, p. 72.
- ^ Killebrew (2005), p. 13.
- ^ Edelman in Brett 2002, pp. 46–47.
- ^ Finkelstein and Silberman (2001), p. 107
- ^ Avraham Faust, "How Did Israel Become a People? The Genesis of Israelite Identity", Biblical Archaeology Review 201 (2009): 62–69, 92–94.
- ^ Finkelstein and Silberman (2001), p. 107.
- ^
Compare: Gnuse, Robert Karl (1997). No Other Gods: Emergent Monotheism in Israel. Journal for the study of the Old Testament: Supplement series. Vol. 241. Sheffield: A&C Black. p. 31. ISBN 978-1-85075-657-6. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
Out of the discussions a new model is beginning to emerge, which has been inspired, above all, by recent archaeological field research. There are several variations in this new theory, but they share in common the image of an Israelite community which arose peacefully and internally in the highlands of Palestine.
- ^ McNutt (1999), p. 70.
- ^ Miller 2005, p. 98.
- ^ McNutt (1999), p. 72.
- ^ Miller 2005, p. 99.
- ^ Miller 2005, p. 105.
- ^ Lehman in Vaughn 1992, pp. 156–62.
- ^ "Daily Life in Ancient Israel". Biblical Archaeology Society. 13 September 2022.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-88414-451-9.
...Shoshenq I, the founder of the Twenty-Second Dynasty and seemingly the more assertive of the Egyptian rulers of the time, reacted to the north Israelite challenge. He campaigned into the highlands and took over the Saulide power bases in the Gibeon plateau and the area of the Jabbok River in the western Gilead. The fortified sites of Khirbet Qeiyafa, Khirbet Dawwara, et-Tell, and Gibeon were destroyed or abandoned. Shoshenq reorganized the territory of the highlands - back to the traditional situation of two city-states under his domination... (p. 48)
- S2CID 167052643. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
...the emergence of the 'Tirzah polity' (the first fifty years of the Northern Kingdom) in the middle of the tenth century BCE...
- ^ a b c Thompson (1992), p. 408.
- ^ Mazar in Schmidt, p. 163.
- ISBN 978-0-664-22145-4.
- ^ Lemche 1998, p. 85.
- ^ Grabbe (2008), pp. 225–26.
- ^ Lehman in Vaughn 1992, p. 149.
- ^ David M. Carr, Writing on the Tablet of the Heart: Origins of Scripture and Literature, Oxford University Press, 2005, 164.
- ^ "LAMRYEU-HNNYEU-OBD-HZQYEU". www.lmlk.com.
- ^ Brown, William. "Ancient Israelite Technology". World History Encyclopedia.
- ^ "The Keys to the Kingdom". Haaretz.
- ISBN 978-3-11-022357-6– via www.academia.edu.
- ISBN 978-0-8028-6260-0.
- ^ "New look at ancient shards suggests Bible even older than thought". Times of Israel.
- ^ a b c Thompson 1992, pp. 410–11.
- ^ Grabbe 2004, p. 28.
- ^ Lemaire in Blenkinsopp 2003, p. 291.
- ^ Davies 2009.
- ISSN 0334-4355.
The destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians (586 B.C.E.) is the most traumatic event described in biblical historiography, and in its shadow the history of the people of Israel was reshaped. The harsh impression of the destruction left its mark on the prophetic literature also, and particular force is retained in the laments over the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in its midst. [...] most of Judah's inhabitants remained there after the destruction of Jerusalem. They concentrated chiefly in the Benjamin region and the northern Judean hill country. This area was hardly affected by the destruction, and became the centre of the Babylonian province with its capital at Mizpah. [...] The archaeological data reinforce the biblical account, and they indicate that Jerusalem and its close environs suffered a severe blow. Most of the small settlements near the city were destroyed, the city wall was demolished, and the buildings within were put to the torch. Excavation and survey data show that the western border of the kingdom also sustained a grave onslaught, seemingly at the time when the Babylonians went to besiege Jerusalem.
- ^ Lipschits 2005, p. 48.
- ^ Blenkinsopp in Blenkinsopp 2003, pp. 103–05.
- ^ Blenkinsopp 2009, p. 228.
- ^ Middlemas 2005, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Miller 1986, p. 203.
- ^ Middlemas 2005, p. 2.
- ^ a b Middlemas 2005, p. 10.
- ^ Middlemas 2005, p. 17.
- ^ Bedford 2001, p. 48.
- ^ Barstad 2008, p. 109.
- ^ Albertz 2003a, p. 92.
- ^ Faust, Avraham (2012). Judah in the Neo-Babylonian Period: The Archaeology of Desolation. Society of Biblical Lit. p. 140
- ^ Albertz 2003a, pp. 95–96.
- ^ Albertz 2003a, p. 96.
- ^ a b Taliaferro, Charles; Harrison, Victoria S.; Goetz, Stewart (2012). The Routledge Companion to Theism. Routledge.
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- ^ Stern, Ephraim (2001). "Pagan Yahwism: The folk religion of ancient Israel". Biblical Archaeology Review. 27 (3): 20–29.
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- ^ "the definition of henotheism". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
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- ISBN 978-0-8028-3972-5.
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- ^ Van der Toorn 1996, pp. 181–82.
- ^ a b Smith (2002), p. 57.
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- ^ Van der Toorn 1999, pp. 911–13.
- ISBN 9780195139372– via Google Books.
- ^ Dunn and Rogerson, pp. 153–54
- ^ Peck & Neusner, eds. (2003), p. 58
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- ^ Peck & Neusner, eds. (2003), p. 59
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- ^ Eph’al Jaruzelska, I. (2010). "Officialdom and Society in the Book of Kings: The Social Relevance of the State." In The Books of Kings (pp. 471–480). Brill.
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- Kottsieper, Ingo (2006). "And They Did Not Care to Speak Yehudit". In Lipschits, Oded; et al. (eds.). Judah and the Judeans in the Fourth Century B.C.E. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-130-6.
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- Lehman, Gunnar (1992). "The United Monarchy in the Countryside". In Vaughn, Andrew G.; Killebrew, Ann E. (eds.). Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology: The First Temple Period. Sheffield. ISBN 978-1-58983-066-0.
- ISBN 978-1-57506-073-6.
- Lemche, Niels Peter (1998). The Israelites in History and Tradition. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22727-2.
- Lipschits, Oded (2005). The Fall and Rise of Jerusalem. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-095-8.
- Lipschits, Oded; Vanderhooft, David (2006). "Yehud Stamp Impressions in the Fourth Century B.C.E.". In Lipschits, Oded; et al. (eds.). Judah and the Judeans in the Fourth Century B.C.E. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-130-6.
- Mazar, Amihay (2007). "The Divided Monarchy: Comments on Some Archaeological Issues". In Schmidt, Brian B. (ed.). The Quest for the Historical Israel. Society of Biblical Literature. ISBN 978-1-58983-277-0.
- McNutt, Paula (1999). Reconstructing the Society of Ancient Israel. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22265-9.
- Middlemas, Jill Anne (2005). The Troubles of Templeless Judah. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-928386-6.
- ISBN 978-0-664-21262-9.
- Niehr, Herbert (1999). "Religio-Historical Aspects of the Early Post-Exilic Period". In Becking, Bob; Korpel, Marjo Christina Annette (eds.). The Crisis of Israelite Religion: Transformation of Religious Tradition in Exilic and Post-Exilic Times. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-11496-8.
- Nodet, Étienne (1999). A Search for the Origins of Judaism: From Joshua to the Mishnah. Sheffield Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-85075-445-9.
- Smith, Mark S.; Miller, Patrick D. (2002). The Early History of God. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3972-5.
- Soggin, Michael J. (1998). An Introduction to the History of Israel and Judah. Paideia. ISBN 978-0-334-02788-1.
- Stager, Lawrence E. (1998). "Forging an Identity: The Emergence of Ancient Israel". In Coogan, Michael D. (ed.). The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-513937-2.
- Thompson, Thomas L. (1992). Early History of the Israelite People. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-09483-3.
- Van der Toorn, Karel (1996). Family Religion in Babylonia, Syria, and Israel. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-10410-5.
- Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; Van der Horst, Pieter Willem (1999). Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (2d ed.). Koninklijke Brill. ISBN 978-0-8028-2491-2.
- Wylen, Stephen M. (1996). The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction. Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0-8091-3610-0.
Further reading
- Arnold, Bill T.; Hess, Richard S., "Ancient Israel's History: An Introduction to Issues and Sources" (Baker, 2014)
- Brettler, Marc Z., "The Creation of History in Ancient Israel" (Routledge, 1995)
- Cook, Stephen L., "The social roots of biblical Yahwism" (Society of Biblical Literature, 2004)
- Day, John (ed.), "In search of pre-exilic Israel: proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar" (T&T Clark International, 2004)
- Frevel, Christian, "History of Ancient Israel" (SBL Press, 2023)
- Hess, Richard S., "Israelite religions: an archaeological and biblical survey" (Baker, 2007)
- Keimer, Kyle H.; Pierce, George A. (eds.), "The Ancient Israelite World" (Taylor & Francis, 2022)
- Kelle, Brad E.; Strawn, Brent A. (eds.), "The Oxford Handbook of the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible" (Oxford University Press, 2020)
- Knauf, Ernst Axel; Niemann, Hermann Michael "Geschichte Israels und Judas im Altertum" (Walter de Gruyter, 2021)
- Lemche, Neils Peter, "The Old Testament between theology and history: a critical survey" (Westminster John Knox Press, 2008)
- Levine, Lee I., "Jerusalem: portrait of the city in the second Temple period (538 B.C.E.–70 C.E.)" (Jewish Publication Society, 2002)
- Na'aman, Nadav, "Ancient Israel and its neighbours" (Eisenbrauns, 2005)
- Niditch, Susan (ed.), "The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel" (John Wiley & Sons, 2016)
- Sparks, Kenton L., "Ethnicity and identity in ancient Israel" (Eisenbrauns, 1998)
- Vanderkam, James, "An introduction to early Judaism (2nd edition)" (Eerdmans, 2022)