Information Related to "The Early Kings of Israel: A Kingdom Divided"
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The Bible and Archaeology
The Early Kings of Israel:
A Kingdom Divided
by Mario Seiglie
Recent issues of The Good News
have covered some of the archaeological evidence that confirms and clarifies the
biblical record from Genesis through Solomon's kingdom. We continue the story with
the breakup of Israel, looking first at the archaeological evidence for the northern
10 tribes of Israel and their rulers. Later we will direct our attention to the nation
of Judah, which outlived the kingdom of Israel by more than a century.
After Solomon's tragic apostasy as a ruler, God removed the blessings of national
unity from the tribes of Israel. He had told Jeroboam, the future king of the northern
10 tribes of Israel: "Behold, I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon
and will give ten tribes to you (but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant
David, and for the sake of Jerusalem . . .), because they have forsaken
Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians . . . and have
not walked in My ways to do what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My
judgments, as did his father David' " (1Kings 11:31-33).
Around 930 B.C. the united kingdom was divided, with Jeroboam governing the northern
10 tribes and Rehoboam, Solomon's son, governing the two southern ones, Judah and
Benjamin. (As priests, a good portion of the tribe of Levi eventually either resettled
in or remained with the southern kingdom.) As both of their wicked reigns came to
an end--and according to God's prophecies of punishment for disobedience--ominous
clouds began to appear over Israel's northern horizon. Assyria began to awaken as
a powerful enemy in that region.
Eugene Merrill suggests: "Perceptive observers of the world scene could already discern
by 900 (B.C.) the stirrings of the Assyrian giant. Though it would be almost fifty
years before they fell beneath its heel, the little kingdoms of the west could hear
it coming" (Kingdom of Priests, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1996, p. 336).
An Abundance of Assyrian Evidence
Related Information on UCG Sites:
Table of Contents that includes "The Early Kings of Israel: A Kingdom Divided"
Other Articles by Mario Seiglie
Assyria: