ISRAEL, HISTORY OF

1. Sources. The primary source for the history of ancient Israel is, of course, the Bible. The Bible gives more relative space to history than any other sacred book. The Biblical historians and biographers were more concerned with the moral and theological implications of events than in the mere recital of facts. Archeological excavations in the Near E have illuminated and supplemented Biblical history, which is largely Israelite history. The records and inscrs. of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans give a background for and sometimes deal directly with the history of Israel. Some Gr. and Rom. historians record events involving the people of Israel. The histories of the Jewish general and writer Josephus (c. a.d. 37-103), The Jewish War and The Jewish Antiquities, are important sources esp. for the last two centuries of the history of ancient Israel.

The dates below usually follow The Westminster Historical Atlas of the Bible, revised ed., (1956), edited by G. E. Wright and F. V. Filson. Unless otherwise indicated, the dates are b.c.

2. The Exodus(c. 1280) [A disputed date. Some scholars place the Exodus earlier, c. 1450. Ed.] The Exodus, “the going out” (from Egypt), was regarded by the Israelites themselves as the beginning of their national history. The Book of Genesis traces Israelite origins back to Abraham, and particularly to his grandson Jacob, also called Israel, and the latter’s twelve sons, the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel. These accounts in Genesis, however, are not histories but biographies, dealing with persons and families, not with the nation. The Book of Exodus opens with the Hebrews as unorganized slaves in Egypt. With the Exodus, the deliverance from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites became a nation and entered on the course of national development which is recorded in the historical books of the Bible.

Some of the data which are significant for fitting the Exodus into the framework of history are as follows: (1) The name Moses is prob. Egyp. meaning “son of,” an element of royal names in the 18th dynasty (1570-1305), e.g. Thutmose, and in the 19th dynasty (1305-1208), e.g. Ramses. (2) The Apiru are mentioned in Egyp. records as Asiatic slaves who worked as builders, as did the Hebrews, for Pharaohs in the 18th dynasty, e.g. Amen-hotep II, and in the 19th dynasty, e.g. Ramses II. The word Apiru may be related to עִבְרִי֒, H6303, “Hebrew,” and some of these Apiru may have been the Hebrews of the Bible. (3) Some have equated the Habiru of the Amarna Letters of the 14th cent. with the Biblical Hebrews and therefore have argued for an Exodus in the 15th cent. The name Habiru is prob. related to Apiru and to Hebrew, and the three names may denote the same class of semi-nomads. The Habiru of the Amarna Letters, however, were attacking different cities in Canaan from those which the Hebrews attacked, and elsewhere Habiru are mentioned in Syria and Mesopotamia and therefore cannot be identified with the Biblical Hebrews. (4) 1 Kings 6:1 places the building of the Temple (c. 958) 480 years after the Exodus, which would then have happened about 1438. Since forty years means a generation, many scholars think that 480 years means twelve generations, which is the actual number of high priests from Aaron to Zadok in Solomon’s time. Since the number of years in a generation is often less than forty, the actual time was prob. less than 480 years. (5) Another date is given in Judges 11:26, which places the coming of the Israelites “three hundred years” before Jephthah and seems to favor an Exodus in the 15th cent. But this number may be simply the addition of the periods of the preceding judges and servitudes, some of which were prob. contemporaneous and so the actual ti me involved was doubtless less than 300 years. (6) A key passage for the historical setting of the Exodus is Exodus 1:11, which states that the Israelites built Pithom and Raamses for Pharaoh. Since Ramses II (c. 1290-1224) built both these cities, many scholars put the Exodus early in the 13th cent. (7) The narratives of Moses’ meetings with Pharaoh imply that the royal residence was in northern Egypt, prob. in Raamses, also called Tanis, not far from the Heb. settlement in Goshen. Tanis was the capital in the time of the 19th dynasty, which would include a 13th cent. Exodus, whereas Thebes in southern Egypt, about 500 m. up the Nile, was the capital during the 18th dynasty which would include a 15th cent. Exodus. (8) Finally, the destruction of Lachish, Eglon, Bethel, Debir, and Hazor (all of which the Israelites captured) is dated by archeological evidence in the latter part of the 13th cent., and therefore the Exodus would fall early in that cent., about 1280. Some scholars have tried to account for the ambiguity of the evidence regarding the date of the Exodus by proposing that some tribes never went to Egypt and entered Canaan before the tribes which sojourned in Egypt. But this theory contradicts the evidence that the twelve tribes acted together in the wilderness and in the conquest of Canaan.

Connected with the Exodus were certain mighty acts of God. The plagues, showing Yahweh’s control over the forces of nature, finally persuaded Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt. The opening of the Red Sea by a strong E wind to let the Israelites cross and the destruction of the pursuing Egyptians by the returning waters were further evidences of God’s hand in the deliverance of Israel.

The Red Sea which the Israelites crossed is literally the Reed Sea, and the equivalent of this name was given by the Egyptians to one of the lakes or marshes on the NE border of Egypt. This lake, which has not yet been finally identified, was prob. the site of the Israelites’ crossing, rather than any portion of what is now called the Red Sea.

For the Israelites the important thing about the Exodus was not the date or the place, but the fact that God had delivered them from bondage and had called them to be His special people with a unique role in history. This great event was commemorated each spring in the Passover festival.

Moses was the leader of the Israelites both in the Exodus and in the wandering in the wilderness. As an Israelite of the tribe of Levi, he was naturally able to sympathize with the sufferings of his own people. As the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter brought up in the royal court, he was fitted to speak to the king on behalf of the Hebrews. Moses would know Egyp. art, lit., law, and methods of administration. He would also know the many gods of Egypt, and he must have heard of the Aten monotheism, which had been introduced a few generations before by Akhenaton, but which had died with the latter’s death because it had not reached the common people. Furthermore Moses’ years with the Midianites in Sinai gave him a knowledge of the topography of the wilderness and of the Arab tribes there which was valuable as he led the Israelites through that same wilderness.

3. Wandering in the wilderness(c. 1280-1240?). The route of the wandering is connected with the location of Mt. Sinai, also called Horeb. Some have located Mt. Sinai E of Kadesh, but this conflicts with the tradition that the Israelites went to Sinai before Kadesh. Others have located Mt. Sinai in NW Arabia because Midianites lived there and because the phenomena at the giving of the law (fire, cloud, rumbling) are thought to indicate a volcanic eruption, which has taken place in that area. But the Midianites were nomadic, and the fire, cloud, and rumbling could betoken a thunderstorm. The above two locations of Mt. Sinai would imply that the Israelites crossed the Peninsula of Sinai along a northern route.

The traditional identification of Mt. Sinai with Jebel Musa in the southern part of the Peninsula of Sinai agrees with suggested identifications of Marah, Elim, Dophkah, and Rephidim on the way to Mt. Sinai, and with a possible identification of Hazeroth on the way N from Mt. Sinai. Also the time recorded for the journey from Egypt to Mt. Sinai and from Mt. Sinai to Kadesh agrees with this location of the mount. If this traditional location of Mt. Sinai is accepted, the Israelites made their way by stages southeastward near the shore of the Peninsula of Sinai and then turned inland to Dophkah, Rephidim, and Mt. Sinai.

One problem with the wandering in the wilderness is the large number of Israelites thought to be involved. The usual tr. of Exodus 12:37, “about six hundred thousand men on foot,” implies a total population of two and a half million. In addition to “thousand,” אֶ֫לֶפ֮, H547, can also mean “clan” or “family.” The latter meaning would reduce the total to a reasonable and manageable number. Others consider the number a mere exaggeration or the number of a much later census.

Several of the miraculous provisions for the food and water of the Israelites in the wilderness are related to actual conditions in the Peninsula of Sinai. The manna agrees in many respects with the sweet, white exudations of scale insects on the tamarisk bushes which abound in parts of Sinai. When migrating quail reach land after crossing the Mediterranean in the fall or the Red Sea in the spring, they often fall exhausted and are easily captured as they were by the Israelites. Under the soil and rocks of the wilderness there is sometimes water waiting to be tapped (cf. Exod 17:3-6; Num 20:11).

The Israelites had hostile contacts with some of the nomadic inhabitants of the wilderness and friendly relations with others. At Rephidim they struggled successfully with Amalekites over the use of the spring there. On the other hand, Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, came to visit Moses and joined with him in worship of Yahweh. He also gave the good advice to appoint elders to adjudicate lesser cases, while Moses retained jurisdiction over the most serious cases. Later Hobab the Midianite agreed to guide the Israelites through the wilderness as they proceeded from Mt. Sinai.

The first goal of the Israelites was Mt. Sinai, the mountain of God, where Moses had received God’s call to liberate the children of Israel. There Moses now received moral, civil, and religious laws and directions for the Tabernacle, a portable tent-shrine. The basic Ten Commandments, written on stone tablets, were placed in the Ark, a sacred box, which was similar to the palladium carried by Arab tribes in ancient and modern times. At Mt. Sinai also the Israelites made a covenant with Yahweh to worship him alone and to keep his laws.

The second focus of the wandering, Kadesh, was also a holy place which is the meaning of its name. Near this site in northeastern Sinai there are three springs, and this area was Israel’s center for many years. From Kadesh spies were sent N into Canaan, and then an expedition entered Canaan, but was defeated at Hormah. At Kadesh Moses and his brother Aaron the priest had to deal with various revolts against their civil and religious authority. After most of the generation which left Egypt had died, and when the new generation had been united and hardened by the wandering life in the desert, the Israelites finally set out from Kadesh to enter the land which they believed God had promised to their ancestor Abraham and to them.

4. The conquest of Canaan (c. 1240-1200). The Israelites approached Canaan from the SE and therefore conquered and settled territory E of the Jordan first. They did not attack the Edomites or the Moabites, because of ancestral relationship to these peoples. Sihon, the Amorite king whose capital was Heshbon, refused to let the Israelites pass and was defeated by them at Jahaz near Medeba. As a result the Israelites occupied much of the land between the Arnon and Jabbok Rivers. They did not attack the Ammonites to the E who were related to them. As they pressed northward, Og, the giant Amorite king of Bashan, opposed them at Edrei, but was defeated. Thereupon the Israelites occupied his kingdom from the Jabbok River northward to Mt. Hermon. This conquered territory E of the Jordan was settled by the Reubenites in the S, E of the Dead Sea and N of the Arnon River, by the Gadites in the center, S and N of the Jabbok River, and by a branch of the Manassites in the N, E of the Sea of Galilee. The soldiers of these two and a half tribes agreed to help in the winning of the W.

Moses continued to be the leader of the Israelites during the conquest of Trans-Jordan, but Joshua was the commander of the army in battle. Finally Moses died on Mt. Nebo, after viewing, but not entering, the land to the W of the Jordan. As liberator, leader, lawgiver, and prophet, he was the founder and former, under God, of the nation of Israel.

The leadership of the people during the conquest and settlement of the West devolved upon Joshua, who had long been assistant to Moses. Joshua and Caleb were the only spies who encouraged the people to enter Canaan years before when they were at Kadesh. Now he and Caleb were the only ones who came out of Egypt who also entered western Canaan.

In order to enter western Canaan the people had to cross the River Jordan. The waters of the river stopped at a town named Adam so that the people could walk across the river bed. It is recorded that in the years a.d. 1215, 1906, and 1927 the high bank opposite Adam fell into the Jordan, temporarily damming the water. So some have suggested that, as in the crossing of the Red Sea, God used natural means with wonderful timing to help the Israelites to go forward.

West of the Jordan, the Israelites first attacked Jericho, which guarded the valleys leading up into central Canaan. The city was defended by walls which fell, as the Israelites marched around them. The Israelites spared only Rahab and her family, because she had sheltered Israelite spies who had visited the city.

The Israelites then made their way up a valley and on the central ridge attacked Ai. They were repulsed in their first attempt, but in their second attack they lured the inhabitants out of the city and were victorious. By these initial victories in central Canaan, Joshua prevented the northern Canaanites from joining those in the S.

Joshua then called the people to sacrifice to Yahweh on Mt. Ebal in the center of Canaan. Since there is no reference to a capture of Shechem at the foot of Mt. Ebal, some have deduced that Israelites were already living there before Joshua came, but there is no direct evidence for this.

To the S the Gibeonite confederacy, including the cities of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim, made a peace treaty with the invaders. The Gibeonite ambassadors pretended to come from afar and so not to be of the inhabitants of Canaan, whom the Israelites considered under the ban of destruction.

The kings of five cities in the S: Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon, now joined to attack the Gibeonites because they had allied themselves with the invaders. Joshua drove the southern coalition from Gibeon and down the valley of Aijalon on the famous long day of battle. The Israelites were then able to capture many cities in the S one by one. Excavations at Lachish, Eglon, and Debir show that these cities were destroyed in the later 13th cent.

Having taken cities in central and southern Canaan, Joshua was free for a campaign in Galilee in the N. There he captured the city of Hazor, which excavations have shown was destroyed in the 13th cent.

Then representatives of the tribes were gathered at the central city of Shechem, and portions of the land were assigned to the twelve tribes. Reuben, Gad, and part of the tribe of Manasseh had already been settled E of the Jordan. In western Canaan, Simeon was located in the extreme S, and then going northward were the portions of Judah, Dan, Benjamin, Ephraim, part of Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulon, Asher, and Naphtali. To the Levites (assistant priests) were assigned cities W and E of the Jordan, and to the priests (descendants of Aaron) were given cities in Simeon, Judah, and Benjamin. This assignment of territory illustrates the tribal organization of the Israelites.

