Section Four: A Kingdom United and a
Kingdom Divided
X
X
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Context for the Course:
Everyone Has An Opinion
Biblical
Scholars
Archaeologists
The
Text
Believers
General
Public
4.2
Quick Review
Mythic History: The Creation Story, the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel,
the Nephilim and the generations that preceded Noah
Pre-History: Noah’s Flood and the Tower of Babel
Early History: The wanderings of Abraham, Joseph sold into
slavery thrives in Egypt under the Semite Hyksos Kings, the
original Egyptian kings regain the Lower Kingdom and see
the Hebrews as a threat and force them into hard labor
The complicated person known as Moses is born a
Hebrew but raised in the Court of the Pharaoh. He flees
to Midian where he encounters God who tells him to
return to Egypt to free his people. He leads them to the
Promised Land but is not allowed to enter. Joshua
succeeds in conquering the Promised Land and divides up
the territory among the twelve tribes
4.3
Israel at the Transition Point Between
Confederation and Kingdom
• Each tribe had its own territory and
governed itself independently
• When threatened by outside forces
(Philistines to the West, Amonites and
Moabites to the East), some tribes joined
together and named a Judge (a military
leader) to resolve the problem
• The author of Judges sees these threats as
the result of the people forgetting God
• A cycle of apostasy, threat, repentance and
deliverance repeats in an ever-descending
spiral. In an ironic ending to the Book of
Judges, an alleged rape of the concubine of
a Levite by someone from the tribe of
Benjamin leads the other eleven tribes to
unite against Benjamin in a civil war
• By the end of the Book of Judges, “There
was no King in Israel and everyone did what
he thought was right in his own eyes”
(Judges 21:25)
4.1
A Tale of One Kingdom Divided in Two
• As we transition away from the Book of Judges to the Books of Samuel,
Kings and Chronicles, we look at that portion of the Jewish experience with
God that many of even the most skeptical scholars see as true history.
• These books cover the transition of Israel from a loose confederation of
tribes to a united kingdom with Jerusalem as its capital city
• These books detail;
How the kingdom grew and flourished
How the kingdom divided into two parts, the Northern Kingdom of
Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah
How Israel was defeated by a revived Assyrian Empire and its
inhabitants driven from the land (or were they?) creating the legend of
the ten lost tribes of Israel
How Judah survived by being a client state of Assyria
How King Josiah of Judah used the event of the discovery of a Book of
the Law (the Torah?, Deuteronomy?) during a renovation of the Temple
in Jerusalem to return the people to follow the covenant established
with Moses and to reorganize Jewish worship with the Temple at its
center
How Judah itself then falls to a reinvigorated Babylonian Empire and
how its people are led away into exile in Babylon
4.2
Major Characters in the Era of the United Kingdom of Israel
•
Samuel
•
Saul
•
David
•
Solomon
Both a prophet and a Judge, Samuel was the transition point
from confederation to kingdom in Israel. Samuel was the last
true Judge of the confederation of the twelve tribes and also
the man who anointed the first two rulers of the Kingdom of
Israel
Saul came from the smallest tribe in Israel, Benjamin. Saul
was a humble man but he was not a reliable man. He
trusted in things other than God
David is one of the most interesting characters in all of the
Bible, probably because he is the most human. David is, at
the same time, one of the most honorable and courageous
men in Israel yet he has his selfish and even cowardly
moments. David’s true strength is found in his absolute love
of God and his ability to admit his faults and repent of them
Solomon, known as both a wise and powerful ruler, managed
to bring Israel to its greatest level of power and influence.
