The GLORIOUS KINGDOM OF JUDAH

Nadene Goldfoot                                              

          From one kingdom of Israel came two:  Israel and Judah, which was the largest of the tribes.  

Judah was the southerly of the two kingdoms into which Israel was divided in 933BCE after the death  of Solomon, into Israel remaining in the North from the tribe of Judah, most of their neighbor, Benjamin, and also the absorbed tribe of Simeon which was isolated.

Judah had no connection to the sea because of the fighting Philistines so didn't have a trade-route, and it occupied no more than 1/3 of the original area of the Northern Kingdom.  Therefore, it was poor and unimportant as compared with Israel.   

On the other hand, it wasn't involved with international rivalries, and its existence was more tranquil.  Partly owing to the presence in its territory of Jerusalem and its Temple, it preserved Mosaic monotheism in a purer form.  Until toward its last days, Judah's dynastic history  was more settled, the monarchy generally passing peacefully from father to son in the Davidic house, except for the usurpation of Athalia (843-37BCE), Queen of Judah from 842-836 BCE, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel.  On the death of her son, Ahaziah, who reigned only one year, she exterminated the entire royal family except for her grandson, Joash, who was saved by his aunt Jehosheba.)  Why?  

                                            

She wanted all the power and introduced the Baal cult into Judah. Baal included sacrificing people.   After she ruled for 6 years, a revolt broke out in favor of Joash, and Athaliah was put to death.  He was king (836-797 BCE), but hidden in the Temple when a child for years.  Jehoiada, the high priest in Jerusalem,    crowned Joash king, and destroyed the Baal cult, put Athaliah to death, worked as regent until Joash was 21.  The county was invaded by Hazael of Aram  who they paid off with a large indemnity.  Joash later was killed by conspirators.  Jehoiada died at age 130, buried in the royal tomb.  

After all the Israelites went through, what made them tend to adopt the deities of the local inhabitants, notwithstanding the vehement protests of the prophets?  The conflict is one of the themes of historical accounts of the Book of Kings.  They even did it later on with Christianity and the Islam.  Moses, then Joshua had spent 40 years changing the minds of 6 million people, the thought, into following something they believed came from out of their realm, the real one and only G-d.  And why not, it was such a logical way to live.  It did ask a lot from the Israelites, however, with.  

Judah had a period of political and commercial expansion under King Jehoshaphat of Judah, son of Asa, (875-851 BCE), in alliance with King Ahab (876-853 BCE) of Israel by marrying his son Jehoram to Athalia, daughter of Ahab of Israel.   It then ended badly.  Jehoshaphat had fought with Ahab against Aram (Syria)  and lost, and with Ahab's son Jehoram against King Mesha of Moab. 

Mesha wound up regaining the land he had lost and captured the land of Reuben and part of Gad.  He inscribed his victories on the MOABITE STONE.   Jehoshaphat tried to revive sea commerce, but his crafts were wrecked at Ezion-Geber (I Kings 22).  The Bible praises his piety.  

Hezekiah (720-692 BCE) and Josiah (637-608 BCE) were associated with period of religious revival.  

An Assyrian expansion, which had overwhelmed the Northern Kingdom of Israel,  was checked  before the walls of Jerusalem in 701 BCE.                         

Gedaliah was from a noble Jewish family, but appointed governor by the Babylonians.  He ruled over the population which remained in Judah after the destruction of the 1st Temple in 586 BCE.  he set up the seat of his administration at Mizpah but after that was murdered by the commander Ishmael ben Nethaniah and his followers who were apparently planning a revolt against Babylon in concert with the neighboring powers.  After the assassination, Gedaliah's supporters fled to Egypt.  (II Kins,25:25-26;  Jer.41) This destroyed any hope of holding a Jewish community together in Palestine after the Babylonian conquest.  

                          Babylonian Exile 

                                                 

Destruction of Jerusalem: The Babylonians breached the city, completely destroying Jerusalem, the royal palace, and Solomon's Temple in 586 BCE.

However,  the city of Jerusalem and state both lost the battle with the Babylonians in 586 BCE, when large numbers of the people were deported. This is considered THE END of JUDAH.   They tried to keep the state going under Gedaliah, a member of the former Royal House, but Gedaliah was assassinated in 582 BCE. 

The descendants of the exiles in Babylonia continued to cherish their national and religious ideals (By the rivers of Babylon...)  so steadfastly as to make possible the renewal of Jewish life after 539 BCE in the area of the former kingdom of Judah.  

                    The return to Judah from the exile

Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, allowed the Jews to return to their homeland after conquering the Babylonian Empire. The Edict of Cyrus:  In 539 BCE, Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon. In 538 BCE, he issued an official decree (the Edict of Cyrus) that permitted the exiled Jewish people to travel back to Jerusalem and Judea. He also gave back the sacred gold and silver temple vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had stolen.

Judeans became known as "Jews" following the Babylonian exile in the 6th century BCE and throughout the Second Temple period (516 BCE–70 CE), as the term Yehudi (originally meaning a member of the Tribe or Kingdom of Judah) broadened from a geographic descriptor into a general term for the entire surviving Israelite people.

In contrast to its relative political obscurity, the intellectual and spiritual life of Judah was extraordinarily rich.  It was there that most of the canonical prophets carried on their activity, great parts of the Bible were composed and the essential traditions of Judaism were developed and preserved.  

The 70-Year Prophecy: The Hebrew Bible frequently cites a 70-year duration for the exile (as prophesied by Jeremiah). This is often calculated from the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BCE until the completion or dedication of the second Temple in 516 BCE (the 70 years of "indignation" on Jerusalem), or from initial deportations around 605/586 BCE to Cyrus the Great's decree and the first return in 538/536 BCE.
Actual Captivity Duration: If measured strictly from the final destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE to the Cyrus decree allowing the return in 538 BCE, the main captivity lasted about 48 years. 
Phased Return: The return under Persian rule did not happen all at once. It occurred in multiple waves starting under leaders like Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel in the 530s BCE, continuing with Ezra in 458/457 BCE, and Nehemiah later on.
Samaria (Hebrew name: Shomron) capital of the northern kingdom of Israel founded in 880 BCE by King Omri who  bought it from a man named Shemer (I Kings 16-24).  Now the name applies to the entire northern region of the central highlands of what was named Palestine by the Romans, now called Samaria.  
Resource;
The Stone Edition, the Torah
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia