God called Israel to be his chosen people. He led them away from idol worship and showed them the truth. The Israelites experienced many highs and lows as a people. They were forced into slavery in Egypt, but God eventually rescued them. They were a successful nation under King David, but when subsequent kings disobeyed God’s laws, the whole nation was punished. The people of Israel were conquered by many groups of people, including the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Romans. However, even when God allowed Israel to be conquered by these other nations, he never forgot them and was always merciful to them.
THE PATRIARCHAL AGE
The story of Israel begins with Abraham, whom God first called in Ur (Acts 7:2-4). God told Abraham to leave Mesopotamia and go to a land to which God would direct him. In calling Abraham, God made a covenant with him (Genesis 12:1-3) that promised Abraham land for his descendants, special divine favor, and the privilege of being a channel of blessing to the entire world. God promised Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (12:3). In 12:4-8 God confirmed this unconditional covenant, promising Abraham he would have a new land that would be passed down to his many descendants forever. In 15:1-21, God confirmed his covenant with Abraham again but cautioned that each generation of Abraham’s descendants would not necessarily occupy the land. God also spelled out the boundaries of the Promised Land: “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates,” which was about 500 to 600 miles. A final confirmation of God’s covenant to Abraham appears in 17:6-8. It guaranteed the land of Canaan to Abraham’s descendants, and it added that kings would arise in Abraham’s family line. This promise foreshadowed the reign of King David in Israel. The covenant from God was confirmed to Abraham’s son Isaac (26:3-5) and his grandson Jacob.
This period is known as the period of the patriarchs in Hebrew history. The patriarchs were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were called patriarchs because they were fathers, not only to their immediate families, but also to the extended family of Hebrews, over which they had a fatherly authority. These three men served as political, legal, and spiritual heads of their nomadic community. They looked after everyone’s business interests and also led them in worship. Periodically, they built altars on which they offered sacrifices to God. This community was very large—Genesis 14:4 tells us that Abraham had 318 armed men in his camp. If we assume that most of the men were married and had children, Abraham’s extended family would have included more than 1,000 people.
There were other events in the life of Abraham and Jacob that affected world history. When Abraham was frustrated about not having an heir, he accepted his wife, Sarah’s, suggestion and slept with Sarah’s slave girl, Hagar. This was a common practice in Biblical times. Hagar and Abraham had a son who they named Ishmael. Ishmael’s descendants would go on to form the Arab nation and, eventually, the Muslim countries of the world. Because of this, Abraham is revered by Arabs and Muslims as well as by Jews and Christians. He is the father of the Jews through his son Isaac, who was the child God promised. Abraham also holds a special place in Christianity because he is an example of Christ, through whom all people obtain their salvation.
Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, was a scheming scoundrel in his earlier years. He wound up in exile in northern Mesopotamia for twenty years at the home of his uncle Laban. While there, he married Leah and Rachel (and two concubines) and fathered the sons who would eventually form the twelve tribes of Israel. On his return to Palestine, Jacob met God along the banks of the Jabbok River (Genesis 32), and God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.
The patriarchal period in Canaan lasted for 215 years. Abraham probably entered Canaan around 2085 BC, when he was 75 years old. Jacob and his sons migrated to Egypt to escape a severe famine in Canaan around 1870 BC. During much of the patriarchal period, Palestine experienced a decline in population and was occupied largely by nomadic tribes. It would have been relatively easy for the Hebrews to move into such a land. After 1900 BC, the population in Palestine began to stabilize, and the land became more settled. Shortly after that, Jacob’s family and the other Hebrews made the trek into Egypt.
THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT
If Jacob and his sons entered Egypt around 1870 BC, it was the period of the Middle Kingdom in Egypt. By that time, other migrants from Asia were coming to Egypt in increasing numbers. The Hebrews settled in Goshen, in the eastern delta region. While living there, they were under the protecting care of Joseph, who held a position at the Egyptian court roughly equivalent to a modern day prime minister. As more and more Hyksos people moved from Asia to Egypt, they began to take over the country. During this same time the Hebrew population in Egypt was greatly increasing. Some scholars believe that the Hebrews actually came to Egypt after 1750 BC, when the Hyksos were in control of the government. At any rate, around 1580 BC, the native Egyptian princes regained control of the country and forced most of the Hyksos to leave Egypt.
After a while, a king arose in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph (Exodus 1:8). The native Egyptian dynasty that had come to power in Egypt was worried that the growing population and wealth of the Hebrews would jeopardize their power. The Egyptian rulers tried to reduce the birthrate of the Hebrews, but the plan backfired (1:12). Eventually, the Egyptians ordered all male Hebrew infants to be killed at birth. Some of the Hebrews disobeyed this command, including Moses’ parents, who set him afloat in a waterproof basket made of reeds. Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses floating in his basket and brought him to the Egyptian court. Moses received a first-class education and he became a high-ranking official in Egypt.
At the age of forty, we see Moses identifying with his own people. He defended a Hebrew slave by killing an Egyptian guard. Because of this, Moses was forced to flee Egypt. He moved to the land of Midian in the northeastern part of the Sinai Peninsula. He married and lived there for forty years, becoming very familiar with the geography and the ways of the wilderness. This would be helpful when he would later lead the Israelites through that same land. The Egyptians continued to oppress the Hebrew people until the Israelites cried out urgently for God’s help. Hearing their cries, God confronted Moses in the form of a burning bush. God told Moses to return to Egypt and lead the people back into the land of Canaan (Exodus 3-4). Once he was there, Moses would have the help of his brother, Aaron.
THE EXODUS
Understandably, when Moses went down to Egypt and told the pharaoh to let the Hebrews go, the pharaoh was reluctant to permit them to leave Egypt permanently. The Israelites were the main work force in Egypt, and letting them go would have terrible consequences on the Egyptian economy. Finally, however, after suffering a series of plagues that probably lasted a year, the Egyptians were persuaded to let the Hebrews go (Exodus 7-12).
