Israel

The Kingdom of Israel occupied the land on the Mediterranean Sea corresponding roughly to the State of Israel of modern times. The region was known, historically, as Canaan, as Phonecia and, also, as Palestine. Named after the Hebrew patriarch Jacob (also known as Yisrae’el, 'persevere with God’) and by extension his nation, Israel was at first the region conquered by the Hebrew General Joshua around 1250 BCE. The Biblical book of Exodus tells the story of the Egyptianized Hebrew leader Moses and how he lead his people out of slavery in Egypt to the “promised land” of Canaan. Unable to enter the land himself owing to a misunderstanding with God, Moses passed his leadership to his second-in-command, Joshua, who then lead the Israelites to victory over the indigenous people (this story, it should be noted, is only found in the Hebrew Bible and while archaelogical evidence in the region once known as Canaan does support the wide-spread upheaval of a conquest, said evidence does not fit neatly with the Biblical narrative).

Israel developed into a kingdom under the leadership of King David (c.1000-960 BCE) who consolidated the various tribes under his single rule (having taken over from Israel’s first king, Saul, who ruled circa 1020 BCE). David created Jerusalem as capital of his kingdom and had the Ark of the Covenant moved there, thus making the city a center of political and religious power. He had intended to build a great temple to house the Ark but that task fell to his son, Solomon (circa 960-920 BCE) whose rule corresponds to the height of Israelite grandeur. Solomon consolidated treaties with neighboring kingdoms such as Tyre to the north, Egypt, and Sheba, among other, and sponsored building projects which made Jerusalem a great and opulent city (including, of course, the building of the great First Temple).

The Kingdom of Israel was characterized by an unyielding belief in a fierce desert god (the same who had inspired Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt) named Yahweh who was considered the only 'true god’ and the creator Lord of the Universe. Solomon used this absolute monotheism to his benefit in ruling over the people, but upon his death (around 920 BCE) the kingdom split in half, Israel occupying the northern region with a capital at Samaria and the Kindgom of Judah in the south with Jerusalem as capital. The two kingdoms would sometimes ally and sometimes war but would never again achieve the strength and wealth of the kingdom under the rules of David and Solomon.

Unable to sustain a lasting, meaningful alliance with each other, the kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians in 721 BCE and the population was deported (replaced by Assyrian settlements). In 587 BCE, the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar II defeated Judah, sacked Jerusalem (destroying the temple) and deported the aristocracy, scribes and skilled craftsmen back to Babylon (known as the Babylonian Captivity). These displaced Israelites found, in time, that they enjoyed life in Babylon. When the Persian king Cyrus offered to return them to their homeland many years later, most of them refused to leave, thus resulting in the Jewish Diaspora (the 'scattering' of the tribes). Following the sack of Samaria, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Diaspora, Israel ceased to exist until the creation of the modern State of Israel in 1947-1948 CE by the United Nations, though the link between the ancient Kingdom of Israel and the modern state of the same name has been hotly contested over the years.

Written by Joshua J. Mark, published 31 July 2010.