Kingdom Of Judah

The Kingdom of Judah (Hebrew: יהודה Yehuda "praise God") was a kingdom of divided Israel. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the "Northern Kingdom" of Israel. This kingdom, like its Northern counterpart, began with the Revolt of the Ten Tribes in either 975 BC (per James Ussher^[1]) or 930 BC (per Edwin R. Thiele^[2]). It ended with the Fall of Jerusalem in either 588 BC (Ussher) or 586 BC (Thiele).

Territorial Extent[edit]

The Kingdom of Judah was a monarchy, inclusive only of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, over which the House of David enjoyed an unbroken primacy before the Fall of Jerusalem. It extended in the north as far as Bethel, while in the south it ended in the dry area known as the Negev. Its eastern and western boundaries were the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Jerusalem was its capital.

It consisted of those areas, primarily the tribal lands of Judah and Benjamin, that remained loyal to King Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon, when the northern tribes of Israel revolted and named as their king Jeroboam I. Unlike the Northern kingdom of Israel, which rebelled against God, worshiped pagan gods, and disobeyed divine commandments, in most of its history, Judah loyally worshiped God.

The Grounds for the Split[edit]

See Also: Northern Kingdom

God split the Ten Tribes away from Judah and Benjamin as a punishment for King Solomon, who had debased his kingdom by his worship of the strange gods of his thousand foreign wives and concubines. Furthermore, Rehoboam, Solomon's son and successor, was not a good king, and was very ill-advised:

And Rehoboam went to Shechem: for all Israel were come to Shechem to make him king. And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who was yet in Egypt, heard of it, (for he was fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt;) That they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all the congregation of Israel came, and spake unto Rehoboam, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee. And he said unto them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed. And king Rehoboam consulted with the old men, that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer this people? And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever. But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him: And he said unto them, What counsel give ye that we may answer this people, who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter? And the young men that were grown up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou speak unto this people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter unto us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins. And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king had appointed, saying, Come to me again the third day. And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the old men's counsel that they gave him; And spake to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke: my father also chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat. So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed unto their tents. But as for the children of Israel which dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was over the tribute; and all Israel stoned him with stones, that he died. Therefore king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. So Israel rebelled against the house of David unto this day.^[3]

Rehoboam raised a 180,000-strong army to attempt to crush the revolt, but the prophet Shemaiah brought a message from God telling him to desist.

Rehoboam was one of many wicked kings, those that "did evil in the sight of the LORD." That he did not even last as long as did his rival Jeroboam I to the north might or might not be significant.

Early History[edit]

Rehoboam had an inauspicious seventeen-year reign, and in the middle of it Pharaoh Shishak raided his kingdom and took much plunder. Thereafter, the glory of Jerusalem under Solomon would never be the same. This was the same Shishak who had given asylum to Jeroboam in the last three years of Solomon's reign.

Rehoboam's son Abijam had an even briefer spell. But Asa was the first example of a king who did right in God's sight. In this regard, not every king who "did right" did everything right—but those who did, tended to have prosperous reigns.

The Athaliah-Joash Affair[edit]

The only matrimonial alliance between the Divided Kingdoms Northern and Southern was that of King Jehoram with the House of Omri in the Northern Kingdom. Jehoram accepted Athaliah, daughter of Ahab, as his consort. Their son Ahaziah fell in battle against the future King Jehu, who at the time was God's chosen champion in the Northern Kingdom.

When Ahaziah died, Athaliah then tried to kill all the royal family. But Ahaziah's infant son Joash escaped her notice. Six years later, the High Priest in Jerusalem presented Joash to the people and had him crowned. Athaliah tore her royal robes in indignation and accused everyone present of treason, whereupon the High Priest had her arrested, taken outside the city, and summarily executed.^[4]

Joash grew to be a no-nonsense king. Significant among his accomplishments was the repair of the Temple of Jerusalem, which by then had fallen into disrepair. But then Joash made a major mistake: he paid tribute to King Hazael of Syria and used dedicated Temple objects to do it. Perhaps out of outrage, the palace staff conspired against Joash and killed him. His son Amaziah then took over.