The plagues had a theological purpose as well as a practical one. God used the plagues to discredit the gods of Egypt and exalt himself as the most high God of heaven (Exodus 12:12). The plagues clearly discredited specific gods of Egypt. For instance, the Egyptians worshiped the Nile, frogs, bulls, and the sun. When God sent plagues that involved these things, he let everyone in Egypt know about his absolute power.
Just before the last plague, when the death angel invaded the homes of the Egyptians, the Israelites made the Passover sacrifice according to divine instructions. This involved killing a lamb for each household and applying the lamb’s blood to the doorpost. If the household was extremely small, it could combine with another. Anyone who was careless about applying the blood to the doorpost or who rejected this divine instruction came under God’s judgment. After the death of the firstborns throughout the land, the Egyptians begged the Hebrews to leave. When the Hebrews finally left Egypt, there were 600,000 men over twenty years of age. Including the women and children, about 2,500,000 Israelites left Egypt, along with their flocks, herds, and personal belongings. This was called the Exodus.
The actual date on which the Israelites left Egypt is difficult for archaeologists to agree. Traditionally, a date of about 1446 BC is given for the Exodus. This date comes from 1 Kings 6:1, which says the Exodus was 480 years before the temple was built, which was in 966 BC. This would mean that Joshua led the Hebrew people into Canaan around 1406, and there do not seem to be any compelling arguments against that date. However, a good number of scholars think the Exodus took place in 1275 BC for a variety of reasons.
If we believe that the Exodus took place at the earlier date (1466 BC), the Israelites would have wandered in the wilderness and eventually conquered Palestine during the reigns of the Pharaohs Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV. These two pharaohs reigned from about 1412 BC to 1366 BC. During this time, the pharaohs allowed their control over Palestine to disintegrate. When the Egyptians started to become powerful again around 1300 BC, they did not conquer the inland of Palestine again and so would not have come in contact with the Hebrews living in the hill country of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee.
WILDERNESS WANDERINGS
The wilderness wanderings were an important time in the history of Israel. During those years, God gave the Israelites the guidelines that would last for a very long time. At Mount Sinai, Moses gave God’s law to Israel in the form of the Ten Commandments. God also gave the Israelites the instructions for building the tabernacle, which was the model that was eventually used for the temple. These instructions included detailed information for the priests and the sacrifices that God expected the Israelites to make.
The time of the wanderings was truly a remarkable time. God traveled with the Israelites as a pillar of cloud that hovered over the people by day and a pillar of fire by night. God provided food for the Hebrews in the form of manna, which was a bread-like substance that fell out of the sky each morning. God also periodically provided miraculous drinking water for the Israelites, and he made sure their clothes did not wear out. In spite of all that, the people murmured and complained to God continually.
At Mount Sinai, God gave the law to the Hebrews (Exodus 19:2-24:18), and the people immediately made a commitment to keep it (24:3). Then God gave the pattern for the tabernacle and the furniture that was supposed to go in it (chapters 25–27, 30-31, and 35-40) and established the priesthood (chapters 28–29). While Moses was on the mountain receiving God’s instructions over a period of several days, the people grew restless and wanted gods they could see. Even Aaron, Moses’ brother, was carried away with the idolatrous suggestions. He supervised the making of a golden calf and the Israelites built an altar before it. The Israelites began to worship a god common to the Egyptians, showing that they were very influenced by Egypt’s religion while they were enslaved there (chapters 32–34). When God saw the Israelites’ disobedience, he said that all Israel would be destroyed. However, Moses pleaded with God to spare the Hebrews, and God punished the worst offenders only (32:9-14).
After this, God revealed the legal and priestly order that Israel would use (Leviticus 1:1-27:34). In the book of Leviticus, God also gave the Israelites a list of special days to be set aside for worshiping God. These feasts and offerings included the Sabbath, Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, First fruits, the Pentecost or Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Tabernacles, the Year of Sabbath, and the Year of Jubilee.
After camping at Mount Sinai for about a year, God gave the Israelites the order to go forward (Numbers 10:11-12). Moses’ sister, Miriam, and Aaron criticized Moses’ leadership and suffered God’s punishment as a consequence (12). When the people arrived at Kadesh-barnea, the gateway to southern Palestine, they sent spies to scope out the land they were about to enter. Many of the Hebrews were frightened by the report brought back by the spies, and they decided that they did not want to advance into Canaan despite God’s command. The Hebrews called for a new leader to take them back to Egypt. Because of their lack of faith, God declared that the entire generation would wander in the wilderness until the adults had died. Only Joshua and Caleb, the two spies who wanted to invade Canaan immediately, would enter the Promised Land (14:26-30). Near the end of the period of wandering, Moses also disobeyed God’s instructions. Because of this, he did not get to enter the Promised Land either.
THE CONQUEST
In the second half of the book of Numbers, we learn how Moses led the Israelites to victory over the people living east of the Jordan River. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and part of Manasseh wanted to settle in this area permanently. Moses reluctantly let these tribes settle there, but only on the condition that they help the other tribes conquer the rest of Canaan before settling down. Before the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, a new census of adult males was taken in order to determine Israel’s military capabilities. The Hebrews also used this census when distributing the conquered land. The number of males above 20 years of age was 601,730 (Numbers 26:51).
The book of Deuteronomy consists primarily of a series of speeches delivered by Moses. In these speeches, Moses renews Israel’s covenant with God on the plains of Moab just before his death. When Moses died, Joshua was appointed as the new leader.
Joshua did not hesitate to move the Israelites forward. Spies were sent across the Jordan River to the city of Jericho to determine the military situation there. The report they brought back was very different than the report of the spies a generation earlier. The people of Canaan were terrified because they had heard of the military strength and victories of the Hebrews. The day after the spies returned, Joshua moved the people to the edge of the Jordan River and crossed over.
The story of Israel’s battles in the book of Joshua is not a detailed battle account. It tells how the Israelites conquered the middle of Palestine around Jericho and Ai. The Israelites then moved south to defeat the Amorites. After this, they attacked Hazor and other towns to the north. The history in the book of Joshua is extremely shortened because all of this major military action took only six years. We know this because Joshua’s friend Caleb was 79 when the Conquest began and 85 after the last great battle with Jabin, the king of Hazor (Joshua 14:7-10).
When the war was over, the major strongholds like Jerusalem were still controlled by the enemy, but the land west of the Jordan River was split up among nine and a half of the Hebrew tribes. If there were towns controlled by the enemies in any of those territories, each tribe was responsible for conquering them. The book of Joshua is not just a story about Israel’s military conquests. It is also a wonderful story about God’s faithfulness and his willingness to help his chosen people. For example, when the Israelites were at Jericho they did not attack the city: They merely followed God’s divine orders and watched the walls of the city collapse. In the same way, when the Israelites were fighting at Gibeon, the hailstones God sent killed more Amorites than the Israelite soldiers did (Joshua 10:7-11).
THE JUDGES
Thirty years after he led the Hebrew people into Canaan, Joshua died. After this, Israel was led by a series of judges appointed by God. Sometimes these leaders ruled over all of Israel and sometimes they were just the leaders of a select number of tribes. These people were judges, civil servants, and military leaders.
The book of Judges describes a series of recurring cycles for the Hebrew people. The Hebrews disobeyed God’s commands and began to worship idols. God then punished them by letting neighboring groups of people conquer them. While they were being oppressed, the Israelites cried out to God for relief. God had mercy on the Israelites by sending them a judge who released them from their bondage. The Israelites then experienced a period without oppression until they became disobedient and the cycle started again.
Establishing a timeline for all of the different judges is one of the most difficult problems Old Testament scholars have. When these scholars add up all the years mentioned in the book of Judges, the total is 410 years. However, the book of Acts tells us that there were 450 years between the days of Joshua and the days of Samuel (Acts 13:19). This difference of 40 years may be when the high priest, Eli, was the leader of Israel (1 Samuel 4:18). If the period of the judges lasted 410 years, and the Israelites wandered in the wilderness and conquered Palestine over the course of 70 years, this would mean that the Exodus took place in 1530 BC. This date is about 100 years earlier than most scholars think the Exodus occurred. The most probable explanation for this is that there was some overlap in the ministries of the different judges. For instance, Jephthah was a judge in the eastern part of Israel. At the same time, Samson was a judge in the southwest, and Deborah and Barak were judges in the northern part of Israel.
THE UNITED MONARCHY
After the period of the judges, Israel was a weak country. It was not politically unified, and the sons of Eli and Samuel had abused their power as priests over Israel. Because of this, the Hebrews wanted a king to rule over them. When the Hebrews made this demand, they were actually rejecting God’s original plan that he was to be the only person to rule Israel. God granted the Hebrews’ wish but he also warned them of the negative consequences of having a king (1 Samuel 8:9-21). The idea of having a king was not new to Israel. It had been hinted at in Genesis 49:10 and Numbers 24:17, and Moses had made some very clear statements about kings in Deuteronomy 17:14-20.
The first part of the Hebrew monarchy is commonly called the united monarchy because a single king ruled all of Israel. This period lasted for 120 years. This included the 40-year reigns of Saul (Acts 13:21), David (2 Samuel 5:5), and Solomon (1 Kings 11:42).
The Hebrews asked for a king, and God gave them one, but it was not a king like the surrounding nations had. The Hebrew king was to be a man who followed God’s instructions in his public and private life. Also, the king could not interfere with the affairs of the priesthood. The king was supposed to be a man who did not worship idols and who used all of his power to keep the people faithful to God. If the king failed in any of these tasks, God would end his reign. All of the conditions that God put on the king must be kept in mind when we learn about Saul, David, Solomon, and the kings of the divided monarchy.
King Saul’s reign began well. He won a great victory over the Ammonites at Jabesh-gilead and showed considerable wisdom in administrative matters. After about two years, however, he intruded into the priest’s duties and offered a sacrifice. At this time, the prophet Samuel made the prediction that Saul’s kingdom would be taken from him (1 Samuel 13:8-14). Saul continued to enjoy great military victories until about the middle of his reign.
After Saul disobeyed God’s command to totally destroy Israel’s enemy, the Amalekites, God turned his back on Saul and instructed Samuel to anoint David as the future king of Israel. David became a prominent citizen of Israel when he killed the giant, Goliath, which led to the defeat of the Philistines. Saul later made David commander of the army, and the young man soon earned a reputation that was greater than the king’s. Saul, who had become more and more mentally disturbed after his relationship with God was broken, began to try to kill David. During the last years of Saul’s reign, David lived as a fugitive. Meanwhile, the Philistines returned to power and killed Saul and most of his sons in the great battle of Mt. Gilboa. By winning this battle, the Philistines took control over much of Palestine west of the Jordan River (1 Samuel 31:1-7).
Soon after, David became king in Judah with his capital in the city of Hebron. Ishbosheth, one of Saul’s sons, established himself in Mahanaim, which was east of the Jordan River. For seven years these two tiny kingdoms existed side by side (2 Samuel 2:2-11). After Ishbosheth and his army commander were assassinated, David became the ruler of a united Hebrew kingdom.
Not long after the beginning of his reign, around 1000 BC, David completely conquered the Philistines. Soon after that, his army captured Jerusalem, and David made it the capital of the united kingdom. During the following years, David built a great empire, conquering Moab, Edom, Damascus, Zobah, and Ammon. Eventually, Israel controlled territory from the Gulf of Aqaba (a branch of the Red Sea) and the Sinai in the south to near the Euphrates in the north (2 Samuel 8:10 and 1 Chronicles 18-19). In addition to this, David established an alliance with Tyre. The establishment of David’s empire was possible because there were no other powers in the Middle East. The Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Hittites, and Assyrians were powerless against Israel’s army. The Phoenicians, who were a peaceful commercial people, were not a threat to Israel because David allowed them to expand their trade. They were happy to sell cedar to David for his palace and the temple.
