Why Soloman Built The Temple

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

 Solomon's royal court and house of Israel were built up with oriental magnificence, and sumptuous buildings housed the royal family and harem that consisted of 1,000 wives and concubines. To keep the peace with nations, he married their daughters.  It worked.

  

When King Solomon ruled Israel, the country was made up of the tribes of Judah   and Simeon and the northern tribes, which included Benjamin, Reuben,  Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Ephraim, and half of Manasseh.  The tribes of Israel were named after the sons and grandsons of Jacob, who was renamed Israel after wrestling with an angel of the Lord. The tribes settled in different regions of the Land of Canaan on either side of the Jordan River. Jacob had to earn the name of Israel in this manner.  

When God changed Jacob's name to Israel, it meant "let God prevail" or "one who prevails with God". The name change was a sign that Jacob had changed and was now seeking God instead of relying on deception. Deuteronomy 18: Predicts that the Lord would raise up a prophet like Moses from among the people, and that people should listen to him. The prophet would speak for God, mediating between God and the people. Deuteronomy 18:20: Warns that false prophets would speak presumptuously in God's name, saying things that God had not commanded them to say.  You can widen this and take it that Israel is not a kingdom of deception, but relies on telling the truth.  

King Solomon (961-920 BCE) of tribe of Judah , son of King David and Bathsheba (1000-960 BCE of the tribe of Judah, with David, youngest son of Jesse, born in Bethlehem) , was also king of Israel, and Solomon built the Temple.  David at age 25 had the job of armor-bearer of King Saul (1st king of Israel, son of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin.  

Therefore, Solomon was the 3rd in the line of kings, and took on the responsibility to do this.  Solomon did not have to fight off enemies like his father, David, did.  He lived a safer life, giving him the opportunity to fulfill God's promise to David, and to serve as a place of worship, prayer, and reconciliation for the people of Israel: 2 Samuel 7:  God promised David that his son would build a house for the Lord and that his kingdom would be established forever.1 Chronicles 28:  David gave his son Solomon plans for the temple, including how to divide the priests and Levites, how to use the objects in the temple, and how much gold and silver to use for each item. David also told Solomon to be strong and courageous, and that God would not fail him. 1 Chronicles 29:  David provided resources for the temple's construction, including gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and precious stones.

The Temple of Solomon was built around 990–931 BCE on the spot where God created Adam. It was destroyed 400 years later and replaced by the Second Temple. The site of the temple is considered a holy place by Jews, Muslims, and Christians.  

The Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia (605-562 BCE).  What had happened to cause them to do this was that the Judeanshad revolted in 597, so Neb. dispatched contingents which captured Jerusalem, andhad replaced young King Jehoiachin with his choice of Zedekiah, and exiled 8,,000of the head Judean aristocracy to Babylon. 

 8 years later, Zedekiah rebelled which ledto 586 BCE's takeover, and destroying the Temple.  laying waste to cities and exilingmasses of the population.  The king was taken to Riblah, where Neb. had Zedekiah killed.

All people of this day had Temples to their gods.  The Canaanites had tripartite temples discovered in digs in Lachish, Bet-Shean, etc. A tripartite temple is a temple with a tripartite plan, which means it has a long rectangular central hall with rooms on either side. The White Temple of Uruk in ancient Sumer is an example of a tripartite temple. A close replica is the one found in Syria near a royal palace of the 9th to 8th century BCE. 

Solomon's Temple was used as a shrine for the Ark of the Covenant.  the sacred vessels, and offerings, with a court for worshippers.  It consisted of a hall, shrine, and inner sanctum called the "holy of holies" which do not exist among oriental shrines.

The Temple was rebuilt from 538 to 515 BCE and called the 2nd Temple of Solomon.  According to the Bible, Zerubbabel led the Jews of Babylon back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, as authorized by the Persian King Cyrus the Great in 538  BCE; he was appointed as the governor of Judah and oversaw the construction of the Second Temple.  Zerubbabel was the grandson of King  Jehoiachin (reigned from 597-BCE at age 18, during Babylonian siege of Jerusalem)  one of the 1st Jews to return to Judah from Babylon. 

Ezra tells us that he was a bodyguard of King Darius I (522-486 BCE) who had inherited the Persian throne of Cyrus from whom he had permission to rebuild Jerusalem, which conflicts with other biblical accounts. Zerubbabel is associated with the political revivals in Judah in Darius' reign; was the  last satrap of Davidic descent in Jerusalem and after his time, the high priest had influence, a consequence of Persian apprehension concerning the  renewal of the Davidic dynasty.  Some think he was recalled to Persia.   Jews feel that Cyrus was son of Queen Esther and King Ahasueros, and Darius was their grandson.   

Non-Jewish history has this:  In the lands that were conquered by his empire, Darius followed the same Achaemenid tolerance that Cyrus had shown and later Achaemenid kings would show. He supported faiths and religions that were "alien" as long as the adherents were "submissive and peaceable", sometimes giving them grants from his treasury for their purposes. He had funded the restoration of the Israelite temple which had originally been decreed by Cyrus, was supportive towards Greek cults which can be seen in his letter to Gadatas, and supported Elamite priests. He had also observed Egyptian religious rites related to kingship and had built the temple for the Egyptian god, Amun.                                                              

Arch of Titus records the event in Rome of the Judean captives forced to carry the Temple loot for the Romans.  

During the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, the Temple was used as a center of military activity and was destroyed by the conquering Romans in 70 CE after brutalizing the Jewish population physically and by starving them to death, but even so, some managed to escape. A Roman Temple was later built on the site, and since the Moslem Period, a mosque has stood there in its place, the Mosque of Omar.    

                                    Dome of the Rock and foreground is the mosque

The Second Temple of Solomon is believed to be located on Temple Mount in Jerusalem, where the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque are now located. The Second Temple was a Jewish place of worship from 520 BC to 70 AD, when it was destroyed by Roman soldiers.              

  On right side is the the main remaining structure from the Second Temple which is the Western Wall, also known as the Wailing Wall or the Kotel. This is a remnant of the Second Temple courtyard and is considered the holiest site in Judaism. 

The exact location of Solomon's Temple is unknown, but it's believed to have been on the same hill as the Second Temple. According to the Bible, Solomon's Temple was built on Mount Moriah, where an angel of God appeared to David. 

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Proving Israel's Legitimacy to the World Over and Over

 Nadene Goldfoot                                    

     Temple Mount on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem,  place where our first and second Temple had stood, then destroyed by Romans in 70 CE who built a Roman Temple over the site.  The Muslims then built a mosque over the Roman  Temple.  Moshe Dayan looked around saw several mosques here, and gave Jordan the responsibility to care for the site.  So now Jews cannot pray here, but only at the Western wall (wailing wall).  I found my cousin, Stanley Goldfoot on Dor v'Dor Street in Jerusalem and we visited.                       

       Tel Aviv's sea front has been developed as a major tourist area.                                              

   Haifa, I lived at the Mercaz ha Klitta for new immigrants, arriving September 1980.  

            Safed, where I lived  and taught English at the junior high from 1981 to November 20, 1985 after living in Haifa for my first 10 months.                           

• Are you aware that Israel, now only 74 years of age, is a senior 

• citizen—older than 2/3 of all the world’s nations! (Yet it's the only 

• country whose legitimacy is attacked!)  

• This is its 2nd  birthing!                                           

• 
  King Saul of the tribe of Benjamin with David of the tribe of Judah,  his armor-bearer and musician, soothing him with his harp-playing.  

• The 1st state of Israel that became an empire was by King Saul 

• over 3,000 years ago that lasted until King Solomon died in 920 

• BCE causing a civil war under his son, Rehoboam, who continued 

• ruling the southern portion that was the largest of Judah until the 

• Assyrians attacked and conquered the northern section,  Israel,  in 

• 721 BCE.  