After Athaliah[edit]

The kings of the Southern Kingdom seemed to alternate between right-doing and evil-doing kings. Sadly, the right-doing kings of this period (Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, and Jotham) appeared not to have their hearts in doing right. Joash fell almost completely away from the faith after his old counselor Jehoiada died. Amaziah is described as doing right, "but not with a perfect heart." Uzziah let his pride overcome him, to the degree that he presumed to burn incense in the Temple, and for that God struck him with leprosy. Jotham was absent from the Temple and was an absentee father—with scandalous results.

The deeds of Jotham's son, Jehoahaz I, or Ahaz as his name is spelled in II Kings, were especially odious even before he came of age. Note the following:

In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, and did not that which was right in the sight of the LORD his God, like David his father.^[5]

But now consider this:

Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Abi, the daughter of Zachariah. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that David his father did.^[6]

A careful consideration of the ages-at-ascendancy of these two kings, and the length-of-reign of Ahaz (whose son Hezekiah succeeded him with no interregnum), indicates that Ahaz sired Hezekiah when he, Ahaz, was only eleven years of age. Moreover, the Zachariah referred to in the quote was a Levite and a priest in Jerusalem. The situation must have been a near-scandal to all concerned, and that Ahaz would turn out to be an especially "evil-doing" king should surprise no one. The actual surprise was that Hezekiah would turn out to be not only "right-doing," but especially renowned as a reformer.

The Two Great Reformers[edit]

By far the best chapters in the history of the Southern Kingdom were the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah. Hezekiah was the first to undertake the most thoroughgoing of religious reforms: unlike many of his predecessors, he destroyed the pagan temples, or "high places," that so many of his people had built, and cut down the wood-carved Asherah poles, or "groves," throughout his kingdom. He also broke up the brass serpent that Moses had earlier fashioned as a reminder to the people of Israel to remember who God was. The people had begun to venerate it as an idol, and Hezekiah recognized that such behavior was inappropriate. Hezekiah also had the Temple repaired and cleaned out, and commanded the observance of the much-neglected Feast of Passover.

Hezekiah held the throne during the Fall of Samaria. Later, Sennacherib of Assyria launched an invasion of the Southern Kingdom. Hezekiah famously consulted the great prophet Isaiah for help and prayed earnestly to God. In reply, God struck the armies of Sennacherib with a pestilence, so that Sennacherib raised his siege of Jerusalem and went back home.

Subsequently, Hezekiah fell ill and consulted Isaiah again, prompting this famous exchange:

And Isaiah said, This sign shalt thou have of the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he hath spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees, or go back ten degrees? And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go down ten degrees: nay, but let the shadow return backward ten degrees. And Isaiah the prophet cried unto the LORD: and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down in the dial of Ahaz.^[7]

Unhappily, Hezekiah foolishly boasted of his riches and accomplishments when the King of Babylon came to visit him after that episode. Isaiah later issued the baleful prophecy of the Southern Kingdom's eventual defeat and exile.

King Josiah was, if anything, an even greater reformer. He assumed his throne at the age of eight, and by the age of sixteen was already actively studying with the priests in Jerusalem. As soon as he came of age, he gave the same sort of orders as Hezekiah had given, for the systematic destruction of places and objects of pagan worship, and for the repair and cleaning-out of the Temple. In the process, the then-serving High Priest found "the book of the Law," which many believe was a copy of the Book of Deuteronomy or even a full set of the Pentateuch. Josiah had this read to him, and when he realized just how far his people had strayed, he tore his royal robes in deep sorrow. Then, again like Hezekiah, he ordered a restitution of Passover, which again had fallen into neglect.

Unhappily, Josiah received a prophecy that the eventual destruction of the Southern Kingdom was inevitable. God would grant Josiah this boon, however: that he would not live to see it.

The Fall of Jerusalem[edit]

Main Article: Fall of Jerusalem

Later History[edit]

Nebuchadnezzar II, of course, made the territory a Babylonian province. The Persian Empire, beginning with Cyrus the Great and continuing especially with Artaxerxes Longimanus, restored the kingdom to the effective status of a vasal state by granting it a significant degree of autonomy and nominal independence.

In the time of Alexander the Great, the same commanding the unified army of the Greco-Macedonian Empire sought an alliance with this vasal state as a base of operations which was politely refused. Alexander responded by determining their genocide and upon arraying himself against the city he was met by the high priest (who effectively ruled Jerusalem) who surrendered the city to Alexander and showed him the prophecies of Daniel and the specific references to Alexander. Alexander in such amazement that he maintained their degree of independence granting them the right to rule themselves according to their old laws and a tax brake every seventh year.^[8] Alexander named this province in Greek Ioudaia.