Without a doubt, David was Israel’s greatest king. Jerusalem came to be known as the city of David. When David wanted to build the temple as God’s house, God replied that David’s son should do it instead. Even though God did not allow David to build the temple, he made a covenant with him. God promised David that his house would be established forever (2 Samuel 7). In other words, one of David’s descendants would always be the king. God fulfilled this promise to David when Jesus came to earth. In his death and resurrection, Jesus, a descendant of David, was established as the eternal King (Luke 1:31-33, Acts 2:29-36, 13:32-39, and 15:14-17).
Like other monarchs at the time, David kept a harem of many different women. The Bible gives us the names of eight of David’s wives and twenty-one of his children. The Bible also tells us that he had other wives and concubines. This situation opened the door to family rivalries and questions about which of David’s sons would be the next king. Two sons, Absalom and Adonijah, made a try for the throne, but both of their efforts were squelched. Solomon, the son of David’s favorite wife, Bathsheba, was crowned as Israel’s next king.
Solomon, who reigned from about 970 BC to 930 BC, was a man of peace. He was also responsible for building great palaces, cities, forts, and, most importantly, the temple. He strengthened the cities all over his realm and developed his chariots and cavalry units into a very impressive military force. With the help of the Phoenicians, Solomon built a seaport at Ezion-geber and kept a fleet of ships there. He greatly enlarged Jerusalem by enclosing the temple area to the north of David’s city and the southwestern hill now known as Zion. His best-known project was the temple, which took seven years to build. Although it was twice the size of the tabernacle, the temple was built using the same basic plan. It was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide and was decorated magnificently. Along with the temple, Solomon built a palace that took thirteen years to complete. This building included an armory, a throne room, the king’s private residence, and a house for the daughter of Egypt’s pharaoh.
Solomon was greatly influenced by his father, David. He desired God’s blessing on his reign, and Solomon made a great sacrifice to God when he first became king. God met Solomon at Gibeon and offered to give him whatever he wanted, including all the world’s riches. Solomon asked for understanding and the wisdom to govern God’s people (1 Kings 3:9). God blessed Solomon with wisdom and riches.
Unfortunately, Solomon did not show such wisdom in all his affairs. He maintained a harem of 700 wives and 300 concubines. Solomon also spent so much money that Israel fell into financial trouble. Solomon built temples for the idols of his foreign wives. As God had promised, he punished Solomon for building these places of worship for false gods. Before Solomon died, God informed him that he would divide the kingdom after his death. Half of it would go to someone who was not Solomon’s son. Because of his covenant with David, God promised to keep Judah and Jerusalem in the hands of one of David’s descendants (1 Kings 11:9-13).
THE DIVIDED KINGDOM
After the death of Solomon, Israel and the surrounding nations became a very different place. At that time, Israel was no longer surrounded by powerless nations. The Assyrian Empire came to power in Mesopotamia and were followed by the Babylonian and Persian empires. After Solomon’s death, Egypt was also powerful in the south, but the Egyptians were eventually conquered by Assyria and Persia. These very powerful empires put great pressure on Israel and dominated one or both of the two Hebrew kingdoms.
When Solomon died, his son Rehoboam took the throne. When he became king, Rehoboam had to deal with a rising tide of resentment over the high taxes and economic problems that had begun during Solomon’s last years. When Rehoboam refused to give relief to the Israelites, all the northern tribes broke away and formed the northern kingdom. This kingdom was named Israel and Jeroboam was the first king. The southern kingdom, named Judah, only included the territories of Judah and Benjamin. A total of 20 kings ruled in each of the separate kingdoms. The northern kingdom had several dynasties, and the reigns of the kings were generally short. In the southern kingdom, the dynasty of David continued, and the kings generally ruled for longer periods of time.
The Northern Kingdom
The northern kingdom lasted from about 930 BC until it was conquered by Assyria in 722 BC Jeroboam established his capital first at Shechem but later moved it to Tirzah. Jeroboam feared that he would lose the loyalty of the people if they continued to go to Jerusalem to worship. Because of this, Jeroboam set up a new religion of his own. He instituted calf worship and built shrines at Dan in the north and Bethel in the south. God condemned this idolatry and promised that all of Jeroboam’s descendants would be wiped out. The Bible tells us that all of Jeroboam’s successors followed in his idolatrous steps. The northern kingdom was at war during much of its history. This included wars with Judah, Syria, and Assyria.
There were four other historically important kings of Israel: Omri, Ahab, Jehu, and Jeroboam II. King Omri, who reigned from 885 BC to 874 BC , must have been an impressive ruler. After many generations, the Assyrians still called Israel the land of Omri. After Omri became king, he moved the capital to Samaria and began to build a palace there. Early in his reign, Omri was successful in conquering Moab, and later he reestablished the good relations with Tyre that existed during the days of David and Solomon. Omri established an alliance with Tyre and sealed it with the marriage of his son Ahab to Jezebel, who was a princess of Tyre.
Ahab, who reigned from 874 BC to 853 BC, was one of the most significant kings of Israel. He and his wife, Jezebel, promoted the evil worship of the idol, Baal. Worshiping Baal usually involved prostitutes and other types of sexual sinfulness. Because Ahab was so disobedient to God, the prophet Elijah opposed the king. Ahab was a brilliant military leader. His army defeated the Syrians and participated in a war that fought the great nation of Assyria to a virtual standstill. Archaeologists have also found out that Ahab built extensively in many towns, including Samaria, Hazor, and Meggido.
God used the king Jehu to punish the descendants of Omri and eliminate the worship of Baal in Israel. Jehu, who reigned from 841 BC to 814 BC, got rid of Baal worship and many of the relatives and court officials that were in power during Ahab’s reign. While eliminating the idols and the idolaters, Jehu was so ruthless that he killed off many of the people who knew how to run the government. Because of this, his reign did not run smoothly. Jehu was forced to become a servant to the Assyrian government that was in power at the time.