Unfortunately, foreign rulers and foreign gods influenced
Solomon more than his God. Solomon so overextended
Israel’s resources that the unity of the country collapsed after
his death
4.3
From Judges to Kings
• With the anointing of Saul by Samuel,
the last of the Judges, Israel
transitioned from a confederation of
tribes to a true kingdom
• Beginning with Saul, followed by
David and David’s son, Solomon,
Israel had three kings who ruled over
a somewhat united land
• David and Solomon vastly expanded
the territory dominated by Israel to the
point where the boundaries of the
Promised Land reached the limits
foretold by God to Abraham
• Biblical critics claim that the
boundaries of the land promised to
Abraham by God in Genesis 15 were
placed there during or after the time of
David and Solomon to reflect the size
of the Kingdom at that time
4.4
Samuel and the Transition
•
•
Samuel was not the author of the Books 1 and 2 Samuel but he was a
main character in them, especially in 1 Samuel. Since 1 and 2 Samuel
focused so much on the transition of Israel from confederation to
kingdom, 1 and 2 Samuel are sometimes included in the Book of Kings.
So, some bibles have 2 books of Samuel and 2 books of Kings. Other
bibles have 4 books of Kings.
Samuel lived in a small town, Ramah, but rode an annual circuit of the
land. The passage of 1 Samuel 7:15-17 says the following about Samuel,
To Samuel men came for judgement all his life long; year by year he
would go round from Bethel to Galgala, from Galgala to Masphath,
holding assize in each of these cities, and so returning to his home at
Ramatha; there, too, he sat in judgement, and there he raised an altar to
the Lord.
This passage seems to indicate that Samuel held authority at least
in the regions of Judah, Benjamin and Simeon. He seemed to hold the
authority of a judge and of a man who could settle local disputes. Samuel
also seemed to be a priest of a local shrine at Ramah. Samuel was held in
high regard and as 1 Samuel 12 indicates, was considered a just man but
the people still urged Samuel to appoint a king to govern over all the
tribes.
4.5
A Kingdom: Pros and Cons
•
First Samuel tells the full story of Israel’s desire for a King. The people
wanted a King so that Israel would have someone to rally around to
protect themselves from neighboring nations
•
Samuel reminded the people that having a central government run by a
strong King would also have some consequences. In 1 Samuel 8, these
consequences are listed. A King would;
take their sons and make them serve the King (in the military)
take their fields and olive groves and give them to his attendants
take a tenth of everything they owned and everything they produced
The Israelites wanted a King so that they could be like other nations. Samuel
reminded the people that God was their King and that He intended them to be
different from all other nations. It was, after all, this difference that brought
them out of slavery and into the Promised Land
Samuel ends his warning with these words, “you will cry out for relief from
the king you have chosen, but the LORD will not answer you in that day. ”
King Ahaz seemed to fulfill that prophecy three centuries later (2 Kings:16
and 2 Chron:28)
4.6
If a King Be Your Wish.......
•
•
According to the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses anticipated that the
Israelites would desire a King once they had taken possession of the
Promised Land (Deut. 17:14-20)
When you have come into the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you, and
have taken possession of it and settled in it, should you then decide, “I will set a
king over me, like all the surrounding nations,” you may indeed set over you a king
whom the LORD, your God, will choose. Someone from among your own kindred
you may set over you as king; you may not set over you a foreigner, who is no kin
of yours. But he shall not have a great number of horses; ....nor shall he have a
great number of wives, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he accumulate a vast
amount of silver and gold. When he is sitting upon his royal throne, he shall write
a copy of this law upon a scroll from the one that is in the custody of the levitical
priests. It shall remain with him and he shall read it as long as he lives, so that he
may learn to fear the LORD, ... so that he does not exalt himself over his kindred
..... and so that he and his descendants may reign long in Israel.
Bible scholars contend that the passage above was a “prophecy” that
was written several hundred years after the events had already taken
place. We will look at their views in the next section (Section 5). In any
case, the words written here did, in fact, take place under the reign
Solomon (passage in red) and, perhaps, under the reign of Josiah
(passage in green)
4.7
King Saul
• He was personally a humble man who came from
the most humble tribe in Israel, Benjamin. Saul
ruled from his home town of Gibeah a few miles
north of Jerusalem
• While humility may be a virtue in someone’s
personal life, God did not find it a virtue in the life of
the man selected by God to lead a nation.