After Alexander died, it was largely contested between the Ptolemaic empire of Egypt and the Seleucid empire of Syria, until Judas the Maccabee led a successful revolt in 165 BC. Eventually, however, Pompey Carnifex (the Butcher - largely for his handling of this situation and previous ones) who later came to be known as Magnus (the Great), as Special High Commissioner in the Near East for the Senate of Rome, made the kingdom a Roman province under the name Judea. The region retained that name until AD 70, when the future Emperor Titus destroyed the city and the Temple of Jerusalem.

In AD 135, Simon bar Kochva led an unsuccessful revolt against Emperor Hadrian. He then scattered the Jews throughout the Roman empire (now in its farthest extent) and renamed the region Palaestina, in an apparent evocation of the name of Philistia. The region continued to carry the name of Palaestina, or Palestine, until 1948, when the present Republic of Israel established itself in a year-long war for independence.

Synoptic King List[edit]

		Ussher I		Ussher II		Ussher III		Ussher IV		Thiele I		Thiele II		Thiele III		Thiele IV
Epoch	Authority	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC	AM	BC
Rehoboam	I_Kings 12-13 , II_Chronicles 9:30 , II_Chronicles 10	3029	975	2969	975	3244	975	3184	975	3029	930	2969	930	3244	930	3184	930
Abijam	I_Kings 15:1 , II_Chronicles 13:1-2	3046	958	2986	958	3261	958	3201	958	3046	913	2986	913	3261	913	3201	913
Asa	I_Kings 15:9 , II_Chronicles 14:1	3048	956	2988	956	3263	956	3203	956	3049	910	2989	910	3264	910	3204	910
Jehoshaphat	I_Kings 22:41 , II_Chronicles 16:13 , II_Chronicles 20:31	3090	914	3030	914	3305	914	3245	914	3087	872	3027	872	3302	872	3242	872
Jehoram	II_Kings 8:16 , II_Chronicles 21:5	3112	892	3052	892	3327	892	3267	892	3106	853	3046	853	3321	853	3261	853
Ahaziah	II_Kings 8:25 , II_Chronicles 22:2	3119	885	3059	885	3334	885	3274	885	3118	841	3058	841	3333	841	3273	841
Athaliah	II_Kings 10 , II_Chronicles 22:10-12	3120	884	3060	884	3335	884	3275	884	3118	841	3058	841	3333	841	3273	841
Joash	II_Kings 12:1 , II_Chronicles 23 , II_Chronicles 24:1	3126	878	3066	878	3341	878	3281	878	3124	835	3064	835	3339	835	3279	835
Amaziah	II_Kings 14:1 , II_Chronicles 25:1	3165	839	3105	839	3380	839	3320	839	3163	796	3103	796	3378	796	3318	796
Uzziah	II_Kings 15:1 , II_Chronicles 26:3	3194	810	3134	810	3409	810	3349	810	3167	792	3107	792	3382	792	3322	792
Jotham	II_Kings 15:32 , II_Chronicles 27:1	3246	758	3186	758	3461	758	3401	758	3209	750	3149	750	3424	750	3364	750
Ahaz	II_Kings 16:1 , II_Chronicles 28:1	3262	742	3202	742	3477	742	3417	742	3224	735	3164	735	3439	735	3379	735
Hezekiah	II_Kings 18:1 , II_Chronicles 29:1	3278	726	3218	726	3493	726	3433	726	3230	729	3170	729	3445	729	3385	729
Manasseh	II_Kings 21:1 , II_Chronicles 33:1	3306	698	3246	698	3521	698	3461	698	3262	697	3202	697	3477	697	3417	697
Amon	II_Kings 21:19 , II_Chronicles 33:21	3361	643	3301	643	3576	643	3516	643	3317	642	3257	642	3532	642	3472	642
Josiah	II_Kings 22:1 , II_Chronicles 34:1	3363	641	3303	641	3578	641	3518	641	3319	640	3259	640	3534	640	3474	640
Jehoahaz II	II_Kings 23:31 , II_Chronicles 36:2	3394	610	3334	610	3609	610	3549	610	3350	609	3290	609	3565	609	3505	609
Jehoiakim	II_Kings 23:36 , II_Chronicles 36:5	3394	610	3334	610	3609	610	3549	610	3351	608	3291	608	3566	608	3506	608
Jehoiachin	II_Kings 24:8 , II_Chronicles 36:9	3405	599	3345	599	3620	599	3560	599	3361	598	3301	598	3576	598	3516	598
Zedekiah	II_Kings 24:18 , II_Chronicles 36:11	3405	599	3345	599	3620	599	3560	599	3362	597	3302	597	3577	597	3517	597
Fall of Jerusalem	II_Kings 23:36 , II_Chronicles 36:12-21	3416	588	3356	588	3631	588	3571	588	3373	586	3313	586	3588	586	3528	586
Pensioning of Jehoiachin	II_Kings 25:27	3442	562	3382	562	3657	562	3597	562	3397	562	3337	562	3612	562	3552	562

