1.
Kings of Judah
–
The Kings of Judah were the monarchs who ruled over the ancient Kingdom of Judah. According to the account, this kingdom was founded after the death of Saul. After seven years, David became king of a reunited Kingdom of Israel, however, in about 930 BC the united kingdom split, with ten of the twelve Tribes of Israel rejecting Solomons son Rehoboam as their king. The Tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Rehoboam, and reformed the Kingdom of Judah, while the other entity continuing to be called the Kingdom of Israel, the capital of the Kingdom of Judah was Jerusalem. All of the kings of Judah lived and died in Judah except for Ahaziah, Jehoahaz, Judah existed until 587 or 586 BC, when it was conquered by the Babylonian Empire under Nebuzaradan, captain of Nebuchadnezzars body-guard. With the deportation of the elite and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the Davidic dynasty began when the tribe of Judah made David its king, following the death of Saul. The Davidic line continued when David became king of the reunited Kingdom of Israel, when the united kingdom split, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin continued to be loyal to the Davidic line, which ruled it until the kingdom was destroyed in 587/586 BC. However, the Davidic line continued to be respected by the exiles in Babylon, who regarded the exilarchs as kings-in-exile. A more complete biography of the Kings of Judah than that of the Hebrew Bible were written by Iddo the Seer and in the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, however, both of these works have been lost. He thus came to a violent death and a disgraceful burial such as Jeremiah had foretold several chapters before this one, there has been considerable academic debate about the actual dates of reigns of the Judahite kings. Scholars have endeavored to synchronize the chronology of events referred to in the Bible with those derived from external sources. These scholarly disagreements are reflected in the table above, which contains scholarly attempts to date the reigns of Judahite monarchs in terms of the Gregorian calendar, biblical scholars have noted the apparent inconsistencies in the chronology of the kings of Judah and Israel based on the biblical sources. Some have also pointed out the difficulties of cross-synchronising that dating with those of the cultures of the area. Thiele noticed that for the first seven kings of Israel, the synchronisms to Judean kings fell progressively behind by one year for each king. Thiele saw this as evidence that the kingdom was measuring the years by a non-accession system. Also he concluded that the calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri and that of Israel in Nisan. This convention was followed in Judah for the three monarchs, Ahaziah, Athaliah, and Jehoash, returning to Judahs original accession reckoning in the time of Amaziah. The official records of Tiglath-Pileser III show that he switched to non-accession reckoning for his reign, another potential confusion arises from periods of co-regency when a son may be made king during the continuing reign of the father, as an equal of the father
Kings of Judah
–
The breakup of the united Kingdom of Solomon
Kings of Judah
–
The genealogy of the kings of Judah, along with the kings of Israel.
2.
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
–
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum is an iconography book by Guillaume Rouillé. It was published in Lyon, France, in 1553, the work includes portraits designed as medals, and brief biographies of many notable figures. The book includes a total of 950 woodcut portraits, many of the figures portrayed are of English origin. The images begin with Adam and Eve, in the preface, the publisher praises the work. Abhandlungen Der Königlich Preussischen Akademie Der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Classe, verlag der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften,1908. The library of Mary Queen of Scots, a Catalogue of Foreign and English Theology. A Collection of Aristotelic, Scotist, Thomist, and Other Writers from the Twelfth to Eighteenth Century, specimens of Early Typography. and a Few Miscellaneous Works. Media related to Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum at Wikimedia Commons Prima pars Promptuarii iconum insigniorum à seculo hominum, subjectis eorum
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum
–
An image in Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum depicting
Eleazar
3.
Ahaz
–
Ahaz was king of Judah, and the son and successor of Jotham. Ahaz was 20 when he became king of Judah and reigned for 16 years. Ahaz is portrayed as a king in the Book of Kings Edwin R. Thiele concluded that Ahaz was coregent with Jotham from 736/735 BC. William F. Albright has dated his reign to 744 –728 BC, the Gospel of Matthew lists Ahaz of Judah in the genealogy of Jesus. He is also mentioned in Isaiah 14,28 according to the King James Version, ahazs reign commenced at the age of 20, in the 17th year of the reign of Pekah of Israel. It is described in 2 Kings 16, Isaiah 7-9, and 2 Chronicles 28, immediately upon his accession Ahaz had to meet a coalition formed by northern Israel, under Pekah, and Damascus, under Rezin. These kings wished to compel him to them in opposing the Assyrians. To protect himself Ahaz called in the aid of the Assyrians, Tiglath-Pileser sacked Damascus and annexed Aram. According to 2 Kings 16,9, the population of Aram was deported, Tiglath-Pileser then attacked Israel and took Ijon, Abel Beth Maacah, Janoah, Kedesh and Hazor. He took Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, Tiglath-Pileser also records this act in one of his inscriptions. This war of invasion lasted two years, and ended in the capture and annexation of Damascus to Assyria and of the territory of Israel north of the border of Jezreel, Ahaz in the meanwhile furnished auxiliaries to Tiglath-Pileser. This appeal to Assyria met with opposition from the prophet Isaiah. The sequel seemed to justify the king and to condemn the prophet, Ahaz, during his whole reign, was free from troubles with which the neighboring rulers were harassed, who from time to time revolted against Assyria. Thus it was that, in 722, Samaria was taken, Ahaz, who was irresolute and impressionable, yielded readily to the glamour and prestige of the Assyrians in religion as well as in politics. Changes were also made in the arrangements and furniture of the Temple, furthermore, Ahaz fitted up an astrological observatory with accompanying sacrifices, after the fashion of the ruling people. In other ways Ahaz lowered the character of the national worship and it is recorded that he even offered his son by fire to Moloch. He died at the age of 36 and was succeeded by his son, because of his wickedness he was not brought into the sepulchre of the kings. There has been academic debate about the actual dates of reigns of the Israelite kings
Ahaz
–
Ahaz from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
4.
Manasseh of Judah
–
Manasseh was a king of the Kingdom of Judah. He was the son of Hezekiah with Hephzibah. He became king at the age of 12 and reigned for 55 years, edwin Thiele has concluded that he commenced his reign as co-regent with his father Hezekiah in 697/696 BC, with his sole reign beginning in 687/686 BC and continuing until his death in 643/642 BC. William F. Albright has dated his reign from 687–642 BC, Manasseh was the first king of Judah who would not have had a direct experience with the Kingdom of Israel, which had been destroyed by the Assyrians in c.720 BC with much of its population deported. He re-instituted polytheistic worship and reversed the changes made by his father Hezekiah. He was married to Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz of Jotbah, and they had a son Amon, the biblical account of Manasseh is found in II Kings 21, 1–18 and II Chronicles 32, 33–33,20. He is also mentioned in Jeremiah 15,4, when Manassehs reign began, Sennacherib was king of Assyria, who reigned until 681 BC. Manasseh is mentioned in Assyrian records as a contemporary and loyal vassal of Sennacheribs son and successor, Assyrian records list Manasseh among twenty-two kings required to provide materials for Esarhaddons building projects. Esarhaddon died in 669 BC and was succeeded by his son, Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian records are consistent with archaeological evidence of demographic trends and settlement patterns suggesting a period of stability in Judah during Manassehs reign. Apparent devastation of the fertile Shephelah, coupled with growth of the population of the highlands, olive oil production and export played a big role in the economy of the time. Theres evidence in the Gaza area of trade, and an apparently flourishing olive oil industry at Ekron. However, Finkelstein and Silberman argue that the trade led to great disparities between rich and poor, which in turn gave rise to civil unrest. As a result, they speculate, the Deuteronomist author or editor of 2 Kings later reworked the traditions about Manasseh to portray his outward-looking involvement in trade as, effectively, apostasy. According to Kings, Manasseh reversed the reforms of his father Hezekiah. He restored polytheistic worship of Baal, and Asherah in the Temple, so zealous was he in his worship of the foreign gods, he even participated in the sacrificial cult of Moloch that consisted in sacrificing young children. His reign may be described as reactionary in relation to his fathers, during Manassehs half-century the popular worship was a medley of native and foreign cults, the influence of which was slow to disappear. Such a reaction involved the persecution of those who had condemned the popular syncretism. The prophets were put to the sword, innocent blood reddened the streets of Jerusalem
Manasseh of Judah
–
Manasseh (Menasheh ben Hizqiyah)
5.
Jerusalem
–
Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is considered a city in the three major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. During its long history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times, attacked 52 times, the part of Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE. In 1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent, today those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is on the List of World Heritage in Danger, Modern Jerusalem has grown far beyond the Old Citys boundaries. These foundational events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, the sobriquet of holy city was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic times. The holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint which Christians adopted as their own authority, was reinforced by the New Testament account of Jesuss crucifixion there, in Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city, after Mecca and Medina. As a result, despite having an area of only 0, outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb. Today, the status of Jerusalem remains one of the issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the captured and later annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, one of Israels Basic Laws, the 1980 Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the countrys undivided capital. All branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the Knesset, the residences of the Prime Minister and President, the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as Israels capital, and the city hosts no foreign embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions of importance, such as the Hebrew University. In 2011, Jerusalem had a population of 801,000, of which Jews comprised 497,000, Muslims 281,000, a city called Rušalim in the Execration texts of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt is widely, but not universally, identified as Jerusalem. Jerusalem is called Urušalim in the Amarna letters of Abdi-Heba, the name Jerusalem is variously etymologized to mean foundation of the god Shalem, the god Shalem was thus the original tutelary deity of the Bronze Age city. The form Yerushalem or Yerushalayim first appears in the Bible, in the Book of Joshua, according to a Midrash, the name is a combination of Yhwh Yireh and the town Shalem. The earliest extra-biblical Hebrew writing of the word Jerusalem is dated to the sixth or seventh century BCE and was discovered in Khirbet Beit Lei near Beit Guvrin in 1961. The inscription states, I am Yahweh thy God, I will accept the cities of Judah and I will redeem Jerusalem, or as other scholars suggest, the mountains of Judah belong to him, to the God of Jerusalem
Jerusalem
–
From upper left: Jerusalem skyline viewed from Givat ha'Arba,
Mamilla, the
Old City and the
Dome of the Rock, a
souq in the
Old City, the
Knesset, the
Western Wall, the
Tower of David and the
Ottoman Old City walls
Jerusalem
–
Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim)
Arabic: القُدس (al-Quds)
Aramaic: יְרוּשְׁלֶם (Yərushəlem)
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
–
Stepped Stone Structure in
Ophel /
City of David, the oldest part of Jerusalem
6.
Dynasty
–
A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
Dynasty
–
Charles I of England and his son, the future
James II
7.
Davidic line
–
The Davidic line refers to the tracing of lineage to King David referred to many times in the Hebrew Bible and in the New Testament. According to the Tanakh upon being chosen and becoming king, the custom was anointing with holy oil poured on the head. In Davids case, this was done by the prophet Samuel In Hebrew, the anointing is called meshicha and a king is referred to as a Moshiach or Messiah or a Melech HaMashiach meaning the anointed king. The procedure of anointment, in Davids case, is said to symbolize the descent of Gods holiness upon the king and this kingdom was eventually conquered by Assyria who exiled them, to disappear from history as The Ten Lost Tribes. Following the conquest of Judah by Babylon and the exile of its population, the highest official of Babylonian Jewry was the exilarch. Those who held the position traced their ancestry to the House of David in the male line, the position holder was regarded as a king-in-waiting. The Hasmoneans, also known as the Maccabees, were a group from the Tribe of Levi. They established their own monarchy in Judea following their revolt against the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty, the Hasmoneans were not considered connected to the Davidic line nor to the Tribe of Judah. The Levites had always been excluded from the Israelite monarchy, so when the Maccabees assumed the throne in order to rededicate the defiled Second Temple, a cardinal rule was broken. The Messiah is often referred to as King Messiah, or, in Hebrew, מלך משיח, jewish tradition alludes to two redeemers, both of whom are called mashiach and are involved in ushering in the Messianic age, Mashiach ben David, and Mashiach ben Yosef. In general, the term Messiah unqualified refers to Mashiach ben David, in Christian interpretation the Davidic promise of a Davidic line in 2 Samuel 7 is understood in various ways, traditionally referring to the genealogies of Christ in the New Testament. The Quran mentioned the house of David once and mentioned David 16 times
Davidic line
–
David and Goliath by
Caravaggio
Davidic line
–
House of David
Davidic line
–
Solomon and the
Queen of Sheba
8.
Saul
–
Saul, according to the Hebrew Bible, was the first king of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah. His reign, traditionally placed in the late 11th century BCE, Sauls life and reign are described in the Hebrew Bible. He was anointed by the prophet Samuel and reigned from Gibeah and he fell on his sword to avoid capture in the battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, during which three of his sons were also killed. The succession to his throne was contested by Ish-bosheth, his surviving son, and his son-in-law David. A similar yet different account of Sauls life may be given in the Quran, according to the New Testament account, Saul reigned for a period of forty years. The Biblical accounts of Sauls life are found in the Books of Samuel, the narrative contains various internal inconsistencies, to the point that his biography is often embarrassingly confusing. According to the Tanakh, Saul was the son of Kish, of the family of the Matrites, and it appears that he came from Gibeah. Saul married Ahinoam, daughter of Ahimaaz and they had four sons and two daughters. The sons were Jonathan, Abinadab, Malchishua and Ish-bosheth and their daughters were named Merab and Michal. Saul also had a concubine named Rizpah, daughter of Aiah, Saul died at the Battle of Mount Gilboa, and was buried in Zelah, in the region of Benjamin. Three of Sauls sons – Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua – died with him at Mount Gilboa, Ish-bosheth became king of Israel, at the age of forty. At Davids request Abner had Michal returned to David, Ish-bosheth reigned for two years, but after the death of Abner, was killed by two of his own captains. Armoni and Mephibosheth were given by David along with the five sons of Merab to the Gibeonites, the only male descendant of Saul to survive was Mephibosheth, Jonathans lame son, who had been five when his father and grandfather Saul had died in battle. In time, he came under the protection of David, Mephibosheth had a young son, Micah, who had four sons and descendants named until the ninth generation. The Books of Samuel give three differing accounts of Sauls rise to the throne, Saul is sent with a servant to look for his fathers strayed donkeys. Leaving his home at Gibeah, they arrive at the district of Zuph. Sauls servant tells him that they happen to be near the town of Ramah, where a famous seer is located, the seer offers hospitality to Saul and later anoints him in private. A popular movement having arisen to establish a centralized monarchy like other nations, after having been chosen as monarch, Saul returns to his home in Gibeah, along with a number of followers
Saul
–
David Plays the Harp for Saul, by
Rembrandt van Rijn, c. 1658.
Saul
–
David and Saul (1885) by
Julius Kronberg.
Saul
–
"Death of King Saul", 1848 by Elie Marcuse (Germany and France, 1817–1902).
Saul
–
Saul and the Witch of Endor by
Gustave Dore.
9.