The Lord told Saul to wage war against the
Amalekites, the ancient enemy of Israel who had
previously waged war against Moses and Joshua
(the story of Moses extended staff). Saul was told
that Amalek was to be put “under the ban”. Saul
failed to obey and Samuel tried to remind Saul just
who Saul was, “Though little in your own eyes, are
you not chief of the tribes of Israel? The LORD
anointed you king of Israel.” (1 Sam. 15:17)
Saul could be said to be repeating the pattern of his
nation under the Judges. Saul, like Israel, would fail
to heed God’s words. God would rebuke Saul and
Saul would repent. Then Saul would go on to
repeat his failures and his repentances. God
soon grew tired of this and told Samuel to anoint a
new King. Samuel chose a young shepherd boy
named David
4.8
David and Saul
Though Samuel had anointed David to be
Israel’s next King, Saul remained King on the
throne. David’s first approach to the throne
was not as King but rather as a harpist who
would play to soothe Saul’s troubled soul
David’s popularity grew as he killed Goliath
of Gath with a sling (or did he?. See next
slide) and Saul’s jealousy of David grew in
proportion. Finally, Saul plotted to kill David
but David was warned by Jonathan, Saul’s
son
David was forced by Saul to flee to the
Philistines for protection. Since David fought
so well against them, Achish, the Philistine
ruler of Gath, agreed to protect David if David
fought for Achish. David agreed so long as
he was not required to fight against Israel
Later, Achish (without David’s participation)
finally did battle with Israel and defeated
Saul. Saul died by falling on his own sword.
The Bible tells us that David mourned when
he heard of Saul’s death
4.9
Who Actually Killed Goliath?
• David killed Goliath with a sling and a stone
“Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with
a sling and a stone, and he struck the
Philistine and killed him; but there was no
sword in David’s hand” (1 Sam. 17:50)
• Elhanan killed Goliath with a spear
“And there was war with the Philistines again at
* The King James Bible inserts the
phrase ‘Lahmi the brother of” in 2
Sam. 21:19. It’s authors claim that it
should read exactly as 1 Chron. 20:5
reads, claiming its absence was
surely a scribal error. Most other
translations into English do not
include it because that phrase is not
found in the Greek Septuagint text
of 2 Samuel nor in the Hebrew
Masoretic text of 2 Samuel.
Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the
Bethlehemite killed * Goliath the Gittite, the shaft
of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.”
(2 Sam. 21:19)
• David killed Goliath with a sling and a stone
and Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother, Lahmi,
with a spear
“And there was war with the Philistines again,
and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the
brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose
spear was like a weaver’s beam.” (1 Chron. 20:5)
4.10
David Becomes King
While Samuel had long since anointed David
to succeed to the throne after Saul died, it is
clear that Saul’s son, Ish-Bosheth, failed to
get the memo.
Supported by Saul’s general, Abner, IshBosheth was crowned King in Saul’s place at
Mahanaim in the North.
Two years later, Judah seceded from Israel
and proclaimed David as its King at Hebron
in the South
Abner later shifted his loyalty to David. David
then defeated Ish-Bosheth and was
recognized as King of all Israel.
David moved the capital city of Israel to a
location acceptable to both North and South,
Jerusalem. David also brought the Ark of the
Covenant there but the building of the
Temple was left to David’s son, Solomon.
Under David, unity between North and South
prevailed, at least for a time
4.11
David’s Choice of Jerusalem and the Story
Some biblical scholars claim that the story of
of Melchizidek
Abraham and Melchizidek was inserted into
Genesis to justify David’s selection of Jerusalem
as the new location of the Ark of the Covenant (it
had rested for years at Shiloh). Jerusalem, unlike
Hebron, Shechem and other ancient cities of Israel
never had a traditional shrine located there
These same critics claim that the choice of the
name Melchizidek was intentionally made to
sound like the name of a traditional Jebusite rulerpriest. The Jebusites had been earlier inhabitants
of Jerusalem and the hope was that the story of
Melchizidek and the choice of his name would
mollify the population now under the rule of Israel
Note: The Bible says that Zadok
was a descendant of Aaron
through Aaron’s son Eleazar. Some
scholars claim he may have been a
local Jebusite priest who sided
with Solomon when Adonijah
attempted to succeed David
During David’s time on the throne, Israel had two
high priests, Abiathar and Zadok (there’s that
name again!). Zadok became the lone high priest
when Abiathar sided with Adonijah over Solomon
as the choice to succeed David. The high
priesthood stayed in the line of Zadok through
Ezra (later section) down to the time of the
Maccabees (2nd Century BCE)
4.12
King David
• One of the most fascinating yet controversial
characters in Jewish history. David is a flawed man
and the Bible makes no attempt to hide his flaws.