The extent of the Promised Land reached the Pelusium arm of the Nile Delta River, the Gulf of Elath, and the Euphrates River opposite the city of Aleppo in the East.  It included most of Syria and altogether covered about 58,000 square miles.  This entire area was ocupied by the Israelites under David and Solomon as told in (I Kings 5:4).                                                        

The Jewish National Home under the British Mandate covered only the area West of the Jordan River excluding part of the Upper Galilee North of the ladder of Tyre which was given to Lebanon. 

The southern Negev beyond the Rafiah-Gulf of Elath line had been handed over by the Turkish government to Egypt for administration in 1906.  

The UN resolution of November 29, 1947 recommended the establishment of a Jewish state in the larger part of the mandated area of Western Palestine, although still with a complex frontier.  

The armistice agreements of 1949 left Israel with 8,000 sq. miles---a larger area than envisioned, although still with complicated borders.

After the 1967 Six Day War Israel  was in occupation of all of Judea and Samaria, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai up to the Suez Canal.  

• Kings of the early period were Saul, David, Solomon.  The people had wanted a king.  Before Saul, they were ruled by Judges, like a head chieftain  in the many areas.  

• From then on, Israel was ruled by Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim who was Solomon's superintendent of forced labor;  Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri and or Omri;  Ahab, Ahaziah, Jehoram,, Jehu, Jehoahaz, Jehoash, Jeroboam, Zecharia, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, and finally Hoshea in 730-721 BCE.  

• From then on, Judah was ruled by Rehoboam-Solomon's son; Asbijam,, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Aathaliah, Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, Jothan, Ahaz, Hezekia; Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and finally Zedekiah from 597 to 586 BCE.  

• Judah had carried on until it was attacked by the Babylonians in 597 BCE and 586 BCE, but most returned by 538 BCE to carry on.

  
  
  

• Judah carried on  until it was occupied and destroyed by Rome in 70 CE by burning down Jerusalem and the 2nd Temple of Solomon. 

•  We Jews of the world come from the tribe of 

• Judah, and some of Benjamin and Simeon who had clung 

• together.  

This 2nd birth of Israel  was after WWI in 1918 where Jews attended many meetings with the heads of state in the world at the League of Nations Conferences, where they voted that they again become a state.  This took place for their birthday on May 14, 1948. At the time, Israel was freed from the 30 year mandate that Great Britain held from the aftermath of WWII.  Israel had to wait for 1,848 years to regain their own land.   

People were praying 3 times a day for 1,848 years for this to happen.  The land was held from 70 CE on by many empires.  First, of course, were the Romans, then the Sasanian Empire (Persians);  Rashiduns (Muslims in 637;   Umayyads of 660, Abbasids of 747, Fatimids of 969, Seljuks (Turks of 1971, Crusaders by 1095, Crusaders/Ayyubids; Mamluks of 1291;  and the Ottoman Empire by 1517.                                          

   Hitler starting WWII is meeting with the Arab Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti who has been leading his followers against Emir Feisal, who will later become King of Syria and Iraq.  The Grand Mufti wanted Hitler's help in getting rid of the Jews.  The irony of this story is that Great Britain's Jewish representative, Sir Herbert Louis Samuels, Britain's first High Commissioner for Palestine,  had selected Husseini for this position.  Emir Feisal (1885- 1933) became king of Iraq from 1921 and was the eldest son of Hussein, sherif of Mecca.  He is the one who led the Arab "rising" against Turkey (1916-18) of the Ottoman Empire and was designated king of Syria. 

               Dr. Chaim Weizmann and Emir Feisal at a meeting

 Feisal was at first sympathetic to Zionism from which he hoped to receive aid in building his future kingdom.  He reached an agreement on mutual aid with Dr. Weizmann in Transjordan in 1918 and Paris in 1919, conditional on the implementation of British promises to the Arabs.  When he was expulsed by France from Syria in 1920 along with the Arab leaders, he became hostile towards Zionism. What changed his mind most likely were the threats of Husseini.   

World War I put an end to the Ottomans who were on the Axis (German) side of the war and they lost. The Germans lost WWII as well.   

Here is a sampling of states born after Israel:  

Forty-Nine (49) of the  new states are from Africa. 