By the latter part of the 13th cent. the Israelites were settled in many parts of Canaan. That Israel was in Canaan by this time is confirmed by Pharaoh Merneptah’s stela of about 1230 listing Israel among the nations he overcame in Canaan. This boast of Merneptah’s, which is not mentioned in the Bible, may be based on an Egyp. campaign which had no lasting effects. The lists of captured cities in Israelite hands show that important cities, esp. in the plains and lowlands, were still under Canaanite control. In western Canaan Israel was largely limited to the central mountains.

5. The period of the Judges (c. 1200-1020). The “judges” of Israel were not so much deciders of judicial cases as special leaders who saved their people in times of danger from surrounding nations. The judges were of different tribes and were active in different areas, and some of them must have been contemporaneous. Also some of the oppressions by other nations in different areas may have been contemporaneous. Therefore, if the years of the judgeships and of the oppressions are added, the sum is much longer than the actual time involved between Joshua and Samuel.

The Canaanites in the N under Jabin of Hazor and his general Sisera tried to subdue the Israelites. A judge and prophetess, Deborah, summoned the Israelite tribes to send soldiers to throw off the Canaanite yoke. Six of the northern tribes responded, and the Israelite forces were led by Barak. Sisera deployed his iron chariots, said to be 900 in number, on the plain of Esdraelon near the River Kishon. A torrential rain caused the Kishon to overflow, and the Canaanite chariots were mired or swept away. The Israelites, who had no chariots, came down from Mt. Tabor and defeated the Canaanites. This victory was celebrated in the Song of Deborah (Judg 5), which most scholars think was composed shortly after the event.

Another serious threat came from the Midianites who made raids, riding on camels from the eastern desert, and seized the crops and the lands of the Israelites. This is the first known example of the use of the camel in warfare. In response to God’s call, Gideon, who was known for his opposition to Baal worship, summoned men from his own tribe of western Manasseh and other northern tribes. By the use of torches and trumpets at night the Israelites terrified the Midianites and drove them eastward across the Jordan.

The most persistent danger to Israelite independence came from the Philistines. Like the Israelites they were recent invaders; soon after the Israelites came from the desert to the SE, the Philistines came by sea from the NW, particularly from Crete. They belonged to a group of Aegeans, whom the Egyptians called the Sea Peoples, who attacked the shores of Egypt at the same time and are depicted on the walls of Ramses III’s (c. 1175-1144) temple at Madinat Habu in western Thebes. The Philistines established themselves in cities near the coast of Canaan, particularly in Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, and also S of Gerar and in Dor. The Philistines brought with them the secret of smelting iron, which gave them a superiority over the Israelites who had weapons and tools of copper and bronze. The Philistines forced the tribe of Dan to move from its original location between Judah and Ephraim northward into Galilee near one of the sources of the Jordan. The influence of the Philistines is indicated by the fact that after their coming Canaan was often called Pal., the land of the Philistines.

Several Israelite leaders tried to resist the Philistines. The exploits of Shamgar and the herculean feats of Samson in killing Philistines or burning their fields were on an individual basis and did not remove the Philistine dominance. Finally the Israelites attempted a pitched battle with the Philistines at Eben-ezer. They summoned Hophni and Phineas, the corrupt sons of Eli, the priest of the central Israelite sanctuary at Shiloh, to bring the sacred Ark to insure an Israelite victory. Nevertheless, the Philistines were victorious, killed Hophni and Phineas, seized the Ark (which they later returned), and destroyed Shiloh, as evidenced by excavations there. The Philistines established garrisons to control the Israelites who became their vassals. Samuel, a judge and priest who had been trained by Eli at Shiloh, called the people back to God and led them to a victory over the Philistines at Mizpah, which restored a measure of independence to Israel.

The period of the judges was one of alternate idolatry and return to the Lord, of periodic dominance by surrounding nations, and of tribal disunity as evidenced by the war between Benjamin and the rest of the tribes. There was need for a strong, centralized government if Israel and its faith were to survive. Abimelech, the son of Gibeon, tried to establish a monarchy, but he lacked prophetic and popular support, and his attempt died with his death.

6. The united monarchy (c. 1090-922)

a. Saul (c. 1020-1000). When Samuel grew old, the elders of Israel asked him to appoint a king to give them political unity and military leadership against their enemies. Samuel saw the wish for a king as a rejection of God’s and his authority, and warned that a king would curtail their liberties. Finally Samuel consented, and Saul of the tribe of Benjamin was chosen by lot as king. Samuel drew up a constitution stating the rights and duties of the king.

Saul showed his military ability by victories over the Ammonites E of the Jordan, the Philistines in central Pal., and the Amalekites who had invaded the S. Saul also built a fortified palace at Gibeah, which has been excavated, the most impressive structure built by Israelites up to that date.

Saul’s later years were embittered by disagreements with Samuel and other priests, and by his jealousy of the young officer David. The latter gained fame by killing the Philistine giant, Goliath, and was a close friend of Saul’s son, Jonathan. Saul’s attempts to kill David forced the latter to become a wandering outlaw with a band of followers in Judah and eventually to take temporary service in the army of the Philistine ruler of Gath.

The Philistines, whom Saul had driven from the highlands, extended their control along the Valley of Jezreel as far as Bethshan, which oversees the route from the Jordan to the W. This movement of the Philistines cut off the northern tribes from contact with the rest of Israel. Saul led his army to Mt. Gilboa, where the Philistines were victorious and killed Saul and Jonathan. The bodies of the Israelite king and his son were displayed by the Philistines on the wall of Beth-shan, and Saul’s armor was placed there in the temple of the goddess Ashtaroth, which has been excavated.

b. David (king of Judah c. 1000-994, king of all Israel c. 994-961). It was David who completed the work that Saul had begun in uniting the Israelites and in defeating their enemies, and David went on to found a little empire which controlled the surrounding nations. After the defeat and death of Saul, his son Ish-bosheth was made king in Gilead E of the Jordan, and David was recognized as king in Judah, making his capital at Hebron. After the assasination of Ish-bosheth, the elders of northern Israel invited David to become the king of all the tribes, as Saul had been.

David’s first move as king of all Israel was to capture Jerusalem from the Jebusites and to make it his capital. This action helped to allay tribal and sectional jealousies, because Jerusalem had not belonged to any Israelite tribe and lay on the border between Judah and the N. Furthermore David had the sacred Ark transported to Jerusalem, a move which made that city the religious as well as the political center of the nation.

David’s genius as a leader was illustrated in Israelite victories over the surrounding nations. In a reversal of fortune, the Philistines were forced back to their original cities and became vassals of Israel. Moab and Ammon to the E, the Aramean kingdoms of Zobah and Damascus to the N, and Edom to the SE were also subdued and included in David’s empire. With Tyre David was on friendly terms.

Within Israel David had to cope with various rebellions, one of them led by one of his own sons, Absalom. The rebellion of Sheba revealed a sectional jealousy between N and S which boded ill for the continuing unity of Israel.