The incident with Bathsheebah shows these flaws in
full light (2 Samuel 11)
- David was a King who did not lead
Israel went to war with the Ammonites but David
remained in Jerusalem
- David was a bit of a voyeur
While on the roof of his palace, he watched Uriah’s
wife Bathsheebah bathing
- David was an adulterer
He slept with Bathsheebah, another man’s wife
- David was a murderer
David gave orders that Uriah be placed at the
front of the battle so that he would be killed
Nathan the prophet called out David concerning his sin
and promised that David would pay for his private sin in
full view of everyone. Then David the King, David the
Sinner, became David the man who humbled himself
before God and, unlike Saul, truly repented. Despite
David’s many flaws, the prophet Nathan declared that
David’s “house and kingdom will endure forever” (2
Sam. 7:16). From his union with Bathsheebah, King
Solomon is born
4.13
King Solomon
In Solomon both the pros and the cons of kingship
long before outlined by Samuel were realized
Israel was recognized as an important nation and its
King renowned for his wisdom
Jerusalem became a great city and Solomon built
a magnificent Temple to house the Ark of the
Covenant
People from all nations flocked to Jerusalem
bringing trade goods from all over the region with
them
However...
- Israel’s army became over-extended
- its treasury was exhausted
- taxes became burdensome
- some Israelites were forced into labor to build the
Temple (remember Egypt?)
Worst of all, God was no longer the center of
worship. Foreign peoples and foreign alliances
brought foreign gods. Solomon forgot the God of
Israel and began to worship foreign idols
4.14
A Divided Kingdom
• The unity between Northern and
Southern tribes, formed by David
and strengthened by Solomon,
soon fell apart after Solomon’s
death
• In the South, the tribe of Simeon
had long since merged with the
tribe of Judah and had faded from
history. Judah/Simeon joined with
Benjamin and formed the Kingdom
of Judah with Jerusalem as its
capital
• In the North, the remaining tribes
continued to call their kingdom
Israel and declared Samaria to be
their capital city
2 Sam. 12: 8 “and I gave you the house of Israel
and of Judah” seems to indicate that there was
already a split between Israel and Judah before
David’s reign (or this is another anachronism)
• Israel remained independent until
it was conquered by the Assyrians
in 722-721 BCE
• Judah remained independent until
588-86 BCE when it was conquered
by the Babylonians
4.15
AM
BCE
Note: AM = Anno Mundi. The Year of the World. It designates dating according
to the Hebrew Calendar. The Hebrew Calendar year 5772 ends September 16, 2012.
This calendar list is only one version. Just as in the case of the dating of the Exodus,
there is much debate about the dating of this list of kings.
The Kings
of Israel and
Judah from
David to
Athaliah
and Jehu
4.16
AM
BCE
The Kings
of Israel and
Judah from
Athaliah
and Jehu to
the Fall of
Jerusalem
4.17
Assyrian Expansion and the Loss of the Northern
Kingdom
• Assyria once had been a great empire from the 14th to the 11th centuries BCE but
went into decline for a period of about 200 years
• In 911 BCE, under King Alad-Nirari II, Assyria began to reassert itself in the region.
@ 722 BCE, this new Assyrian Empire conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
• At its peak, the new Assyrian Empire ruled lands from eastern Turkey to Thebes in
Egypt (and beyond)
• Judah maintained a degree of independence by acting as a client state of Assyria
(reference King Ahaz who called on Assyria for help against Aram)
4.18
The “Lost Tribes” of Israel
• The Assyrians displaced the inhabitants of Israel after they captured the
kingdom. They resettled peoples from other lands (e.g. Cutha, Ava, Hamath
and Sepharvaim and more) to inhabit the region in their place
• Some of the population of Israel fled south to Judah before Israel was defeated
• Passages from the Old Testament suggest that the inhabitants of the
Northern Kingdom were scattered all over the ancient world (Ezek. 37:16.
