1.
Kings of Judah
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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
2.
Amon of Judah
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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
3.
Jehoahaz of Judah
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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
4.
Jerusalem
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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
5.
Tammuz (Hebrew month)
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Tammuz, or Tamuz, is the tenth month of the civil year and the fourth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar, and the Assyrian calendar. It is a summer month of 29 days, which occurs on the Gregorian calendar around June–July. The name of the month was adopted from the Assyrian and Babylonian month Araḫ Dumuzu,17 Tammuz - Seventeenth of Tammuz –17 Tammuz is a fast day from 1 hour before sunrise to sundown in remembrance of Jerusalems walls being breached. The Three Weeks culminate with Tisha Be-Av, ashkenazi communities refrain from wine and meat from the beginning of the month of Av, while Sefardi communities only do so from the second day of the month. The mourning continues until noon on the 10th of Av, the date on which the Second Temples destruction was complete,3 Tammuz – Joshua stops the sun 3 Tammuz – Death of Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson. This is the first of the 5 national tragedies mourned on this day,17 Tammuz – Smashing of the first Tablets by Moses. 17 Tammuz – The daily sacrifices in the Holy Temple were discontinued,17 Tammuz – Walls of Jerusalem breached by the Roman army. 17 Tammuz The Roman general Apostomus burned the Torah and placed an idol in the Holy Temple,21 Tammuz – Death of the Kabbalist Baal Shem of Worms, grandson of Rabbi Joselman of Rosheim, and author of Michlal Yofi commentary on Ecclesiastes. In Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinian territories, the 2006 Lebanon War is generally known as حرب تموز Ḥarb Tammūz, in the story of Xenogears, Tammuz is the name of a country, named after the Hebrew month. In the official Japanese version translation, however, it was transliterated Tamuzu and this was later further changed by the translation process to Thames for the English version
6.
Jehoiakim
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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
7.
Zedekiah
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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
8.
Dynasty
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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
9.
Davidic line
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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
10.
Hebrew Bible
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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
11.
Kingdom of Judah
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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
12.
Egypt
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Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although Jordan and it is the worlds only contiguous Afrasian nation. Egypt has among the longest histories of any country, emerging as one of the worlds first nation states in the tenth millennium BC. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. One of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the century and remains a predominantly Muslim country. With over 92 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, and the fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, the large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypts territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypts residents live in areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria. Modern Egypt is considered to be a regional and middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Egypts economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, Egypt is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Miṣr is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern name of Egypt. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם, the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian
13.
Babylon
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Babylon was a major city of ancient Mesopotamia in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city was built upon the Euphrates and divided in parts along its left and right banks. Babylon was originally a small Semitic Akkadian city dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c.2300 BC, the town attained independence as part of a small city-state with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in 1894 BC. Babylon grew and South Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia, the empire quickly dissolved after Hammurabis death and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After being destroyed and then rebuilt by the Assyrians, Babylon became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539 BC, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, and Sassanid empires. It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from c.1770 to 1670 BC and it was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000. Estimates for the extent of its area range from 890 to 900 hectares. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometres south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings, the English Babylon comes from Greek Babylṓn, a transliteration of the Akkadian Babili. The Babylonian name in the early 2nd millennium BC had been Babilli or Babilla, by the 1st millennium BC, it had changed to Babili under the influence of the folk etymology which traced it to bāb-ili. The Gate of God or Gate of El being from the Aramaic Hebrew Bab for Gate and El for God and this being similar to the Hebrew word for confusion Balal. In the Bible, the name appears as Babel, interpreted in the Hebrew Scriptures Book of Genesis to mean confusion, the modern English verb, to babble, or to speak meaningless words, is popularly thought to derive from this name, but there is no direct connection. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris. The site at Babylon consists of a number of mounds covering an area of about 2 by 1 kilometer, oriented north to south, along the Euphrates to the west. Originally, the river roughly bisected the city, but the course of the river has since shifted so that most of the remains of the western part of the city are now inundated. Some portions of the city wall to the west of the river also remain, remains of the city include, Kasr—also called Palace or Castle, it is the location of the Neo-Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki and lies in the center of the site. Amran Ibn Ali—the highest of the mounds at 25 meters, to the south and it is the site of Esagila, a temple of Marduk which also contained shrines to Ea and Nabu. Homera—a reddish colored mound on the west side, most of the Hellenistic remains are here
14.
David
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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
15.
Genealogy of Jesus
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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
16.
Gospel of Matthew
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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
17.