Differing Chronological Placement[edit]

Main Article: Biblical chronology dispute

James Ussher calculated the length of the history of the Southern Kingdom by a straightforward summation of the lengths-of-reign of the various kings of that kingdom. That summation falls only three years shy of the 390 years that the prophet Ezekiel stated was the time of the "iniquity" of Israel.^[9] To make up that deficit, Ussher assumed that Jeroboam I fled from Solomon and sought asylum from Pharaoh Shishak three years before Solomon's death and the Revolt that split the Kingdoms.

Edwin R. Thiele, however, attempted to synchronize the reigns of Jehu and Ahab to certain questionable mentions in Assyrian chronology, and also assumed that Sennacherib's campaign occurred in 701 BC. To "fit" the chronology of the Divided Kingdoms to the Assyrian "historical record," Thiele moved the reign of Jehu to a date forty-three years more recent than Ussher's date—that is, from 884 BC to 841 BC. The violence that this does to the chronology of the Northern Kingdom is discussed in detail here. The relevant effects on the Southern Kingdom are a telescoping of the reigns of Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, and Ahaz (Jehoahaz I). Specifically, according to Larry Pierce's Appendix to the Annals, Thiele assumes that Uzziah began a viceroyship under Amaziah twenty-four years before the Bible says that he did, in order to stay consistent with his revised chronology. Pierce rejects this as flatly impossible.

And they brought him on horses: and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. And all the people of Judah took Azariah, which was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah.^[10]

Pierce^[11] argues forcefully from this quote that Uzziah assumed office upon his father's death in battle.

In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign. Sixteen years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned two and fifty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem.^[12]

Pierce furthermore argues that if Uzziah had indeed begun a viceroyship under Amaziah twenty-four years earlier, then he would have had to do it eight years before he was born.^[11]

Thiele's other assumption violates Occam's razor. To synchronize Sennacherib's campaign at 701 BC, Thiele has to assume that Hezekiah and his son Manasseh somehow had an eleven-year co-regency. This is highly unlikely when one considers that Manasseh was an "evil-doer," while Hezekiah was one of the Southern Kingdom's two great reformers. Worse yet, Scripture specifically says that the Fall of Samaria took place in the sixth year of Hezekiah and the ninth year of Hoshea,^[13] and then that the invasion of Judah took place in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah.^[14] This makes a 701 BC date impossible to sustain.

Related References[edit]

1. ↑ James Ussher, The Annals of the World, Larry Pierce, ed., Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2003 (ISBN 0890513600), pghh. 476-482
2. ↑ Leon J. Wood, A Survey of Israel's History, rev. ed. David O'Brien, Grand Rapids, MI: Academie Books, 1986 (ISBN 031034770X), pp. 285-286
3. ↑ I_Kings 12:1-19 (KJV)
4. ↑ II_Kings 11:1-16
5. ↑ II_Kings 16:1-2 (KJV)
6. ↑ II_Kings 18:1-3 (KJV)
7. ↑ II_Kings 20:9-11 (KJV)
8. ↑ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews
9. ↑ Ezekiel 4:5
10. ↑ 14:20-21 (KJV)
11. ↑ ^{11.0 11.1} Larry Pierce, Evidentialism–the Bible and Assyrian chronology TJ 15(1):62–68 April 2001
12. ↑ II_Kings 15:1-2 (KJV)
13. ↑ II_Kings 18:10
14. ↑ II_Kings 18:13

See also[edit]

• Judaism
• Old Testament
• United Kingdom
• Northern Kingdom
• Fall of Jerusalem
• Biblical chronology
• Biblical chronology dispute