Jeroboam II ruled from 793 BC to 753 BC, and he was king when the northern kingdom experienced great prosperity. He, along with the king in the south, Uzziah, ruled most of the land David had controlled when he was king. This was possible because the Assyrians were declining during the first half of Jeroboam’s reign. Prophets active in the northern kingdom include Elijah and Elisha, who did not write books of the Bible, and Jonah, Amos and Hosea, who did.
The Southern Kingdom
The history of the southern kingdom of Judah was quite different from the northern kingdom. The temple was located there as were a large number of Levites. Many of the priests and Levites migrated to the southern kingdom because they opposed the idols in the north. In addition to the spiritual strength in the southern kingdom, there was political stability and unity. This was because there were only two tribes sharing power, and all of the kings were descendants of David. In addition, eight of the kings were good leaders, and they led the southern kingdom through periodic religious revivals. God allowed the southern kingdom to exist for about 100 years longer than the northern kingdom. However, the people in Judah eventually started to worship idols also, and God allowed them to be conquered because of their sins.
Rehoboam was the first king in the southern kingdom. He is remembered because of his refusal to listen to wise counsel about the financial matters that eventually divided the kingdom in two. He is also remembered for his religious policies. After a good beginning, he allowed sin to get out of control. Because of this, in the fifth year of Rehoboam’s reign (926 BC), God sent Shishak I of Egypt to invade Judah. As a result, most of the people in Judah lost their belongings and had to pay taxes to Egypt. After this attack, Rehoboam began an extensive program to fortify Judah against other attacks. Shishak’s invasion of Judah caused the people in Judah to ask God for help and put their faith in him. Despite this, Judah did not become a better nation while Rehoboam was king.
The conditions in Judah during the reign of his son Abijam were even worse. However, King Asa, who reigned from 910 to 869 BC , started a religious reform that lasted for most of his reign. When Judah was threatened by the northern kingdom during the latter part of his reign, however, Judah turned to Syria for help instead of God. In fact, Asa seems to have defied the prophets of God until the day he died.
Asa’s son, Jehoshaphat, who was king from 872 to 848 BC, was influenced by his father’s religious devotion. Jehoshaphat was a faithful king, and he won the favor of God because of this. However, Jehoshaphat made an alliance with Ahab of Israel. This resulted in the marriage of his son Jehoram to Ahab’s daughter Athaliah. This alliance involved Jehoshaphat in some terrible political ventures with Ahab. The alliance also brought the worship of Baal into Judah when Jehoshaphat’s son, Jehoram, became king in the southern kingdom. For his sin, Jehoram, who ruled from 853 to 841 BC, had to deal with civil war, invasion from surrounding nations, and death from a horrible disease.
After Jehoram’s death, his son Ahaziah ruled for less than a year. Ahaziah followed in the wicked ways of his father and eventually died in battle. Upon his death, the queen mother, Athaliah, attempted to seize complete control of the throne by killing off everyone who was in line to be king. Even though she killed many of Ahaziah’s descendants, she missed his infant son, Joash, who was hidden in the temple for six years.
When Joash was seven, Jehoiada, the high priest, made arrangements for the coronation ceremony. Jehoiada also planned the execution of Athaliah. Joash ruled from 835 to 796 BC. During the early years of his reign, Joash followed the good advice of his counselors and was a good king. In the middle of his reign, however, he began to listen to the princes who wanted to worship idols. When Joash allowed this to happen, the conditions in Israel got worse: there was civil war, a decline in the economy, and Joash was assassinated.
Joash’s son, Amaziah, who ruled from 796 to 767 BC, began his reign well by defeating the Edomites and by being faithful to God. However, like most of the other kings before him, Amaziah allowed the people in Judah to worship idols. Because of this, God allowed the northern kingdom to defeat Judah, and Amaziah was put in prison. At that point, around 792 BC, his son Uzziah took over. Uzziah’s reign was long and generally successful. During the several decades that followed, the kingdom of Assyria decreased in power, and Uzziah and the king in the north, Jeroboam II, were able to expand the Hebrew kingdom so that they controlled most of the territory Solomon had ruled when he was king.
Uzziah, who reigned from 792 to 740 BC , was able to make Judah a powerful nation very quickly after the northern kingdom defeated his father. Uzziah also conquered the Philistines and the Ammonites. He strengthened his hold on the people of Edom. During his reign, the economic conditions improved in Judah. At the height of his power, Uzziah foolishly violated the rules of the temple and offered a sacrifice himself. Because of this sin, God gave him leprosy, and his son Jotham helped him rule for the last ten years of his reign. Meanwhile, the nation of Assyria began to regain power.
For the most part, Jotham simply continued the work that Uzziah started. However, when Jotham’s son Ahaz became king, his reign was greatly influenced by the threat from the Assyrians. Ahaz ruled from 735 to 715 BC. Israel and Syria asked him to join with them in a war against Assyria, but he refused, because he supported the Assyrian empire. When Israel and Syria invaded Judah, King Ahaz sent money to Assyria in return for military protection. This rash decision was opposed by the prophet Isaiah, a member of Ahaz’s court from about 740 to 700 BC. At this time, the prophet Micah was ministering to the common people of Judah. Because he supported Assyria, Ahaz also allowed idol worship in Judah. As a result, God let the Edomites and the Philistines invade Judah. Ahaz also began to have trouble with Assyria, which had already conquered the northern kingdom, forcing many of its people into slavery.
The next king of Judah, Hezekiah, who reigned from 715 to 686 BC, was greatly affected by Assyria’s conquest of the northern kingdom. Hezekiah saw that God allowed Israel to be conquered because of its sin, and he decided to start a religious reform in his kingdom. Hezekiah was opposed to the Assyrians, but he did not dare to stop paying taxes to them until Sennacherib became the king of Assyria in 705 BC. At first, King Sennacherib was too busy with other military matters to care about Judah, but in 701 he invaded the southern kingdom. At first, the Assyrians were very successful, but they were stopped by a plague sent by God (Isaiah 36-39). Isaiah stood by the king to reassure and comfort him during this military emergency.
Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh , ruled longer than any other king of Israel or Judah, from 697 to 642 BC. Unfortunately, he did not follow his father’s example, and he allowed Judah to begin worshiping idols again (2 Kings 21:9). The Assyrians captured him and put him in prison. While there, he asked God to forgive him, and God allowed him to become king again. After this, he started religious reform in Judah. By that time, however, the people of Judah were too involved in idol worship to be rescued. Manasseh’s son, Amon, who reigned from 642 to 640 BC, worshiped idols when he became king.
The situation changed with Josiah, however. Josiah was king from 640 to 609 BC, and he dedicated himself to reform. He wanted to get rid of the false gods and restore the worship of God at the temple. In 622 BC the Book of the Law was found during repair of the temple. Most of the religious rules in this book had been forgotten, and it made a great impression on the king and the people of Judah. From the Bible, we know that Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Nahum, and Habakkuk were all prophets during Josiah’s reign.
At this time, the political conditions around Israel were changing rapidly. The Assyrian empire lost power and was conquered by Babylon in 612 BC. Three years later, Neco, the pharaoh of Egypt, marched his army north to aid his Assyrian ally. When Josiah tried to stop Neco’s army, he was killed in battle.
From this point everything went downhill for Judah. None of the kings who followed Josiah were followers of God. Political power and the economy rapidly declined in Judah. The people of Judah put one of Josiah’s sons, Jehoahaz, on the throne. He lasted only three months. Pharaoh Neco replaced him with Jehoiakim, another son of Josiah, who reigned from 609 to 598 BC. In 605 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated Neco, invaded Judah, charged taxes, and took hostages. The prophet Daniel and his friends were taken captive at this time (Daniel 1:1). Jehoiakim revolted in 600 BC, but Nebuchadnezzar did not deal with him until 597 BC. Jehoiakim died before the Babylonians arrived. His son, Jehoiachin, became king in 598 BC and only ruled for three months before the Babylonians forced him into exile. The prophet Ezekiel was among the many captives taken on that occasion.
The Babylonians then put Zedekiah, the youngest son of Josiah, on the throne in 597 BC. When Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and conquered it in 587 BC. The Babylonians destroyed the temple and imprisoned large numbers of people. God’s severe judgment had finally come to the Jewish people because of their refusal to stop worshiping idols.
THE RESTORATION
Even while God judged the Israelites severely, he remembered to be merciful. We can see this in the work God did in individual lives during captivity. For instance, people like Daniel, Esther, and Nehemiah rose to important political positions. Numerous other people were prosperous in the foreign environment. There are also stories of how God protected the captives and began the process of rebuilding an organized society in Palestine.
In exile the Hebrews began to practice their religion again, even though pagan empires had conquered them. The Jews finally turned their backs on idolatry. Because they did not have a temple, priests, kings, or land to call their own, the Hebrews made God’s Scripture the foundation of their community. During this period, the Jews created the synagogue, where the people went to fellowship, pray, and study God’s Word.
A Persian prince named Cyrus was largely responsible for allowing the people of Palestine to organize again. The Bible tells us that Cyrus was “anointed” to do this job (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1). He was a Persian prince who in 559 BC revolted against the dynasty that was controlling the Persian Empire. After becoming the new king, Cyrus went on to conquer Asia Minor and Babylon. Cyrus was a humane man and a wise administrator. He allowed the captive peoples to return to their homes and rebuild their communities. Cyrus’s decree to the Jews appears in Ezra 1 and probably took place in 538 BC About 50,000 Jews went back to Judah after Cyrus gave this decree (Ezra 2:64-65).
Because the people were so busy rebuilding their own houses, they were only able to lay a new foundation for the temple. Finally, the prophets Haggai and Zechariah stirred the people to fully rebuild the house of God (5:1). They began in 520 BC when King Darius I was ruling Persia (Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 1:1). They completed rebuilding the temple in 515 BC (Ezra 6:15).
During the reign of Darius’s son Xerxes, from 486 to 465 BC, a plot was hatched to exterminate all the Jews in the Persian Empire. Fortunately, in 483 BC, Xerxes chose a Jewish girl, Esther, to be his queen. Esther managed to help preserve the Jews (Esther 1:3).
Xerxes’ son, Artaxerxes I, who reigned from 465 to 424 BC , was also a very important figure in Jewish history. In 458 BC, with Ezra as its leader, Artaxerxes let a second large group of Jews return to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:7). And in 445 BC, Artaxerxes sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem to supervise the rebuilding of the city walls (Nehemiah 2:1). Malachi probably wrote his prophecy to the Jews in Jerusalem during the second half of Artaxerxes’ reign.
After the people of the northern and southern kingdoms had been conquered, the people who had stayed in the land intermarried with people from the various pagan groups in the area. The offspring of these marriages was the Samaritans, who were a mixture of races and religions. The Samaritans moved into the land that the Israelites left when they were taken captive. When these Jews came back, the Samaritans did not want to return the land they now considered theirs. They did all they could to frustrate the efforts of Nehemiah to rebuild the city walls. It took all the courage, tact, energy, and persuasiveness Ezra and Nehemiah could muster to prevent the returning Jews from intermarrying with the racially mixed Samaritans. If this had happened, the Jews would have lost all of their uniqueness as a people.
A Samaritan temple was later built on Mt. Gerizim, probably during the fifth century BC. This eventually became the center of worship for the Samaritan people. The hostility between Samaritans and Jews continued into New Testament times (John 4), and it still exists today.
THE INTERTESTAMENTAL PERIOD
Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire with lightning speed. When the people of Jerusalem threw open their gates in 332 BC to surrender, Alexander treated them well. After his death in 323 BC, control over Palestine was passed between Alexander’s descendants until Ptolemy I, a king of Egypt, managed to take over in 301 BC. After this, Palestine was controlled by Egypt until 198 BC. The descendants of Ptolemy I were tolerant, and they let the Jews govern themselves as long as they paid their taxes and remained submissive. Many Jews settled in Alexandria, relying less on their Hebrew language in the Hellenistic (Greek) environment. As a result, these Jews translated the Old Testament into Greek. While the Egyptian kings did not force Hellenism on the Jews of either Alexandria or Palestine, many Israelites were influenced by Hellenistic ideas.