New Testament
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The New Testament is the second major part of the Christian biblical canon, the first part being the Old Testament, based on the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christianity, Christians regard both the Old and New Testaments together as sacred scripture. The New Testament has frequently accompanied the spread of Christianity around the world and it reflects and serves as a source for Christian theology and morality. Both extended readings and phrases directly from the New Testament are also incorporated into the various Christian liturgies, the New Testament has influenced religious, philosophical, and political movements in Christendom and left an indelible mark on literature, art, and music. In almost all Christian traditions today, the New Testament consists of 27 books, John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. Others give a date of 80 AD, or at 96 AD. Over time, some disputed books, such as the Book of Revelation, other works earlier held to be Scripture, such as 1 Clement, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Diatessaron, were excluded from the New Testament. However, the canon of the New Testament, at least since Late Antiquity, has been almost universally recognized within Christianity. The term new testament, or new covenant first occurs in Jeremiah 31,31, the same Greek phrase for new covenant is found elsewhere in the New Testament. Modern English, like Latin, distinguishes testament and covenant as alternative translations, John Wycliffes 1395 version is a translation of the Latin Vulgate and so follows different terms in Jeremiah and Hebrews, Lo. Days shall come, saith the Lord, and I shall make a new covenant with the house of Israel, for he reproving him saith, Lo. Days come, saith the Lord, when I shall establish a new testament on the house of Israel, use of the term New Testament to describe a collection of first and second-century Christian Greek Scriptures can be traced back to Tertullian. In Against Marcion, written circa 208 AD, he writes of the Divine Word, by the 4th century, the existence—even if not the exact contents—of both an Old and New Testament had been established. Lactantius, a 3rd–4th century Christian author wrote in his early-4th-century Latin Institutiones Divinae and that which preceded the advent and passion of Christ—that is, the law and the prophets—is called the Old, but those things which were written after His resurrection are named the New Testament. The canon of the New Testament is the collection of books that most Christians regard as divinely inspired, several of these writings sought to extend, interpret, and apply apostolic teaching to meet the needs of Christians in a given locality. The book order is the same in the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, the Slavonic, Armenian and Ethiopian traditions have different New Testament book orders. Each of the four gospels in the New Testament narrates the life, death, the word gospel derives from the Old English gōd-spell, meaning good news or glad tidings. The gospel was considered the good news of the coming Kingdom of Messiah, and the redemption through the life and death of Jesus, Gospel is a calque of the Greek word εὐαγγέλιον, euangelion
18.
Saul
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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
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Solomon
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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
20.
Rehoboam
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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
21.
Abijah of Judah
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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
22.
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
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Jehoshaphat
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Amaziah of Judah
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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
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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
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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
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Ahaz
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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
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Hezekiah
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Hezekiah was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the son of Ahaz and the 13th king of Judah. Archaeologist Edwin Thiele has concluded that his reign was between c.715 and 686 BC and he is considered a very righteous king by the author of the Book of Kings. He is also one of the most prominent kings of Judah mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and is one of the mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. Hezekiah enacted sweeping reforms, including a strict mandate for the sole worship of Yahweh. Isaiah and Micah prophesied during his reign, Hezekiah, more properly transliterated as Ḥizkiyyahu, or Ḥizkiyyah. It also spawns a number of nouns, including חוֹזֶק, חָזְקָה, חֶזְקָה strength, as well as the adjectives חָזָק, חָזֵק strong. Accordingly, חִזְקִיָּהוּ Ḥizkiyyahu can be said to mean something like Strengthened by Yahweh, the main account of Hezekiahs reign is found in 2 Kings 18–20, Isaiah 36–39, and 2 Chronicles 29–32 of the Hebrew Bible. Proverbs 25,1 mentions that it is a collection of King Solomons proverbs that were copied by the officials of King Hezekiah of Judah and his reign is also referred to in the books of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Micah. The books of Hosea and Micah record that their prophecies were made during Hezekiah’s reign, Hezekiah was the son of King Ahaz and Abijah. His mother, Abijah, was a daughter of the high priest Zechariah, based on Thieles dating, Hezekiah was born in c.741 BC. He died from natural causes at the age of 54 in c.687 BC, according to the Hebrew Bible, Hezekiah assumed the throne of Judah at the age of 25 and reigned for 29 years. Some writers have proposed that Hezekiah served as coregent with his father Ahaz for about 14 years and his sole reign is dated by William F. Albright as 715–687 BC, and by Edwin R. Thiele as 716–687 BC. Hezekiah purified and repaired the Temple, purged its idols, in an effort to abolish what he considered idolatry from his kingdom, he destroyed the high places and bronze serpent, recorded as being made by Moses, which became objects of idolatrous worship. In place of this, he centralized the worship of God at the Jerusalem Temple, Hezekiah also resumed the Passover pilgrimage and the tradition of inviting the scattered tribes of Israel to take part in a Passover festival. He sent messengers to Ephraim and Manasseh inviting them to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover, the messengers, however, were not only not listened to, but were even laughed at, only a few men of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun came to Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the Passover was celebrated with solemnity and such rejoicing as had not been in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon. Hezekiah is portrayed by the Hebrew Bible as a great and good king, when Sargon II, the king of Assyria, died in 705 BC, states, including Judah, that were subject to Assyria saw an opportunity to throw off their subservience to the Assyrian kings. Hezekiah ceased to pay the tribute imposed on his father, in 703 BC Sennacherib, Sargons son and successor, began a series of major campaigns to quash opposition to Assyrian rule
