Kings of Judah After Solomon Until Babylonia Attack in 586 BCE

Nadene Goldfoot                                                 
                               THE 12 TRIBES OF JACOB (ISRAEL)               

       

                                                            Kingdom of Judah
King Solomon died in 933 BCE, and had been king since 961 for 28 years, son of David and Bathsheba.  He was king of Israel  after Saul of the tribe of Benjamin and then David who was his father of the tribe of Judah, ruling from 1,000 to 960 BCE.   Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem.  Hiram of Tyre sent architects and builders to help for his royal family and harem of 1,000 wives and concubines.  Then he used forced labor which impoverished the country.  The Edomites and Arameans began to revolt, and malcontent was inside Israel.  His superintendent of forced labor was Jeroboam I.  Upon Solomon's death, Jeroboam led a delegation to Shechem and demanded changes in the taxation and forced labor which was refused by the son, Rehoboam.  The results was the split of kingdoms.  
                                                                         

The southern part of Israel was made of the tribe of Judah, most of Benjamin and probably absorbed the tribe of Simeon who was in the extreme south.  The 2 kingdoms were divided in 933 BCE after the death of King Solomon of united Israel.  It was poor and unimportant because of its location inland, but for these same reasons, was not involved in international rivalries and the people led a more tranquil existence.  On its territory lie Jerusalem and its Temple and because of this reason, were more involved with Mosaic monotheism in a purer form.  Their monarchy generally passed peacefully from father to son.  

The Assyrian expansion had overtaken the Northern kingdom of Israel but Judah stopped it before the walls of Jerusalem in 701 BCE.  Jerusalem and Judah fell to the Babylonians later in 586 BCE.  Large numbers of their people were also deported like what had happened to Israel.  
                                                           

The Northern 10 Tribal lands filled in with Samaria, Galilee, etc. 

                                    

1. Rehoboam (933-917 BCE) 16 years, son of Solomon and his Ammonite wife, Naamah.  He had refused to change Solomon's procedures of taxation and labor gangs which caused the split of the kingdom.  Shishak of Egypt exploited this period and invaded the country and plundered the Temple. 





2. Abijah, Abijam (917-915 BCE) 2 years, son of Rehoboam, fought with Jeroboam, now king of Israel.  had an attitude towards Judah's northern brothers who broke off from them.  Rabbis thought this was religious zeal.  Perhaps not.  Look at feelings between North and South of USA's Civil War.  Problems of religion had not yet started with Northern tribes kept from Jerusalem worship by their kings.  It's like a divided family with only one Synagogue.  They'll find another...but none existed.  
                                                         

Bronze Baal -belief in many gods, starting 14th-
12th Century BCE

3. Asa (915-875 BCE) 40 years, son of Abijam. Threatened by Baasha, king of Israel, asked for help from Aram-Dammesek, but got back their independence.  Fortified Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah into key fortresses on frontier along the border with Israel.   He won a victory over invader Zerah the Ethiopian, who got as far as Mareshah, and abolished heathen cults in his kingdom. 
                                                    

4. Jehoshaphat (875-851 BCE) 24 years, son of Asa, 1st to make a treaty with Israel, strengthened the ties by marrying his son Jerhoram to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab of Israel.  Had fought with Ahab of Israel  against Aram (Syria) and with Ahab's son, Jehoram against Mesha of Moab.  Tried to revive sea-commerce but his crafts were wrecked at Ezion-Geber.  Under Jehoshaphat, Judah had a period of political and commercial expansion in alliance with Ahab of Israel but it ended badly.  His piety was praised.  
                                                        

5. Jehoram (851-844 BCE) 7 years, son of Jehoshaphat, to become king, had put his brothers and many other men to death.  He was influenced by his wife, Athaliah.  He introduced the Baal cult into Judah.  Belief in many gods in the form of a bull or a man, worshiped as gods of fertility of the field and the womb.  Introduced to Exodus slaves when they entered Canaan.  Slaves were enticed by this.  The Edomites had a successful revolt, and Philistines and Arabs invaded and plundered Jerusalem.  He died after a prolonged illness.  
                                                         

 
6. Ahaziah (844-843 BCE) 1 year, son of Jehoram, worshipped Baal like his mother, Athaliah, joined his uncle Jehoram of Israel in battle against Hazael of Syria.  After Jehoram was wounded, Ahaziah visited him at his place of rest in Jezreel where both were killed by Jehu.  
                                                    

                                                   

Athalia and high priest of Judah

7. Athaliah (843-837 BCE) 7 years, Queen of Judah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.  Exterminated the whole royal family except for her grandson, Joash who was saved by his aunt, Jehosheba.  She did all this after her son, Ahaziah, had died.  She took power and introduced the Baal cult into Judah. After ruling for 6 years, a revolt broke out in favor of Joash, and she was put to death.  
                                                       

Jehoiada, high priest, was Joash's uncle.  

8. Joash (837-798 BCE) 39 years, at age 1 year, the throne was taken by his grandmother, Athaliah, who had all House of David murdered.  He was rescued by his aunt, Jehosheba-married to the high priest Jehoiada and kept hidden in the Temple for 6 years. The the boy was crowned king and Jehoiada had Athaliah put to death, obliterated the Baal cult, and became regent until Joash was 21.  Joash continued in the priestly tradition and restored the Temple but during his reign, the country was invaded by Aram (Syria)'s Hazael who was bought off with a large indemnity.  Joash was killed by conspirators.  

9. Amaziah (798-780 BCE) 18 years, son of Joash, king when father was killed, and put his murderers to death.   Won battle over Edom, but when challenging Samaria, was defeated badly and held prisoner for a time.  He was killed in a palace revolution.  
                                               

         

10. Azariah-Uzziah (780-740 BCE) 40 years, son of Amaziah? Succeeding to the  throne by age 16, conquered Philistia and defeated the Arabians and Meunites to the south of his kingdom.  He headed a league of kings who opposed Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria.   He rebuilt the Red Sea port of Elath.  With Uzziah, Judah reach the zenith of its development.  In later years he suffered from leprosy and handed power to his son, Jotham.  An inscription was found about him in Jerusalem about his remains being transferred outside the city when the 3rd Wall in the time of Agrippa I was being built.  

11. Jotham (751 or 740-735 BCE) 5 years, son of Uzziah by Jerusha ?, daughter of Zadok, priest-descendant of Aaron, was David's chief priest, had annointed Solomon as king.  From then on Zadokite family held position of high priest until the Hasmonean rising. Jotham was 25 when he began his reign, and reigned for 16 years fought and defeated the Ammonites and resisted the pressure of the king of Aram to join an anti-Assyrian alliance.  
                                                       

12. Ahaz (735-720 BCE) 15 years, son of Jotham; Judah was attacked by Israel and Syria while the Edomites and Philistines attacked his southern lands. He asked Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria for help even though prophet Isaiah told him not to;  Tiglath-Pileser then  invaded Syria and Israel in 733 BCE.  Judah became an Assyrian vassal and was also subjected by Ahaz to Assyrian idolatry.  

13. Hezekiah (720-692 BCE) 28 years, son of Ahaz,  aimed at breaking their dependence on Assyria.  He freed religious worship from Assyrian influence, purged the palace and Temple of images and pagan altars, renewed pure monotheistic religion.   He had prophets' support, especially Isaiah who had a lot of influence in the affairs of state.  He allied himself with neighboring rulers, fortified Jerusalem constructed the Siloam tunnel to improve the water supply.  In 712 BCE he joined the neighboring states in their uprising against Assyria.  Sargon II sent an expedition which captured the Philistine cities, but didn't enter Judah, Edom or Moab.  After Sargon's death in 705 BCE, Hezekiah led a league of states including Edom, Moab, Sidon and the Philistine cities supported by Egypt and Babylon to cast off the Assyrian yoke. In 701 BCE, Sennacherib with his army invaded Judah and told Hezekiah to surrender, but didn't occupy Jerusalem.  Hezekiah had to pay a large indemnity and cede 43 cities.  When Sennacherib went back home, Hezekiah recaptured these towns from the Philistines who were guarding them.  II Kings then tells that Sennacherib had to stop attacking Judah a 2nd time because a plague had hit his camp.  Hezekiah had fostered an interest in religion and study.  
UPDATE: 10/31/18 https://watchjerusalem.co.il/40-seals-of-isaiah-and-king-hezekiah-discovered

14. Manasseh (692-638 BCE BCE) 54 years, son of Hezekiah at the age of 12 and is spoken of in the bible as one of the worst Jewish monarch.  He canceled his father's reforms, reintroduced pagan practices, shocked the faithful so much that the destruction of the Temple was blamed on his behavior.  He had put to death many of the loyal monotheists.  Manasseh paid tribute to Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal of Assyria and spent time as a captive in Babylon.  His pagan innovations may have been the result of Assyrian pressure.  

15. Amon (638-637, or 642-640 BCE) 2 years, son of Manasseh,  he ascended the throne at age 22 and ruled for 2 years before being killed by  conspirators.  
                                                                               

16. Josiah (637-608 BCE) 29 years, son of Amon who was murdered when Josiah was 8 years old when he was then crowned king.  At manhood of 18 or 21, he began religious reform, removing foreign cults that had taken hold in Judah; re-established pure monotheistic religion.  At the time, Assyrian influence over the country declined, and prophets  Nahum, Zephaniah and Jeremiah helped.  When Temple was repaired, the High Priest Hilkiah announced the discovery of a Book of the Law  (Deuteronomy)which influenced Josiah.  He convened all the people to come during Passover in 621 BCE and a solemn covenant was made with G-d.  Josiah removed the high places and had worship at the Temple in Jerusalem.  His reign was cultural, religious, and political prosperity.  In 608 BCE he tried to bar the passage of the Egyptian army under Necoh which was moving to help Assyria against his Babylonian allies.  A battle at Megiddo took place and Josiah's army was defeated and he was mortally wounded.  His religious reforms were important for the growth of Judaism and formed a basis for the work of Prophets Ezra and Nehemiah. 
                                                                             

Pharaoh Necoh's anger first with Josiah, then with Jehoahaz

17. Jehoahaz (608-598 BCE) 3 months , son of Josiah, After his father was killed fighting the Egyptians, he was crowned. 

18. Jehoiakim (608-598 BCE) 10 years,  another son of Josiah, Made king by Pharaoh Necoh in succession to his brother, Jehoahaz.  A subject to Egypt for 3 years, but when Necoh was defeated at Carchemish in 605 BCE, he was a Babylonian vassal.  In 601 BCE he joined the Egyptian party in Judah who were in opposition to Prophet Jeremiah's advice.  Jeremiah thought Jehoiakim was a tyrannical oppressor.  He belonged to the pro-Babylonian party since he was deposed and arrested by Pharaoh Necoh, dying in captivity in Egypt.  He died in Jerusalem while it was under siege by the Babylonians in 598 BCE.
                                                                             

Evil-Merodach in 561 BCE-son of Nebuchadnezzar,
King of Babylonia
 Babylon's rule lasted 70 years, from 609 BC when the last Assyrian king, Ashur-uballit II, was defeated in Harran, until 539 BC when the Medo-Persians conquered Babylon.