David’s cultural activities included building a palace in Jerusalem and gathering material for the Temple to be built by his son. He composed many psalms and is said to have organized the Levitical liturgical singers and musicians for worship. Excavations show that in his time iron became plentiful in Israelite cities, since the Philistine monopoly on the use of this metal had been broken.

c. Solomon (c. 961-922). Solomon, the son of Bathsheba, David’s favorite wife, acceded to the throne, although he was a younger son. After his coronation Solomon killed his older brother Adonijah, who had aspired to the crown, and also killed or exiled Adonijah’s supporters. In spite of this bloody beginning, Solomon’s reign was noteworthy, not for military, but for cultural and economic developments.

Solomon’s building enterprises were amazing in view of the limited resources of Israel. The most famous building by Solomon was, of course, the Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem. Solomon employed Phoen. craftsmen to make it, its furniture and utensils, the bronze pillars which stood before it, and the great bronze basin for water. The Temple itself was built of great stones, and the interior walls were lined with cedar and covered with gold leaf. In the Holy of Holies was the Ark, protected by gold-plated statues of cherubim, above which the invisible Yahweh was thought to be enthroned. The construction of the Temple took seven years, and Solomon took thirteen years to construct his own palace. Solomon also constructed administrative buildings and palaces for his many wives. By this building he extended the city of Jerusalem northward. Outside of Jerusalem Solomon’s building activity is known from excavations in Megiddo, Gezer, Eglon, and Ezion-geber. At Megiddo new walls, gates and forts were constructed. At Ezion-geber the Solomonic structures formerly thought to be smelteries are now recognized as storehouses, doubtless connected with Solomon’s commerce through that port.

The wealth to support Solomon’s building enterprises came more from international commerce than from rocky Pal. With the cooperation of Hiram, king of Tyre, Solomon built a merchant fleet at Ezion-geber, which brought back gold, silver, ivory, apes, peacocks, almug wood, and precious stones from the E. Among the products sent out from this port was prob. copper which was mined and smelted in the Arabah Valley S of the Dead Sea. Solomon also traded in Egyp. and Cilician horses and Egyp. chariots. The purpose of the visit of the queen of Sheba to Solomon was not only to hear his proverbial wisdom, but also to trade. Solomon imported cedar wood for his buildings from Tyre, and he repaid with olive oil, grain, and some cities in northern Israel. One reason that Solomon was able to control and profit from the commerce between E and W was that neither Egypt nor Assyria was trying to dominate Pal. at that time.

Solomon’s building and luxury were also supported by tribute from the subject nations which his father had conquered, from heavy taxes on the Israelites, and from levies of forced Israelite laborers. To secure these taxes and levies of workers and to organize the government Solomon divided the country into twelve districts, each of which had a governor. These districts did not coincide with the territory of the twelve tribes, a break with the tribal traditions.

Solomon’s activities brought magnificence to Jerusalem, but roused discontent in many quarters. Leaders in Edom and Syria revolted. Furthermore, Israelites themselves, particularly in the N, resented the heavy taxes, the forced levies of workers, and the favored position of Judah. The prophets objected to the introduction of the worship of foreign gods which came to Jerusalem with Solomon’s foreign wives. Solomon had a reputation for wisdom, and he composed many proverbs, but his later policies were not wise, for they harmed his people, his religion, and his dynasty.

7. The separate kingdoms of Israel and Judah (922-722). Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and successor, by trying to carry on the oppressive policies of his father, precipitated the secession of northern Israel. Jeroboam, the spokesman of the northern tribes, had been superintendent of workers under Solomon, had been encouraged to lead a revolt of the northern tribes by the prophet Ahijah, and had fled to Egypt in fear of Solomon. When Rehoboam arrogantly refused to mitigate the taxes and forced labor, the northern Israelites seceded and chose Jeroboam as their king.

After this break (c. 922), the two kingdoms continued a separate but interrelated existence for 200 years till the fall of Samaria in 722. The northern kingdom, including the territories of Ephraim, western Manasseh, Asher, Zebulon, Issachar, Dan, and Naphtali W of the Jordan, and of eastern Manasseh, Gad and Reuben E of the Jordan, was larger than the southern kingdom which included only Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin. The northern kingdom was also richer both agriculturally, because of its plains, and commercially, because of the international trade routes running through it. The southern kingdom was more mountainous and more isolated. For the above reasons, the northern kingdom was more open to foreign cultural and religious influences as well as to foreign conquest. The southern kingdom was more provincial, more faithful in maintaining the religion of Yahweh, and it continued an independent existence for a cent. and a half after the fall of the northern kingdom. Stabilizing factors in the S were the one Davidic dynasty, the one capital, Jerusalem, and its Temple, housing the Ark, which symbolized Israel’s original covenant with Yahweh. In the N there were nine dynasties, violently replacing each other, three different capitals, and two shrines at Bethel and Dan, which lacked symbolic connection with Israel’s religious traditions.

Jeroboam I (c. 922-901) made his political capital at Shechem, which had been a national center in the time of Joshua. He felt the need of religious centers to keep his people from making pilgrimages to Jerusalem in the S. Therefore he set up golden calves in Bethel and Dan, perhaps under the influence of the animal gods he had seen in Egypt during his exile there in Solomon’s time. Since Yahweh was worshiped at these shrines, some have suggested that the calves were considered as pedestals for the invisible God. The prophetic writers condemned these images.

During the reigns of Jeroboam in Israel and Rehoboam (c. 922-915) in Judah, Pharaoh Shishak invaded Pal. The Biblical account of his plundering of Jerusalem is illustrated and amplified by Shishak’s own list on a wall of the temple at Karnak giving towns he captured both in Judah and in Israel.

Baasha (c. 900-877) founded a new dynasty in Israel and moved the capital to Tirzah. He fought with Asa of Judah (c. 913-873) over the border between them. Asa’s fortification of the border town of Mizpah is illustrated by the thick walls discovered there. Zerah, the Ethiopian, who was repulsed by Asa, was prob. a leader in the Egyp. army.

Omri (c. 876-869) does not receive much space in the book of Kings, perhaps because he was not regarded as religiously important, but his political importance is indicated by the fact that a cent. later the Assyrians were still calling Israel “the land of Omri.” Omri moved the capital of Israel to a new site, Samaria, which soon vied with Jerusalem in the beauty of its buildings. Omri cemented an alliance with Tyre by marrying his son Ahab to Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre and Sidon. To the SE, Omri conquered Moab, as recorded on the Moabite Stone.

Ahab (c. 869-850) continued the beautification of Samaria, building there an “ivory house.” This means that his palace’s walls and its furniture were embellished with carved ivory inlaid panels, such as have been found in excavations there. In Megiddo Ahab built tremendous stables with stalls for about 450 horses. Jezebel, Ahab’s Phoen. wife, brought with her and encouraged the worship of Baal and of the goddess Asherah. Such idolatry as well as Ahab’s seizure of a private citizen’s vineyard were condemned by the prophet Elijah.

