Nadene Goldfoot
I left off with the separation of the tribe of Judah's land from the other 10 northern tribes due to King Solomon's taxation that his son didn't want to follow which included an enforced labor program in order to build the Temple, which was his main goal left over from his father, David, who had to continue being a fighter and not a builder.
Israel
Jeroboam had led the separation and now was king from 933-912 BCE of Israel. 18 more kings followed him until King Hoshea who ruled from 730 or 732 -724 or 721 BCE when captured by Assyria.
Hoshea had conspired against King Pekah (735-730 BCE), had assassinated him and seized the throne. Assyrian sources relate that Hoshea ascended the throne with Assyrian help, his kingdom being confined to the surroundings of Mt. Ephraim. Eventually he rebelled against Assyria and was imprisoned by Shalmaneser who then besieged and captured Samaria (11 Kings 12:1-6)
In 721 BCE, Assyria's Sargon annexed the country and deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.
Judah was led by King Rehoboam, son of Solomon from 933-917 BCE. 11more kings followed until King Ahaz who ruled from 735-720 BCE., son of Jotham (740-735 BCE); his kingdom was attacked by Israel and Syria, while the Edomites and Philistines harried his southern territory.
The prophet, Isaiah was in opposition to him seeking the aid of Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria who of course invaded Syria and Israel in 733 BCE. Judah became an Assyrian vassal and was subjected by Ahaz to Assyrian idolatry.
It was in 721 BCE that Assyria's King Sargon, son of Tiglath-Pileser, attacked the 10 northern tribes, now states and took away 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.
King Hezekiah ruled from 720-692 BCE. He had supported the revolt of Ashdod in 715 , but on the accession of Sennacherib in 705, when Sargon died, an uprising broke out throughout the Assyrian Empire, and Hezekiah reasserted his independence. Judah was soon ravaged, Hezekiah held out, bartered and was able to pay tribute and cede some territory. He freed religious worship from Assyrian influence, purged the palace and Temple of images and pagan altars, and renewed the pure monotheistic religion. Prophets supported him, especially Isaiah who wielded great influence in affairs of state.
Manasseh was then king from 697-638 BCE. He was exiled to Assyria in 652 as a result of complicity in a plot against Ashurbanipal (669-26). After this time, Assyria declined rapidly and was succeeded by BABYLON.
King Amon ruled from 638-637 BCE, and after him were 5 other kings of Judah, ending with King Zedekiah who ruled from 597 to 586 BCE., son of Josiah, originally named Mattaniah but adopted Zedekiah when appointed king by Nebuchadnezzar to succeed the exiled Jehoiachin (598-597 BCE).
Solomon's Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE
In 598 was the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. He ascended the throne at the age of 21 and swore allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar; refused early on to join an anti-Babylonian coalition of neighboring kingdoms but in 594 visited Babylon. In his 9th year he conspired with Egypt, so Babylonians invaded and captured Jerusalem. Zedekiah was overtaken when running away, brought to trial; his sons were killed in front of him and his eyes were then put out and he was imprisoned in Babylon until he died (Kings 25; Jer. 52).
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Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia(604-561 BCE) attacked Judah in 597 and again in 586 BCE. when he destroyed Solomon's Temple. 
He exiled 7,000 Jews to Babylon (Mesopotamia). This group of Jews joined the Jews from the 10 tribes, making a large Jewish population of which many remained here even after Cyrus II King of Persia , who overran the Babylonians gaining Eretz Yisrael; permitted a return to Jerusalem. Several cities were now entirely Jewish.
The story of Queen Esther, married to King Ahasureros, comes along here with Mordecai, a Benjamite being an official, had his niece, Hadassah, enter a beauty contest for the king who wanted a new wife. He had banished his first. Hadassah won the contest and changed her name to Esther. Esther overheard of a plot to kill all Jews coming from Haman and told the king, so had to confess that she was also Jewish. The king really loved Esther, and was angry at Haman. He had him hung along with all his sons to put an end to such a thing, which, by the way, had already started in his empire in another section. This event turned into the holiday of Purim. Queen Esther of the Jews was given the name Hadassah at birth, which is a Hebrew name meaning "myrtle". Her name was later changed to Esther, which is believed to be of Persian origin, possibly meaning "star" or related to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, when she became queen. The change in name was likely to conceal her Jewish identity, as Mordecai advised her not to reveal she was Jewish when she was chosen as a candidate for queen
It wasn't till 538 BCE when Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem from their capture with permission from Cyrus II and rebuild their Temple. They regarded Cyrus as a Divine agent. He was thought to also be the son or grandson of Esther.
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After 538 BCE, Judah was no longer ruled by its own kings. Following Cyrus the Great's conquest of Babylon, the region of Judah (also known as Yehud Medinata) became a province within the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire. The Persian rulers appointed governors, often Jewish, to administer the territory. Prominent figures during this period include Sheshbazzar who laid the Temple foundation and took care of Temple vessels, and Zerubbabel, who led the return of some exiles from Babylon and oversaw the rebuilding of the Second Temple.
Following the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire, the territory of Judah came under the control of the Seleucid Empire as part of the broader Hellenistic period after Alexander the Great's conquests. The Seleucid Empire existed from 312/311 BCE to 63 BCE. It was founded by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, following Alexander's death and the subsequent fragmentation of his vast empire. The empire's territories initially encompassed a large swathe of the former Persian Empire, including Mesopotamia, parts of Anatolia, and Central Asia. It eventually declined due to internal conflicts, external pressures from rivals like the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Parthians, and ultimately ended when the Roman general Pompey conquered Syria in 63 BCE, turning it into a Roman province. This period followed the Persian rule and preceded the Hasmonean dynasty, which gained independence through the Maccabean Revolt.
The Hasmonean dynasty ruled Judea from 140 BCE to 37 BCE. This period follows the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire and includes a time of semi-autonomous rule within the Seleucid Empire, followed by expansion and increasing independence.
Resource:
Edited: 8/11/25, 6:26am
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Tanakh (Bible) Stone Edition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargon_II
https://www.moon.com/travel/arts-culture/jerusalem-history-first-second-temples/#:~:text=During%20the%20First%20Temple%20period,Babylon%2C%20when%20he%20conquered%20Jerusalem.
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