This article is about one of the two historical Israelite kingdoms. For the biblical Israelite kingdom that is described as preceding this one, seeKingdom of Israel (united monarchy). For other uses, seeKingdom of Israel.
TheKingdom of Israel (Biblical Hebrew:מַמְלֶכֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל,romanized: Mamleḵeṯ Yiśrāʾēl), also called theKingdom of Samaria or theNorthern Kingdom, was anIsraelite kingdom that existed in theSouthern Levant during theIron Age. Its beginnings date back to the first half of the 10th century BCE.[2] It controlled the areas ofSamaria,Galilee and parts ofTransjordan; the former two regions underwent a period in which a large number of new settlements were established shortly after the kingdom came into existence.[3] It had four capital cities in succession:Shiloh,Shechem,Tirzah, and thecity of Samaria. In the 9th century BCE, theHouse of Omri ruled it, whose political centre was the city of Samaria.
Around 720 BCE, Israel was conquered by theNeo-Assyrian Empire.[4] The records of Assyrian kingSargon II indicate that he deported 27,290 Israelites toMesopotamia.[5][6] This deportation resulted in the loss of one-fifth of the kingdom's population and is known as theAssyrian captivity, which gave rise to the notion of theTen Lost Tribes. Some of these Israelites, however, managed to migrate to safety in neighbouring Judah,[7] though theJudahites themselves would be conquered by theNeo-Babylonian Empire nearly two centuries later. Those who stayed behind in Samaria following the Assyrian conquest mainly concentrated themselves aroundMount Gerizim and eventually came to be known as theSamaritans.[8][9] The Assyrians, as part oftheir historic deportation policy, also settled other conquered foreign populations in the territory of Israel.[9]
History
Ruins of the royal palace of theOmiride dynasty in thecity of Samaria, which was the capital of Israel from 880 BCE to 720 BCE.
According toIsrael Finkelstein,Shoshenq I's campaign in the second half of the 10th century BCE caused the collapse of the early polity ofGibeon in the central highlands, and made possible the beginning of the Northern Kingdom, with its capital atShechem,[10][11] around 931 BCE. Israel was consolidated as a kingdom in the first half of 9th century BCE,[12] with its capital atTirzah first,[13] and next at the city ofSamaria from 880 BCE. The existence of thisIsraelite state in the north is documented in9th century BCE inscriptions.[14] The earliest mention is from theKurkh stela of c. 853 BCE, whenShalmaneser III mentions "Ahab the Israelite", plus the denominative for "land", and his ten thousand troops.[15] This kingdom would have included parts of the lowlands (theShephelah), the Jezreel plain, lower Galilee and parts of the Transjordan.[15]
Ahab's forces were part of an anti-Assyrian coalition, implying that an urban elite ruled the kingdom, possessed a royal and state cult with large urban temples, and had scribes, mercenaries, and an administrative apparatus.[15] In all this, it was similar to other recently founded kingdoms of the time, such asAmmon andMoab.[15] Samaria is one of the most universally accepted archaeological sites from the biblical period.[16] In around 840 BCE, theMesha Stele records the victory ofMoab (in today'sJordan), under KingMesha, over Israel, KingOmri and his sonAhab.[17]
In Assyrian inscriptions, the Kingdom of Israel is referred to as the "House of ʻOmri".[15] TheBlack Obelisk of Shalmaneser III mentionsJehu, son of ʻOmri.[15] TheNeo-Assyrian emperorAdad-nirari III made an expedition into the Levant around 803 BCE mentioned in the Nimrud slab, which lists the places he went to, sometimes using the apellative for "land",mat: theHatti andAmurru lands, Tyre, Sidon, themat ofHu-um-ri (matHu-um-ri, "land of ʻOmri"),Edom,Philistia, andAram (not Judah).[15] TheTell al-Rimah stela of the same king introduces a third way of talking about the kingdom, as Samaria, in the phrase "Joash of Samaria".[19] The use of Omri's name to refer to the kingdom still survived, and was used bySargon II in the phrase "the whole house of Omri" in describing his conquest of the city of Samaria in 722 BCE.[20] It is significant that the Assyrians never mention theKingdom of Judah until the end of the 8th century, when it was an Assyrianvassal state: possibly they never had contact with it, or possibly they regarded it as a vassal of Israel/Samaria or Aram, or possibly the southern kingdom did not exist during this period.[21]
In the Hebrew Bible
One traditional source for the history of the Kingdom of Israel has been the Hebrew Bible, especially the Books ofKings andChronicles. These books were written by authors inJerusalem, the capital of the Kingdom of Judah. Being written in a rival kingdom, they were inspired by ideological and theological viewpoints that influence the narrative.[18] Anachronisms, legends and literary forms also affect the story. Some of the recorded events are believed to have occurred long after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel.Biblical archaeology has both confirmed and challenged parts of the biblical account.[18] According to the Hebrew Bible, there existed a United Kingdom of Israel (theUnited Monarchy), ruled fromJerusalem byDavid and his sonSolomon, after whose death Israel andJudah separated into two kingdoms.