Ahab was one of the leaders of a Syrian coalition which checked the advance of Shalmaneser III of Assyria in the battle of Qarqar in 853. According to Assyrian records, Ahab brought to this battle 2,000 chariots (more than any other Syrian contingent) and 10,000 foot soldiers. When they were not menaced by a common foe, Ahab and the king of Damascus fought over the control of Gilead. Finally the Syrians defeated and killed Ahab at Ramoth-gilead, though he was supported by Jehoshaphat of Judah.

Jehoram (c. 849-842), Ahab’s son, tried with Jehoshaphat’s help to quell a rebellion of Moab led by Mesha. The combined forces of Israel and Judah failed to capture Kirhareseth, the Moabite capital. Mesha later commemorated the independence of Moab on the stela called the Moabite Stone.

In Judah Jehoshaphat’s reign (c. 873-849) was marked by cooperation with Israel, as indicated above, and by internal religious reforms. He appointed judges in the cities and arranged for appeals to a supreme court in Jerusalem. He destroyed idols and pagan sanctuaries and sent out teachers of the law of the Lord. By defeating a coalition of Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites he reestablished Judah’s control over Edom.

An Israelite general, Jehu (c. 842-815), supported by prophets, led a revolt against Jehoram. Jehu killed not only Jehoram, but also the latter’s nephew Ahaziah king of Judah (c. 842), who was a grandson of Ahab. In executing judgment on Ahab’s house, Jehu ordered the death of Jezebel, Ahab’s widow, and of the brothers of Jehoram and of Ahaziah. He also killed the worshipers of Baal. Shalmaneser III of Assyria’s Black Obelisk shows Jehu bowing down before Shalmaneser, and the inscr. states that Jehu presented tribute. In Jehu’s later years Hazael of Damascus took away from Israel the control of Trans-Jordan.

Meanwhile in Judah a daughter of Ahab, Athaliah (c. 842-837), was trying to wipe out the Davidic dynasty and to encourage Baal worship. After hearing that Jehu had killed her son Ahaziah, she seized power herself and killed her own grandchildren, except for a baby boy, Joash, who was hidden in the Temple. After six years the high priest Jehoiada had Joash (c. 837-800) crowned as king. Athaliah and the priest of Baal were killed, and the temple of Baal was destroyed. Jehoiada gave Joash wise guidance while he was young. In his later years Joash turned to idolatry. The prophets saw it as God’s judgment when the Syrians attacked Judah and plundered Jerusalem.

Both Jehoahaz (c. 815-801) and Joash (c. 801-786) of Israel continued to resist Syrian raids, which reached as far as an unsuccessful siege of Samaria itself. In their resistance to Syria the kings of Israel were encouraged by the prophet Elisha.

Jeroboam II (c. 786-746), the son of Joash, brought the kingdom of Israel to its greatest extent and prosperity. He not only recovered Trans-Jordan from Syria, but also conquered Damascus itself. The material prosperity of Israel is illustrated by large buildings which have been discovered in Samaria, Megiddo, and Tirzah. But beside the great buildings in Tirzah, for example, are the remains of hovels, evidencing the injustice to the poor which the prophet Amos condemned. In Samaria from Jeroboam’s time there have been found many tax receipts written on potsherds. These receipts indicate prosperity, and the names on the receipts are compounded not only with Yahweh, like Jedaiah, but also with Baal, like Elibaal, evidences of the combination of Yahwism and idolatry denounced by Hosea and Amos. One reason for the prosperity and expansion of Israel under Jeroboam was the absence of aggression from the great powers of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Judah also prospered at this time during the long reign of Uzziah, also called Azariah (c. 783-742). He defeated the Philistines on the W and the Arabs on the E, and he carried on his father Amaziah’s work of subjugating Edom by rebuilding the port city of Elath on the Gulf of Aqabah. Some scholars think he is the “Azriau of Yaudi” who, according to Assyrian records, headed a Syrian coalition opposing Assyria.

In the latter 8th cent. Judah came under Assyrian dominance, but was not wiped out. Ahaz of Judah (c. 735-715) refused to join Pekah of Israel and Rezin of Damascus in an alliance against Assyria. When the latter two kings attacked Jerusalem, the prophet Isaiah urged Ahaz to trust in God for deliverance. Ahaz sent gifts to Tiglath-pileser of Assyria and asked his help. The Assyrians subdued both Syria and Israel and exacted tribute from Ahaz also. Ahaz forsook the worship of Yahweh and adopted an Assyrian type of altar.

Since the Assyrians came from the N, Israel more keenly than Judah felt the force of their expansion under Tiglath-pileser III (c. 745-727). This king forced Menahem (c. 745-738) of Israel to pay tribute in 738. Pekah (c. 737-732) of Israel and Rezin of Damascus made an alliance to resist Assyria. Nevertheless in 732 Tiglath-pileser captured Damascus and took away from Israel the Mediterranean coast to the W, Galilee in the N, and Gilead to the E, carrying many Israelites into exile. When Hoshea (c. 732-724), the king of the remnant of Israel, refused to pay tribute to Assyria and turned for help to Egypt, Shalmaneser V of Assyria began the siege of Samaria.

8. The fall of Samaria (722). Samaria withstood the Assyrian siege for three years, but the city finally fell in 722, shortly before the death of Shalmaneser. His son Sargon doubtless assisted in the siege and claims credit for the capture of the city. Sargon states that he carried away captive 27,290 Israelites, and the Bible indicates that they were taken to northwestern Mesopotamia and to Media. Hebrew names have been found in records at Nineveh and Nimrud (Calah). The story of Tobit deals with Israelites who were settled in Nineveh and Media. In place of the deported Israelites the Assyrians introduced settlers from Babylonia and Syria, who brought their idols with them. In time these pagan settlers were assimilated to the remaining Israelites and to Yahwism. So the later Samaritans were a mixture of Israelite and foreign elements and were therefore despised by the Judeans.

9. The kingdom of Judah alone (722-587). In Judah Ahaz was followed by Hezekiah (c. 715-687), who tried to throw off Assyrian control and tribute. He prob. took part in the revolt against Assyria led by the Philistine city of Ashdod c. 711, for Sargon in his account of the suppression of this revolt states that he subdued the land of Judah. Hezekiah welcomed ambassadors of Merodach-baladan of Babylon, who was also scheming to rebel against Assyria. Hezekiah strengthened Jerusalem’s walls and dug a tunnel 1,777 ft. through solid rock to carry water from the spring Gihon to the Pool of Siloam within the city walls, to insure a water supply during a siege. Then Hezekiah led other Palestinian states in another rebellion against Assyria. In 701 Sennacherib of Assyria crushed this revolt, destroying forty-six cities in Judah, including Lachish, whose siege is depicted in reliefs from Sennacherib’s palace in Nineveh. Sennacherib’s records claim that he besieged, but did not take Jerusalem and imposed on Hezekiah tribute including the exact amount of gold mentioned in the parallel account in the Bible. Isaiah assured the pious Hezekiah that Jerusalem would not be captured, and the Biblical record states that “the angel of the Lord” slew many of the besieging Assyrians in the night. An Egyp. story preserved by Herodotus (II.141), telling that at this time the Assyrian army was infested with mice, may indicate that bubonic plague was the means used by God to remove the Assyrian army from Jerusalem. Because of the mention of Tirhakah (born 710) as leader of the Egyp. army which tried to repulse the Assyrians, some scholars suggest that there may have been a second invasion by Sennacherib in Pal. about 688, but this is not clearly stated in the Bible or in Assyrian records. Within Judah, Hezekiah was known for his religious reforms and his return to the law of the Lord.

