Nadene Goldfoot
Judah, the tiny state, became a vassal of Assyria, the large empire. Ahaz, king of Judah, son of King Jotham, ruled from 735 BCE to 720 BCE. They were attacked by the northern Kingdom of Israel and Syria at the time when the Edomites and Philistines were attacking his southern territory. In desperation, he asked Assyria for assistance and they invaded Syria and Israel even though the prophet Isaiah told him not to ask them. This caused Judah to become a vassal of Assyria and were also subjected to Assyrian idolatry, which they were very much against. Becoming a vassal has its problems, all right, owing a lot to the larger and stronger country.
By 721, Assyria swept in again and attacked, exiling 27,290 of the best people with them to Assyria after gaining Samaria in a battle. Sargon, king of Assyria(721-712 BCE) was the leader of this attack.
As it so happened, when Solomon, king of Israel, son of David and Bathsheba, died in 920 BCE, he left his people anxious to stop paying his very high taxes now that he was dead. The taxes went into paying for the Temple that Solomon had promised to finish.
Solomon, known to be such a wise king, was also powerful, leaving his realm extending from Egypt to the Euphrates. It was the nation of producing the most, so very active. In the cultural sphere, the arts of historiography, parable and elegant writing were developed as well as several biblical works such as Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes, Psalm 72,
Becoming a vassal has its problems, all right, owing a lot to the larger and stronger country.
But the nation of Israel had split in half with a Civil War over the taxing which included work for several months without pay. The 10 northern tribes separated from Judah who selected Rehoboam (933-917 BCE) as Solomon's successor. He was Solomon's son by Naamah, his Ammonite wife. He refused to accede to a popular demand for relief from taxation. Simeon and most of Benjamin remained loyal to him. Shishak of Egypt took the opportunity to invade the country and plunder the Temple, which was in Judah.
At the same time, the North needed a king as well, so they chose Jeroboam (933-910 BCE). He was the superintendent of forced labor during Solomon's days from the tribe of Ephraim. He had led the revolt against Rehoboam and was forced to find refuge in Egypt. Jeroboam selected Shechem as his first capital but had to move to Penuel in Transjordan and then to Tirzah. 5 years later, Egypt attacked 60 towns in northern Israel. To combat the influence of popularity of the Temple, he set up new shrines at Bethel and Dan around golden calves. He knew nothing of Israel's destiny and history.
This is why 11 kings later, Ahaz of Judah needed help fighting Israel, their own former cousins. Pekah was Israel's king then from 735 to 730 BCE. Pekah was possibly of Gileadite origin, and had been the captain of his predecessor, King Pekahiah, whom he killed after a conspiracy, taking his throne. His ally was Rezin of Aram-Dammesek (Syria) and attacked Judah. They were successful, but this led to Ahaz of Judah getting help from Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria. He invaded their allied kingdom and abolished Syria as a state, then stripped Israel of Galilee and Gilead. In the end, Pekah was murdered by Hoshea, the last ruler of Israel (732-724 BCE). Hoshea had taken the throne with Assyrian help and had a kingdom confined to the surroundings of Mt. Ephraim. Finally, even he rebelled against the Assyrians, only to be imprisoned for it by Shalmaneser who then besieged and captured Samaria. According to Biblical records, Hoshea had reigned for 20 years, but it doesn't reconcile with Assyrian records. Our Jewish records are known for telling the truth, even if it puts us in a bad light, so I'll take the Bible records anytime. Other countries have the reputation of wanting to make themselves look good, which Egypt was known to do.
The repeating of history I see is how Israel of today is beholding to the USA. Israel is playing the part of being a vassal of the USA. This attack on Gaza right now, with Israel being in the 19th day of the war, and is held up in entering Gaza by the USA's wishes shows our dependency on our one friend in this whole world. Right now they are busy protecting their own assets of men and their war machines. They are also pushing to find all their civilians kidnapped by Hamas that are being held, most likely in their tunnels to satisfy their own American citizens. The soldiers have been gathered up and have been waiting; training during this wait.
We may not have the iron dome today had it not been for the USA who get credit for it, too. Why did we need the Iron Dome? Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, fired rockets into northern Israeli population centers in the 1990s, posing a security challenge for the Israel Defense Forces. Israel had floated the idea of its own short-range antimissile system, but U.S. defense officials cautioned that it would be "doomed to fail."
During the 2006 Second Lebanon War, approximately 4,000 Hezbollah-fired rockets (the great majority of which were short-range Katyusha rockets) landed in northern Israel, including on Haifa, the country's third largest city. The rocket barrage killed 44 Israeli civilians and caused some 250,000 Israeli citizens to evacuate and relocate to other parts of Israel while an estimated 1 million Israelis were confined in or near bomb shelters during the conflict.
On 17 May 2012, when Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak met with U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, the Pentagon issued a statement from the Secretary saying in part, "I was pleased to inform Minister Barak that the President supports Israel's Iron Dome system and directed me to fill the $70 million in assistance for Iron Dome that Minister Barak indicated to me Israel needs this fiscal year."
On 18 May 2012, the House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, H.R. 4310, with $680 million for Iron Dome in Section 227. The report accompanying the bill, 112–479, also calls for technology sharing as well as co-production of Iron Dome in the United States in light of the nearly $900 million invested in the system since 2011.
The civilians could amount to quite a few Muslim Americans who were visiting relatives; part of the Muslim population. A few could be Jewish Americans, like those who came for the Music Festival among those 1,400 who were butchered, from communities along the border of Gaza.
Of course, we all think of history repeats with Haman of Persia who was the Chief minister of Ahasuerus, king of Persia, wanting to kill all Jews in the Empire and had actually started. Hitler repeated that goal, almost. If it wasn't for the Allies, Hitler may have succeeded.
Those under President Truman of USA didn't back Israel's creation, but Truman was the 1st to do so. He had had a Jewish partner in the haberdashery business that had made an important impression on him. Truman and Eddie Jacobson opened their clothing store on November 28, 1919. If Truman had listened to his advisors, there may not be an Israel today.
Edited Title: 10/30/23
Resource;
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
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