Libya's birthday is December 24, 1951 when it was freed from France and UK

Madagascar's birthday is October 14, 1958 when it was freed from France.  

South Africa's birthday is May 3, 1961 when it was also freed from UK

Algeria's birthday is July 3, 1962 and is freed from France.

Angola's birthday is November 11, 1975 when it was freed from Portugal.    

From Americas:

Jamaica's birthday is August 6, 1962 when it was freed from UK

Bahamas's birthday is January 7, 1964 when it was also able to govern itself, waited till July 10, 1973 to be free of UK

Belize's birthday is September 21, 1981 when it was also freed from UK

From Asia

Syria's birthday is September 28, 1961 when it was freed from French mandate.  

Bangledash's birthday is March 26, 1971 when it was freed from Pakistan, which was born just before Israel. 

Bahrain's birthday is August 15, 1971 when it was freed from UK

United Arab Emirates's birthday is December 2, 1971 when it was freed from UK

Iran's birthday is February 11, 1979, used to be Persia

China's birthday is December 4, 1982, from ancient days 

Armenia's birthday is September 21, 1991, 2nd revival when it was freed from  Soviet Union

Golda Meir and  others announced Israel's birth on May 14, 1948;  accepted by League of Nations and United Nations.  A few minutes after the announcement, Jews were attacked and into war, their War of Independence that actually started on November 29, 1947 when Arabs responded with violence to the UN Resolution on Palestine, and lasted until the signing of the Armistice Agreements in 1949.  By the end of 1948, Israel had 872,000 Jews and non-Jews for a population.  Jews made up 758,702 of the total.  

From Europe

Germany's birthday is May 23, 1949, 3rd revival from Rhineland days, after starting WWI & WWII.  After all, Germany had entered Poland on September 1, 1939 as the start of WWII.  It ended on September 2, 1945;  a Six Year War. This was their 2nd beginning.

                      Werner on right holding his 2nd girl;  they had 5 girls eventually.  He got out of Germany on May 4,1939, perhaps last Jew out.  

 It seemed like forever to me; my whole childhood, from the time I was 5 till I was 11;  kindergarten till  the 6th grade, and I was safe in the USA. My Uncle Werner married my Aunt Hammie on September 1, 1939.  He had left Germany in May of that year and my great uncle Max sponsored him.  I was the flower girl at their wedding in our synagogue.   

I remember our 2 newspapers and all they ever wrote about was the war, and I remember cutting out jokes from the Saturday Evening Post magazine and making joke books for the soldiers; the army songs, army movies, and the big thing of collecting newspapers for the paper drive when we brought stacks of newspapers to school and weighed them. There was a prize for those who brought the most. Our parents bought savings bonds and they had food rations books.   I remember almost not getting a bicycle as they were so scarce.  As a child, we were so well protected from the horrors of this war, but now I know. We had a WWII, and Israel was created by the League of Nations and the United Nations by May 14, 1948.  

From Australia/Oceania

Fiji's birthday is October 10, 1970 when it was freed from United Kingdom

Marshall Islands's birthday is May 1, 1979 with free association with USA.  

From Transcontinental States

Cyprus's birthday is August 16, 1960 when it was freed from UK.  

                                          

  The proof of Israel's existence and  history are found not only in the bible  but in the digs going on by archaeologists in the area and the rest of the Middle East.  One is verifying the other.  This is something that Iranian Ayatollas need to read since they deny Israel's existence.  

Extremely rare Judean quarter-shekel coin repatriated to Israel from the USA

The coin, minted in 69 C.E. during the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome, is valued at more than $1 million • "This coin is evidence of the eternal bond between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel," says Israeli ambassador to the United Nations.

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_date_of_formation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Palestine_region

Kings of Judah Following Zedekiah (597-586 BCE)

Nadene Goldfoot                                                          

Attack of Assyria when 10  Northern Tribes  of Israel lost their best of the population to the Assyrians who took them as slaves to Assyria in 722 -721 BCE; many now found to be the modern Pashtuns of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Assyrian Expansion, which had overtaken the Northern Kingdom of Israel, was checked before the walls of Jerusalem in 701 BCE, but the city and state folded to the Babylonians in 586 BCE, large numbers of the people being deported out of Israel.  Gedaliah, a member of the former royal house, tried to keep Israel going but was assassinated in 582 BCE.  

The descendants of the exiles in Babylonia, the Judeans of southern Israel, continued to love their national and religious ideals which made it possible to renew their Jewish life after 539 BCE in the area of the former kingdom of Judah.  Their intellectual and spiritual life of Judea was extraordinarily rich. 

The history of the Jewish people and of their roots in the Land of Israel  is more than 35 Centuries long.  The periods of Jewish sovereignty have been the only periods during which the people living in this Land have been independent.  there have been only 3 periods.  

                                                          

The last Judean King was Mattaniah/adopted name of Zedekiah (597-586 BCE)  son of Josiah, appointed king by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia.  He was King at age 21,  then conspired with Egypt against Babylonia at age 30, so Babylonia took Jerusalem.  He was overtaken while escaping, put on trial.  His sons were killed before him, then his eyes were put out, put in prison in Babylon until he died.  
                                                       

539 BCE was the return of the Judean population that was taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.  They had been in Babylonia for about 47 years after Nebuchadnezzar's attack and carried so many away to Babylonia as slaves. Their return was made possible by the new king who may have been Queen Esther's son, King Darius.    From this time of 539 BCE to 160 BCE, who was in charge of Judah and Israel?  

It was the Persian (Iran) period from 539 BCE to 332 BCE

539 BC: Cyrus the Great conquered the Babylonian Empire and gave the Jews permission to return to the Yehud Province of Jerusalem . 516 BC: Construction of the Second Temple. 485–465 BC: Kingdom of Xerxes I of Persia.

       
     It was the Hellenistic period from 332 BCE to 37 BCE

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• 332 BCE: Alexander the Great conquered the region from the Persian Empire.
• 301 BCE: Ptolemy I Soter conquered the region from the heirs of Alexander the Great.
• 200 BCE: Antiochus III the Great from the Seleucid dynasty conquered the region from the Ptolemaic dynasty.

                                                     

Judah "the Hammerer" Maccabee

d: 160 BCE, patriot, oldest son of Mattathias the Hasmonean.  He inflicted successful battles on the Syrian armies by his exploitation of ambush, rapid movement and night attacks.  He occupied Jerusalem in 164 BCE and purified the Temple, but was killed in battle at Elassa, the prototype of heroism among the Jews and regarded by Christians as one of the military celebrities of ancient days.  

The record is blank until the Hasmonean Dynasty in 104 BCE.  They were a priestly family of Cohens and founded a dynasty first by Mattathias of Modiin after his ancestor Hashmon or could be a place-name.  He had 5 sons; Judah the Maccabee, Jonathan, Simon, John and Eleazar. They directed the popular revolt against the hellenizing policy in Palestine created by the Syrian King Antiochus Epiphanes.  In  166-164 BCE, the Hasmoneans fought a number of successful battles against the Syrians and in 164 BCE, Judah captured Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple.  This is where we have the history behind our holiday of Chanukah.  

This was followed by a series of raids to rescue the Jewish populations of Ammon, Idumea, Gilead, and Galilee.  He was defeated in 163 BCE at Bet Zechariah , where Eleazar was killed.  The Hasmoneans were able to get terms securing Jewish religious freedom, but Judah and his party, aspiring for political freedom, too, continued the fight and Judah fell at Elasa in 160 BCE.  John was murdered shortly after and Jonathan took over the leadership from Judah, and made a treaty with Rome.  He was able to secure the high priesthood in 152 BCE and the governorship of Judah in 150 BCE.  Simon, called Thassi or Tarsi,  succeeded Jonathan in 142 BCE as head of the Jewish state, made Ethna,rch (ruler of the people) by the people of Judea.   gained exemption from paying tributes in 147 BCE.  He was confirmed by the people as hereditary high priest, ethnarch, and general in 142 BCE.  Then he was murdered in 135 BCE.  Eleazar, called Auran, died in 163 BCE.  At the battle of Bet Zechariah, he stabbed an elephant of the enemy's army in the belief that its rider was the Syrian ruler Antiochus Eupator.  He was crushed to death when the animal fell on him.  

Simon's son, John Hyrcanus (r 135-104 BCE), who succeeded his father, Simon, served as governor of Gezer but escaped to Jerusalem after the murder of his father and 2 brothers by his brother-in-law, Ptolemy.  Ptolemy was the 1st Macedonian king of Egypt and originator of the Ptolemaic dynasty, all the kings who bore this name.  So the Hasmoneans were intermarrying outside their faith.  He suffered a crushing defeat by Antiochus VII Sidetes when Jerusalem was taken again by the Syrians after a prolonged siege and Judea was once more becoming a Seleucid province. Simeon was still alive at this time in 138 BCE. Antiochus VII invaded again with even greater success in 134 BCE.    (Seleucids were Hellenistic royal dynasty founded by Seleucus Nicaor, one of Alexander the Great's generals.)  John had a successful offensive against Transjordan, Samaria and Idumea, marking the transition of the Hasmoneans to a semi-hellenized secular military dynasty. When Antiochus died in 129 BCE, the Jews revolted, and Seleucid rule in Palestine ended in 128 BCE.  

This led to his repudiation of the Pharisees and sticking to the aristocratic Sadducee party.  He was succeeded by his sons, Judah Aristobulus and Alexander Yannai.  

                                      Hasmonean dynasty

                                                                   

• Aristobulus I :   (r. 104–103 BCE)  He was the High Priest and  1st king of Judea of this period and was the oldest son of John Hyrcanus.  The administration of the state was being left in his mother's hands.  However, he murdered his mother and his brother, Antigonus, and imprisoned his other brothers.  He extended the northern boundaries of Judea.  Aristobulus I was an admirer of the Greek culture so called himself Philhellene.  

                                                                                         

• Alexander Yannai (Jannaeus)  (r. 103–76 BCE)  He was called Jonathan, and was King and high priest in Judea.  He was the son of John Hyrcanus and was a despotic, violent ruler who kept his authority with the aid of foreign mercenaries.  He annexed those Greek cities of Palestine whose people still refuse  to acknowledge Hasmonean rule.  After some setbacks, he succeeded in adding  the whole coastal region to his kingdom.  His political views were the opposite of to the religious outlook of a large section of the Judean population.  In his reign, was the final beak between the Crown and the Pharisees a a result of his flouting their susceptibilities while officiating in the Temple.  

         In 94 BCE, Civil War broke out with the Pharisees getting Demetrius III of Syria on his side and they defeated Jonathan near Shechem in 88 BCE.  6,000 Jews serve in Demetrius' army, but went over to Jonathan's side who regained his hold and took a ferocious vengeance on his opponents.  He tried to complete his conquests in Transjordan and died while besieging Ragaba.  

                                                               

Salome Alexandra or Alexandra of Jerusalem, was one of only two women to rule over Judea. The wife of Aristobulus I, and afterward of Alexander Jannaeus, she was the last queen of Judea, and the last ruler of ancient Judea to die as the ruler of an independent kingdom from 76 to 67 BCE

• Salome Alexandra (141-67 BCE) (Queen, r. 76–67 BCE) She became queen by succeeding her husband, Alexander Yannai Jannaeus, and reversed his policy toward the Pharisees because of his change of heart that was his dying request.  Salome handed internal control to the Pharisees while keeping responsibility for the army and foreign policy.  Her appointment of her eldest son, Hyrcanus, as high priest and heir was opposed by his brother, Aristobulus.  She's thought to be the sister of Rabbi Simeon ben Shetah, regard her favorably, but Josephus, former general turned writer for the Romans, was critical of her.  
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• Aristobulus II (r. 67–63 BCE) was King of Judea and the younger son of Alexander Yannai and Salome Alexandra.  He usurped the throne when his brother, Hyrcanus II was the king.  There was a Civil War and in 63 BCE the 2 brothers were in Damascus with their claims before Pompey who ordered Aristobulus II to surrender al the Judean strongholds, including Jerusalem.  He agreed to do so but his supporters didn't so Pompey laid siege to the Temple hill, and after 3 months, captured the Temple in 63 BCE.  This ended Judea's political independence.