Manasseh’s (c. 687-642) tribute is mentioned in Assyrian records. He must have tried to revolt, because the Assyrians carried him a prisoner to Babylon, which they controlled. The Chronicler sees this as a punishment for Manasseh’s idolatry. After Manasseh repented and returned to the Lord, the Assyrians allowed him to return to his throne in Jerusalem.

Josiah (c. 640-609) introduced religious reforms, like Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah before him, but he was more thorough than they in removing local shrines and idols. These reforms were based on a book of the law found in the Temple. Since Josiah centralized public worship and the observance of passover in Jerusalem, and since the Book of Deuteronomy stresses the one central sanctuary for sacrifice, many scholars have deduced that the book which was found was some form of Deuteronomy. Because Assyrian power was waning, Josiah was able to extend his control and the elimination of idolatry northward as far as Naphtali.

In 609 Pharaoh Neco went through Pal. to aid the Assyrians, who were hard pressed by the Babylonians. Josiah saw this move as a danger to his kingdom, and he opposed Neco’s army at the pass of Megiddo in northern Israel. Josiah was defeated and killed, and the prophet Jeremiah composed a lamentation for him. Neco was delayed by this battle, and the last Assyrian effort to repulse the Babylonians was defeated.

With the extinguishing of Assyrian power, Neco took over control of Syria-Palestine. Jehoahaz (609), who succeeded Josiah, prob. tried to follow an independent policy; Neco deposed him and took him captive to Egypt. Neco put his brother Eliakim in his place and gave him the throne name Jehoiakim (609-598).

After Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated Neco at Carchemish in northern Syria in 605, Jehoiakim became a vassal of Nebuchadnezzar, and some of the Judean nobility, including Daniel, were taken to Babylon. After the Egyp. army repulsed the Babylonians in 601, Jehoiakim revolted against Babylon, contrary to the advice of Jeremiah. The Babylonians besieged Jerusalem, and Jehoiakim was taken captive and died.

Jehoiachin (598-597) succeded to the throne of Judah during the siege of Jerusalem. In 597 the Babylonians finally took the city and siezed treasures from the palace and Temple. Jehoiachin was carried captive to Babylon with thousands of Jewish leaders, soldiers, and artisans. Records discovered in Babylon show that Jehoiachin and his family received regular rations from the Babylonian government.

Nebuchadnezzar placed Jehoiachin’s uncle Mattaniah on the throne of Judah, giving him the throne name Zedekiah (597-587). After some years Zedekiah, disregarding the warnings of Jeremiah, revolted against Babylonia, relying on possible Egyp. help.

10. The fall of Jerusalem (587). Again Nebuchadnezzar invaded rebellious Judah. Letters on potsherds sent to the Jewish commander at Lachish illustrate the advance of the Babylonians as they captured town after town. Lachish itself was taken and burned. Jerusalem withstood the Babylonian siege for eighteen months. An Egyp. expedition to relieve Jerusalem was turned back. In July, 587, the Babylonians broke through the walls. Zedekiah tried to escape, but he was captured, blinded, and taken to Babylon. In August the Babylonians burned the city, including the Temple, and broke down the walls. Some of the Jewish leaders were executed, and in 852 others were taken to Babylonia. Only the poor were left to till the soil.

The Babylonians appointed a Jew, Gedaliah, to govern Judah. At the instigation of the king of Ammon, Gedaliah was murdered together with some Babylonian soldiers. Fearing a reprisal, a group of Jews fled to Egypt, taking Jeremiah with them, though he objected to the move. In 582 the Babylonian reprisal was forthcoming in taking 745 more Jews as exiles to Babylonia.

11. The Exile (587-538). Though the Exile is usually thought of as beginning in 587 with the fall of Jerusalem, it must be remembered that thousands had gone into exile from Israel in 735 and in 722 and from Judah in 597 and in 582. Furthermore, though the main body of exiles from Judah were in Babylonia, there were also exiles from Israel in northern Mesopotamia and in Media and exiles from Judah in Egypt.

In Babylonia the prophet Ezekiel and other Jewish exiles lived at Tel-abib on the River Chebar, a canal near the city of Nippur. Other places in Babylonia where Jewish exiles lived were Tel-harsha, Tel-melah, and Casiphia.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote to the exiles in Babylonia urging them to build houses, plant gardens, and live normal lives. The exiles were allowed to maintain some community organization headed by their own elders. Some Jews went into business and prospered. Daniel is said to have risen to the position of counselor to the king. Evil-merodach (562-560), Nebuchadnezzar’s son and successor, removed the exiled Jewish king Jehoiachin from prison and gave him residence in the royal palace in Babylon.

Jeremiah in writing and Ezekiel in person taught the exiles that the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile were Yahweh’s punishments for their sins. They urged the exiles to keep faith in Yahweh in the midst of idolatry and held out the hope of return to Judah. The prophecies of the second part of Isaiah comforted the exiles with the assurance that God, the controller of history, would lead them out of Babylonia in a new exodus back to Zion, from which the faith in the one true God would spread to all nations.

12. The Persian period (538-333). Cyrus the Pers. (c. 559-530) was regarded in the second part of Isaiah as an instrument appointed by God to deliver the Israelite exiles. In 539 the army of Cyrus took Babylon, and Babylonia and its dependencies were incorporated into the Pers. empire. Cyrus followed a more tolerant policy toward subject peoples and their religions than that of Assyria or Babylonia. Throughout his empire Cyrus favored local cultural autonomy and respected local gods and their temples. The Jews also benefited from this policy, for Cyrus decreed that the Temple of Yahweh, God of heaven, should be rebuilt in Jerusalem and that Jews wishing to return to Judah could do so.

Shesh-bazzar, a prince of Judah and perhaps a son of Jehoiachin, was appointed governor of Judah. He led the first group of returnees. With them they carried, with Cyrus’s permission, vessels of gold and silver which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem. On their arrival in Jerusalem the returnees set up an altar and began the foundations of a new Temple. They were suspicious of the racial purity and religious orthodoxy of the Israelites who had not gone into exile and refused to let them help in rebuilding the Temple. These “people of the land” retaliated by urging the Pers. authorities to halt the construction of the Temple and the walls.