David
–
David was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah, reigning in c. He is described as a man after Gods own heart in 1 Samuel 13,14 and Acts 13,22. The Hebrew prophets regarded him as the ancestor of the future messiah, the New Testament says he was an ancestor of Jesus. God is angered when Saul, Israels king, unlawfully offers a sacrifice and later disobeys a divine instruction to not only all of the Amalekites. Consequently, he sends the prophet Samuel to anoint David, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem, God sends an evil spirit to torment Saul. Sauls courtiers recommend that he send for David, a man skillful on the lyre, wise in speech, and brave in battle. So David enters Sauls service as one of the royal armour-bearers, and plays the lyre to soothe the king, war comes between Israel and the Philistines, and the giant Goliath challenges the Israelites to send out a champion to face him in single combat. David, sent by his father to bring provisions to his brothers serving in Sauls army, refusing the kings offer of the royal armour, he kills Goliath with his sling. Saul inquires the name of the heros father. Saul sets David over his army, all Israel loves David, but his popularity causes Saul to fear him. Saul plots his death, but Sauls son Jonathan, one of those who loves David, warns him of his fathers schemes and David flees. He becomes a vassal of the Philistine king Achish of Gath, but Achishs nobles question his loyalty, Jonathan and Saul are killed, and David is anointed king over Judah. In the north, Sauls son Ish-Bosheth is anointed king of Israel, with the death of Sauls son, the elders of Israel come to Hebron and David is anointed king over all Israel. He conquers Jerusalem, previously a Jebusite stronghold, and makes it his capital. He brings the Ark of the Covenant to the city, intending to build a temple for God, Nathan also prophesies that God has made a covenant with the house of David, Your throne shall be established forever. David wins more victories over the Philistines, while the Moabites, Edomites, Amalekites, Ammonites, during a battle to conquer the Ammonite capital of Rabbah, David seduces Bathsheba and causes the death of her husband Uriah the Hittite. In response, Nathan prophesies the punishment that shall fall upon him, in fulfillment of these words Davids son Absalom rebels. The rebellion ends at the battle of the Wood of Ephraim, Absaloms forces are routed, and Absalom is caught by his long hair in the branches of a tree, and killed by Joab, contrary to Davids order. Joab was the commander of Davids army, David laments the death of his favourite son, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom
David
–
Statue of King David by
Nicolas Cordier in the Borghese Chapel of the
Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
David
–
Samuel anoints David,
Dura Europos,
Syria, 3rd century CE
David
–
"David Giving Thanks to God After the Death of Goliath", 18th century painting attributed to
Charles Errard the Younger
David
–
David holds the impaled head of Goliath and marches before a general on a white horse, as envisioned by Poussin, ca. 1632
10.
Solomon
–
Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was, according to the Bible, Quran, hadith and Hidden Words a fabulously wealthy and wise king of Israel and a son of David, the previous king of Israel. The conventional dates of Solomons reign are circa 970 to 931 BC and he is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, which would break apart into the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Following the split, his descendants ruled over Judah alone. According to the Talmud, Solomon is one of the 48 prophets, in the Quran, he is considered a major prophet, and Muslims generally refer to him by the Arabic variant Sulayman, son of David. Solomon was, according to the Quran, a king of ancient Israel as well as the son of David, the Hebrew Bible credits him as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem. It portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power any of the previous kings of the country. His sins included idolatry, marrying foreign women, and ultimately turning away from Yahweh, Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends, most notably in the 1st-century apocryphal work known as the Testament of Solomon. Solomon was born in Jerusalem, the second child of David and his wife Bathsheba. The first child, a son conceived adulterously during Uriahs lifetime, had died before Solomon was conceived as a punishment on account of the death of Uriah by Davids order. Solomon had three named full brothers through Bathsheba, Nathan, Shammua, and Shobab, besides six known older half-brothers through as many mothers, according to the First Book of Kings, when David was old, he could not get warm. So they sought a young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite. The young woman was very beautiful, and she was of service to the king and attended to him, while David was in this state, court factions were maneuvering for power. Solomon greatly expanded his military strength, especially the cavalry and chariot arms and he founded numerous colonies, some of which doubled as trading posts and military outposts. Trade relationships were a focus of his administration, Solomon is considered the most wealthy of the Israelite kings named in the Bible. Solomon also built the First Temple, beginning in the year of his reign. Solomon was the Biblical king most famous for his wisdom, in 1 Kings he sacrificed to God and prayed for wisdom. God personally answered his prayer, promising him great wisdom because he did not ask for self-serving rewards like long life or the death of his enemies. Perhaps the best known story of his wisdom is the Judgment of Solomon, Solomon easily resolved the dispute by commanding the child to be cut in half and shared between the two
Solomon
–
The Judgment of Solomon, 1617 by
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)
Solomon
–
Cornelis de Vos, The Anointing of Solomon. According to 1
Kings 1:39, Solomon was
anointed by
Zadok.
Solomon
–
Luca Giordano – Dream of Solomon – God promises Solomon Wisdom.
Solomon
–
The judgment of Solomon, painting on ceramic, Castelli, 18th century, Lille Museum of Fine Arts
11.
Rehoboam
–
Rehoboam was an Israelite king mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. He was a son of Solomon and a grandson of David and his mother was Naamah the Ammonite. One of the most difficult issues in identifying Shishak with Shoshenq I is the statement that King Shishak of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. Solomons wisdom and power were not sufficient to prevent the rebellion of several of his border cities, Damascus under Rezon secured its independence of Solomon, and Jeroboam, a superintendent of works, his ambition stirred by the words of the prophet Ahijah, fled to Egypt. Thus before the death of Solomon the apparently unified kingdom of David began to disintegrate, with Damascus independent and a powerful man of Ephraim, the most prominent of the Ten Tribes, awaiting his opportunity, the future of Solomons kingdom became dubious. Conventional Bible chronology dates the start of Rehoboams reign to the mid-10th century BC and his reign is described in 1 Kings 12 and 14, 21-31 and in 2 Chronicles 10-12 In the Hebrew Bible, Rehoboam was 41 years old when he ascended the throne. The assembly for the coronation of Solomons successor, Rehoboam, was called at Shechem, before the coronation took place the assembly requested certain reforms in the policy followed by Rehoboams father, Solomon. The reforms requested would materially reduce the royal exchequer and hence its power to continue the magnificence of Solomons court, the older men counseled Rehoboam at least to speak to the people in a civil manner. However, the new king sought the advice from the people he had grown up with, who advised the king to show no weakness to the people, and to tax them even more, which Rehoboam did. He proclaimed to the people, Whereas my father laid upon you a heavy yoke, Whereas my father chastised you with whips, so shall I chastise you with scorpions. For my littlest finger is thicker than my fathers loins, and your backs, the two sections had acted independently until David, by his victories, succeeded in uniting all the tribes, though the Ephraimitic jealousy was ever ready to develop into open revolt. The building of the Temple was a blow for the various sanctuaries scattered through the land. Josephus makes the rebels exclaim, We leave to Rehoboam the Temple his father built, Jeroboam and the people rebelled, with the ten northern tribes breaking away and forming a separate kingdom. The new breakaway kingdom continued to be called Kingdom of Israel, the realm Rehoboam was left with was called Kingdom of Judah. Rehoboam went to war against the new Kingdom of Israel with a force of 180,000 soldiers, however, he was advised against fighting his brethren, and so returned to Jerusalem. The text reports that Israel and Judah were in a state of war throughout his 17-year reign, in the 5th year of Rehoboams reign Shishaq, king of Egypt, brought a huge army and took many cities. According to Joshua, son of Nadav, the mention in 2 Chron,11,6 sqq. that Rehoboam built fifteen fortified cities, indicates that the attack was not unexpected. The account in Chronicles states that Shishaq marched with 1,200 chariots,60,000 horsemen and troops who came with him from Egypt, Libyans, Sukkites, shishaqs armies captured all of the fortified towns leading to Jerusalem between Gezer and Gibeon
Rehoboam
–
Rehoboam depicted on a fragment of the wall painting originally in the Great Council Chamber of
Basel Town Hall, but now kept at the
Kunstmuseum Basel.
Rehoboam
–
The United Kingdom of Solomon breaks up, with Jeroboam ruling over the Northern Kingdom of Israel (in green on the map).
Rehoboam
–
The
Bubastite Portal at
Karnak, showing
cartouches of
Sheshonq I mentioning the invasion from the Egyptian perspective.
12.
Abijah of Judah
–
Abijam was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the fourth king of the House of David and the second of the Kingdom of Judah. He was the son of Rehoboam, the grandson of Solomon, the Chronicler refers to him as Abijah. His mothers name was Maacah, or Micaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, Abijah married fourteen wives, and had 22 sons and 16 daughters. Following the death of Rehoboam, his son Abijah succeeded the throne as King of Judah and he began his three-year reign with a strenuous but unsuccessful effort to bring back the ten tribes of the northern Kingdom of Israel to their allegiance. Following Abijahs ascension to the throne in the 18th year of King Jeroboam I of Israel, Jeroboam surrounded Abijahs army, engaging in the battle of Mount Zemaraim. Abijiah captured the Israelite cities of Jeshanah, Ephron and Bethel, according to the Deuteronomist, God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up a son to succeed him. Thus the unconditional covenant blessing of Yahweh, guaranteed his promise to King David to stabilize the Kingdom of David despite its ruler, the Chronicler also emphasizes Yahwehs promise as seen by Abijahs success against every effort by Jeroboam to defeat him. Judah prevailed because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers, God gave the Kingdom to David and his descendants by a covenant of salt, meaning, of permanence. Yahweh decreed that the entire dynasty of King Jeroboam was to be executed. He also ordered that Abijah be given a decent burial because “Something good toward Jehovah the God of Israel has been found in him”. According to 2 Chronicles 13, 1-2, Abijah became king of Judah in the 18th year of the reign of Jeroboam, william F. Albright has dated his reign to 915–913 BCE. E. R. Thiele offers the dates 914/913 – 911/910 BCE, the calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri and that of Israel in Nisan. Cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of a king to within a six-month range. For Abijam, the Scriptural data allow the narrowing of his accession to some time between 1 Nisan 914 BCE and the day before 1 Tishri of that year. For calculation purposes, this should be taken as the Judean year beginning in Tishri of 915/914 BC and his death occurred at some time between 1 Tishri 912 BCE and 1 Nisan 911 BCE, i. e. in 912 BCE. Kingdom of priests a history of old testament israel, the Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings. Notes on an Egyptian Element in the Names of the Hebrew Kings, proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
Abijah of Judah
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Abijam from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
13.
Asa of Judah
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Asa was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the third king of the Kingdom of Judah and the fifth king of the House of David. He was the son of Abijam, grandson of Rehoboam, the Hebrew Bible gives the period of his reign as 41 years. His reign is dated between 913-910 BC to 873-869 BC and he was succeeded by Jehoshaphat, his son. According to Thieles chronology, when Asa became very ill, he made Jehoshaphat coregent, Asa died two years into the coregency. Asa was zealous in maintaining the traditional worship of God, and in rooting out idolatry, after concluding a battle with Zerah of Egypt in the 10th year of his reign, there was peace in Judah until the 35th year of Asas reign. In his 36th year he was confronted by Baasha, king of Israel and he formed an alliance with Ben-Hadad I, king of Aram Damascus, and using a monetary bribe, convinced him to break his peace treaty with Baasha and invade the Northern Kingdom. He died greatly honoured by his people, and was considered for the most part a righteous king and he threw the prophet Hanani in jail and oppressed some of the people the same time. It is also recorded of Asa that in his old age, when afflicted with a disease, he “sought not to the Lord. Azariah son of Oded, a wiseman and prophet, exhorted Asa to reinforce strict national observance of Judaism and he purged the land of former religious worships, all the sites of non-Judaic worship were destroyed and the nation entered into a covenant or oath together. The Queen Mother, Maacah, was deposed for having been involved with local, non-Judaic gods, worships, and beliefs. Finally, when the transition was completed in Asas fifteenth year. Taking advantage of 35 years of peace, Asa revamped and reinforced the fortresses built by his grandfather Rehoboam. According to Steven Shawn Tuell, the numbers given in this passage are completely unrealistic. The Bible does not state whether Zerah was a pharaoh or a general of the army, the Ethiopians were pursued all the way to Gerar, in the coastal plain, where they stopped out of sheer exhaustion. The resulting peace kept Judah free from Egyptian incursions until the time of Josiah, in Asas 36th year, King Baasha of Israel attacked the Kingdom of Judah. Baasha built the fortress of Ramah on the border, less than ten miles from Jerusalem, the result was that the capital was under pressure and the military situation was precarious. Asa took gold and silver from the Temple and sent them to Ben-Hadad I, king of Aram Damascus, Ben-Hadad I attacked Ijon, Dan, and many important cities of the tribe of Naphtali, and Baasha was forced to withdraw from Ramah. Asa tore down the fortress and used its raw materials to fortify Geba and Mizpah
Asa of Judah
–
Asa from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
Asa of Judah
–
Illustration of Asa destroying the idols, in the
Bible Historiale, 1372.
14.
Jehoshaphat
–
Jehoshaphat is a Biblical name which refers to several characters in the Hebrew Bible, The first, Jehoshaphat the Recorder, son of Ahilud, is a scribe who first appears in 2 Samuel. Jehoshaphat, son of Paruah, in Issachar, appears in 1 Kings 4,17, Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, first appears in 1 Kings 15,24 as a King of Judah. This article concerns Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, as described in the Bible, according to 1 Kings 15,24, Jehoshaphat, son of Asa, was the fourth king of the Kingdom of Judah, and successor to his father. His children included Jehoram, who succeeded him as king, historically, his name has sometimes been connected with the Valley of Josaphat. Jehoshaphat ascended the throne at the age of thirty-five and reigned for twenty-five years and he spent the first years of his reign fortifying his kingdom against the Kingdom of Israel. His zeal in suppressing the worship of the high places is commended in 2 Chronicles 17,6. In the third year of his reign Jehoshaphat sent out priests and Levites over the land to instruct the people in the Law, Jehoshaphat also pursued alliances with the northern kingdom. Jehoshaphats son Jehoram married Ahabs daughter Athaliah, in the eighteenth year of his reign Jehosaphat visited Ahab in Samaria, and nearly lost his life accompanying his ally to the siege of Ramoth-Gilead. While Jehoshaphat safely returned from battle, he was reproached by the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani. We are told that Jehoshaphat repented, and returned to his course of opposition to all idolatry. The alliance between Israel and Judah for trade of gold with Ophir differs in the Deuteronomistic Historians account, according to the Deuteronomist, Jehoshapat refused the offer, most likely, in order to retain profits for his kingdom. He subsequently joined Jehoram of Israel, in a war against the Moabites, who were under tribute to Israel. The Moabites were subdued, but seeing Meshas act of offering his own son as a sacrifice on the walls of Kir of Moab filled Jehoshaphat with horror. According to Chronicles, the Moabites formed a great and powerful confederacy with the surrounding nations, the allied forces were encamped at Ein Gedi. The king and his people were filled with alarm, the king prayed in the court of the Temple, O our God, will you not judge them. For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us and we do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you. The voice of Jahaziel the Levite was heard announcing that the day all this great host would be overthrown. So it was, for they quarreled among themselves, and slew one another, soon after this victory Jehoshaphat died after a reign of twenty-five years at the age of sixty
Jehoshaphat
–
Jehoshaphat
Jehoshaphat
–
Michelangelo 's Asa-Jehoshaphat-Joram. The man on the left is generally considered to be Jehoshaphat. [
citation needed]
Jehoshaphat
–
Triumph of Jehosaphat over
Adad of Syria. Illustration by
Jean Fouquet (1470s) for
Flavius Josephus 's
Jewish Antiquities.
15.
