History of ancient Israel and Judah

According to the TORAH-the Jewish Holy Scriptures, which are also the first five books of Bible-life on earth began in the Garden of Eden, a spot from which four rivers sprang. Two of them, the Tigris and Euphrates, still flow today in Iraq. From this land, called Ur at the time, God commanded Abraham in about 2100 B.C.E. to get his clan out of this country and walk towards the land which God will show him and it shall be made into a great nation.

As per the Torah, God led Abraham and his clan of nomadic herders to Canaan, the land between Egypt and Lebanon. They were to be the first people to arrive at an abstract notion of God and to forbid his representation by images. These people who were to be remembered as the descendants of Abraham became known in the end as “Hebrews”. He and his people had journeyed from a region(Mesopotamia) where multiple gods were feared and had to be appeased, and yet he began to believe in a single, supreme God, transcendent in power.

Abraham’s grandson Jacob had 12 sons, from whom the 12 tribes of Israel are said to be descended. To escape a famine, Jacob and his family migrated to Egypt where other Hebrews traveled regularly as traders. Jacob died there, but the Israelites were enslaved by the pharaoh, possibly Ramses-II. Around 1300 B.C.E., Moses Maimonides delivered them from bondage and lead them safely out of Egypt.

At Mount Sinai, Moses received the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments, written in stone. Stating above all, “You shall have no other gods before me,” the Ten Commandments laid the foundation of moral law for Judaism, which eventually became the moral code for Christianity and Islam as well. So, Abraham is rightly called the father of three faiths. According to the Commandments, idolatry was forbidden; parents were to be honored; murder, adultery, theft, and lying should be punished; and the seventh day of the week should be reserved for rest-a time for prayer and reflection. Virtuous living would be awarded and wickedness punished.

Returning to Canaan, the Hebrews established the kingdom of Israel. Their belief in a single God set them apart from their neighbors and placed on them a heavy burden, but their religion has survived endless trials to this day.

The Torah scroll

Led from bondage by Moses, the Hebrews left Egypt around 1300 B.C.E. to settle in the “promised land”, the uplands of Canaan. Philistines, Phoenicians, and other sea peoples already occupied the coastal area. The Hebrews formed a loose coalition of 12 tribes , ruled by judges.

Moses Maimonides

By 1025 B.C.E. fear of the warlike Philistines caused the Hebrews to unite into the kingdom of Israel. They chose Saul as their first king. In 1000 B.C.E. David followed Saul and made Jerusalem the capital of his kingdom. David’s son Solomon succeeded him in 960 B.C.E., and the kingdom thrived. Massive building projects were completed, most famously the magnificent Temple of Solomon. With Solomon’s death in 925 B.C.E., a golden era ended. His sons split the kingdom into two feuding countries: Israel in the north and Judah in the south, a division that would prove fatal.

The magnificent

King Solomon                                                                    Temple of Solomon

The Assyrians to the north had been a long time threat and in 721, they conquered Israel’s capital of Samaria. The Israelites were forced into exile, scattered in small populations all over the Middle East. The assaults continued in 701, when Judah’s major city of Lachish fell, but the Assyrians could not capture the capital, Jerusalem.

Ancient Israel Map

Subjected to constant power struggles between Babylonians, Assyrians, and Egyptians, Judah’s fortunes ebbed and surged. Once Assyria declined and fell to the might of Babylon, however, its king, Nebuchadrezzar, took a new aim at Jerusalem. He first appointed Zedekia to be king of Judah and sent some 10,000 prominent Jews into exile in Babylon. Then when Zedekia proved unreliable, Nebuchadrezzar laid seige to Jerusalem. In 597 B.C.E. Babylonian forces breached the city’s defenses and destroyed the former capital, bringing an end to what was left of the once united kingdom of Israel.