Another much larger group of Jewish exiles returned with Zerubbabel, who was a nephew of Shesh-bazzar, and followed him as governor of Judah. With Zerubbabel came many priests and Levites led by the high priest Joshua. In 520 work was begun again on the Temple with the encouragement of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, and the permission of King Darius I (522-486). Finally in 515 this second Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem was completed.

The Book of Esther indicates that there were Jews in many parts of the Pers. empire during the reign of Ahasuerus, usually identified with Xerxes I (486-465). The assembling of his military commanders and satraps in his third year (Esth 1:3) may have been in preparation for his expedition against Greece. A Pers. record mentions an official in Xerxes’ court at Susa (Shushan) named Marduka, who may be Mordecai, the cousin and guardian of Esther. The Jewish feast of Purim celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from their enemies as described in this book.

The prosperity of some of the Jews who continued in exile is illustrated by the business records of the Jewish bankers and traders, Murashu and his sons. These records come from Nippur and cover the second half of the 5th cent. This family traded in many commodities and services with Persians, Medes, Babylonians, Arameans, and fellow-Jews.

Ezra, a priest and scribe and perhaps the adviser for Jewish affairs at the Pers. court, led several hundred more exiles back to Judah in the seventh year of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:7). Ezra was armed with a royal decree permitting Jews to return with him, commissioning him to reform religious life in Judah according to the law of God, and granting him money and vessels for the sacrificial worship in the Temple at Jerusalem.

According to the traditional view that Ezra returned under Artaxerxes I (465-424), the date of his return would be 458. Some suggest that the king was Artaxerxes II (404-358), in which case Ezra’s return would be in 398, but this dating contradicts several passages which make Ezra and Nehemiah collaborators (e.g. Neh 8:1, 2, 5, 6, 9; 12:36). Others conjecturally emend “seventh” in Ezra 7:7 to “twenty-seventh” or to “thirty-seventh,” keeping the identification of the king as Artaxerxes I, which would yield as dates for Ezra’s return 438 or 428. One of the arguments for placing Nehemiah before Ezra is that the “wall” (KJV) of Ezra 9:9 seems to imply that Nehemiah’s rebuilding preceded Ezra’s arrival. On the other hand, “wall” (KJV) may refer to a structure which was pulled down shortly before Nehemiah arrived, or more prob. to “protection” (RSV) by the Persians, since the Heb. word is not the usual one for a physical wall, and the whole district of Judah is protected. The difficulties of the traditional order, Ezra then Nehemiah, are less, in my opinion, than the problems arising from the assumption that Jews, writing a few generations after the events, confused the order of the two most outstanding figures of their recent history.

Nehemiah, cupbearer to the Pers. king, first came to Jerusalem as governor in 445, the twentieth year of Artaxerxes I. He had a commission from Artaxerxes I to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem with help and supplies from the Pers. officials in the province of Beyond the River (i.e. Syria-Palestine beyond the Euphrates). This move to strengthen Judah was opposed by the Samaritans, led by their governor Sanballat, by Tobiah, the Israelite governor of Ammon, and by Geshem, identified in inscrs. as the king of the Kedarite Arabs in NW Arabia. Because of this opposition the Jews had to work on the walls under pressure and with weapons near at hand. Thanks to Nehemiah’s planning and encouragement the walls were completed in fifty-two days. At the celebration of the feast of trumpets (Lev 23:24, 25) (first day of the seventh Jewish month) Ezra with assisting Levites read to the people from the Heb. law and interpreted, prob. in Aram., the lingua franca of the time which the Jews had learned in exile. Nehemiah was the first signer of a national covenant with God to obey the law, to avoid marriage with Samaritans and heterodox Jews, to observe the sabbath and the sabbatical year, and to give tithes for the Temple and the priests.

Nehemiah returned to the Pers. court in 433, but soon afterward he was sent back to Judah for a second term as governor. This time Nehemiah busied himself with religious reforms: providing for the Levites, enforcing the sabbath, and condemning marriages with pagans. Ezra and Nehemiah, with their emphasis on racial exclusiveness, and on the ceremonial law strongly influenced later Judaism.

The clash between Nehemiah and Sanballat widened the political and religious breach between the Judeans and the Samaritans. Nehemiah chased out of the Temple a son of the high priest who had married a daughter of Sanballat. Some think that this incident is the same as that described by Josephus (Antiq. XI. vii. 2, XI. viii. 2) but placed, perhaps by error, a cent. later in the time of Alexander. Josephus says that the expelled priest’s name was Manasseh and that he officiated in a rival temple which Sanballat constructed on Mt. Gerizim for the Samaritans.

Fifth-cent. Aram. records from Elephantine, an island in the Nile near Aswan in southern Egypt, show many aspects of the life of a Jewish garrison there employed by the Persians. In 419 the Jews there received a decree from Darius I, communicated through Hananiah of Jerusalem (perhaps Nehemiah’s brother) and Arsames the Pers. satrap of Egypt, about the observance of Passover. Later they wrote to Johanan, high priest in Jerusalem, to the sons of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, and to Bagoas, the Pers. governor in Judah, about the rebuilding of their temple in Elephantine. They agreed not to sacrifice animals in their new temple, because of Pers. and Egyp. opposition to such sacrifice and because of the Jewish law limiting sacrifice to the central national sanctuary, the Temple in Jerusalem.

Artaxerxes III (358-338) had to face serious revolts in Egypt, Syria, and Palestine. In 345 his armies destroyed Sidon and took captives from Judah to Hyrcania, SE of the Caspian Sea. See map XI in Vol. 5 for area of Persian Empire.

13. The Greek period (333-167). In 333 Alexander the Great (336-323) defeated Darius III (336-331) of Persia at Issus, near the border between Asia Minor and Syria. Then he made his victorious way conquering and receiving submission through Syria and Palestine. While he was besieging Tyre, Alexander sent to Jaddua, the high priest in Jerusalem, according to Josephus, asking auxiliary troops and provisions. Jaddua refused, saying that he had promised loyalty to King Darius. After Alexander had taken Tyre and Gaza, he headed for Jerusalem. Warned in a dream to submit, Jaddua went out peacefully to meet Alexander, who entered Jerusalem and offered sacrifices in the Temple. Alexander granted the high priest’s request that the Jews should be allowed to follow their own religious laws and that the Jews of Judea should be exempt from taxation on the seventh, or sabbatical, year when they took no harvests. Some have questioned Josephus’ story of Alexander’s visit to Jerusalem, but elsewhere also Alexander visited local sanctuaries and respected local religious customs.