Jehoram of Judah
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Jehoram of Judah or Joram, was a king of Judah, and the son of Jehoshaphat. Jehoram took the throne at the age of 32 and reigned for 8 years, the name Jehoram is confusing in the biblical account. The author of Kings speaks of both Jehoram of Israel and Jehoram of Judah in the passage, which can be confusing. Its also confusing that both Jehorams are also referred to as Joram, even in the translation in the same breath. 6 And he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which they had him at Ramah. And Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, likewise, the king of Judah is referred to as Jehoram or Joram in a single translation. For example,2 Kings 8, 20-21 uses the name Joram while 2 Chronicles 21, 8-9, which describe the same event in almost identical words, uses the name Jehoram. According to 2 Kings 8,16, Jehoram became king of Judah in the year of Jehoram of Israel. Jehoram took the throne at the age of 32 and reigned for 8 years, to secure his position Jehoram killed his six brothers. Jehoram formed an alliance with the Kingdom of Israel by marrying Athaliah, despite this alliance with the stronger northern kingdom, Jehorams rule of Judah was shaky. Edom revolted, and when Jehoram marched against this people, his army fled before the Edomites, the town of Libnah revolted during his reign, according to 2 Chronicles 21,10, because he had abandoned Yahweh, God of his fathers. During his reign a raid by Philistines, Arabs and Ethiopians looted the kings house, during this time the king received a letter of warning from Elijah. After this, Jehoram suffered an inflammation of the abdomen. The calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri, cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of a king to within a six-month range. For Jehoram, the Scriptural data allow the narrowing of the first year of his reign to some time between Nisan 1 of 848 BC and the day before Tishri 1 of the same BC year. For calculation purposes, this should be taken as the Judean year beginning in Tishri of 849/848 BC and his death occurred at some time between Nisan 1 and the day before Tishri 1 of 841 BC, i. e. in 842/841 BC according to the Judean calendar. For calculation purposes this can be written in the simpler form 842 BC and this convention was followed in Judah for the next three monarchs, Ahaziah, Athaliah, and Jehoash, returning to Judahs original accession reckoning in the time of Amaziah. The arbitrariness, however, apparently rested with the ancient kings and their court recorders, the official records of Tiglath-Pileser III show that he switched to non-accession reckoning for his reign, in contrast with the accession method used for previous kings of Assyria
Jehoram of Judah
–
Jehoram from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
16.
Ahaziah of Judah
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This entry is not about King Ahaziah of Israel. Ahaziah of Judah or Jehoahaz, was a king of Judah, and the son of Jehoram and Athaliah, according to 2 Kings 8,26, Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king of Judah and reigned for one year. However,2 Chronicles 22,2 gives his age as 42 years when his reign began, most scholars regard the 42 years in 2 Chronicles 22,2 as a copyists error for an original 22 years. The age of 22 is also found in some Greek and Syrian versions of 2 Chronicles 22,2, william F. Albright has dated his reign to 842 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the date 841/840 BC. Later scholars corrected this by dating these kings one year earlier, Ahaziah was the youngest son of Jehoram of Judah. According to 2 Chronicles 21, 16-17, his brothers had been carried off in a Philistine. Under the influence of his mother Athaliah, Ahaziah introduced forms of worship that offended the Yahwistic party, members of her family became his advisors and encouraged him to join his uncle Jehoram, king of Israel, in an expedition against Hazael, king of the Arameans. Jehoram was wounded in the battle, and went to recuperate at Jezreel, Ahaziah also left the field of conflict in Gilead, and, after a visit to Jerusalem, came to Jezreel for a conference with Jehoram, and was caught up in the revolt by Jehu. According to the account given in the Second Book of Kings, Ahaziah, Ahaziah watched as his uncle was shot by Jehu, who was armed with a bow. Ahaziah fled for his life, but was wounded at the pass of Gur in Ibleam and had only to reach Megiddo. 2 Chronicles, however, gives a different account of Ahaziahs death. The author of the inscription on the Tel Dan Stele claimed to have slain both Ahaziah, son of Jehoram, and Jehoram, the most likely author of monument is Hazael of the Arameans. Bryant G. Wood notes that in 1 Kings 19,15 the prophet Elijah was directed by God to go to Damascus and anoint Hazael king of Aram, Hazael later resumed his attacks on Israel. The calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri, cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of a king to within a six-month range. For Ahaziah, the Scriptural data allow the narrowing of his accession to some time between Nisan 1 of 841 BC and the day before Tishri 1 of the same BC year. For calculation purposes, this should be taken as the Judean year beginning in Tishri of 842/841 BC and his death occurred within this six-month period. Leslie McFall proposed a coregency between Ahaziah and his father Jehoram that was occasioned by the disease Jehoram contracted one year before he died. McFalls conception of a coregency is consistent with the seriousness of the disease contracted by Jehoram
Ahaziah of Judah
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The
Tel Dan Stele, dating from circa the 9th century BCE, which was discovered in Tel Dan is the most important archaeological artifact which mentions the House of David outside of the Bible
Ahaziah of Judah
–
Ahaziah from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
17.
Athaliah
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Athaliah was queen consort of Judah as the wife of King Jehoram, a descendant of King David, and later queen regnant c. 841–835 BCE. Athaliah is usually considered the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, Athaliah was married to Jehoram of Judah to seal a treaty between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and to secure his position Jehoram killed his six brothers. Jehoram became king of Judah in the year of Jehoram of Israels reign. Jehoram of Israel was Athaliahs brother, Jehoram of Judah reigned for eight years. His father Jehoshaphat and grandfather Asa were devout kings who worshiped the Lord, however, Jehoram chose not to follow their example but rejected God and married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab in the line of Omri. Jehorams rule of Judah was shaky, edom revolted, and he was forced to acknowledge their independence. A raid by Philistines, Arabs and Ethiopians looted the kings house, after Jehorams death, Ahaziah became king of Judah, and Athaliah was queen mother. Ahaziah reigned for one year from the age of 22 and was killed during a visit to Israel along with Jehoram of Israel. Jehu assassinated them both in Yahwehs name and became king of Israel and he had Athaliahs entire extended family in Israel put to death, ending the Omri dynasty in Israel. For her part, Athaliah seized the throne of Judah and ordered the execution of all possible claimants to the throne, including the remnant of her Omri dynasty. However, Jehosheba, Ahaziahs sister, managed to rescue from the one of Athaliahs grandsons with Jehoram of Judah, named Jehoash. Jehoash was raised in secret by Jehoshebas husband, a priest named Jehoiada, as queen, Athaliah used her power to establish the worship of Baal in Judah. Six years later, Athaliah was surprised when Jehoiada revealed that Jehoash lived and proclaimed him king of Judah and she rushed to stop the rebellion, but was captured and executed. The text above regards Athaliah as the daughter of Ahab and his wife Jezebel and this is consistent with most Bible commentaries. However, there are several Scriptures that, when combined with chronological considerations, have led scholars to hold that she was Ahabs sister. The relevant Scriptural texts that can be cited to support the relationship are the following. 2 Kings 8,26, and its parallel passage 2 Chronicles 22,2, say that Jehoram of Judah married a daughter of Omri, Ahabs father. The Hebrew word daughter can mean daughter, granddaughter, or any female descendant, in the way that ben can mean son, grandson
Athaliah
–
Athaliah from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
Athaliah
–
Gustave Doré, The Death of Athaliah.
18.
Jehoash of Judah
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Jehoash, also known as Joash, Joas or Joás, was a king of Judah, and the sole surviving son of Ahaziah after the massacre of the royal family ordered by his grandmother, Athaliah. He was also the first Judahite king to be descended from both the House of David and the House of Omri, through his grandmother and predecessor. His mother was Zibiah of Beersheba, Jehoash was 7 years old when his reign began, and he reigned for 40 years. He was succeeded by his son, Amaziah of Judah and he is said to have been righteous all the days of Jehoiada the priest. William F. Albright has dated his reign to 837 –800 BC, the Gospel of Matthew does not list Jehoash of Judah in the genealogy of Jesus, being one of four kings of Judah so omitted, the other three being Ahaziah, Amaziah, and Jehoiakim. After hiding him in the Temple for seven years, Jehoiada had Jehoash crowned and anointed king in a coup against Athaliah, Athaliah was killed during the coup. After Jehoash was crowned, the covenant was renewed between God, the king, and the nation, the Tyrian cult of Baal, which had started under Jehoram, and strengthened under Athaliah, was suppressed. Mattan, the priest of Baal, was killed, the altars of Baal were destroyed, and for the first time in Judahs history the Jerusalem Temple, and its priesthood achieved national importance. After Jehoiada died, Jehoash listened to the princes of Judah instead of the priests and forsook Yahweh and worshiped the idols and the Asherim as the previous kings of Israel did. According to 2 Chronicles 24, when prophet Zechariah, Jehoiadas son and successor, rebuked them for forsaking their god, he was put to death, the author of the Books of Chronicles criticizes this cruel act strongly. Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, and when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it. The author also attributes Jehoashs deeds to the oppression suffered at the hands of Aramean invaders as Gods judgement, however this account is unlikely to be true. Jehoash was assassinated by his own servants at Millo, and his assassination is portrayed as an act of revenge for the blood of Zechariah, Joash was buried together with his fathers in the City of David, although he was not in the sepulchres of the kings. Joash escaped death because in the case one priest, Abiathar. The hiding-place of Joash was, according to R. Eleazar, one of the chambers behind the Holy of Holies, naḥman, one of the upper chambers of the Temple. Although a king who is the son of a king need not be anointed, exception was made in the case of Joash, as well as of Solomon and Jeoahaz, the succession of each of whom was contested. Particular mention is made of the placed on Joashs head, because it fitted exactly. Ironically, Moab and Ammon were the two offspring of Lots incest with his two daughters as described in Gen.19, 30-38
Jehoash of Judah
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Jehoash from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
Jehoash of Judah
–
Athaliah Expelled from the Temple by
Antoine Coypel, 1699
19.
Amaziah of Judah
–
Amaziah of Judah, pronounced /æməˈzaɪ. ə/, was a king of Judah, the son and successor of Joash. His mother was Jehoaddan and his son was Uzziah and he took the throne at the age of 25, after the assassination of his father, and reigned for 29 years,24 years of which were with the co-regency of his son. The Hebrew Bible considers him a righteous king and he is praised for killing the assassins of his father only and sparing their children, as dictated by the law of Moses. Edwin R. Thiele dates his reign from 797/796 to 768/767 BCE, thieles chronology has his son, Uzziah becoming co-regent with Amaziah in the fifth year of Amaziahs reign, in 792/791 BCE, when Uzziah was 16 years old. Amaziah is also rendered Amatzyah, Hebrew, אֲמַצְיָהוּ, ʼĂmaṣyāhû, meaning the strength of the Lord, strengthened by Jehovah, the Douay-Rheims Bible and some other translations render Amaziah as Amasias and his mothers name Jehoaddan as Joadan. As soon as his kingdom was established Amaziah executed the murderers of his father, but in obedience to the Mosaic laws permitted their children to live. Amaziah was the first to employ an army of 100,000 Israelite soldiers, which he did in his attempt to reconquer Edom. He was commanded by a prophet to send back the mercenaries, to whom he acquiesced. His obedience to this command was followed by a victory over the Edomites. Amaziah began to some of the idols he took from the Edomites. An unnamed prophet rebuked him for this and the king responded by threatening him if he will continue to admonish he will strike him. His victory over Edom inflated his pride, and he challenged to a combat Jehoash, grandson of Jehu, the latters disdain and scorn for Amaziah are embodied in the stinging parable of the thistle and the cedar. In his resentment, Amaziah rushed into a battle at Beth-shemesh, and a humiliating defeat overtook his army. The king was captured,400 cubits of the wall of Jerusalem broken down, the city, Temple, and palace were looted and this is all considered in the Hebrew Bible as a punishment for turning away from God. His defeat was followed by a conspiracy that took his life and he, like his father, was the victim of assassins, apparently bent upon putting out of the way one who had brought upon the land such dire disasters. Amaziah was slain at Lachish, to which he had fled, and his body was brought to Jerusalem, the calendars for reckoning the years of kings in Judah and Israel were offset by six months, that of Judah starting in Tishri and that of Israel in Nisan. Cross-synchronizations between the two kingdoms therefore often allow narrowing of the beginning and/or ending dates of a king to within a six-month range. For Amaziah, the Scriptural data allow the narrowing of his accession to some time between Nisan 1 of 796 BCE and the day before Tishri 1 of the same BCE year
Amaziah of Judah
–
Amaziah from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
20.
Uzziah
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Uzziah, also known as Azariah, was a king of the ancient Kingdom of Judah, and one of Amaziahs sons. Uzziah was 16 when he became king of Judah and reigned for 52 years, the first 24 years of his reign were as co-regent with his father, Amaziah. Uzziah was struck with leprosy for disobeying God, Thiele dates Uzziahs being struck with leprosy to 751/750 BC, at which time his son Jotham took over the government, with Uzziah living on until 740/739 BC. Pekah became king of Israel in the last year of Uzziahs reign, the Catholic Encyclopedia dates his reign from 809-759 BC. The Gospel of Matthew lists Uzziah of Judah in the genealogy of Jesus, Uzziah took the throne at the age of 16, and reigned for about 52 years. His reign was the most prosperous excepting that of Jehoshaphat since the time of Solomon,26, Uzziah conquered the Philistines and the Arabians, and received tribute from the Ammonites. He refortified the country, reorganized and reequipped the army, and he was a vigorous and able ruler, and his name spread abroad, even to the entering in of Egypt. Then his pride led to his downfall and he entered the temple of Jehovah to burn incense on the altar of incense. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense, Uzziah was suddenly struck with tzaraat while in the act of offering incense, and he was driven from the Temple and compelled to reside in a separate house until his death. The government was turned over to his son Jotham, a coregency that lasted for the last 11 years of Uzziahs life and he was buried in a separate grave in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings. Isaiah sees the Lord in the year that king Uzziah died, in 1931 an archeological find, now known as the Uzziah Tablet, was discovered by Professor E. L. Sukenik of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and he came across the artifact in a Russian convent collection from the Mount of Olives. The origin of the previous to this remains unknown and was not documented by the convent. The inscription on the tablet is written in an Aramaic dialect very similar to Biblical Aramaic, according to its script, it is dated to around AD 30-70, around 700 years after the supposed death of Uzziah of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. Nevertheless, the inscription is translated, Hither were brought the bones of Uzziah and it is open to debate whether this tablet really was part of the tomb of King Uzziah or simply a later creation. It may be there was a later reburial of Uzziah here during the Second Temple Period. ”A major earthquake is referred to in the book of the prophet Amos. Amos dated his prophecy to two years before the earthquake, when Uzziah was king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Jehoash was king of Israel. Over 200 years later, the prophet Zechariah predicted a future earthquake from which the people would flee as they fled in the days of Uzziah, geologists believe they have found evidence of this major earthquake in sites throughout Israel and Jordan
Uzziah
–
Uzziah from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
Uzziah
–
The King Uzziah Stricken with
Leprosy, by
Rembrandt, 1635.
Uzziah
–
"Ozias" redirects here. For other uses, see
Ozias (disambiguation).
21.