The first mention of the nameIsrael is from an Egyptian inscription, theMerneptah Stele, dating from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1208 BCE); this gives little solid information, but indicates that the name of the later kingdom was borrowed rather than originating with the kingdom itself.[22]
Relationship with the Kingdom of Judah
According to the Hebrew Bible, for the first sixty years after the split, the kings of Judah tried to re-establish their authority over the northern kingdom, and there was perpetual war between them. For the following eighty years, there was no open war between them, as, for the most part, Judah had engaged in a military alliance withAram-Damascus, opening a northern front against Israel.[23] The conflict between Israel and Judah was temporarily settled whenJehoshaphat, King of Judah, allied himself with the reigning house of Israel,Ahab, through marriage. Later, Jehosophat's son and successor,Jehoram of Judah, married Ahab's daughterAthaliah, cementing the alliance.[23] However, the sons of Ahab were slaughtered byJehu following hiscoup d'état around 840 BCE.[24]
From Hazael to Jeroboam II
After being defeated byHazael, Israel began a period of progressive recovery following the campaigns against Aram-Damascus of the AssyrianAdad-nirari III.[25] This ultimately led to a period of major territorial expansion underJeroboam II, who extended the kingdom's possessions throughout the Northern Transjordan. Following Jeroboam II's death, the Kingdom experienced a period of decline as a result of sectional rivalries and struggles for the throne.[26]
In c. 732 BCE, KingPekah of Israel, while allied withRezin, king ofAram, threatenedJerusalem.Ahaz,King of Judah, appealed toTiglath-Pileser III, the King ofAssyria, for help. After Ahaz paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser,[27] Tiglath-Pileser sacked Damascus and Israel, annexing Aram[28] and the territories of the tribes ofReuben,Gad andManasseh in Gilead, including the desert outposts ofJetur,Naphish andNodab. People from these tribes, including the Reubenite leader, were taken captive and resettled in the region of theKhabur River system, inHalah, Habor, Hara andGozan (1 Chronicles 5:26). Tiglath-Pilesar also captured the territory ofNaphtali and the city ofJanoah inEphraim, and an Assyrian governor was placed over the region of Naphtali. According to2 Kings 16:9 and2 Kings 15:29, the population of Aram and the annexed part of Israel was deported to Assyria.[29]
The remainder of the northern kingdom of Israel continued to exist within the reduced territory as an independent kingdom until around 720 BCE, when it was again invaded by Assyria and more of the population was deported. Not all of Israel's populace was deported by the Assyrians. During the three-year siege ofSamaria in the territory of Ephraim by the Assyrians,Shalmaneser V died and was succeeded bySargon II, who himself records the capture of that city thus: "Samaria I looked at, I captured; 27,280 men who dwelt in it I carried away" into Assyria. Thus, around 720 BCE, after two centuries, the northern kingdom came to an end. Some of the Israelite captives were resettled in the Khabur region, and the rest in the land of theMedes, thus establishing Hebrew communities inEcbatana andRages. TheBook of Tobit additionally records that Sargon had taken other captives from the northern kingdom to the Assyrian capital ofNineveh, in particular Tobit from the town of Thisbe in Naphtali.[citation needed]
The Hebrew Bible relates that the population of the Kingdom of Israel was exiled, becoming known as theTen Lost Tribes. To the south, theTribe of Judah, theTribe of Simeon (that was "absorbed" into Judah), theTribe of Benjamin and the people of theTribe of Levi, who lived among them of the originalIsraelite nation, remained in the southern Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of Judah continued to exist as an independent state until 586 BCE, when it was conquered by theNeo-Babylonian Empire.