In the division of Alexander’s empire among his generals, Pal. was assigned to Ptolemy I (323-283) of Egypt, though Seleucus also wanted it. To establish his control of Pal., Ptolemy had to conduct several campaigns there. He first took control of Jerusalem in 320, entering the city on the sabbath, when the Jews made no resistance. He took many Jewish captives and settled them, some in Alexandria, some in Cyrene, and some he made garrisons in various cities of Egypt. In the Hel. period which followed Jews scattered to many places, esp. in the eastern Mediterranean countries. These settlements of Jews often became the seed plots for the early Christian Church.

In the time of Ptolemy I the high priest in Jerusalem was Onias I. That the high priest was the political as well as the religious leader in Judea is shown by the fact that Onias made a treaty of friendship with the king of Sparta.

Ptolemy II (285-246) rebuilt and hellenized cities in Pal., including Rabbah (now Amman) in Trans-Jordan, which he renamed Philadelphia, and Acre (Biblical Acco) on the northern coast, which he renamed Ptolemais. The correspondence of Zeno, the steward of Ptolemy II’s minister of finance, Apollonius, shows that the family of Tobiah, an enemy of Nehemiah, was in charge of collecting taxes for the Ptolemies in Trans-Jordan as it had been for the Persians. In Egypt Ptolemy II freed the Jewish slaves who had been taken captive in his father’s time.

A letter falsely attributed to Aristeas, an officer in Ptolemy II’s court, gives a legendary story that Ptolemy sent rich gifts to the Temple in Jerusalem and invited the high priest, Eleazar, to send six men from each of the twelve tribes to Alexandria. These seventy-two men are said to have produced a tr. of the OT into Gr., called the Septuagint (LXX “seventy”) in their honor. It is prob. true that Ptolemy sent gifts to the Temple in Jerusalem and that at least the Pentateuch was tr. into Gr. in Alexandria in his time. But the tr. was prob. produced by Alexandrian rather than by Palestinian Jews for the use of the numerous Gr.-speaking Jews.

After Ptolemy III (246-221) lost a battle with Seleucus II of Syria, the high priest in Jerusalem, Onias II, who favored the Seleucids, withheld the payment of tribute to Ptolemy. Ptolemy threatened to send soldiers to dispossess the Judeans of their lands. Joseph of the Tobiah family arranged with Ptolemy to take over the collection of taxes and the payment of tribute for Judea.

Ptolemy IV (221-203) was able to keep control of Pal. by defeating Antiochus III (223-187) of Syria at Raphia on the border of Egypt in 217. After the battle Ptolemy tried to enter the Temple in Jerusalem, but the high priest, Simon II, prevented him. This Simon is given fulsome praise in Ecclesiasticus 50:21.

Finally in 198 in the battle of Paneas in northern Pal. Antiochus III defeated the army of young Ptolemy V, and Pal. became a part of the Seleucid empire. The people of Jerusalem welcomed Antiochus, who promised the return of Jewish war refugees to their homes, reduction of taxes, the right to follow their religious laws, help in the repair of the Temple, and regular contributions to the expenses of the Temple worship.

The successors of Antiochus did not follow his benevolent policy toward Judea. For example, Seleucus IV (187-175), under the pressure of paying heavy tribute to Rome, tried, though without success, to get money from the Temple in Jerusalem. His emissary Heliodorus entered the Temple, but was beaten and frightened away.

Antiochus IV (175-162), in addition to encouraging Gr. culture and customs in Judea, also tried to force Gr. religion on the Jews. The high priest, Onias III, was murdered, and Antiochus sold the high priesthood to Jason and then to Menelaus. In need of money for his wars, Antiochus robbed the Temple in Jerusalem. Because of ensuing riots he sent an army which killed, plundered, and destroyed in Jerusalem. Jewish sacrifices and feasts were halted, copies of the Law were destroyed, and circumcision was forbidden. Finally the worship of Zeus Olympios was introduced in the Temple, perhaps with the assumption that the supreme Gr. god could be identified with Yahweh. Jews who refused to comply with these measures were tortured and killed. The nation of Israel and the monotheistic religion of Israel were in danger of extinction.

14. The Maccabean, or Hasmonean, period (167-163). The standard of Jewish revolt was raised by Mattathias, a priest who lived in Modein, near Lydda, with his five sons: John, Simon, Judas, Eleazar, and Jonathan. Mattathias was the descendant of a priest named Hashmon, and therefore the members of his family were sometimes called Hasmoneans. Mattathias refused to offer sacrifice to a pagan god and killed the Syrian officer who ordered the sacrifice and also a Jew who was willing to participate. Then Mattathias and his sons fled to the hills and were joined by some of the Hasidim (pious Jews).

After the death of the aged Mattathias, his son Judas (166-160) took the leadership of the revolt. Because of his skill in leading guerilla attacks he was called Maccabeus, prob. meaning “the Hammerer.” While Antiochus was away with the main Syrian army fighting the Parthians, Judas defeated several Syrian detachments. Finally Lysias, the regent of Antiochus, rescinded the orders proscribing Jewish religious practices. In Jerusalem Judas removed pagan elements from the Temple, rebuilt the altar of Yahweh, and rededicated the Temple in December, 164. This event is memorialized in the Jewish feast of Hanukkah (“Dedication”).

Antiochus died in 163, and his successor, Demetrius I, appointed Alcimus high priest in Jerusalem. Perhaps in disappointment at not being chosen high priest or in fear, Onias, son of the murdered Onias III, fled to Egypt. There he established a Jewish temple at Leontopolis, ten m. N of Heliopolis.

In Judea, since religious freedom had been attained, some Jews stopped fighting; but Judas carried on the war to achieve political independence from Syria also. To secure foreign support, he made a treaty of friendship with the Romans, who were interested in weakening the Seleucid power. After some victories over the Syrians, he was finally defeated and killed at Elasa in 160.

Judas’s brother, Jonathan (160-142), carried on the fight for independence. Because of internal struggles for power in Syria many Syrian garrisons were withdrawn from Judea. One of the claimants for the Seleucid throne, Alexander Balas, appointed Jonathan high priest and then civil governor in Judea. Jonathan took control of several cities on the coast: Joppa, Azotus (Ashdod), and Ekron. A Syrian general, Trypho, offered to parley with Jonathan, but instead imprisoned and killed him.

Simon, the last surviving son of Mattathias, took over the rule and high priesthood of Judea (142-134). Demetrius II, in return for Simon’s aid against Trypho, who had usurped the Syrian throne, granted to Judea freedom from taxation, which meant practical independence. Simon renewed treaties with Sparta and Rome, and Rome warned the Ptolemies and the Seleucids to respect the independence of Judea. Simon drove out the last Seleucid garrisons in Judea, those in Gazara (Gezer) and the Acra fortress beside the Temple in Jerusalem. The Jewish people in 140 declared Simon their ethnarch, or national ruler, with the right of succession for his descendants. Antiochus VI sent an army into Judea, trying to reestablish some Syrian control. Simon’s sons, Judas and John Hyrcanus, led a Jewish force which defeated the Syrians and forced them to