Is. 11:11-12, Jer. 31:7)
• Assyrian records contained names that seem to be Hebrew in origin listed
among the ranks of the Assyrian army. This suggests that some from the
Northern Kingdom intermixed with Assyrians
• 2 Esdras, (13:40-47) (a non-canonical book supposed to have been written by
Ezra) describes how the tribes settled a land beyond the Euphrates river
• The Lemba tribe in South Africa claims Jewish ancestry. Recent DNA testing
seems to confirm this. The Lemba priestly caste has a special DNA link with
Jewish Kohanim (see the report of the World Jewish Congress, March 8, 2010)
• Some groups (e.g. Mormons) claim that some of the lost tribes migrated to the
New World
4.19
What May Have Led to the Legend of the Lost
Tribes in the New World?
•
•
Semitic peoples are known to have been great traders and great seafarers.
The Phoenicians were a clear example of this
There are teasing clues that indicate an Old World presence (trade and
commerce?) in the New World long before Columbus
- Bearded, Semitic-looking men depicted in carvings across the Americas
- Evidence of tobacco and cocoa leaves (available only in the New World)
found in Egyptian mummies
Bearded Semitic Incense Burner from Iximche
Guatemala
Musée de I’Homme, Paris
Bearded Man of Ancient Vera Cruz, México
American Museum of Natural History
4.20
The Fuente Magna Bowl : Real or Hoax?
Discovered near Lake Titicaca in Bolivia @1960 CE by don Max Portugal-Zamora and
his friend Pastor Manjon. A possible translation of the writing on the bowl seems to
indicate that it was used for a fertility libation by a young woman to the goddess Nia
Much remains unknown about the bowl. Some estimate place the origin of the bowl in
either Sumer or Akkad sometime around 2500 BCE. Others claim it is a hoax.
Unlike the articles on the previous slides, whose provenance are known and both of
which are displayed in major museums (with reputations to protect), the provenance of
this bowl has not been certified and there seems to be no academic or archaeological
group that has declared it to be genuine.
The bowl is intriguing but, at the moment, seems most likely to be a hoax
4.21
Meanwhile, Back in the Southern Kingdom....
The fall of the Northern Kingdom had immediate impact on the
Kingdom of Judah.
-
A flow of refugees came down into Judah from the North
-
Levites loyal to YHWH came south but so did many of the
worshippers of the Baals (Remember “baal” is a title that means
something like “lord”. For example, the Lord of the Flies is Baal
Zebub ‫ בַּ ﬠַ ל זְבוּב‬. We know him better as Beelzebub. The point of
the phrase “the worshippers of the Baals” is that there were many
false gods being worshipped in the Northern Kingdom
-
The fall of the Northern Kingdom was blamed by many on the
idolatry of its people. As a result, there was internal pressure in
the Southern Kingdom of Judah to cleanse the land of Idol
worship. The problem was that Judah became increasingly
dependent on the good will of the Assyrians, who worshipped
many idols
4.22
Josiah and Reform in the Kingdom of Judah
“Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years
in Jerusalem.... And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, and walked in
all the way of David his father” 2 Kings:22
•
•
•
•
The Capture of the Kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians was a wake-up call to the
Kingdom of Judah. Josiah, the last truly effective King of Judah (@641-609 BCE),
tried to rally his people in the same way as the Judges did, by calling on the people
to return to the covenant with their God
The High Priest during the reign of Josiah was a man named Hilkiah. Hilkiah claimed
that he discovered a scroll which contained a copy of “the Law”. Was this a copy of
the Torah as we know it today or was it what we now know as the book of
Deuteronomy? ( The word Deuteronomy in Greek means either ‘second law’ or ‘a
copy of the law’).