Jotham of Judah
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Jotham or Yotam was a king of Judah, and son of Uzziah by Jerusha, daughter of Zadok. Jotham was 25 when he began his reign, and reigned for 16 years, edwin R. Thiele concluded that his reign commenced as a coregency with his father, which lasted for 11 years. William F. Albright dated his reign to 742 –735 BC, Thiele dated his coregency with Uzziah starting in 751/750 BC and his sole reign from 740/39 to 736/735 BC, at which time he was deposed by the pro-Assyrian faction in favor of his son Ahaz. Thiele places his death in 732/731 BC, the Gospel of Matthew lists Jotham of Judah in the genealogy of Jesus. The archeologist Nelson Glueck found an imprint of king Jotham near Eilat, also near Eilat there is a wadi called Yatam wadi. Jotham inherited a government, well officered and administered. He is recorded as having built the Upper Gate of the Temple of Jerusalem and he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers. 2 Kings mentions that Jotham fought wars against Rezin, king of the Arameans and he also defeated the Ammonites, who paid him an immense annual tribute. But the increasing corruption of the kingdom began to permeate Judah. Jotham was a contemporary with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Biblical chronology for the two Israelite kingdoms in the 8th century BC are both profuse and perplexing. Some of the reign lengths or synchronisms are given from the start of a reign, while others are given from the start of a coregency, or, in the case of Pekah. Thiele maintained that the key to understanding these records lies in an appreciation of the growing threat from Assyria that both kingdoms faced. In 754 BC, Ashur-nirari V led the Assyrians against Arpad in northern Aram and his successor Tiglath-Pileser III warred against Arpad in the years 743 to 740 BC, capturing the city after three years. In face of threat, Rezin of Damascus made an alliance with Pekah of Israel. Meanwhile, Menahem, ruling in Samaria, sent tribute to Tiglath-Pileser in order to strengthen his hold on the kingdom and this points to close Judean ties with Pekah than with Menahem, and a common resistance against the Assyrian threat could well have been the cause. The fact that Jothams accession in 751/50 is synchronized with the years of Pekah provides strong evidence that Pekah was then ruling as king. And the fact that Ahazs accession in 736/35 is likewise synchronized with a reign of Pekah that began in 752/51 provides further proof that it was at time that Pekah began his reign. These synchronisms of II Kings 15,32 and 16,1 are not artificial, no scribe of a later period unacquainted with the historical details of the time would, or could, have invented them
Jotham of Judah
–
Jotham from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
Jotham of Judah
–
Uzziah, Ioatham and Achaz by
Michelangelo Buonarroti,
Sistine Chapel lunette,
Vatican City. Traditionally Ioatham is the man in green on the left and the child with him is his son Achaz.
22.
Amon of Judah
–
Amon of Judah was a 7th-century BC King of Judah who, according to the biblical account, succeeded his father Manasseh of Judah. Although the date is unknown, the Hebrew Bible records that he married Jedidah, Amon began his reign of Judah at the age of 22, and reigned for two years. Biblical scholar and archeologist William F. Albright has dated his reign to 642 –640, thieles dates are tied to the reign of Amons son Josiah, whose death at the hands of Pharaoh Necho II occurred in the summer of 609. Josiahs death, which is confirmed in Egyptian history, places the end of Amons reign,31 years earlier, in 641 or 640. The Hebrew Bible records that Amon continued his father Manassehs practice of idolatry, II Kings states that Amon did that which was evil in the sight of YAWEH, as did Manasseh his father. And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, the Talmudic tradition recounts that Amon burnt the Torah, and allowed spider webs to cover the altar. Like other textual sources, Flavius Josephus too criticizes the reign of Amon, after reigning two years, Amon was assassinated by his servants, who conspired against him, and was succeeded by his son Josiah, who at the time was eight years old. After Amons assassination his murderers became unpopular with the people, and were ultimately killed, Amons reign was in the midst of a transitional time for the Levant and the entire Mesopotamian region. To the east of Judah, the Assyrian Empire was beginning to disintegrate while the Babylonian Empire had not yet risen to replace it, to the west, Egypt was still recovering under Psamtik I from its Assyrian occupation, transforming from a vassal state to an autonomous ally. In this power vacuum, many states such as Judah were able to govern themselves without foreign intervention from larger empires. Manasseh of Judah Josiah Kings of Judah Kingdom of Judah This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Singer, Isidore. New York, Funk & Wagnalls Company
Amon of Judah
–
Amon from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
23.
Josiah
–
Josiah or Yoshiyahu was a king of Judah, who according to the Hebrew Bible, instituted major religious changes. Josiah is credited by most historians with having established or compiled important Hebrew Scriptures during the Deuteronomic reform that occurred during his rule. Josiah became king of Judah at the age of eight, after the assassination of his father, King Amon, and reigned for thirty-one years, from 641/640 to 610/609 BCE. He is described as a righteous king, a king who walked in all the way of David his father. He is also one of the mentioned in one of the two divergent genealogies of Jesus in the New Testament. Josiah is known only from biblical texts, no reference to him exists in surviving texts of the period from Egypt or Babylon, and no clear archaeological evidence, such as inscriptions bearing his name, has ever been found. According to the Bible, Josiah was the son of King Amon and Jedidah and his grandfather Manasseh was one of the kings blamed for turning away from the worship of Yahweh. Manasseh adapted the Temple for idolatrous worship, Josiahs great-grandfather was King Hezekiah, a noted reformer. Josiah had four sons, Johanan, and Eliakim by Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah, Eliakim had his name changed by Pharaoh Necho of Egypt to Jehoiakim. Shallum succeeded Josiah as king of Judah, under the name Jehoahaz, Shallum was succeeded by Eliakim, under the name Jehoiakim, who was succeeded by his own son Jeconiah, then, Jeconiah was succeeded to the throne by Mattanyahu, under the name Zedekiah. Zedekiah was the last king of Judah before the kingdom was conquered by Babylon, according to the Hebrew Bible, in the eighteenth year of his rule, Josiah ordered the High Priest Hilkiah to use the tax money which had been collected over the years to renovate the temple. It was during this time that Hilkiah discovered the Book of the Law, while Hilkiah was clearing the treasure room of the Temple he discovered a scroll described as the book of the Law or as the book of the law of Yahweh by the hand of Moses. The phrase the book of the Torah in 2 Kings 22,8 is identical to the used in Joshua 1,8 and 8,34 to describe the sacred writings that Joshua had received from Moses. The book is not identified in the text as the Torah, however it has been noted that the story of the repairs to the Temple is based on those ordered by Joash an earlier Judean king in 2 Kings 12. Hilkiah brought this scroll to Josiahs attention, an assembly of the elders of Judah and Jerusalem and of all the people was called, and Josiah then encouraged the exclusive worship of Yahweh, forbidding all other forms of worship. The instruments and emblems of the worship of Baal and the host of heaven, were removed from the Jerusalem Temple, local sanctuaries, or High Places, were destroyed, from Beer-sheba in the south to Beth-el and the cities of Samaria in the north. Josiah had pagan priests executed and even had the bones of the priests of Bethel exhumed from their graves. Josiah also reinstituted the Passover celebrations, and the only exception to this destruction was for the grave of an unnamed prophet he found in Bethel, who had foretold that these religious sites Jeroboam erected would one day be destroyed
Josiah
–
Closer view of the inner court and House of the
Temple of Solomon as depicted in a 3-D computer model.
Josiah
–
Josiah
Josiah
–
View of the
Temple of Solomon with ceiling removed as depicted in a 3-D computer model.
24.
Jehoahaz of Judah
–
Jehoahaz or Joachaz in the Douay-Rheims and some other English translations was king of Judah and the third son of king Josiah whom he succeeded. His mother was Hamautal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah and he was born in 633/632 BC and his birth name was Shallum. In the spring or early summer of 609 BC, Necho II began his first campaign against Babylon, there he found his passage blocked at Megiddo by the Judean army led by Josiah, who sided with the Babylonians. After a fierce battle Josiah was killed, the Assyrians and their allies the Egyptians fought the Babylonians at Harran. The Babylonian Chronicle dates the battle from Tammuz to Elul of 609 BC, Josiah was therefore killed in the month of Tammuz,609 BC, or the month prior, when the Egyptians were on their way to Harran. Chronological considerations related to his successor limit the month in which Josiah was killed, although he was two years younger than his brother, Eliakim, he was elected to succeed his father on the throne at the age of twenty-three, under the name Jehoahaz. This fact attests the popularity of the man, and probably also his political affiliations or policy. He reigned for three months, before being deposed by the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II and taken into Egyptian captivity. He disregarded the reforms of his father Josiah, both William F. Albright and E. R. Thiele dated his reign to 609 BC, making his birth in 633/632 BC. After the failed siege of Harran, Necho left a force behind. On his return march, he found that the Judeans had selected Jehoahaz to succeed his father Josiah, Necho brought Jehoahaz to Riblah and imprisoned him there. He then deposed Jehoahaz and replaced with his older brother Eliakim as king, changing his name to Jehoiakim, Jehoahaz had ruled for three months. Necho brought Jehoahaz back to Egypt as his prisoner, where Jehoahaz ended his days
Jehoahaz of Judah
–
Michelangelo 's Josiah-Jechoniah-Sheatiel. Jechoniah is generally seen as the child on the right with Josiah being the man holding him. The boy being held by the woman is intended as one of Jechoniah's brothers. [
citation needed]
25.
Jehoiakim
–
Jehoiakim was a king of Judah from 608 to 598 BC. He was the eldest son of king Josiah by Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah, after Josiahs death, Jehoiakims younger brother Jehoahaz was proclaimed king, but after three months pharaoh Necho II deposed him, making Eliakim king in his place. When placed on the throne, his name was changed to Jehoiakim, Jehoiakim reigned for eleven years, until 598 BC and was succeeded by his son Jeconiah, who reigned for only three months. Jehoiakim was appointed king by Necho II, king of Egypt, in 608 BC, after Nechos return from the battle in Haran, Necho deposed Jehoiakims younger brother Jehoahaz after a reign of only three months and took him to Egypt, where he died. Jehoiakim ruled originally as a vassal of the Egyptians, paying a heavy tribute, to raise the money he taxed the land and exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land according to their assessments. He paid tribute from the treasury in Jerusalem, some temple artifacts, rabbinical literature describes Jehoiakim as a godless tyrant who committed atrocious sins and crimes. He is portrayed as living in incestuous relations with his mother, daughter-in-law, and stepmother and he also had tattooed his body. Jeremiah criticised the policies, insisting on repentance and strict adherence to the law. Another prophet, Uriah ben Shemaiah, proclaimed a similar message, Jehoiakim continued for three years as a vassal to the Babylonians, until the failure of an invasion of Egypt in 601 BC undermined their control of the area. Jehoiakim switched allegiance back to the Egyptians, in late 598 BC, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II invaded Judah and again laid siege to Jerusalem, which lasted three months. Jehoiakim died before the siege ended and he was succeeded by his son Jeconiah. Nebuchadnezzar deposed Jeconiah and installed Zedekiah, Jehoiakims younger brother, as king in his place, Jeconiah, his household, and much of Judahs population were exiled to Babylon. According to the Babylonian Chronicles, Jerusalem fell on 2 Adar 597 BC, the Chronicles state, The seventh year in the month Chislev the king of Babylon assembled his army, and after he had invaded the land of Hatti he laid siege to the city of Judah. On the second day of the month of Adar he conquered the city and he installed in his place a king of his own choice, and after he had received rich tribute, he sent forth to Babylon. King, Philip J. Jeremiah, An Archaeological Companion
Jehoiakim
–
Jehoiakim from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
26.
Jeconiah
–
Jeconiah, also known as Coniah and as Jehoiachin, was a king of Judah who was dethroned by the King of Babylon in the 6th century BC and was taken into captivity. He was the son and successor of King Jehoiakim, most of what is known about Jeconiah is found in the Hebrew Bible. Records of Jeconiahs existence have been found in Iraq, such as the Jehoiachins Rations Tablets and these tablets were excavated near the Ishtar Gate in Babylon and have been dated to c.592 BC. Written in cuneiform, they mention Jeconiah and his five sons as recipients of food rations in Babylon, Jeconiah reigned three months and ten days, beginning December 9,598. He succeeded Jehoiakim as king of Judah after raiders from surrounding lands invaded Jerusalem and it is likely that the king of Babylon was behind this effort, as a response to Jehoiakims revolt, starting sometime after 601 BC. Three months and ten days after Jeconiah became king, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar II seized Jerusalem, the intention was to take high class Judahite captives and assimilate them into Babylonian society. On March 15/16th,597 BC, Jeconiah, his entire household, the Masoretic Text of 2 Chronicles states that Jeconiahs rule began at the age of eight, while in 2 Kings 24,8 Jeconiah is said to have come to the throne at eighteen. Modern scholars have treated the difference between eight and eighteen as reflecting a copying error on one side or the other of the question, after Jeconiah was deposed as king, Jeconiahs uncle, Zedekiah, was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar to rule Judah. Zedekiah was the son of Josiah, Jeconiah would later be regarded as the first of the exilarchs. In the Book of Ezekiel, the author refers to Jeconiah as king, the author identifies himself as Ezekiel, a contemporary of Jeconiah, and he never mentions Zedekiah by name. According to 2 Kings 25,27, Jeconiah was released from prison in the 37th year of the exile, Babylonian records show that Amel-Marduk began his reign in October 562 BC. According to 2 Kings 25,27, Jeconiah was released from prison on the 27th day of the twelfth month and this indicates the first year of captivity to be 598/597 BC, according to Judahs Tishri-based calendar. The 37th year of captivity was thus, by Judean reckoning, -- Jeremiah 22,30, NIV Jeconiah was the son of Jehoiakim with Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. He had seven children, Shealtiel, Malkiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, Jeconiah is also mentioned in the first book of Chronicles as the father of Pedaiah, who in turn is the father of Zerubbabel. A list of his descendants is given in 1 Chronicles 3, in listing the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Matthew 1,11 records Jeconiah as an ancestor of Joseph, the husband of Mary. The Babylonian Chronicles establish that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem the first time on 2 Adar 597 BC, Thiele said that the 25th anniversary of Jeconiahs captivity was April 25,573 BC, implying that he began the trip to Babylon on 10 Nisan 597,24 years earlier. His reasoning in arriving at this date was based on Ezekiel 40,1. He therefore ended Jehoiachins reign of three months and ten days on this date, the dates he gives for Jeconiahs reign are then,21 Heshvan 598 BC to 10 Nisan 597 BC
Jeconiah
–
Jeconiah from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
Jeconiah
–
Lunette in the
Sistine Chapel of Jeconiah with
Shealtiel and
Josiah.
27.
Zedekiah
–
Zedekiah, also written Tzidkiyahu, was a biblical character, the last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by Babylon. Zedekiahs reign ended with the siege and fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar II, the prophet Jeremiah was his counselor, yet he did not heed the prophet and his epitaph is he did evil in the sight of the Lord. When Babylon rose against Assyria it caused upheavals that led to the destruction of Judah, Egypt, concerned about the new threat, moved northward to support Assyria. It set on the march in 608, moving via Judah, king Josiah attempted to block the Egyptian forces, and fell mortally wounded in battle at Megiddo. Josiahs younger son Jehoahaz was chosen to succeed his father to the throne, three months later the Egyptian pharaoh Necho, returning from the north, deposed Jehoahaz in favor of his older brother, Jehoiakim. Jehoahaz was taken back to Egypt as a captive, after the Egyptians were defeated by the Babylonians at the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II then besieged Jerusalem. Jehoiakim changed allegiances to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem and he paid tribute from the treasury, some temple artifacts, and some of the royal family and nobility as hostages. In 599 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II invaded Judah and again laid siege to Jerusalem, in 598 BC,9 Jehoiakim died during the siege and was succeeded by his son Jeconiah. Jeconiah was deposed by Nebuchadnezzar, who installed Zedekiah, Jehoiakims brother, according to the Hebrew Bible, Zedekiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar II in 597 BC at the age of twenty-one. This is in agreement with a Babylonian chronicle, which states, The seventh year, In the month Kislev the king of Akkad mustered his army and he encamped against the city of Judah and on the second day of the month Adar he captured the city seized king. A king of his own choice he appointed in the city taking the vast tribute he brought it into Babylon, the kingdom was at that time tributary to Nebuchadnezzar II. Nebuchadnezzar began a siege of Jerusalem in December 589 BC, during this siege, which lasted about thirty months, every worst woe befell the city, which drank the cup of Gods fury to the dregs. At the end of Zedekiahs eleven-year reign, Nebuchadnezzar succeeded in capturing Jerusalem, Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape, making their way out of the city, but were captured on the plains of Jericho, and were taken to Riblah. There, after seeing his sons put to death, his own eyes were put out, and, being loaded with chains, he was carried captive to Babylon, after the fall of Jerusalem, Nebuzaradan was sent to destroy it. The city was plundered and razed to the ground, only a small number of vinedressers and husbandmen were permitted to remain in the land. Gedaliah, with a Chaldean guard stationed at Mizpah, was governor to rule over the remnant of Judah. On hearing this news, all the Jews that were in Moab, Ammon, Edom, however, before long Gedaliah was assassinated, and the population that was left in the land and those that had returned fled to Egypt for safety. In Egypt, they settled in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, the Babylonian Chronicles give 2 Adar,597 BC, as the date that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem, thus putting an end to the reign of Jehoaichin
Zedekiah
–
Zedekiah from
Guillaume Rouillé 's
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
Zedekiah
–
Nebuchadnezzar faces off against Zedekiah, who holds a plan of
Jerusalem, in this
Baroque -era depiction in
Zwiefalten Abbey in
Germany
Zedekiah
–
Zedekiah is chained and brought before
Nebuchadnezzar, from
Petrus Comestor 's "
Bible Historiale," 1670.
28.
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew is a language native to Israel, spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, of whom over 5 million are in Israel. Historically, it is regarded as the language of the Israelites and their ancestors, the earliest examples of written Paleo-Hebrew date from the 10th century BCE. Hebrew belongs to the West Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family, Hebrew is the only living Canaanite language left, and the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Hebrew had ceased to be a spoken language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining since the aftermath of the Bar Kokhba revolt. Aramaic and to a lesser extent Greek were already in use as international languages, especially among elites and it survived into the medieval period as the language of Jewish liturgy, rabbinic literature, intra-Jewish commerce, and poetry. Then, in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, and, according to Ethnologue, had become, as of 1998, the language of 5 million people worldwide. After Israel, the United States has the second largest Hebrew-speaking population, with 220,000 fluent speakers, Modern Hebrew is one of the two official languages of the State of Israel, while premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world today. Ancient Hebrew is also the tongue of the Samaritans, while modern Hebrew or Arabic is their vernacular. For this reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Leshon Hakodesh, the modern word Hebrew is derived from the word Ivri, one of several names for the Israelite people. It is traditionally understood to be a based on the name of Abrahams ancestor, Eber. This name is based upon the root ʕ-b-r meaning to cross over. Interpretations of the term ʕibrim link it to this verb, cross over, in the Bible, the Hebrew language is called Yәhudit because Judah was the surviving kingdom at the time of the quotation. In Isaiah 19,18 it is called the Language of Canaan, Hebrew belongs to the Canaanite group of languages. In turn, the Canaanite languages are a branch of the Northwest Semitic family of languages, according to Avraham ben-Yosef, Hebrew flourished as a spoken language in the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew was a vernacular in ancient times following the Babylonian exile. In July 2008 Israeli archaeologist Yossi Garfinkel discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he claimed may be the earliest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3000 years ago. The Gezer calendar also dates back to the 10th century BCE at the beginning of the Monarchic Period, classified as Archaic Biblical Hebrew, the calendar presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks, the Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where later Hebrew spelling requires it
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew street sign, above in
Hebrew alphabet, below in
Latin transliteration. Aluf Batslut veAluf Shum (he) ("The Onion Champion and the Garlic Champion") is a
play by
Hayim Nahman Bialik.
Hebrew language
–
Portion of the
Temple Scroll, one of the longest of the
Dead Sea Scrolls discovered at
Qumran
Hebrew language
–
The
Shebna Inscription, from the tomb of a royal steward found in
Siloam, dates to the 7th century BCE.
Hebrew language
–
Hebrew script used in writing a Torah scroll. Note ornamental "crowns" on tops of certain letters.
29.
Modern Hebrew
–
Modern Hebrew or Israeli Hebrew, generally referred to by speakers simply as Hebrew, is the standard form of the Hebrew language spoken today. It was revived as a language in the 19th and 20th centuries and is one of the two official languages of Israel, along with Modern Standard Arabic. Modern Hebrew is spoken by about nine people, counting native, fluent. The organization that directs the development of the Modern Hebrew language. The most common term for the language is Modern Hebrew. Most people refer to it simply as Hebrew, the term Modern Hebrew has been described as somewhat problematic as it implies unambiguous periodization from Biblical Hebrew. Rosén supported the now widely used term Israeli Hebrew on the basis that it represented the nature of Hebrew. In 2006, Israeli linguist Ghilad Zuckermann proposed the term Israeli to represent the origins of the language. Jewish contemporary sources describe Hebrew flourishing as a language in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Scholars debate the degree to which Hebrew remained a spoken vernacular following the Babylonian captivity, Hebrew died out as a vernacular language somewhere between 200 and 400 CE, declining after the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–136 CE, which devastated the population of Judea. After the exile Hebrew became restricted to liturgical use, the revival of the Hebrew language was led by Eliezer Ben-Yehuda in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Modern Hebrew used Biblical Hebrew morphemes, Mishnaic spelling, and Sephardic pronunciation, idioms and calques were made from Yiddish. Ben-Yehuda used a stock of 8,000 words from the Bible and 20,000 words from rabbinical commentaries and codified and planned the new language, some words he invented, such as ḥatzilīm for eggplants and ḥashmal for electricity. Sometimes, old Hebrew words took on different meanings altogether, for example, the Hebrew word kǝvīš, which now denotes a street or a road, is actually an Aramaic adjective meaning trodden down, blazoned, rather than a common noun. It was originally used to describe a blazoned trail, for a simple comparison between the Sephardic version of Mishnaic Hebrew and the Yemenite version of the same, see Yemenite Hebrew. Modern Hebrew is classified as an Afroasiatic language of the Semitic family, although it has been influenced by non-Semitic languages, Modern Hebrew retains its Semitic character in its morphology and in much of its syntax. A minority of scholars argue that the language had been so influenced by various substrate languages that it is genealogically a hybrid with Indo-European. These theories have not been met with acceptance, and Modern Hebrew continues to be considered a Semitic language by most experts
Modern Hebrew
–
The word shalom as rendered in Modern Hebrew, including
vowel points
30.
Tiberian vocalization
–
The system soon became used to vocalize other Hebrew texts as well. The Tiberian vocalization marks vowels and stress, makes fine distinctions of consonant quality and length, the sin dot distinguishes between the two values of ש. A dagesh indicates a consonant is geminate or unspirantized, and a raphe indicates spirantization, the mappiq indicates that ה is consonantal, not silent, in syllable-coda position. Each of the vowel phonemes could be lengthened, occasionally. The ultrashort vowels are more complicated. There were two graphemes corresponding to the vowel /ă/, attested by alternations in manuscripts like ארֲריך~ארְריך, ואשמֳעָה~ואשמְעָה. . In addition, one of the graphemes could also be silent, Shva was used both to indicate lack of a vowel and as another symbol to represent the phoneme /ă/, the latter also represented by hataf patah. The phoneme /ă/ had a number of allophones, /ă/ had to be written with shva rather than hataf patah when it was not pronounced as, before a laryngeal-pharyngeal, mobile šwa was pronounced as an ultrashort copy of the following vowel and as preceding /j/. Using ḥataf vowels was mandatory under gutturals but optional under other letters, קָ֫מֶץ also denotes a slighter, as שׁוּרֶק and קִבּוּץ a firmer, compression or contraction of the mouth. Segôl takes its name from its form, so שָׁלֹשׁ נְקֻדּוֹת is another name for Qibbúṣ. Moreover the names were mostly so formed, that the sound of each vowel is heard in the first syllable, in order to carry this out consistently some even write Sägôl, Qomeṣ-ḥatûf, cantillation signs mark stress and punctuation. Metheg may mark secondary stress, and maqqaf conjoins words into one stress unit, babylonian vocalization Palestinian vocalization Niqqud Cardinal vowels Blau, Joshua. Phonology and Morphology of Biblical Hebrew, a History of the Hebrew Language
Tiberian vocalization
–
Closeup of Aleppo Codex, Joshua 1:1
Tiberian vocalization
–
Figurines holding Tiberian vowel diacritics. Limestone and basalt artwork at the shore in
Tiberias.
31.
Akkadian language
–
Akkadian is an extinct East Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the writing system, which was originally used to write the unrelated Ancient Sumerian. The language was named after the city of Akkad, a centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire. The mutual influence between Sumerian and Akkadian had led scholars to describe the languages as a sprachbund, Akkadian proper names were first attested in Sumerian texts from around the mid 3rd-millennium BC. From the second half of the third millennium BC, texts written in Akkadian begin to appear. By the second millennium BC, two variant forms of the language were in use in Assyria and Babylonia, known as Assyrian and Babylonian respectively, for centuries, Akkadian was the native language in Mesopotamian nations such as Assyria and Babylonia. However, it began to decline during the Neo-Assyrian Empire around the 8th century BC, by the Hellenistic period, the language was largely confined to scholars and priests working in temples in Assyria and Babylonia. The last known Akkadian cuneiform document dates from the 1st century AD, Akkadian belongs with the other Semitic languages in the Near Eastern branch of the Afroasiatic languages, a family native to East Africa, which then spread to West, Northwest and Northeast Africa. Within the Near Eastern Semitic languages, Akkadian forms an East Semitic subgroup and this novel word order is due to the influence of the Sumerian substratum, which has an SOV order. Additionally Akkadian is the only Semitic language to use the prepositions ina and ana, other Semitic languages like Arabic and Aramaic have the prepositions bi/bə and li/lə. The origin of the Akkadian spatial prepositions is unknown, in contrast to most other Semitic languages, Akkadian has only one non-sibilant fricative, ḫ. Akkadian lost both the glottal and pharyngeal fricatives, which are characteristic of the other Semitic languages, until the Old Babylonian period, the Akkadian sibilants were exclusively affricated. Old Akkadian is preserved on clay tablets dating back to c.2500 BC and it was written using cuneiform, a script adopted from the Sumerians using wedge-shaped symbols pressed in wet clay. As employed by Akkadian scribes, the cuneiform script could represent either Sumerian logograms, Sumerian syllables, Akkadian syllables. For this reason, the sign AN can on the one hand be a logogram for the word ilum, additionally, this sign was used as a determinative for divine names. Another peculiarity of Akkadian cuneiform is that many signs do not have a phonetic value. Certain signs, such as AḪ, do not distinguish between the different vowel qualities, nor is there any coordination in the other direction, the syllable -ša-, for example, is rendered by the sign ŠA, but also by the sign NĪĜ. Both of these are used for the same syllable in the same text
Akkadian language
–
An Akkadian inscription
Akkadian language
–
Cuneiform writing (Neoassyrian script) (1 = Logogram (LG) "mix"/syllabogram (SG) ḫi, 2 = LG "moat", 3 = SG aʾ, 4 = SG aḫ, eḫ, iḫ, uḫ, 5 = SG kam, 6 = SG im, 7 = SG bir)
Akkadian language
–
The
Deluge tablet of the
Gilgamesh epic in Akkadian.
Akkadian language
–
Geography
32.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
33.
Septuagint
–
The Septuagint is a Koine Greek translation of an Hebraic textual tradition that included certain texts which were later included in the canonical Hebrew Bible and other related texts which were not. As the primary Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is called the Greek Old Testament. This translation is quoted a number of times in the New Testament, particularly in Pauline epistles, the title and its Roman numeral LXX refer to the legendary seventy Jewish scholars who solely translated the Five Books of Moses into Koine Greek as early as the 3rd century BCE. Separated from the Hebrew canon of the Jewish Bible in Rabbinic Judaism, the traditional story is that Ptolemy II sponsored the translation of the Torah. The Septuagint should not be confused with the seven or more other Greek versions of the Old Testament, of these, the most important are those by Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. However, it was not until the time of Augustine of Hippo that the Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures came to be called by the Latin term Septuaginta. This narrative is found in the pseudepigraphic Letter of Aristeas to his brother Philocrates, the story is also found in the Tractate Megillah of the Babylonian Talmud, King Ptolemy once gathered 72 Elders. He placed them in 72 chambers, each of them in a separate one and he entered each ones room and said, Write for me the Torah of Moshe, your teacher. God put it in the heart of one to translate identically as all the others did. Philo of Alexandria, who relied extensively on the Septuagint, says that the number of scholars was chosen by selecting six scholars from each of the tribes of Israel. After the Torah, other books were translated over the two to three centuries. It is not altogether clear which was translated when, or where, some may even have been translated twice, into different versions, the quality and style of the different translators also varied considerably from book to book, from the literal to paraphrasing to interpretative. The translation of the Septuagint itself began in the 3rd century BCE and was completed by 132 BCE, initially in Alexandria, the Septuagint is the basis for the Old Latin, Slavonic, Syriac, Old Armenian, Old Georgian and Coptic versions of the Christian Old Testament. Some sections of the Septuagint may show Semiticisms, or idioms and phrases based on Semitic languages like Hebrew, other books, such as Daniel and Proverbs, show Greek influence more strongly. The Septuagint may also elucidate pronunciation of pre-Masoretic Hebrew, many nouns are spelled out with Greek vowels in the LXX. However, it is unlikely that all ancient Hebrew sounds had precise Greek equivalents. As the work of translation progressed, the canon of the Greek Bible expanded, the Torah always maintained its pre-eminence as the basis of the canon, but the collection of prophetic writings, based on the Jewish Neviim, had various hagiographical works incorporated into it. In addition, some books were included in the Septuagint
Septuagint
–
Fragment of a Septuagint: A column of
uncial text from
1 Esdras in the
Codex Vaticanus c. 325–350 CE, the basis of Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton's Greek edition and
English translation.
Septuagint
–
Beginning of the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates. Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 11th century.
34.
Latin language
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin language
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin language
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin language
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin language
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
35.
Kingdom of Judah
–
The Kingdom of Judah was an Iron Age kingdom of the Southern Levant. The Hebrew Bible depicts it as the successor to a United Monarchy, in the 10th and early 9th centuries BCE the territory of Judah appears to have been sparsely populated, limited to small rural settlements, most of them unfortified. Significant academic debate exists around the character of the Kingdom of Judah, archaeologists of the minimalist school doubt the extent of the Kingdom of Judah as depicted in the Bible. Around 1990–2010, an important group of archaeologists and biblical scholars formed the view that the actual Kingdom of Judah bore little resemblance to the portrait of a powerful monarchy. These scholars say the kingdom was no more than a tribal entity. Other archaeologists say that the identification of Khirbet Qeiyafa as an Israelite settlement is uncertain, the status of Jerusalem in the 10th century BCE is a major subject of debate. The oldest part of Jerusalem and its urban core is the City of David. However, unique structures such as the Stepped Stone Structure and the Large Stone Structure. According to the Hebrew Bible, the kingdom of Judah resulted from the break-up of the United kingdom of Israel after the tribes refused to accept Rehoboam. At first, only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David, the two kingdoms, Judah in the south and Israel in the north, coexisted uneasily after the split until the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel by Assyria in c. 722/721. The major theme of the Hebrew Bibles narrative is the loyalty of Judah, and especially its kings, to Yahweh, which it states is the God of Israel. Accordingly, all the kings of Israel and almost all the kings of Judah were bad, which in terms of Biblical narrative means that they failed to enforce monotheism. Of the good kings, Hezekiah is noted for his efforts at stamping out idolatry, for the first sixty years, the kings of Judah tried to re-establish their authority over the northern kingdom, and there was perpetual war between them. Israel and Judah were in a state of war throughout Rehoboams seventeen-year reign, Rehoboam built elaborate defenses and strongholds, along with fortified cities. In the fifth year of Rehoboams reign, Shishak, pharaoh of Egypt, brought a huge army, in the sack of Jerusalem, Rehoboam gave them all of the treasures out of the temple as a tribute and Judah became a vassal state of Egypt. Rehoboams son and successor, Abijah of Judah continued his fathers efforts to bring Israel under his control and he fought the Battle of Mount Zemaraim against Jeroboam of Israel and was victorious with a heavy loss of life on the Israel side. The Bible does not state whether Zerah was a pharaoh or a general of the army, the Ethiopians were pursued all the way to Gerar, in the coastal plain, where they stopped out of sheer exhaustion. The resulting peace kept Judah free from Egyptian incursions until the time of Josiah some centuries later, in his 36th year, Asa was confronted by Baasha of Israel, who built a fortress at Ramah on the border, less than ten miles from Jerusalem
Kingdom of Judah
–
Mesha Stele c. 850 BCE – An inscribed stone set up c. 840 BCE by
Mesha of
Moab tells how
Chemosh, the God of Moab, had been angry with his people and allowed them to be subjugated to Israel, but at length assisted Mesha to throw off the yoke of Israel and restore the lands of Moab.
Kingdom of Judah
–
Map of the region in the 9th century BCE
Kingdom of Judah
–
Stamped bulla of a servant of King Hezekiah used to seal a papyrus document
36.
Books of Kings
–
In the Hebrew Bible, Kings is a single book called the Book of Kings. The fourth book of Neviim, the division of the Tanakh. In the Septuagint, Samuel and Kings was divided into four books and Kings became III, the two Books of Kings presents a history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years. Solomon comes to the throne after Davids death, at the beginning of his reign he assumes Gods promises to David and brings splendour to Israel and peace and prosperity to his people. The centrepiece of Solomons reign is the building of the First Temple, at the end, however, he follows other gods and oppresses Israel. The kings who follow Rehoboam in Jerusalem continue the line of David, in the north, however, dynasties follow each other in rapid succession. At length God brings the Assyrians to destroy the northern kingdom, Yahweh saves Jerusalem and the kingdom from an invasion by Assyria. But Manasseh, the king, reverses the reforms. Manassehs righteous grandson Josiah reinstitutes the reforms of Hezekiah, but it is too late, God, speaking through the prophetess Huldah, affirms that Jerusalem is to be destroyed. God brings the Babylonians against Jerusalem, Yahweh deserts his people, Jerusalem is razed and the Temple destroyed, in the original Hebrew Bible First and Second Kings are a single book, as are First and Second Samuel. When this was translated into Greek in the last few centuries BCE, then, what it is now commonly known as 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel are called by the Vulgate, in imitation of the Septuagint,1 Kings and 2 Kings respectively. What it is now known as 1 Kings and 2 Kings would be 3 Kings and 4 Kings in old Bibles before the year 1516 such as the Vulgate. The division we know today, used by Protestant Bibles and adopted by Catholics, some Bibles still preserve the old denomination, for example, Douay Rheims bible. According to Jewish tradition the author of Kings was Jeremiah, who would have been alive during the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. The Deuteronomic perspective is particularly evident in prayers and speeches spoken by key figures at major transition points, a third source, or set of sources, were cycles of stories about various prophets, plus a few smaller miscellaneous traditions. The conclusion of the book was based on personal knowledge. A few sections were editorial additions not based on sources, judgement is not punishment, but simply the natural consequence of Israels failure to worship Yahweh alone. Another and related theme is that of prophecy, the main point of the prophetic stories is that Gods prophecies are always fulfilled, so that any not yet fulfilled will be so in the future
Books of Kings
–
Tanakh (Judaism)
Books of Kings
–
Solomon greeting the Queen of Sheba – gate of
Florence Baptistry
Books of Kings
–
Rembrandt, "Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem", c. 1630
Books of Kings
–
James Tissot, The Flight of the Prisoners – the fall of Jerusalem, 586 BCE.
37.
Hebrew Bible
–
They are composed mainly in Biblical Hebrew, with some passages in Biblical Aramaic. The term does not comment upon the naming, numbering or ordering of books, the term Hebrew Bible is an attempt to provide specificity with respect to contents but avoid allusion to any particular interpretative tradition or theological school of thought. Hebrew Bible refers to the Jewish biblical canon, in its Latin form, Biblia Hebraica, it traditionally serves as a title for printed editions of the Masoretic Text. Many biblical studies scholars advocate use of the term Hebrew Bible as a substitute to terms with religious connotations. Hebrew Bible Old Testament without prescribing the use of either, however, he accepts that there is no reason why non-Christians should feel obliged to refer to these books as the Old Testament, apart from custom of use. Modern Christian formulations of this tension include Supersessionism, Covenant Theology, New Covenant Theology, Dispensationalism, in terms of canon, Christian usage of Old Testament does not refer to a universally agreed upon set of books but, rather, varies depending on denomination. The Hebrew Bible includes small portions in Aramaic, written and printed in Aramaic square-script, the books that constitute the Hebrew Bible developed over roughly a millennium. The oldest texts seem to come from the 11th or 10th centuries BCE and they are edited works, being collections of various sources intricately and carefully woven together. Since the 19th century, most biblical scholars have agreed that the Pentateuch consists of four sources which have been woven together and these four sources are J, D, E and P sources. They were combined to form the Pentateuch sometime in the 6th century BCE and this theory is now known as the documentary hypothesis, and has been the dominant theory for the past two hundred years. The Deuteronomist credited with the Pentateuchs book of Deuteronomy is also said to be the source of the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, several editions, all titled Biblia Hebraica, have been produced by various German publishers since 1906. Between 1906 and 1955, Rudolf Kittel published nine editions of it,1966, the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft published the renamed Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia in six editions until 1997. Since 2004 the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft has published the Biblia Hebraica Quinta, other projects include, Hebrew University Bible Project Hebrew Bible, A Critical Edition Biblical canon Books of the Bible Non-canonical books referenced in the Bible Torah Brueggemann, Walter. An introduction to the Old Testament, the canon and Christian imagination, the People of Ancient Israel, an introduction to Old Testament Literature, History, and Thought, Harper and Row,1974. Sinai and Zion, An Entry into the Jewish Bible, archived from the original on 14 March 2012. The Ancient Near East, Volume I, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press. An abridgement of Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament Noth, how the Bible Became a Book. The Old Testament, A Literary History, hebrew-English Tanakh, the Jewish Bible Complete, fully vocalized, contilated, Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible, together with the classic English translation by the Jewish Publication Society
Hebrew Bible
–
Page from an 11th-century
Aramaic Targum manuscript of the Hebrew Bible.
38.
Genealogy of Jesus
–
The New Testament provides two accounts of the genealogy of Jesus, one in the Gospel of Matthew and another in the Gospel of Luke. Matthews starts with Abraham, while Luke begins with Adam, the lists are identical between Abraham and David, but differ radically from that point. Some modern biblical scholars such as Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan see both genealogies as inventions, to bring the Messianic claims into conformity with Jewish criteria. Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, Matthew emphasizes, right from the beginning, Jesus title Christ—the Greek rendering of the Hebrew title Messiah—meaning anointed, in the sense of an anointed king. Jesus is presented as the long-awaited Messiah, who was expected to be a descendant of King David. Matthews introductory title has been interpreted in ways, but most likely is simply a title for the genealogy that follows. Matthews genealogy is considerably more complex than Lukes, the second spans the Davidic royal line, but omits several generations, ending with Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. The last, which appears to only thirteen generations, connects Joseph to Zerubbabel through a series of otherwise unknown names. The total of 42 generations is achieved only by omitting several names, various explanations have been suggested, fourteen is twice seven, symbolizing perfection and covenant, and is also the gematria of the name David. The rendering into Greek of Hebrew names in this genealogy is mostly in accord with the Septuagint, the form Asaph seems to identify King Asa with the psalmist Asaph. Likewise, some see the form Amos for King Amon as suggesting the prophet Amos, both may simply be assimilations to more familiar names. More interesting, though, are the unique forms Boes and Rachab, three consecutive kings of Judah are omitted, Ahaziah, Jehoash, and Amaziah. These three kings are seen as especially wicked, from the line of Ahab through his daughter Athaliah to the third. The author probably felt justified in omitting them in creating a set of fourteen. Another omitted king is Jehoiakim, the father of Jeconiah, also known as Jehoiachin, in Greek the names are even more similar, both being sometimes called Joachim. While some see this as a mistake, others argue that the omission was once again deliberate, the final group seems to contain only thirteen generations. If Josiahs son was intended as Jehoiakim, then Jeconiah could be counted separately after the exile, another possibility is that Mary is counted as a generation, proceeding laterally by her marriage to Joseph. Though such a reckoning is otherwise unknown, it may have seemed necessary in light of the claim of a virgin birth, some have even proposed that Matthews original text had one Joseph as the father of Mary, who then married another man of the same name
Genealogy of Jesus
–
Rose window in
Basilica of St Denis, France, depicting the ancestors of Jesus from Jesse onwards.
Genealogy of Jesus
–
South dome of inner narthex at
Chora Church, Istanbul, depicting the ancestors of Christ from Adam onwards.
Genealogy of Jesus
–
Tree of Jesse illustration based on the
Hortus deliciarum of
Herrad of Landsberg (12th century)
Genealogy of Jesus
–
Giotto di Bondone, The Meeting at the Golden Gate, 1305.
39.
Gospel of Matthew
–
The Gospel According to Matthew is the first book of the New Testament. The narrative tells how the Messiah, Jesus, rejected by Israel, most scholars believe the Gospel of Matthew was composed between AD80 and 90, with a range of possibility between AD70 to 110. The title Son of David identifies Jesus as the healing and miracle-working Messiah of Israel, as Son of Man he will return to judge the world, an expectation which his disciples recognise but of which his enemies are unaware. As Son of God he is God revealing himself through his son, the gospel reflects the struggles and conflicts between the evangelists community and the other Jews, particularly with its sharp criticism of the scribes and Pharisees. The original versions of the Gospel of Matthew and the gospels are lost. The oldest relatively complete extant manuscripts of the Bible are the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Sinaiticus, besides these, there exist manuscript fragments ranging from a few verses to whole chapters. P104 and P67 are notable fragments of Matthew, in the process of recopying, variations slipped in, different regional manuscript traditions emerged, and corrections and adjustments were made. The Gospel of Matthew is anonymous, the author is not named within the text, the consensus is that Papias does not describe the Gospel of Matthew as we know it, and it is generally accepted that Matthew was written in Greek, not in Aramaic or Hebrew. The majority view of scholars is that Mark was the first gospel to be composed. The author of Matthew did not, however, simply copy Mark, an additional 220 verses, shared by Matthew and Luke but not found in Mark, from a second source, a hypothetical collection of sayings to which scholars give the name Quelle, or the Q source. The author also had at his disposal the Greek scriptures, both as book-scrolls and in the form of collections, and, if Papias is correct. The majority view among scholars is that Matthew was a product of the last quarter of the 1st century, the Christian community to which Matthew belonged, like many 1st-century Christians, were still part of the larger Jewish community, hence the designation Jewish Christian to describe them. The author of Matthew wrote for a community of Greek-speaking Jewish Christians located probably in Syria, Matthew, alone among the gospels, alternates five blocks of narrative with five of discourse, marking each off with the phrase When Jesus had finished. The Gospel of Matthew begins with the words The Book of Genealogy of Jesus Christ, John baptizes Jesus, and the Holy Spirit descends upon him. Jesus prays and meditates in the wilderness for forty days, and is tempted by Satan and his early ministry by word and deed in Galilee meets with much success, and leads to the Sermon on the Mount, the first of the discourses. The sermon presents the ethics of the kingdom of God, introduced by the Beatitudes and it concludes with a reminder that the response to the kingdom will have eternal consequences, and the crowds amazed response leads into the next narrative block. From the authoritative words of Jesus the gospel turns to three sets of three miracles interwoven with two sets of two stories, followed by a discourse on mission and suffering. Opposition to Jesus comes to a head with accusations that his deeds are done through the power of Satan, Jesus in turn accuses his opponents of blaspheming the Holy Spirit
Gospel of Matthew
–
Books of the
New Testament
Gospel of Matthew
–
Papyrus
4, fragment of a flyleaf with the title of the Gospel of Matthew, ευαγγελιον κ̣ατ̣α μαθ᾽θαιον (euangelion kata Maththaion). Dated to late 2nd or early 3rd century, it is the earliest manuscript title for Matthew
Gospel of Matthew
–
37, a 3rd-century CE papyrus of
Matthew 26
Gospel of Matthew
–
The Evangelist Matthew Inspired by an Angel (
Rembrandt)
40.
Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)
–
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Kingdom of Israel was one of two successor states to the former United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. Historians often refer to the Kingdom of Israel as the Northern Kingdom or as the Kingdom of Samaria to differentiate it from the Southern Kingdom of Judah, the Kingdom of Israel existed roughly from 930 BCE until 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. The major cities of the kingdom were Shechem, Tirzah, in the Hebrew Bible, the Kingdom of Israel has been referred to as the House of Joseph. It is also referenced as Ephraim, the tribe whose territory housed the capital cities. It has also referred to as Israel in Samaria. According to the Hebrew Bible, the territory of the Kingdom of Israel comprised the territories of the tribes of Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, Naphtali, Dan, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben and its capital was Samaria according to the Book of Isaiah. The United Kingdom of Israel and Judah is said to have existed from about 1030 to about 930 BCE and it was a union of all the twelve Israelite tribes living in the area that presently approximates modern Israel and the Palestinian territories. After the death of Solomon in about 931 BCE, all the Israelite tribes except for Judah and Benjamin refused to accept Rehoboam, the rebellion against Rehoboam arose after he refused to lighten the burden of taxation and services that his father had imposed on his subjects. Jeroboam, who was not of the Davidic line, was sent for from Egypt by the malcontents, the Tribe of Ephraim and all Israel raised the old cry, Every man to his tents, O Israel. Rehoboam fled to Jerusalem, and in 930 BCE, Jeroboam was proclaimed king over all Israel at Shechem, after the revolt at Shechem at first only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the house of David. But very soon after the tribe of Benjamin joined Judah, the northern kingdom continued to be called the Kingdom of Israel or Israel, while the southern kingdom was called the kingdom of Judah. 2 Chronicles 15,9 also says that members of the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, both Eusebius and Josephus place the division in 997 BCE – lunar dates of Venus can be mistaken as 64 years later. Shechem was the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel, King Omri built his capital in Samaria, which continued as such until the destruction of the Kingdom by the Assyrians. Thus, around 720 BCE, after two centuries, the kingdom of the ten tribes came to an end, for the first sixty years, 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 war between them, and, for the most part, they were in friendly alliance, co-operating against their common enemies. The conflict between Israel and Judah was resolved when Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, allied himself with the house of Ahab through marriage, later, Jehosophats son and successor, Jehoram of Judah, married Ahabs daughter Athaliah, cementing the alliance. However, the sons of Ahab were slaughtered by Jehu following his coup détat around 840 BCE, in c.732 BCE, Pekah of Israel, while allied with Rezin, king of Aram, threatened Jerusalem. Ahaz, king of Judah, appealed to Tiglath-Pileser III, the king of Assyria, people from these tribes including the Reubenite leader, were taken captive and resettled in the region of the Khabur River system
Kingdom of Israel (Samaria)
–
Map of the region in the 9th century BC
41.
Sargon II
–
Sargon II was an Assyrian king. A son of Tiglath-Pileser III, he came to power relatively late in life, the Neo-Assyrian pronunciation of the name was presumably /sargi, n/ or /sarga, n/, the spelling Sargon is based on the Biblical form of the name, mentioned in Isaiah 20,1. The regnal number is modern, applied for disambiguation from the Old Assyrian king Sargon I, Sargon II was a son of Tiglath-Pileser III and appears to have seized the throne from his brother, Shalmaneser V in a violent coup. Sargon was already middle-aged when he came to the throne, and was assisted by his son, Sargons brother, Sinahusur, served as his grand vizier. Sargon was beset with rebellions by the beginning of his rule. Marduk-apla-iddina II, a chieftain of the Chaldean tribes in the marshes of the south, in 720 BC, Sargon and Marduk-apla-iddina met in battle on the plains east of Babylon. The Elamite troops were able to back the Assyrian army, and he retained control of the south. In 717 BC, the Syro-Hittite city of Carchemish on the Upper Euphrates rebelled, Carchemish was a small kingdom situated at an important Euphrates crossing. Sargon violated existing treaties in attacking the city, but with the wealth seized was able to continue to fund his army. In 716 BC he moved against the Mannaeans, where the ruler Aza, Sargon took the capital Izirtu, and stationed troops in Parsuash and Kar-Nergal. He built new bases in Media as well, the one being Harhar which he renamed Kar-Sharrukin. In 715 BC, others were to follow, Kar-Nabu, Kar-Sin and Kar-Ishtar — all named after Babylonian gods, the eighth campaign of Sargon against Urartu in 714 BC is well known from a letter from Sargon to the god Ashur and the bas-reliefs in the palace of Dur-Sharrukin. The reliefs show the difficulties of the terrain, the war-chariots had to be dismantled and carried by soldiers, the campaign was probably motivated by the fact that the Urartians had been weakened by incursions of the Cimmerians, a nomadic steppe tribe. One Urartian army had completely annihilated, and the general Qaqqadanu taken prisoner. After reaching Lake Urmia, he turned east and entered Zikirtu, the battle is described as the usual carnage, but King Rusas managed to escape. The horses of his chariot had been killed by Assyrian spears, forcing him to ride a mare in order to get away, Sargon plundered the fertile lands at the southern and western shore of Lake Urmia, felling orchards and burning the harvest. In the royal resort of Ulhu, the wine-cellar of the Urartian kings was plundered, Sargon claims to have destroyed 430 empty villages. After reaching Lake Van, Sargon left Urartu via Uaiaish, in Hubushkia he received the tribute of the Nairi lands
Sargon II
–
Sargon II and dignitary
Sargon II
–
The Inscription of Sargon II at Tang-i Var pass near the village of Tang-i Var, Hawraman, Zagros
Sargon II
–
Human-headed winged bull, found during
Botta's excavation.
Sargon II
–
A
lamassu from the palace of Sargon II at
Dur-Sharrukin.
42.
Assyria
–
Assyria was a major Mesopotamian East Semitic-speaking kingdom and empire of the ancient Near East and the Levant. Centered on the Tigris in Upper Mesopotamia, the Assyrians came to rule powerful empires at several times. Assyria is named after its capital, the ancient city of Aššur. In the 25th and 24th centuries BC, Assyrian kings were pastoral leaders, Assyria can also refer to the geographic region or heartland where Assyria, its empires and the Assyrian people were centered. The indigenous modern Eastern Aramaic-speaking Assyrian Christian ethnic minority in northern Iraq, north east Syria, southeast Turkey, in prehistoric times, the region that was to become known as Assyria was home to a Neanderthal culture such as has been found at the Shanidar Cave. The earliest Neolithic sites in Assyria were the Jarmo culture c.7100 BC and Tell Hassuna, during the 3rd millennium BC, a very intimate cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians and the Akkadians throughout Mesopotamia, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian, and vice versa, is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the third millennium BC as a sprachbund and it is highly likely that the city was named in honour of its patron Assyrian god with the same name. The city of Aššur, together with a number of other Assyrian cities, however it is likely that they were initially Sumerian-dominated administrative centres. In the late 26th century BC, Eannatum of Lagash, then the dominant Sumerian ruler in Mesopotamia, similarly, in c. the early 25th century BC, Lugal-Anne-Mundu the king of the Sumerian state of Adab lists Subartu as paying tribute to him. Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, little is known, in the Assyrian King List, the earliest king recorded was Tudiya. According to Georges Roux he would have lived in the mid 25th century BC, Tudiya was succeeded on the list by Adamu, the first known reference to the Semitic name Adam and then a further thirteen rulers. The earliest kings, such as Tudiya, who are recorded as kings who lived in tents, were independent semi-nomadic pastoralist rulers and these kings at some point became fully urbanised and founded the city state of Ashur in the mid 21st century BC. During the Akkadian Empire, the Assyrians, like all the Mesopotamian Semites, became subject to the dynasty of the city state of Akkad, the Akkadian Empire founded by Sargon the Great claimed to encompass the surrounding four quarters. Assyrian rulers were subject to Sargon and his successors, and the city of Ashur became an administrative center of the Empire. On those tablets, Assyrian traders in Burushanda implored the help of their ruler, Sargon the Great, the name Hatti itself even appears in later accounts of his grandson, Naram-Sin, campaigning in Anatolia. Assyrian and Akkadian traders spread the use of writing in the form of the Mesopotamian cuneiform script to Asia Minor, the Akkadian Empire was destroyed by economic decline and internal civil war, followed by attacks from barbarian Gutian people in 2154 BC. The rulers of Assyria during the period between c.2154 BC and 2112 BC once again fully independent, as the Gutians are only known to have administered southern Mesopotamia
Assyria
–
Letter sent by the high-priest Lu'enna to the king of
Lagash (maybe
Urukagina), informing him of his son's death in combat, c. 2400 BC, found in
Girsu.
Assyria
–
Overview map of the Ancient Near East in the 15th century BC (Middle Assyrian period), showing the core territory of Assyria with its two major cities
Assur and
Nineveh wedged between
Babylonia downstream (to the south-east) and the states of
Mitanni and
Hatti upstream (to the north-west).
Assyria
–
Assyrian attack on a town with archers and a wheeled battering ram, 865–860 BC
Assyria
–
Jehu, king of
Israel, bows before Shalmaneser III of Assyria, 825 BC
43.
Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem
–
In approximately 701 BCE, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of Judah, laying siege on Jerusalem, but failed to capture it. In 721 BCE, the Assyrian army captured the Israelite capital at Samaria, the virtual destruction of Israel left the southern kingdom, Judah, to fend for itself among warring Near Eastern kingdoms. At the time of Samarias fall, there existed two kings in Judah — Ahaz and his son Hezekiah — who ruled as co-regents. After the fall of the Northern Kingdom, the kings of Judah tried to extend their influence, although Judah was a vassal of Assyria during this time and paid an annual tribute to the powerful empire, it was the most important state between Assyria and Egypt. In 715 BCE, following the death of Ahaz, Hezekiah became the regent of Judah and initiated widespread religious changes. He re-captured Philistine-occupied lands in the Negev desert, formed alliances with Ashkelon and Egypt, in response, Sennacherib attacked Judah, laying siege to Jerusalem. Sources from both sides claimed victory, the Judahites in the Tanakh, and Sennacherib in his prism, Sennacherib claimed the siege and capture of many Judaean cities, but only siege—not capture—of Jerusalem. The story of the Assyrian siege is told in the Hebrew Bible books of Isaiah, Chronicles, as the Assyrians began their invasion, Hezekiah began preparations to protect Jerusalem. In an effort to deprive the Assyrians of water, springs outside the city were blocked, workers then dug a 533-meter tunnel to the Spring of Gihon, providing the city with fresh water. Additional siege preparations included fortification of the walls, construction of towers. Hezekiah gathered the citizens in the square and encouraged them by reminding them that the Assyrians possessed only an arm of flesh, according to Second Kings 18, while Sennacherib was besieging Lachish, he received a message from Hezekiah offering to pay tribute in exchange for Assyrian withdrawal. Nevertheless, Sennacherib marched on Jerusalem with a large army, when the Assyrian force arrived, its field commander brought a message from Sennacherib himself. He listed the gods of the thus far swept away by Sennacherib then asked. During the siege, Hezekiah clad himself in out of anguish from the psychological warfare that the Assyrians were waging. The prophet Isaiah took a part in the political life of Judah. When Jerusalem was threatened, he assured Hezekiah that the city would be delivered, the Hebrew Bible states that during the night, an angel of YHWH brought death to 185,000 Assyrians troops. Hezekiah had shut up all water outside the city so thirst and it is also a possibility that a disease spread throughout the camp and killed a large number of Sennacheribs men. When Sennacherib saw the destruction wreaked on his army, he withdrew to Nineveh, Sennacheribs Prism, which details the events of Sennacheribs campaign against Judah, was discovered in the ruins of Nineveh in 1830, and is now stored at the Oriental Institute in Chicago, Illinois
Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem
–
Inside
Siloam tunnel, 2010
Assyrian Siege of Jerusalem
–
Sennacherib's Prism
44.
Sennacherib
–
Sennacherib was the king of Assyria from 705 BCE to 681 BCE. He is principally remembered for his campaigns against Babylon and Judah. He was assassinated in obscure circumstances in 681 BCE, apparently by his eldest son, the primary preoccupation of his reign was the so-called Babylonian problem, the refusal of the Babylonians to accept Assyrian rule, culminating in his destruction of the city in 689 BCE. Further campaigns were carried out in Syria in the mountains east of Assyria, against the kingdoms of Anatolia and his death was welcomed in Babylon as divine punishment for the destruction of that city. He was also a builder, it was under him that Assyrian art reached its peak. Assyria began as a Bronze Age city-state or small kingdom on the middle-Tigris, the empires rise aroused the fear and hatred of its neighbours, notably Babylon, Elam and Egypt, and the many smaller kingdoms of the region such as Judah. Any perceived weakness on the part of Assyria led inevitably to rebellion, solving the so-called Babylonian problem was Sennacheribs primary preoccupation. Sennacheribs grandfather Tiglath-pileser III had made himself king of Babylon, creating a monarchy in which the Babylonians retained a nominal independence. This arrangement was never accepted by local leaders, particularly an important tribal chief named Marduk-apla-iddina. Marduk-apla-iddina paid tribute to Tiglath-pileser, but when Tiglath-pilesers successor Shalmaneser V was overthrown by Sargon II he seized the opportunity to crown himself king of Babylon, the next thirty years saw a repeating pattern of Assyrian reconquest and renewed rebellion. His relations, instead, were military, and culminated in his complete destruction of Babylon in 689 BCE. He destroyed the temples and the images of the gods, except for that of Marduk, the creator-god and divine patron of Babylon and this caused consternation in Assyria itself, where Babylon and its gods were held in high esteem. Sennacherib attempted to justify his actions to his own countrymen through a campaign of religious propaganda, in Babylon itself, Sennachribs answer to the Babylonian problem sparked an intense hatred that would eventually lead to a war for independence and the destruction of Assyria. Sennacherib was probably not the son of Sargon II, but he was groomed for royal succession. Sargon died in battle, and ancient sources give three different years for Sennacheribs first reign-year—705 BCE,704 BCE, and 703 BCE—suggesting that the succession was not smooth, Sennacheribs first campaign began late in 703 BCE against Marduk-apla-iddina, who had once more taken the throne of Babylon. The rebellion was defeated, Marduk-apla-iddina fled, and Babylon was taken, a puppet king named Bel-ibni was placed on the throne and for the next two years Babylon was left in peace. In 701 BCE, Sennacherib turned from Babylonia to the part of the empire. Ekron called on Egypt for help but the Egyptians were defeated, Sennacherib then turned on Jerusalem, Hezekiahs capital
Sennacherib
–
Sennacherib during his Babylonian war, relief from his palace in
Nineveh
Sennacherib
–
Assyrian warriors armed with slings from the palace of Sennacherib, 7th century BCE
Sennacherib
–
View of ancient Nineveh, Description de L'Univers (
Alain Manesson Mallet, 1719).
Sennacherib
–
Limestone stele of king Sennacherib from Nineveh. Ancient Orient Museum, Istanbul Archeological Museums, Turkey
45.
Temple in Jerusalem
–
These successive temples stood at this location and functioned as a site of ancient Israelite and later Jewish worship. The Hebrew name given in the Hebrew Bible for the complex is either Beit YHWH, Beit HaElohim House of God, or simply Beiti my house. The term hekhal hall or main building is often translated temple in older English Bibles, in rabbinical literature the temple is Beit HaMikdash, The Sanctified House, and only the Temple in Jerusalem is referred to by this name. The Hebrew Bible says that the First Temple was built in 957 BCE by King Solomon and this temple was sacked a few decades later by Shoshenq I, Pharaoh of Egypt. The First Temple was totally destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, according to the Book of Ezra, construction of the Second Temple was authorized by Cyrus the Great and began in 538 BCE, after the fall of the Babylonian Empire the year before. It was completed 23 years later, on the day of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the Great. However, with a reading of the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah, there were four edicts to build the Second Temple. Cyrus in 536 BCE, which is recorded in the first chapter of Ezra, next, Darius I of Persia in 519 BCE, which is recorded in the sixth chapter of Ezra. Third, Artaxerxes I of Persia in 457 BCE, which was the year of his reign. Finally, by Artaxerxes again in 444 BCE in the chapter of Nehemiah. Moreover, the narrowly avoided being destroyed again in 332 BCE when the Jews refused to acknowledge the deification of Alexander the Great of Macedonia. Alexander was allegedly turned from his anger at the last minute by astute diplomacy, further, after the death of Alexander on 13 June 323 BCE, and the dismembering of his empire, the Ptolemies came to rule over Judea and the Temple. Under the Ptolemies, the Jews were given many civil liberties, however, when the Ptolemaic army was defeated at Panium by Antiochus III of the Seleucids in 198 BCE, this policy changed. Antiochus wanted to Hellenize the Jews, attempting to introduce the Greek pantheon into the temple. Moreover, a rebellion ensued and was crushed, but no further action by Antiochus was taken. However, his policies never took effect in Judea, since he was assassinated the year after his ascension, Antiochus IV Epiphanes succeeded his older brother to the Seleucid throne and immediately adopted his fathers previous policy of universal Hellenisation. The Jews rebelled again and Antiochus, in a rage, retaliated in force, considering the previous episodes of discontent, the Jews became incensed when the religious observances of Sabbath and circumcision were officially outlawed. When Antiochus erected a statue of Zeus in their temple and Hellenic priests began sacrificing pigs, when a Greek official ordered a Jewish priest to perform a Hellenic sacrifice, the priest killed him
Temple in Jerusalem
–
Herod's Temple as imagined in the
Holyland Model of Jerusalem. It is currently situated adjacent to the
Shrine of the Book exhibit at the
Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
Temple in Jerusalem
–
Remnants of the 1st century Stairs of Ascent, discovered by archaeologist
Benjamin Mazar, to the entrance of the Temple Courtyard. Pilgrims coming to make sacrifices at the Temple would have entered and exited by this stairway.