       19. Jehoiachin (597 BCE) 3 months and 10 days, son of Jehoiakim;  on the throne at age 18 during siege of Babylonia of Jerusalem, then capitulated to Nebuchadnezzar and taken to exile in Babylonia, kept in detention until the accession of Evil-Merodach in 561 BCE when he was released.  Official Babylonian records relating to his captivity have been recovered.  
                                                               

               

20. Zedekiah (597-586 BCE) 11 years, son of Josiah, first called Mattaniah, adopted Zedekiah when became king by Nebuchadnezzar to succeed the exiled Jehoiachin.  He was on the throne at age 21 and swore allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar.  At first he wouldn't join an anti-Babylonian coalition of neighboring kingdoms.  He visited Babylon in 594 BCE.  In his 9th year as king, he conspired with Egypt, so the Babylonians invaded his kingdom and captured Jerusalem.  He was overtaken while running away and brought for trial before Nebuchadnezzar. By 586 BCE Jerusalem and Judah succumbed to the Babylonians and large numbers of the people were deported.  
                                                                                   

 His sons were killed before him and then his eyes were put out and he was put in prison in Babylon where he died in 582 by assassination.  
                            
The Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia.  They tried to keep the state going under Gedaliah, a royal house member and governor of Judah appointed by the Babylonians, but this ended with his assassination in 582 BCE.  Descendants of the exiles in Babylonia continued to have national and religious ideals.Nebuchadnezzar exiled 8,000 of the local aristocracy to Babylon.  8 years later, Zedekiah rebelled.  
                                               

Rebuilding the Temple, now the 2nd Temple

 After 539 BCE the people had a renewal of Jewish life in Judah.  The prophets carried on their activity and great parts of the Tanakh were written, and essential traditions of Judaism were developed and preserved.  Jews had been taken to Babylon.  King Cyrus of Persia allowed them to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple in 538 BCE. The Jewish exiles thought highly of him and thought he was a divine agent.   They had been gone for 48 years.  
          
The descendants of the exiles in Babylonia cherished their national and religious ideals and so renewed Jewish life after 539 BCE in Jerusalem where they were able to finally return by the ruling of King Cyrus II, king of Persia  who died in 529 BCE of the Achaemenid dynasty. who overran the Babylonian Empire which had included Israel-Judah.  The intellectual and spiritual life of Judah was very rich.  It was there that most of the prophets carried on their activity and great parts of Tanakh were composed and the traditions of Judaism were developed and preserved.  "The Jews, led by  and others, traveled from Babylon in 538 BC, andn
The Jews, led by Zerubbabel b: 480 BCE, son of Shealtiel , grandson of King Jehoiachin, and Jeshua, son of Jozadak and others;  also the Kohanim and the Levites and all those who came back, traveled from Babylon in 538 BC, and the full list of people who returned with him is listed in the 2nd chapter of Ezra. Upon their arrival, some of the people settled in Jerusalem while others returned to their own towns. They began to rebuild the temple during the second year after they arrived in Jerusalem (Ezra 3:8).e   Zerubbabel had been the body-guard of King Darius who then gave him permission to return to rebuild Jerusalem  but this conflicts with biblical accounts but was told by Ezra.  He was the last satrap (governor of a province)  of Davidic descent in Jerusalem.  After him the high priest had much influence.  
                                           
The work of the Temple in Jerusalem was halted and remained halted until the 2nd year of the reign of Darius I, King of Persia who reigned from 522 to 486 BCE and had inherited the throne of Cyrus.  He had permitted Zerubbabel and the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem to resume reconstruction of the Temple. 

The prophecies of Ezekiel in 37:16 associates the final redemption with the reunion of the whole House of Israel before the divide after Solomon's death.  Some were presume absorbed into the Babylonian exiles who could have been brought together in the same areas who in 597-586 BCE were deported to areas next to the place of exile of the 10 Tribes, such as in Media, Assyria and Mesopotamia.  It could be that many intermarried long ago already during their exiles.  Now, steps have been taken to reunite the Pashtuns of Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of India with Israelis, at least in the "getting to know you" stage.  It's believed that they are of the northern tribe or tribes taken by the Assyrians.  

Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, 
Tanakh, The Stone Edition 
http://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2015/08/following-line-of-king-david-of-israel.html
d with him is listed in the 2nd chapter of  Upon their arrival, some of the people settled in Jerusalem while others returned to their own towns. They began to rebuild the temple during the second year after they arrived in Jerusalem (Ezra 3:8).