Josiah made use of this “discovery” to unite Judah and return to the values of the
covenant. Josiah cleansed Judah of pagan symbols, shrines, and the pagan priests
and priestesses that tended the shrines. He also closed local Jewish shrines and
centralized Jewish worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. This decision lessened the
power of the Levites, like Samuel, who tended to the local shrines and received their
revenue from those shrines. After Josiah’s reforms, most revenues flowed to the
Temple in Jerusalem
Josiah’s reforms were not able to save the Kingdom of Judah from the Babylonians.
They did spark a renewal of interest in the traditional faith of the Jewish people in
the Kingdom of Judah. This spark would become a fire during the period of the exile
of the Jewish people in Babylon
4.23
The Rise of Babylon
• Assyria, under Asshurbanipal (669-627 BCE) became overextended and faced
turmoil fending off internal revolts, especially from Egypt which finally broke free
• Babylon, governed by Nabopolassar the Chaldean (see Section One), joined with
Scythians, Medes and others in a revolt against Assyrian rule
• In 626 BCE, Babylon, supported by the Medes, regained its independence from
Assyria (now ruled by Sin-Shar-Ishkin) to become the New Babylonian Empire
• In 618 BCE Babylon under Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar, invaded
Assyria. Egypt, more worried about Babylon than Assyria, lent aid to Assyria.
Nonetheless, Babylon, captured ancient Asshur (614 BCE) and Nineveh (612
BCE). Sin-Shar-Iskin was killed and the Assyrian army fled to Haran to regroup
• Egypt, under Neco, tried again to aid the Assyrians this time sending its army
through Judah. It was this invasion that brought about the death of King Josiah.
Perhaps sensing a chance to break free from Assyrian control, Josiah fought
against Neco and was killed at the Battle of Meggido in 609 BCE. Though Egypt
failed in its attempt to aid Assyria, it did manage to extend its influence over
Judah to the point where Judah was not much more than a client state of Egypt
• The stage was set for the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the Kingdom of Judah
4.24
Jerusalem Falls
• In 609 BCE Josiah was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz. Pharaoh Neco,
now seeing Judah as a client state to Egypt, replaced Jehoahaz with
Jehoahaz’ brother, Eliakim. Eliakim’s name was changed to Jehoiakim and
he took the throne in 608 BCE. Jehoiakim, a puppet ruler put in place by
Egypt, had no interest in continuing his father’s reform movement
• As the power of Babylon grew, Judah found itself caught in the middle of a
battle between Egypt and Babylon over who would control Judah. From
608 to 605 BCE, Jehoiakim paid his tribute to Egypt but, after a victory by
the Babylonians at Carcamesh, he switched sides and paid tribute to
Babylon. In 602 BCE, he changed again and began paying tribute to
Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar II, the King of Babylon tired of the game. In 599
BCE, Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem. Jehoiakim died in 598 BCE
and his body was thrown over Jerusalem’s walls
• Jehoiakim was succeeded by his son, Jehoiachin (Jeconiah), but the
Babylonians, to whom Jehoiachin once decided to pay tribute, had no
respect for Jehoiachin and replaced him with Zedekiah, his uncle.
• Zedekiah tried to ally Judah again with Egypt in revolt against Babylon.
Babylon once again laid siege to Jerusalem and @587 BCE, the city fell.
Zedekiah was taken to Babylon and witnessed the execution of his two
sons before he himself was blinded. The people of Judah were led off into
exile in Babylon and the Temple of Solomon (First Temple) destroyed
4.25
The Babylonian Empire
At its peak, the Babylonian Empire managed to rule most of the Fertile Crescent. It
dominated most of the same lands as the Assyrian Empire with the exception of
Egypt. When the Southern Kingdom of Judah was defeated by the Babylonian Empire
and the Temple of Solomon was destroyed, the land was depopulated in much the
same way as the Northern Kingdom of Israel when it was defeated by Assyria. Unlike
Assyria, Babylon did not repopulate the land with people from other regions of the
Empire. The next section will examine the impact of the Babylonian exile of the Jewish
people and on their sacred literature.
4.26