When Ptolemy V came to the throne as a very young man in 203 BC, the king of Syria, Antiochus III, took advantage of Egypt’s temporary weakness and conquered Palestine in 198 BC. Apparently the Jews hoped to gain something from the change in power, for they welcomed the Syrians. This hope, however, did not last for long. In 190 BC, Antiochus III suffered a disastrous defeat to Rome at Magnesia. In this battle, Syria not only lost much of its territory but it was forced to pay enormous taxes to Rome. After this, the Jews and the other people who had supported Syria had great financial burdens. The next Syrian king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who reigned from 175 BC to 164 BC, hoped to strengthen and unify the Syrian empire. In doing so, he forced the people he controlled to accept Greek culture and Greek religion, which involved worshiping idols. When the king told the Jews to worship idols, they could not do it because of God’s commands. The disagreement about this eventually caused a revolution called the Maccabean Revolt.
But this does not completely explain the revolt against Syria. In 168 BC, armed conflict broke out between different Jewish groups in Jerusalem. Antiochus IV thought this meant the Jews were rebelling against him, and he sent an army to attack Jerusalem. His soldiers demolished part of the city wall and many houses. After this, Antiochus attempted to eliminate Judaism completely. He dedicated the temple to Zeus and sacrificed pigs on the altar. The Jewish traditions of circumcision, the Sabbath, and other religious festivals were no longer permitted. Antiochus IV made it mandatory that all people worship idols.
Some Jews caved in to Antiochus’s orders or resisted quietly. A few of them decided to openly resist the new laws. Mattathias and his five sons became leaders of this group. When Mattathias died very early, his son Judas Maccabeus led the Jewish soldiers to victory over the Syrians. This meant the Jews could again worship God. They rededicated the temple in 164 BC, starting the Festival of Hanukkah. After this, Jonathan and Simon, the other sons of Mattathias, continued the struggle until the Jews gained complete independence in 142 BC.
Simon ruled this new Jewish state until he was assassinated in 134 BC. After this, his son John Hyrcanus took over and reigned until 104 BC. John Hyrcanus fought successfully in the east, north, and south. His armies won land across the Jordan River. They captured Shechem and the Samaritan temple on Mt. Gerizim. They also conquered the Idumeans in the south and forced them to practice Judaism. His son Aristobulus ruled for only about a year, but he added a portion of Galilee to the kingdom. When Aristobulus died, his widow married his brother, Alexander Janneus, who reigned as king from 103 to 76 BC. Janneus was almost always at war during his reign, and by the time he died, the kingdom of Israel was nearly the size it had been when Solomon was king.
When Janneus died, his widow, Alexandra, took control of the throne. She reigned from 76 to 67 BC, and her oldest son, Hyrcanus II, became the high priest. Alexandra’s reign was peaceful and prosperous, but when she died her sons began to argue over the throne. Some of these sons asked for help from Pompey, the Roman leader in the eastern Mediterranean area. This led to Roman interference in the region, ultimately resulting in the Roman conquest of Palestine in 63 BC.
THE ROMAN PERIOD
After the Romans took over Palestine, they made Hyrcanus II the high priest and political ruler of the region from 63 to 40 BC. Even though Hyrcanus II had the title, Antipater, the father of Herod the Great, was the real power behind the throne. During much of Hyrcanus II’s reign, he was unable to govern because of the confusion caused by numerous civil wars going on in Rome. Antipater was loyal to Rome, and he made sure that Roman policies were carried out in the region. Because of this, he won Julius Caesar’s favor on behalf of the Jews living both inside and outside of Palestine.
With the support of Mark Antony, Herod managed to get himself appointed king of Judea by the Roman senate in 40 BC. Because of another war and because the Jews did not like the Romans, Herod could not take the throne immediately. Antigonus II, the last king descended from the Maccabean family, ruled for three more years. Finally, Herod ascended to the throne in 37 BC, and he ruled until 4 BC. As a king and ally of Rome, Herod proved to be an excellent ruler from the Roman point of view. Because of this, he earned the title of “Great.” He brought some order to the region east of the Jordan River, and he helped the Romans organize a military conquest in Arabia. He also aided the emperor Augustus by spreading the cultural beliefs of the Greco-Roman civilization throughout the whole empire.
Herod the Great admired Greek culture and helped with building projects in Rhodes, Antioch, Damascus, Athens, and other places outside Palestine. Within the land of Palestine, Herod rebuilt Samaria and named it Sebaste in honor of Augustus (Sebastos is Greek for “Augustus”). He also constructed the great port of Caesarea. This port was about as large as the island of Manhattan, and it became the capital of Roman Palestine. Perhaps Herod’s greatest building project was remodeling the temple in Jerusalem. He started this project in 20 BC, and it was not completed until just a few years before its destruction in AD 70.
Even though he built many beautiful buildings, the Jews did not like or support Herod. He also did not have peace and harmony in his family. There were cases of treason, unfaithfulness, and even murder. Because of this, Herod worried about threats to his power, and he worked hard to destroy such threats. We see an example of this in the Bible when Herod ordered all the infants in Bethlehem to be killed (Matthew 2:16).
Ultimately, Herod controlled the areas of Idumea, Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Perea, and some land north of the Sea of Galilee. In his will, he commanded that his son Archelaus rule Idumea, Judea, and Samaria; his son Antipas rule Galilee and Perea; and his son Philip rule the land north of the Sea of Galilee. Archelaus’s reign ended in AD 6, and the territory he governed became a Roman province ruled by people directly appointed by Rome from AD 6 to 41. The best known of these rulers was Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate ruled from AD 26 to 36, and he ordered the crucifixion of Jesus. Antipas was more successful than his brother, building a new capital in Tiberias. However, in AD 39, he fell out of favor with the Roman dictator and lost his position. Out of the three brothers, Philip was the most effective ruler, ruling until his death in AD 34. Philip’s lands were given to Herod Agrippa I in AD 37. In AD 39, Herod Agrippa also gained control of the lands that were once ruled by Agrippa. In AD 41, Agrippa began to rule Samaria, Judea, and Idumea.
Herod Agrippa I, who reigned from AD 37 to 44, was a descendant of the Maccabees, and for this reason he had the support of patriotic Jews and of the Pharisees when he made decrees concerning Israel’s religious life. However, when he built a new north wall to the city of Jerusalem and began dabbling in foreign affairs, the Romans suspected he was planning a revolt. When Herod Agrippa I died in AD 44, the Romans turned his land into another Roman province.
We know from the Gospels that several Jewish groups had formed in Palestine during Roman times. The Zealots opposed Roman rule and thought an armed rebellion was necessary. The Herodians supported the Herodian family and Roman power. The Pharisees were fanatically devoted to the law. The Pharisees were usually content to support Rome if Rome allowed them to practice their religion freely. The Pharisees dominated the synagogues in the land. The Sadducees tended to support whatever power was in control, and they dominated the temple. Because there was so much political uncertainty at that time, most of the writing done between the Old and New Testaments speaks of a Messiah who would be a political deliverer. The Messiah, according to these books, would free his people from foreign rule and would set up a new, independent kingdom.
Roman governors ruled Palestine from AD 44 to 66. They often offended the religious beliefs of the Jews and alienated them in other ways. With Felix, who reigned from AD 52 to 60, a constant tension between the Jews and the Romans began. Eventually, this tension developed into the first Jewish revolt, lasting from AD 66 to 70. While Paul was in prison in Caesarea, the Bible tells us that riots broke out there between Jews and Gentiles (Acts 23:23-24:27). This was around AD 60. By the time Festus became governor (25) the situation was nearly out of control despite his able administration. Festus ruled for only two years and he died in office. After this, there was anarchy in Israel until the next governor, Albinus, arrived. Albinus only ruled for two years because of his incompetence and dishonesty. In AD 64, Florus replaced Albinus as governor, but the situation only got worse. Florus was even more corrupt than Albinus, and eventually crime rose so much that there was no safety or justice in the land.
In AD 66, the non-Jewish people of Caesarea committed an act against the Jews living in the area. The resulting riots spread to numerous other cities, and Roman troops were massacred in several places. But the Jews were not united, and in Jerusalem they fought amongst themselves for power in the government. Vespasian, a commander in the Roman army, led 60,000 troops into Palestine to deal with the revolution. In AD 69, Vespasian was promoted and left his son, Titus, in charge of completing the operations. In August of AD 70, the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, many of the people butchered, and the city and temple completely demolished. The Jewish fort of Masada held out until AD 73, but Palestine was flattened by Roman might. The losses of life and property were enormous.
On two more occasions the Jews fought in failed wars against the Romans. While Trajan ruled Rome, Jews rebelled in Cyrenaica in AD 115. This rebellion spread rapidly to Cyprus, Egypt, Palestine, and Mesopotamia. This revolution started as a fight simply between the Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors, but it soon became a complete revolution against Roman authority. Whenever the Jews got the upper hand in this war, they massacred their enemies. Because of this, their enemies did the same thing when the situation was reversed. Trajan eventually stopped the rebels and restored order in all of Palestine save Egypt.
When Hadrian came to power, he faced a rebellion of his own. This rebellion started when Hadrian outlawed circumcision because he thought it was inhumane. In AD 130, Hadrian also planned to rebuild Jerusalem and rename it Aelia Capitolina. His plan included building a temple to Jupiter in the exact site of the Hebrew temple. This would not only profane the temple site but also mean that the Jews could not rebuild their temple.
The Jewish leader in this revolt was Simeon. Simeon was a prince of Israel and was known as Bar-Kochba, meaning “Son of the Star.” In this war, the fighting was so fierce that over the next three years the population of Judea was nearly eliminated. After the revolution was over, the Romans made Jerusalem a colony. They decreed that Jews could not enter the city or they would be killed. Even as late as AD 300, the Jews were only able to enter Jerusalem once a year, on the anniversary of the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. After Simeon’s revolt, Judaism became a religion that focused on written and oral law. This separated it from the religions practiced by the Gentiles.
Who?
Who were the Israelites? The people through whom God chose to bless all nations.
What?
What did God promise the Israelites? He promised that they would prosper if they obeyed God’s laws.
Where?
Where did the Israelites live? God gave them the land of Canaan.
When?
When did God promise this? Around the year 2085 BC, when Abraham was 75 years old.
Why?
Why did the Israelites not keep God’s law? They were influenced by people around them who worshiped idols.
How?
How did God deal with his people? Eventually, God allowed the Israelites to be completely taken over by foreigners. Through Jesus, God established a way for non-Jews to become his people.
Altars
Burning Bush
Canaan
Christian
Egypt
Exodus
Golden Calf
Hellenism
Idols
Jericho
Jerusalem
King
Law
Manna
Passover
Pharaoh
Plagues
Sabbath
Slaves
Tabernacle
Temple
Aaron
Abraham
Caleb
Christ
David
Esau
Hagar
Herod
Isaac
Ishmael
Jacob
Jesus
Joseph
Joshua
Laban
Leah
Levites
Pontius Pilate
Rachel
Samuel
Sarah
Saul
Solomon
FUN FACTS
The name Israel means, “He struggles with God.” That’s appropriate, since it was given to Jacob after his wrestling match with a mysterious “man” who might have been God Himself (Genesis 32:22-32). But the name also fits the nation that descended from Jacob. Even the most faithful of the Israelites (Moses, David, Jeremiah, etc.) have never been shy about sharing their struggles with God. Even when struggling, they kept in touch with him.