Samaritan tradition
The tradition of theSamaritan people states that much of the population of the Kingdom of Israel remained in place after theAssyrian captivity, including the Tribes of Naphtali, Manasseh, Benjamin and Levi – being the progenitors of the modern Samaritans. Many members of these northern tribes also fled south to the Kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem seems to have expanded in size five-fold during this period, requiring a new wall to be built, and a new source of waterSiloam to be provided by KingHezekiah.[7]
In their bookThe Bible Unearthed, Israeli authorsIsrael Finkelstein andNeil Asher Silberman estimate that only a fifth (about 40,000) of the population of the northern Kingdom of Israel were actually resettled out of the area during the two deportation periods underTiglath-Pileser III andSargon II.[5] No known non-Biblical record exists of the Assyrians having exiled people from four of the tribes of Israel:Dan,Asher,Issachar,Zebulun. Descriptions of the deportation of people fromReuben,Gad,Manasseh, Ephraim and Naphtali indicate that only a portion of these tribes were deported, and the places to which they were deported are known locations given in the accounts. The deported communities are mentioned as still existing at the time of the composition of theBooks of Kings andChronicles and did not disappear by assimilation. 2 Chronicles 30:1–18 explicitly mentions northern Israelites who had been spared by the Assyrians, in particular people of Ephraim, Manasseh, Asher, Issachar and Zebulun, and how members of the latter three returned to worship at theTemple in Jerusalem during the reign ofHezekiah.[33]
Map of theAssyrian captivity, showing the routes of the deported population of Israel after the kingdom was conquered by theNeo-Assyrian Empire in 720 BCE.
Religion
The religion of the Kingdom of Israel appears to have followed two major trends. The first was the worship ofYahweh; the religion of ancient Israel is sometimes referred to by modern scholars asYahwism.[34] TheHebrew Bible, however, states that some of the northern Israelites also adoredBaal, a title forHadad, aweather god whose worship was centered atJebel Aqra (HebrewṢafon; see1 Kings 16:31 and theBaal Cycle discovered atUgarit).[34] The reference inHosea 10 to Israel's "divided heart"[35] may refer to these two cultic observances, although alternatively it may refer to hesitation between looking to Assyria and Egypt for support.[36]
The Jewish Bible also states thatAhab allowed the cult worship of Baal to become acceptable within the kingdom. His wifeJezebel was the daughter of thePhoenician king ofTyre and a devotee to Baal worship (1 Kings 16:31).[37]
According to the Bible, the Northern Kingdom had 19 kings across 9 different dynasties throughout its 208 years of existence.
The genealogy of the kings of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judea, the Kingdom of Israel and the kings of the Kingdom of Judah. Most historians follow either of the older chronologies established byWilliam F. Albright orEdwin R. Thiele, or the newer chronologies ofGershon Galil andKenneth Kitchen, all of which are shown below. All dates areBC/BCE.
Mentions of Israel/Samaria in Assyrian literature and inscriptions
The table below lists all the historical references to the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) in Assyrian records.[38] KingOmri's name takes the Assyrian shape of "Humri", his kingdom or dynasty that of Bit Humri or alike—the "House of Humri/Omri".
Ten Lost Tribes, the Northern Kingdom's population that was lost after the Assyrian conquest in 720 BCE
Samaritan people, the traditional descendants of the Northern Kingdom's non-deported Israelites
References
Notes
^The debate is described in Amihai Mazar (2010),"Archaeology and the Biblical Narrative: The Case of the United Monarchy", pp. 29-30, fn. 2: "For conservative approaches defining the United Monarchy as a state 'from Dan to Beer Sheba' including 'conquered kingdoms' (Ammon, Moab, Edom) and 'spheres of influence' in Geshur and Hamath cf. e.g. Ahlström (1993), 455–542; Meyers (1998); Lemaire (1999); Masters (2001); Stager (2003); Rainey (2006), 159–168; Kitchen (1997); Millard (1997; 2008). For a total denial of the historicity of the United Monarchy cf. e.g. Davies (1992), 67–68; others suggested a 'chiefdom' comprising a small region around Jerusalem, cf. Knauf (1997), 81–85; Niemann (1997), 252–299 and Finkelstein (1999). For a 'middle of the road' approach suggesting a United Monarchy of larger territorial scope though smaller than the biblical description cf. e.g. Miller (1997); Halpern (2001), 229–262; Liverani (2005), 92–101. The latter recently suggested a state comprising the territories of Judah and Ephraim during the time of David, that was subsequently enlarged to include areas of northern Samaria and influence areas in the Galilee and Transjordan. Na'aman (1992; 1996) once accepted the basic biography of David as authentic and later rejected the United Monarchy as a state, cf. id. (2007), 401–402."
^Arie, Eran (2023)."Canaanites in a Changing World: The Jezreel Valley during the Iron Age I". In Koch, Ido; Lipschits, Oded; Sergi, Omer (eds.).From Nomadism to Monarchy?: Revisiting the Early Iron Age Southern Levant. Penn State Press. p. 120.ISBN978-1-64602-270-0.[T]he growing proto-Israelite power in the central hill country, out of which would emerge the Northern Kingdom of Israel, [that] should be dated to the first half of the 10th century BCE.
^Killebrew, Ann E., (2014)."Israel during the Iron Age II Period", in: The Archaeology of the Levant, Oxford University Press, p. 733: "In the Lower Galilee [...] during the Iron IIA, earlier Iron I settlements were deserted and appear to have been replaced by new large fortified sites [and] Zertal's landmark survey of northern Samaria [...] demonstrates a doubling of the number of sites from the Iron I to II [...] Finkelstein and Lederman's survey of the territory of Ephraim revealed [the] settlement density peaks in the later Iron II period, with over 200 sites identified [...]"
^abFinkelstein, Israel; Silberman, Neil Asher (2002)The Bible Unearthed : Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, Simon & Schuster,ISBN978-0-684-86912-4
^abFinkelstein, Israel (2013).The forgotten kingdom : the archaeology and history of Northern Israel. Society of Biblical Literature. p. 158.ISBN978-1-58983-910-6.OCLC949151323.
^Finkelstein, Israel, (2022): "...In the central part of the country, [Shoshenq I's campaign] caused the decline of an early Israelite entity [Gibeon polity], probably the one memorized in the Bible as the House of Saul, and the rise of the Northern Kingdom, which was centered around Shechem and expanded, under pharaonic auspices, to the Jezreel--Beth-shean Valley..." (Summary).
^Finkelstein, Israel, (2020)."Saul and Highlands of Benjamin Update: The Role of Jerusalem", in Joachim J. Krause, Omer Sergi, and Kristin Weingart (eds.),Saul, Benjamin, and the Emergence of Monarchy in Israel: Biblical and Archaeological Perspectives, SBL Press, Atlanta, GA, p. 48, footnote 57: "...They became territorial kingdoms later, Israel in the first half of the ninth century BCE and Judah in its second half..."
^Sergi 2023, p. 77, "...almost one hundred years from the destruction of Shechem ...a new urban center emerged in the region, first and only for a short time at Tell el-Far'ah (North), identified as the biblical Tirzah (Albright 1925)..."
^See Yohanan Aharoni, et al. (1993)The Macmillan Bible Atlas, p. 94, Macmillan Publishing: New York; and Amihai Mazar (1992)The Archaeology of the Land of the Bible: 10,000 – 586 B.C.E, p. 404, New York: Doubleday, see pp. 406-410 for discussion of the archaeological significance of Shomron (Samaria) under Omride Dynasty.
^Delitzsch, Friedrich; McCormack, Joseph; Carruth, William Herbert; Robinson, Lydia Gillingham (1906).Babel and Bible;. Chicago, The Open court publishing company. p. 78.
Roberts, J. J. M. (2016)."The Divided Monarchy". In Niditch, Susan (ed.).The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Ancient Israel. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 197–212.ISBN978-0-470-65677-8.
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