Temple in Jerusalem
–
Model of Second Temple made by Michael Osnis from Kedumim.
Temple in Jerusalem
–
The
Trumpeting Place inscription, a stone (2.43×1 m) with
Hebrew writing "To the Trumpeting Place" uncovered during archaeological excavations by
Benjamin Mazar at the southern foot of the
Temple Mount is believed to be a part of the complex of the Second Temple.
46.
Isaiah
–
Isaiah was the 8th century BCE Jewish prophet who gave his name to the Book of Isaiah. The exact relationship between the Book of Isaiah and any such historical Isaiah is complicated, jews and Christians consider the Book of Isaiah a part of their Biblical canon, he is the first listed of the Neviim Aharonim, the latter prophets. Muslims consider Isaiah a prophet mentioned in Muslim exegesis of canonical scriptures, the first verse of the Book of Isaiah states that Isaiah prophesied during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah. Uzziahs reign was 52 years in the middle of the 8th century BCE, Isaiah lived until the fourteenth year of Hezekiahs reign, and may have been contemporary for some years with Manasseh. Thus Isaiah may have prophesied for as long as 64 years, another interpretation, holds that it was simply an honorary title is likely. They had two sons, naming one Shear-Yashuv, meaning A remnant shall return and the younger, Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz, meaning, Spoil quickly, soon after this, Shalmaneser V determined to subdue the kingdom of Israel, Samaria was taken and destroyed. This led the king of Assyria to threaten the king of Judah, Sennacherib led a powerful army into Judah. Hezekiah was reduced to despair, and submitted to the Assyrians, but after a brief interval war broke out again. Again Sennacherib led an army into Judah, one detachment of which threatened Jerusalem, Isaiah on that occasion encouraged Hezekiah to resist the Assyrians, whereupon Sennacherib sent a threatening letter to Hezekiah, which he spread before the LORD. Whom hast thou taunted and blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice. Yea, thou hast lifted up thine eyes on high, even against the Holy One of Israel, according to the account in 2 Kings 19 the judgment of God now fell on the Assyrian army and wiped out 185,000 of its men. Like Xerxes in Greece, Sennacherib never recovered from the shock of the disaster in Judah and he made no more expeditions against either the Southern Levant or Egypt. The remaining years of Hezekiahs reign were peaceful, Isaiah probably lived to its close, and possibly into the reign of Manasseh, but the time and manner of his death are not specified in either the Bible or other primary sources. The Talmud says that he suffered martyrdom by being sawn in two under the orders of Manasseh, according to rabbinic Literature, Isaiah was the maternal grandfather of Manasseh. Some writers assert that Isaiah was a vegetarian, on the basis of passages in the Book of Isaiah that extol nonviolence and reverence for life, such as Isaiah 1,11,11, 6-9,65,25, and 66,3. Some of these refer to the vegetarian Isaiah, the notorious vegetarian Isaiah, and Isaiah. Gregory of Nyssa, believed that the Prophet Isaiah knew more perfectly than all others the mystery of the religion of the Gospel. Of specific note are the songs of the Suffering Servant which Christians say are a direct revelation of the nature, purpose
Isaiah
–
The Prophet Isaiah; illustration from a
Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company (c. 1904)
Isaiah
–
Russian icon of the Prophet Isaiah, 18th century (
iconostasis of
Transfiguration Church,
Kizhi monastery,
Karelia,
Russia).
Isaiah
–
Isaiah receives his vision of the Lord's house. A stained glass window at
St. Matthew's German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina
Isaiah
–
Isaiah, by
Michelangelo, (c. 1508–1512,
Sistine Chapel ceiling,
Vatican City)
47.
Micah (prophet)
–
Micah was a prophet in Judaism who prophesied from approximately 737 to 696 BC in Judah and is the author of the Book of Micah. He is considered one of the minor prophets of the Tanakh and was a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah, Amos. Micah was from Moresheth-Gath, in southwest Judah and he prophesied during the reigns of kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah. Micah’s messages were directed chiefly toward Jerusalem and he prophesied the future destruction of Jerusalem and Samaria, the destruction and then future restoration of the Judean state, and he rebuked the people of Judah for dishonesty and idolatry. His prophecy that the Messiah would be born in the town of Bethlehem is cited in the Gospel of Matthew, information about the end of his life is not known. Micah was active in Judah from before the fall of Samaria in 722 BC and he prophesied from approximately 737–696 BC. Micah was from Moresheth, also called Moresheth-Gath, a town in southwest Judah. Micah lived in an area, but often rebuked the corruption of city life in Israel. Micah prophesied during the reigns of kings Jotham, Ahaz, Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah from 742–735 BC. Jotham was succeeded by his son Ahaz, who reigned over Judah from 735–715 BC, then Ahaz’s son Hezekiah ruled from 715–696 BC. Micah was a contemporary of the prophets Isaiah, Amos, Jeremiah, who prophesied about thirty years after Micah, recognized Micah as a prophet from Moresheth who prophesied during the reign of Hezekiah. His messages were directed mainly towards Jerusalem, and were a mixture of denunciations, in his early prophecies, he predicted the destruction of both Samaria and Jerusalem for their respective sins. The people of Samaria were rebuked for worshipping idols which were bought with the income earned by prostitutes, Micah was the first prophet to predict the downfall of Jerusalem. According to him, the city was doomed because its beautification was financed by dishonest business practices and he also called to account the prophets of his day, whom he accused of accepting money for their oracles. Micah also anticipated the destruction of the Judean state and promised its restoration more glorious than before and he prophesied an era of universal peace over which the Governor will rule from Jerusalem. Micah also declared that when the glory of Zion and Jacob is restored that the LORD will force the Gentiles to abandon idolatry, Micah also rebuked Israel because of dishonesty in the marketplace and corruption in government. He warned the people, on behalf of God, of pending destruction if ways, another prophecy given by Micah details the future destruction of Jerusalem and the plowing of Zion. This passage, is stated again in Jeremiah 26,18, since then Jerusalem has been destroyed three times, the first one being the fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy
Micah (prophet)
–
Russian Orthodox icon of the Prophet Micah, 18th century (
Iconostasis of
Transfiguration Church,
Kizhi Monastery,
Karelia,
Russia).
Micah (prophet)
–
Engraving of the Prophet Micah by
Gustave Doré.
Micah (prophet)
–
Virgin Mary
48.
Broad Wall (Jerusalem)
–
The Broad Wall is an ancient defensive wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. The wall was unearthed in the 1970s by Israeli archaeologist Nahman Avigad, the Broad Wall is a massive defensive structure, seven meters thick. The unbroken length of wall uncovered by Avigads dig runs 65 metres long and is preserved in places to a height of 3.3 metres. It was long believed that the city in this period was confined to the fortified, Avigads dig demonstrated that by the late eighth century the city had expanded to include the hill to the west of the Temple Mount. The motivation for building the walls was the invasion of Judea by Sennacherib. The wall is referred to in Nehemiah 3,8 and Isaiah 22, 9–10
Broad Wall (Jerusalem)
–
Broad wall.
Broad Wall (Jerusalem)
–
Marker showing presumed height of the wall
49.
Siloam tunnel
–
The Siloam Tunnel, also known as Hezekiahs Tunnel, is a water tunnel that was carved underneath the City of David in Jerusalem in ancient times. Support for the dating to Hezekiahs period is derived from the Biblical text that describes construction of a tunnel, however, the dates were challenged in 2011 by new excavations that suggested an earlier origin in the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. The tunnel leads from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, if indeed built under Hezekiah, it dates to a time when Jerusalem was preparing for an impending siege by the Assyrians, led by Sennacherib. Both the spring itself, and the pool at the end of the tunnel, would have been used by the inhabitants as water sources. In contrast to that, the water system did release all the water not used by the city population into the Kidron Valley to the east. According to the Siloam inscription, the tunnel was excavated by two teams, one starting at end of the tunnel and then meeting in the middle. The inscription is partly unreadable at present, and may originally have conveyed more information than this and it is clear from the tunnel itself that several directional errors were made during its construction. Recent scholarship has discredited the idea that the tunnel may have formed by substantially widening a pre-existing natural karst. The tunnel was first described in modern times by Franciscus Quaresmius in 1625 and it was later explored in 1838 by the American biblical scholar Edward Robinson, and in 1865 by Charles Warren. While allowing for important farming, this arrangement also made available to besieging troops outside the city walls. The Bible says that King Hezekiah, fearful that the Assyrians would lay siege to the city, blocked the water outside the city. In 1899, an ancient channel, also leading from the Gihon Spring halfway to the Siloam Pool area and this channel is now known as the Middle Bronze Age channel, on account of its estimated age. Ronny Reich determined that it was constructed around 1800 BCE, as originally constructed, it is understood as a 20 feet deep ditch in the ground, covered over by large rock slabs. It is narrower than the tunnel, but can still be walked by a human for most of its length, in addition to the exit near the Siloam pool, the channel has several small outlets that watered the gardens facing the Kidron Valley. They gathered a group of people who blocked all the springs. Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water and it was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook and you also saw the City of David, that it was great, And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool. You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool, but you did not look to its Maker, Nor did you have respect for him who fashioned it long ago
Siloam tunnel
–
Tunnel in 2010
Siloam tunnel
–
1884 sketch of the tunnel, by
Charles Warren and
Claude Reignier Conder, showing the tunnel as well as
Warren's Shaft, the
Pool of Siloam and the
Fountain of the Virgin.
Siloam tunnel
–
Siloam inscription
50.
Bamot
–
High place, in English-language versions of the Old Testament, literally translates the Hebrew במה. In old Israel many towns and villages had their own places of sacrifice and it has been suggested that the plural of the word referred to places of sacred prostitution and of pagan worship. From the Old Testament and from existing remains a good idea may be formed of the appearance of such a place of worship. The building of YHWHs singular Temple at Jerusalem, which had a patent on sacrifices, hosea stigmatizes the whole cultus as pure heathenism—Canaanite baal-worship adopted by apostate Israel. The rule of the Law of Moses that sacrifice can be offered to Yahweh only at the Temple in Jerusalem was never established in fact. In Jewish synagogues, the High Place is the platform from which the Torah is read. It traditionally had its origin from the platform erected in the Temple in Jerusalem at which the king would read the Torah during the Hakhel ceremony every seven years at the Feast of Tabernacles. The bemah is located in the center of Orthodox synagogues, in larger temples there may be a literal elevation, but there is often not room for this in smaller temples. The cathedral is surrounded on both sides by the synthronos, a set of seats or benches for the use of the priests. Every Orthodox temple and Eastern Catholic church has such a High Place even if it is not a cathedral, the term High Place also refers to the central portion of the Holy Table, where the antimension and Gospel Book are normally kept. The only other objects that are permitted to occupy this place on the altar are the chalice, on Good Friday, the Epitaphion is set on the Holy Table until it is taken to the tomb in the center of the nave for veneration by the faithful. During the Paschal Vigil, this Epitaphion is taken through the Holy Doors and placed again on the High Place of the Holy Table, where it will remain until the Ascension. Altar Baudissin, Hohendienst, Protestantische Realencyklopadie A. van Hoonacker, Le Lieu du culte dans la legislation rituelle des Hebreux V Gall and this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed. Orthodox bishop seated at the High Place Synthronon ancient church in Paros
Bamot
–
The bamah of
Megiddo.
Bamot
–
The Holy Place (Sanctuary) in the church of the Saint Vladimir Skete
Valaam monastery. To the left is the
Holy Table (altar) with the
Gospel Book on the High Place. To the right is the
Cathedra (Bishop's Throne).
51.
Siloam Tunnel
–
The Siloam Tunnel, also known as Hezekiahs Tunnel, is a water tunnel that was carved underneath the City of David in Jerusalem in ancient times. Support for the dating to Hezekiahs period is derived from the Biblical text that describes construction of a tunnel, however, the dates were challenged in 2011 by new excavations that suggested an earlier origin in the late 9th or early 8th century BCE. The tunnel leads from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, if indeed built under Hezekiah, it dates to a time when Jerusalem was preparing for an impending siege by the Assyrians, led by Sennacherib. Both the spring itself, and the pool at the end of the tunnel, would have been used by the inhabitants as water sources. In contrast to that, the water system did release all the water not used by the city population into the Kidron Valley to the east. According to the Siloam inscription, the tunnel was excavated by two teams, one starting at end of the tunnel and then meeting in the middle. The inscription is partly unreadable at present, and may originally have conveyed more information than this and it is clear from the tunnel itself that several directional errors were made during its construction. Recent scholarship has discredited the idea that the tunnel may have formed by substantially widening a pre-existing natural karst. The tunnel was first described in modern times by Franciscus Quaresmius in 1625 and it was later explored in 1838 by the American biblical scholar Edward Robinson, and in 1865 by Charles Warren. While allowing for important farming, this arrangement also made available to besieging troops outside the city walls. The Bible says that King Hezekiah, fearful that the Assyrians would lay siege to the city, blocked the water outside the city. In 1899, an ancient channel, also leading from the Gihon Spring halfway to the Siloam Pool area and this channel is now known as the Middle Bronze Age channel, on account of its estimated age. Ronny Reich determined that it was constructed around 1800 BCE, as originally constructed, it is understood as a 20 feet deep ditch in the ground, covered over by large rock slabs. It is narrower than the tunnel, but can still be walked by a human for most of its length, in addition to the exit near the Siloam pool, the channel has several small outlets that watered the gardens facing the Kidron Valley. They gathered a group of people who blocked all the springs. Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water and it was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook and you also saw the City of David, that it was great, And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool. You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool, but you did not look to its Maker, Nor did you have respect for him who fashioned it long ago
Siloam Tunnel
–
Tunnel in 2010
Siloam Tunnel
–
1884 sketch of the tunnel, by
Charles Warren and
Claude Reignier Conder, showing the tunnel as well as
Warren's Shaft, the
Pool of Siloam and the
Fountain of the Virgin.
Siloam Tunnel
–
Siloam inscription
.jpg)
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Ezechias". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "
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