      Aristobulus II was  now a prisoner and taken to Rome.  He escaped with son Antigonus in 56 BCE and returned to Judea.  The Romans took him prisoner and sent him to Rome again.  Julius Caesar rose to power, and he as released in 49 BCE and promised 2 legions with which to attack Pompey's supporters in Syria.  He was poisoned before he was able to get started. 

                                                              

• Hyrcanus II (r. 63–40 BCE) died in 31 BCE.  He was the oldest son of Alexander Yannai, and succeeded his mother, Salome Alexandra (67 BCE) but was driven from the throne and the high priesthood by his brother, Aristobulus, (above). He defeated  his brother, Aristobulus, who left for Jerusalem to fight the Roman invaders.   Pompey managed to capture the Temple mount after a 3 month siege and deposed Aristobulus, appointing Hyrcanus II as high priest with limited political authority without the title as ethnarch.  Hyrcanus  supported Julius Caesar who restored him as Ethnarch (ruler of the people) and enlarged his territory, but the real power was in the hands of Antipater and his sons, who also got the title Ethnarch from Julius Caesar.  Then the Parthians invaded Judea in 40 BCE. and took Hyrcanus as prisoner, and maimed him so as to disqualify him for the priesthood and sent him to Parthia.  There he was honored by the Babylonian Jewish communities.  He insisted on returned to Judea, however.  where Herod reigned as the new king.  At first he was treated with respect but here was the battle Actium and Herod accused him of treason and had him executed.

In the days of Alexander Jannaeus, Idumaean/Edomite Antipas, was appointed governor of Edom. His son Antipater, father of Herod the Great, was the chief adviser to Hasmonean Hyrcanus II and managed to establish a good relationship with the Roman Republic, who at that time (63 BCE) extended their influence over the region, following conquest of Syria and intervention in a civil war in Judea.

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• Antigonus II Mattathias (r. 40–37 BCE) was the son of Aristobulus II.  He was taken as a hostage to rome when Pompey captured Jerusalem in 63 BCE.  When he returned to Judea in 49, he took refuge at the court of Chalcis, and with the support of the Parthians, captured Jerusalem in 40 BCE, and put to death Herod's brother, Phasael, and mutilated his own uncle, Hyrcanus, so as to disqualify him from becoming the high priest.  He then ruled as king of Judea and the high priest.  The Romans drove the Parthians from Syria in 39, an Herod attacked Antigonus, who was defeated in the battle.  Antigonus fortified himself in Jerusalem, but was captured after a 5 months siege and was put to death.  He was the last Hasmonean king.                                                    
•                                    Herodian dynasty

The Herodian dynasty was a royal dynasty of Idumaean descent, ruling the Herodian Kingdom and later the Herodian Tetrarchy, as vassals of the Roman Empire. The Herodian dynasty began with Herod the Great, who assumed the throne of Judea, with Roman support, bringing down the century long Hasmonean Kingdom.

Antipater  was the father of Herod the Great and ruler of Judea from 63 to 43 BCE . He was the son of the ruler of Idumea (Edom), who were forcefully converted to Judaism.  He became governor of Idumea for Alexander Yannai and Salome Alexandra, growing rich from trade with Arabia.  

Julius Caesar appointed Antipater to be procurator of Judea in 47 BCE and he appointed his sons Phasael and Herod to be governors of Jerusalem and Galilee respectively. Antipater was murdered in 43 BCE; however, his sons managed to hold the reins of power and were elevated to the rank of tetrarchs in 41 BCE by Mark Antony.

                                                                       

• Herod the Great (73 BCE-4 BCE) (r. 37–4 BCE), King of Judea, son of Antipater the Idumean (Idumeans were forcefully converted to Judaism)  by his Nabatean wife, Cypros  (Nabateans were of Arab extraction who occupied Edom in 6th cent BCE with capital at Petra, typical nomads, started farming).  Started off by his father as governor of Galilee and showed mean streak by executing dissidents, but was called to the Sanhedrin for that and was saved from death for it by Hyrcanus and Sextus Caesar, governor of Syria.  Parthians made Antigonus king when Herod escaped to Rome to become King of Judea by the Roman senate.  He murdered all possible rivals to is power including his brother-in-law, Aristobulus III, the last Hasmonean high priest.  He had his 2nd wife, Mariamne and their 2 sons, Alexander and Aristobulus put to death in 29 BCE, and his firstborn, Antipater. Mariamne hated her husband as he had murdered her kinsfolk, and she hated his family whom she regarded as upstarts.  Herod's sister, Salome, ceaselessly incited Herod against Mariamne, finally convincing him that she was an adulteress.   Only good thing was that he rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem.  Outsiders only knew of him as a generous patron, and protector of the Jews, not the vicious person he really was.  
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• Herod Agrippa or Agrippa I (Marcus Julius) (10 BCE-44 CE) (r. 41–44 CE)
• King of Judea, son of Aristobulus and grandson of Herod.  When young he became involved in escapades with Caligula, the heir- apparent who became emperor from 37 to 41,  and for that was put in prison by Emperor Tiberias (r14-37) for suspected treachery.  Caligula freed him when he took the throne, appointing him king over Transjordan areas, and after 41 CE, by Emperor Claudius, over Judea and Samaria.  He respected Judaism and for that was beloved by  his Jewish subjects.  He strengthened Jerusalem's fortifications, arousing Syria's governor's suspicions.  

     

                                                      

• Agrippa II (Marcus Julius or Herod Agrippa II); (28 CE-93) Last king of the house of Herod, son of Agrippa I.  In the year 50, Agrippa II received the town of Chalcis to govern and was also made responsible for supervising the Temple in Jerusalem.  Emperor Claudius gave him the title of king.  By 54 he had to give up Chalcis, and was given to replace it scattered territories in Transjordan and others.  Nero extended his domain by adding tracts from the Galilee. His quarrels with the priests and his inscribing of coins with heathen emblems and portraits of the emperors earned him the hostility of the people.   He went to Jerusalem with Emperor Titus during the siege of Jerusalem and helped him.  
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• Tetrarch of Chalcis 48–53 CE
• King of Batanaea 53–100 CE

                                                                 

Archelaus, Ruler of Judea from 4 BCE to 6 CE, son of Herod and Malthace, the Samaritan.  Under Herod's last will, Archelaus was appointed ruler over the greater part of Herod's kingdom with the title of king  When he went to Rome to get Augustus' ratification of Herod's wil,, disturbances broke out all over Palestine and a Jewish delegation asked Augustus to dethrone the Herodian dynasty.  Augustus abolished the title of king;  confirmed Archelaus as Ethnarch of Judea, Idumea (Edom) and Samaria.  He did something severe which led to his removal from office by Augustus and his exile to Gaul where he died in about 16 CE.  

                                                     

• Aristobulus of Chalcis  was a son of Herod of Chalcis and his first wife Mariamne. Herod of Chalcis, ruler of Chalcis in Iturea, was a grandson of Herod the Great through his father, Aristobulus IV. Mariamne was a granddaughter of Herod the Great through her mother, Olympias; hence Aristobulus was a great-grandson of Herod the Great on both sides of his family. Aristobulus was married to Salome after the death of her first husband, Philip the Tetrarch. With her Aristobulus had three sons: Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus.   Three coins with portraits of him and Salome have been found.
  • King of Armenia Minor 55–72 CE
  • Tetrarch of Chalcis 57–92 CE

Update: 7/12/2020 6:48pm.  sentence structure
Resource
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_of_Israel_and_Judah
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodian_dynasty
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Facts About Israel from Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jerusalem from Division of Information
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_periods_in_the_Palestine_region