Kingdom of Judah

His son and successor Solomon is most noted for advancing David’s kingdom and for building the First Temple. In fact, according to Abba Eban (1999), author of over half a dozen historical reference books on Jewish history as well as the PBS television series “Civilization and the Jews,” “Solomon’s Temple was the crowning glory of a building program that rivaled those of the Pharaohs” (p. 50). Archaeologists claim to have found remnants of Solomon’s Temple as well in the form of a tablet dated…

“The purpose of the book of Amos was to announce God’s holy judgment on the Kingdom of Israel (the Northern Kingdom), call them to repentance and to turn from their self-righteous sins and idolatry. G-d rose up the prophet Amos, as an act of His great mercy to people who repeatedly shunned and disobeyed him.” In Amos, Amos uses phrases such as…

8th-6th century periods of BCE, Judah and Israel had an ongoing rival lasting for almost two hundred years. Bordered North and South, this rivalry would come to blows and both were dealt with invasions; not only from each other but also from foreign empires. It was also at this time Judah and Israel kingdoms were on opposite directions. Judah had begun to maintain a steady growth and prosperity where Israel was on a path to begin a steady downfall of their reign and kingdom. With the rise of…

divided into two parts. Ch. 4-10 God’s controversy with His people and Ch. 11-14 is showing that His love is still loyal to Israelites. 2. Historical/cultural Context Hosea was prophesying in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. His date was about the last 40 years of the Northern Kingdom. The Kingdom was under the reign of Jeroboam II. It was called the golden age, because the reign of Jeroboam II was at its peak. The time was also had a problem with cults. The worship of Yahweh was contaminated by…

seventh century, the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel faced the rising empires of Assyria and Babylon. In order to survive possible invasion or annexation, the Kingdom of Judah issued many religious reforms under Kings Hezekiah and Josiah. Religious practices before these threats were much more decentralized and had roots in earlier Yahwistic cultic practices. An example of these practices would be the High Places as areas of worship. With the downfall of the northern Kingdom of Israel, Judah had to…

the kings are held accountable to maintain the standards of God’s covenant. Failure to do so ultimately brought the curses of the covenant on both Israel and Judah (Deut 28:15-68). Each king virtures and faults were the ultimate reason they were rejected by God. The Israelites asked for a king because it was…

Manasseh: 2 Kings vs. 2 Chronicles King Manasseh was certainly a memorable king of Judah for those who had read and reread the books of Kings and Chronicles. Both books draw much attention to him, but there can be no doubt that the figure of Manasseh as portrayed in Chronicles was significantly different from the king evoked by the book of Kings. Initially, 2 Chronicles 33 follows closely the accounts of 2 Kings 21. King Manasseh, son of Hezekiah, began his 55-year reign at the age of 12.…

More punishment is promised in 1 Kings chapter 14 as there is the first mention of the Israelite’s use of sacred poles since the split of the kingdom. Traditionally, these ‘sacred poles’ are understood as poles or idols used to worship false gods in general. The text in chapter 14 verses 15 and 16 says this provokes Yahweh to anger and that he will basically abandon Israel for the sins of Jeroboam. Then it flat out blames Jeroboam since he caused Israel to commit this sin collectively as a…

Hosea is a prophetic book telling story of the prophet, Hosea who both lived and prophesied in the northern kingdom of Israel. Amongst scholars, the consensus regarding the dating of the events detailed within Hosea as having occurred between 755-722 BCE, stemming largely from the books opening verse which detail the kings of Judah and Israel during the ministry of Hosea (1:1). Nearly immediately, Hosea is established as a prophet whom the Lord spoke “through” and “to” (1:2), however, there is…

Rapids: Zondervan, 1996) and The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopaedia of the Bible. An artist impression of King Ahab BIBLICA TEXT Ahab the son of Omri ascended to the throne of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of King Asa of Judah (1 Kings 16:29) a Ahab reigned over the northern Kingdom for twenty-two years with his capital in Samaria. He married Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians…