Kingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah (Hebrew מַלְכוּת יְהוּדָה, Standard Hebrew Malkut Yəhuda) was the nation formed from the territories of the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin after the Kingdom of Israel was divided. It was named after Judah, son of Jacob (Israel). The name Judah itself means Praise of God. It is thought to have occupied an area of about 8,900 km² (3,435 square miles), although its borders fluctuated.
Judah is often referred to as the Southern Kingdom to distinguish it from the Northern Kingdom (the Kingdom of Israel) after the division of the Kingdom. Its capital was Jerusalem. It endured as an independent kingdom, with intermittant periods of vassalage to foreign powers, from the reign of Rehoboam until the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.
The main source of our knowledge about the Kingdom of Judah is the Hebrew Bible, especially the Books of Kings and Chronicles, as well as references to historical events in the writings of the Prophets. In several cases, documents left by non-Judean rulers provide addition information and alternative perspectives to those provided by the biblical writers. The biblical story of Judah and Israel provides an important basis for the western view of history as a linear process (as opposed to an eternally repeating cycle) in which God's providence can be clearly discerned as a struggle between good and evil forces.
For information on the history of this geographical area after the sixth century B.C.E., please consult the article on Judea.
Foundations
The Kingdom of Judah's foundation is traditionally dated to the point at which Israel and Judah divided, shortly after the reign of King Solomon, which ended in 931/922 B.C.E. However, it should be noted that King David had earlier been anointed king of Judah at Hebron (2 Sam 2:4). A period of civil war followed, with a unified kingdom emerging several years later under the monarchy of David and Solomon, according to the biblical account.
After the end of Solomon's reign, a dispute arose between his son, Rehoboam, and an Ehpraimite leader, Jeroboam, who had been a minister of forced labor under Solomon. Jeroboam urged the young king to relax the labor requirements that Solomon had imposed on the northern tribes, saying, "Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you." Rehoboam harshly rejected the reqest, and the northern tribes revolted (2 Chron 10).
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http://associate.com/photos/Story-of-the-Bible—1904-Rev-Hurlbut/bw-ot-3/slides/rehoboam-spoke-harshly-to-the-people.jpg
Template:Caption: Rehoboam's response to a northern request to ease forced labor levies was recorded as: "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions." (1 Kings 12:14)
While such may be the political and econonimc realities, the author of Kings makes it clear that the root cause of the division was spiritual, resulting from King Solomon's sin of idolatry. The Southern Kingdom thereafter represents his better half, demonstrating a greater degree of faithfulness to God, while the Norhtern Kingdom falls into a consistent pattern of tolerating and practicing idolatry.
Political Dimension
Northern Enmity and Alliance
Shortly after the schism, a raid of Shishak of Egypt forced Judah breifly into submission. Shishak's forces plundered both the city and the Temple but apparently did little lasting harm. For the next sixty years the kings of Judah aimed at re-establishing their authority over the other Israelite tribes. At first Judah's standing army, a vestige of the days of David and Solomon, gained success under brief reign of King Abijah (Abijam). However, the latter part of the reign of the next king, Asa, faced strong oppostion by King Baasha of Israel. Asa then allied himself with the Aramean kingdom of Damascus. Nevertheless, before Asa's death (873/870 B.C.E.), a lasting friendship was made with Israel, now under the new and powerful dynasty of Omri. A school of Yahwist prophets arose in opposition to this association, because of its corrupting effect on Judah's religious and moral purity. However, Judah assumed a subordinate role politically until Israel was crushed by the invading Assyrians.
During this time, Judah and Israel occasionally cooperated against their common enemies, especially the Syrian power centering on Damascus. Jehoshaphat (enthroned 873/870), the son of Asa, fought side by side with Ahab of Israel in the fateful battle of Ramoth-Gilead. Although praised by the the bible (I Kings 22:41-44) for commendable devotion to Yahweh, Jehoshaphat strengthened the alliance by marrying his son Jehoram to Athaliah, the daughter of King Ahab and his Phonecian queen, Jezebel. Later, he collaborated with Israel in ship-building and trade. Jehoshaphat's line came to an end with his grandson Ahaziah, who was assassinated by the Yahwist zealot Jehu, who later usurped the throne of Israel. The Ahaziah's mother, the northern princess Athaliah, then carried out a bloody coup in Jerusalem, thus becoming the first and only Queen of Judah. Because of Ataliah's devotion to the Phoenician deity Baal, the priests of the Temple of Yahweh engineered a counter-coup against her, placing Jehoash, the young son of Ahaziah, on the throne. In the early days of Jehoash (enthroned 842/835), Hazael of Damascus ravaged the whole country up to and including the city of Jerusalem.
suggested image: The Death of Queen Athalia http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/biblediscovery/images/athaliah.jpg
Prosperity and Power
The Syrian power soon declined, however, and Judah now began a period of prosperity which finally made it one of the area's leading kingdoms. Amaziah, the grandson of Amazaiah, reconquered Edom, which had been lost under his father, Jehoram. This secured a direct trade route to western Arabia, as well access to Red Sea trade through the Gulf of Aqaba. Joash, King of Israel, soon began to percieve Amaziah's growing power as a threat in and made war on Judah, capturing Amaziah and forcing the submission of Jerusalem and pludering its temple.
However, with the advent of Uzziah (ascended 788/767), the prosperity of Judah was renewed. Uzziah conquered much of the Philistine country (today's Gaza Strip and its environs) and breifly brought even Moab to heel. He fortified Judah's towns, expanded its army, and successfully developed the country's natural resources of his country. Jotham continued the vigorous régime of his father, following the example of the mighty kings of the powerful Assyrian empire.
The Assyrian Threat
During the reign of Jotham's son Ahaz (beginning 742/732), the Assyrian empire came to the fore. The northern king, Pekah, allied with Rezin of Damascus in the face of the Assyrian threat. Ahaz refused to join the coalition; under pressure, he called for help from the Assyrians. The Assyrians eventually annexed the northern half of Israel, and Damascus itself fell. Judah was spared, but it became a vassal state of Assyria.
Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, is much praised by the biblical sources for enacting religious reforms that favored the Yahweh-only ethic of the Jerusalem priesthood and the prophet Isaiah. However, around 700 B.C.E., he unwisely joined in a military coalition against Assyria. Beofre the might of the Assyrian king Sennacherib, all of Judah's fortified cities fell, with the sole exception of Jerusalem. Many Judeans were deported, Jerusalem itself being spared when a plague broke out in the army of the invader. After Hezekiah died at a comparatively young age (697/687), the reign of his son, Manasseh, fared poorly. Manasseh relaxed the religious restrictions instituted by his father, and Judah remained the vassal of Assyria. The situation did not improve under Manasseh's son, Amon.
suggested illusatration: Isaiah instructs Hezekiah http://sundials.org/links/local/ahaz/backward4.jpg
Josiah's Star Rises and Falls
In the early years of the boy-king Josiah (641/640), the priestly party regained the upper hand. The young king accepted as valid the newly discovered "Book of the Law" of Moses (2 Kings 22). A blody purge of non-Yahwist priests soon followed, and even sacrifices to the Israelite God we banned outside of Jerusalem's official temple. Josiah presented himself as God's champion, aiming to purge the nation of the moral and spiritual corruption that had infested it as a result of Canaanite influence. If Josiah was the new Moses, The Egyptian ruler Necho II was the present-day Pharoah. Heading the revived monarchy of Egypt, Necho aimed to supplant Assyria as the dominate force in western Asia. When Necho passed through Palestine with an invading force c. 608, Josiah boldly offer him battle at Megiddo, and was slain.
suggested illustration: Josiah dismantles an unapproved shrine http://kids.christiansunite.com/images/Bible_Stories/056.jpg
Jehoahaz, the second son of Josiah, reigned for three months, after which he was dethroned by Necho and exiled to Egypt. Josiah's eldest son, Eliakim, replaced him, ruling at Necho's pleasure as "Jehoiakim". Judah's vassalage to Egypt, however did not last long. In 607 Nineveh fell to the Medes, and much of the territory between Niniveh and the Mediterranean came under the new Babylonian monarchy. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar defeated Egypt at Carchemish in 604, and Jehoiakim became a Babylonian subject.
The Final Days
The prophet Jeremiah counseled submission, but in 598 Jehoiakim rebelled. He died soon thereafter with Jerusalem under seige. His son Jehoiachin (597) held out for three months and then surrendered. He and and his entire court, including leading figures of the priesthood such as the prophet Ezekiel, were deported.
Babylon now placed on the throne Josiah's third son, Zedekiah. Again Jeremiah urged cooperation with the Babylonian power, which he saw as God's chastizing agent for Judah's sins; but other prophets urged boldness against the foreign enemy (Jer. 28-29). Once again the Judeans rebelled. The Babylonian army marched to the gates of Jerusalem, the city was taken (July, 586), and the leaders of the rebellion were put to death. The Babylonians blinded Zedekiah and brought him, a captive, into exile with with a large number of his subjects. The Babylonians set fire to both the Temple and city of Jerusalem. Thus ended the royal house of David and the kingdom of Judah.
suggested graphic: The sack of Jerusalem http://associate.com/photos/Bible-Pictures—1897-W-A-Foster/slides/page-0145-1.jpg
Spiritual Dimension
While the above summary of the history of Judah deals with the military and poliitcal vicissitudes of its course, the biblical account presents a story in which Judah's rise and fall relates to one central theme: its fidelity to God. In this version of Judah's story, the division of the Solomon's United Kingdom is due to the fact of his idolatry and is predicted by the prophet Ahijah long before the northern rebel Jeroboam confronts Rehoboam over Solomon's opressive labor policy.
Thereafter the kings of Judah prosper in war and peace when they "walk in the ways of [their] father David" and eschew to "sin of Jeroboam." This sin was not his rebellion against the anonited king, Rehoboam, for that had been propecied and even endorsed by God through Ahijah. Instead, it was his toleration of idolatry, his endorsement of the "high places" presided over by non-levite priests, and especially his establishment of the royal temples at Dan and Beth-El, the latter only a few miles north of Jerusalem. In these sanctuaries he reportedly erected golden statues of bull calves.
possible illustration http://www.wheeloftheyear.com/images/2006/astarte.jpg
Image of the Canaanite fertility goddess Astarte/Ashera, the "Queen of Heaven".
Several Judean kings receive praise from the biblical writers, but even the good kings who destroy the temples of Baal and tear down the "Ashera poles" do not go far enough, for they fail to destroy the Judaen high places where unauthorized priests operate without supervision by Jerusalem. Even in the capital, the idea that God alone should be worshipped fails to take root. The bronze serpent which Yahweh reportedly commanded Moses to make is destroyed by King Hezekiah as an object of idolatry (2 Kings 18:4). Judean families honor the Queen of Heaven by baking cakes and making drink offerings to her (Jeremiah 7:18). Male shrine prostitutes are reported operating not only outside of Jerusalem, but even in the Temple itself in Josiah's day (2 Kings 23:). So confused is the spiritual consciousness of the Judahites, that the prophet Jeremiah quotes God as saying that human sacrifice is "something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind" (Jeremiah 7:31).
In the end, says the bible, Judah is not pure enough to stand in God's sight. Not even the radical reforms King Josiah can save Judah from its fate. It must be chastized, its temple destroyed, and it people taken into exile. Only then will the Jews — for thus would the people of Judah be called henceforth — be allowed to return to Jerusalem, rebuild the Temple, and await the coming of their true king, the Messiah, the son of David.
Critical View
Bible critics hold that the sacred history presented in the above section is the product of a religious ideology that emerged around the time of King Josiah. The factual history of Judah and Israel must be painstakingly derived by reading in between the lines of this magnificent work of religious historiography, which was designed not so much to present real history as to pursuade the people of Judah to abhor any religious authority but that of the Jerusalem priesthood and its allied prophetic school. Feminist bibical historians view the biblical portrayal of Judah's history as arising from male chauvinist writers who sought to repress women in general and goddess worship in particular. Others critics argue that the biblical writers' justification of repressive policies toward other religions is little better than that attitude of modern day movements such as the Taliban and other militant muslim sects. Many bible historians refrain from moral judgments against the bibilical standards of religious freedom, nationalism, and human rights, pointing out that the ethical standards of today cannot be imposed on ancient societies. Finallly, a large number of Christian and Jewish scholars, accept some of the findings of historical criticism regarding the Kingdom of Judah but insist that the contribution of Ethical Monotheism to civilization outweighs the negative aspect pointed out by other critics.
The Kings of Judah
The following chart presents a timeline of the Kings of Judah. For this period, most historians follow the chronology established either by William F. Albright, Edwin R. Thiele, or Gershon Galil, all of which are shown below. All dates are BCE.
| Albright dates | Thiele dates | Galil dates | Common/Biblical Name | Regnal name and style | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000–962 | 1010–970 | David | דוד בן-ישי מלך ישראל Daud ben Yishai, Melekh Ysr’al |
King of a united Israel despite several civil wars | |
| 962–922 | 970–931 | Solomon | שלמה בן-דוד מלך ישראל Shelomoh ben Daud, Melekh Ysr’al |
King of a united Israel; praised for his wisdom; condemned for idolatry | |
| 922–915 | 931–913 | 931–914 | Rehoboam | רחבעם בן-שלמה מלך יהודה Rehav’am ben Shlomoh, Melekh Yehudah |
loses northern tribes; attempts to retake north; Jerusalem sacked by Shishak; |
| 915–913 | 913–911 | 914–911 | Abijam
Also called Abijah |
אבים בן-רחבעם מלך יהודה ’Aviyam ben Rehav’am, Melekh Yehudah |
Captured several northern towns |
| 913–873 | 911–870 | 911–870 | Asah | אסא בן-אבים מלך יהודה ’As’a ben ’Aviyam, Melekh Yehudah |
Allied with Damascus against Israel but later allied with Northern Kingdom |
| 873–849 | 870–848 | 870–845 | Jehoshaphat | יהושפט בן-אסא מלך יהודה Yehoshafat ben ’As’a, Melekh Yahudah |
Supported Ahab of Israel against Syria; married his son to Ahab's daughter Athaliah |
| 849–842 | 848–841 | 851–843 | Jehoram | יהורם בן-יהושפט מלך יהודה Yehoram ben Yehoshafat, Melekh Yahudah |
Killed his six brothers; lost control of territory in Edom |
| 842–842 | 841–841 | 843–842 | Ahaziah | אחזיהו בן-יהורם מלך יהודה ’Ahazyahu ben Yehoram, Melekh Yehudah |
Allied with Israel; killed by Judean zealot Yehu, who became King of Israel |
| 842–837 | 841–835 | 842–835 | Athaliah | עתליה בת-עמרי מלכת יהודה ‘Atalyah bat ‘Omri, Malkat Yehudah |
Ahaziah's mother; infamous Baal worshipper; killed in a Yahwist coup |
| 837–800 | 835–796 | 842–802 | Jehoash | יהואש בן-אחזיהו מלך יהודה Yehoash ben ’Ahazyahu, Melekh Yehudah |
Installed after Athaliah's death; Judah ravaged by Hazael of Damascus |
| 800–783 | 796–767 | 805–776 | Amaziah | אמציה בן-יהואש מלך יהודה ’Amatzyah ben Yehoash, Melekh Yehudah |
Reconquers Edom. Begins period of renewed prosperity. Assassinated |
| 783–742 | 767–740 | 788–736 | Uzziah (Azariah) |
עזיה בן-אמציה מלך יהודה ‘Uziyah ben ’Amatzyah, Melekh Yehudah עזריה בן-אמציה מלך יהודה ‘Azaryah ben ’Amatzyah, Melekh Yehudah |
Syria declines. Conquers Philistia, strenghthens military, develops natural resources |
| 742–735 | 740–732 | 758–742 | Jotham | יותם בן-עזיה מלך יהודה Yotam ben ‘Uziyah, Melekh Yehudah |
Prosperity contunes with Syrian decline |
| 735–715 | 732–716 | 742–726 | Ahaz | אחז בן-יותם מלך יהודה ’Ahaz ben Yotam, Melekh Yehudah |
Allies with new Assyrian Empire against Israel and Damascus |
| 715–687 | 716–687 | 726–697 | Hezekiah | חזקיה בן-אחז מלך יהודה Hizqiyah ben ’Ahaz, Melekh Yehudah |
Institutes strict religious laws; Sennacherib of Assyria conquers most of Judah |
| 687–642 | 687–643 | 697–642 | Manasseh | מנשה בן-חזקיה מלך יהודה Menasheh ben Hizqiyah, Melekh Yehudah |
Revokes religious reforms; Judah remains vassal of Assyria |
| 642–640 | 643–641 | 642–640 | Amon | אמון בן-מנשה מלך יהודה ’Amon ben Menasheh, Melekh Yehudah |
Continues Manasseh's policies; assassinated |
| 640–609 | 641–609 | 640–609 | Josiah | יאשיהו בן-אמון מלך יהודה Yo’shiyahu ben ’Amon, Melekh Yehudah |
Bible's greatest king since David; died in battle at Megiddo against Necho II of Egypt. |
| 609 | 609 | 609 | Jehoahaz (Ahaz) |
יהואחז בן-יאשיהו מלך יהודה Yeho’ahaz ben Yo’shiyahu, Melekh Yehudah אחז בן-יאשיהו מלך יהודה ’Ahaz ben Yo’shiyahu, Melekh Yehudah |
Dethroned and exiled by Necho II after only three months |
| 609–598 | 609–598 | 609–598 | Jehoiakim
(Eliakim) |
יהויקים בן-יאשיהו מלך יהודה Yehoyaqim ben Yo’shiyahu, Melekh Yehudah |
Installed by Necho II; becomes Babylonian vassal after theBattle of Carchemish but rebels and dies during seige of Jerusalem |
| 598 | 598 | 598–597 | Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) |
יהויכין בן-יהויקים מלך יהודה Yehoyakhin ben Yehoyaqim, Melekh Yehudah יכניהו בן-יהויקים מלך יהודה Yekhonyahu ben Yehoyaqim, Melekh Yehudah |
Deposed on March 16, 597 B.C.E. after Jerusalem falls to Babylon. Also called 'Jeconiah'. |
| 597–587 | 597–586 | 597–586 | Zedekiah | צדקיהו בן-יהויכין מלך יהודה Tzidqiyahu ben Yo’shiyahu, Melekh Yehudah |
The last king of Judah. Rebels. Deposed, blinded and sent into exile.
References
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