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Manasseh of Judah
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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
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Jeconiah
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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
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Bozkath
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Bozkath is a town in the Kingdom of Judah mentioned in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. The town was located in the hills of Judah, otherwise known as the Shephelah. The toponym Bozkath is derived from the root בצק, meaning “elevation”, in the Greek versions of the Hebrew Bible, Bozkath is transcribed as Βασηδωθ in LXX-A but is written Βαζκαθ in LXX-B. Bozkath is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, Josh 15,39, the roster of towns in Joshua 15 is commonly thought to reflect an administrative document that originated during the Kingdom of Judah. A queen of Judah, Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah, was from Bozkath, with the assassination of her husband Amon of Judah, her son Josiah was placed on the throne by the people of the land. The town of Bozkath is listed along with sixteen other towns and related settlements in the district of the Shephelah of Judah. Abel had located Bozkath at the site of ed-Dawaime, which is located southeast of Lachish by roughly 15 km. however this identification is not followed today, beyond this general observation, it is not possible to suggest a more precise location for Bozkath with any certainty
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Idolatrous
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Idolatry literally means the worship of an idol, or in more neutral language a cult image, in the form of a physical image, such as a statue or icon. In Abrahamic religions, namely Christianity, Islam and Judaism, idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than God as if it were God, in these and several other monotheistic religions, idolatry has been considered as the worship of false gods and is forbidden. They are a means to ones religious pursuits and worship. The opposition to the use of any icon or image to represent ideas of reverence or worship is called aniconism, in Islam, idolaters are called mushrikin, and idolatry in strict Sharia-based Islamic societies is punishable with the death penalty. The history of religions has been marked with accusations and denials of idolatry and these accusations have considered statues and images to be devoid of symbolism. The word idolatry comes from the Greek word eidololatria which itself is a compound of two words, eidolon and latreia, the original term used in early rabbinic writings is oved avodah zarah, while avodat kochavim umazalot is not found in its early manuscripts. Idolatry has also been called idolism, iconolatry or idolodulia in historic literature, the earliest so-called Venus figurines have been dated to the prehistoric Neolithic era, in many parts of Eurasia. The earliest historic records confirming cult images are from the ancient Egyptian civilization, by the 2nd millennium BCE two broad forms of cult image appear, in one images are zoomorphic and in another anthropomorphic. The former is commonly found in ancient Egypt influenced beliefs. Symbols of nature, useful animals or feared animals may also be included by both, in Nordic and Indian subcontinent, bovine motifs or statues, for example, were common. In Ireland, iconic images included pigs, the ancient Egyptian civilization was polytheistic, with large cult images that were either animals or included animal parts. Ancient Greek civilization preferred human forms, with idealized proportions, for divine representation, the Canaanites of West Asia incorporated a golden calf in their pantheon. The ancient philosophy and practices of the Greeks, thereafter Romans, were imbued with polytheistic idolatry and they debate what is an image and if the use of image is appropriate. To Plato, images can be a remedy or poison to the human experience, idols are useful psychological catalysts, they reflect sense data and pre-existing inner feelings. They are neither the nor the destinations of thought but the intermediary in the human inner journey. Ideas on idolatry in Christianity are based on the first of Ten Commandments and you shall have no other gods before me. Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary, however, many Protestants have used the image of cross as a symbol. The Roman Catholic and particularly the Orthodox Churches have traditionally defended the use of icons and these debates have supported the inclusion of icons of Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary, the Apostles, the iconography expressed in stained glass, regional saints and other symbols of Christian faith
37.
Pedaiah
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Shealtiel or Greek-derived variant Salathiel was the son of Jeconiah, king of Judah. The Gospels Matthew 1,12 also list Shealtiel as the son of Jeconiah, while Luke 3, 27–28 lists him as the son of an otherwise unknown man named Neri. Jeconiah, Shealtiel as well as the most of the royal house, during the Babylonian captivity, Shealtiel was regarded as the second Exilarch, following his father. In Hebrew, the name Shealtiel means, Shə’altî ’Ēl, I asked El, the name acknowledges that the son is an answer to the parents prayer to God to help them conceive and birth a child. Many Hebrew names similarly express the importance of, difficulty of, Shealtiel is a significant but problematic member in the genealogies of the House of David and of the genealogy of Jesus. There is conflicting text in the Hebrew Bible as to whether Zerubbabel is the son of Shealtiel or of Shealtiels brother, the author of the Deuterocanonical apocalyptic work 2 Esdras describes himself as I, Salathiel, who am also called Ezra. For this reason, the work is sometimes known as Ezra Shealtiel. The Hebrew Bible has conflicting texts regarding whether Zerubbabel is the son of Shealtiel or Pedaiah, several texts explicitly call Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel. The Seder Olam Zutta also supports that position, surprisingly,1 Chronicles 3, 17–19 makes Zerubbabel a nephew of Shealtiel, King Jeconiah is the father of Shealtiel and Pedaiah, then Pedaiah is the father of Zerubbabel. Various attempts have been made to show how both genealogies could be true, one explanation suggests Shealtiel died childless and therefore Pedaiah, his brother, married his widow according to a Jewish law regarding inheritance. If so, Zerubbabel would be the son of Shealtiel. The other speculation suggests the title son of Shealtiel does not refer to being a biological son, the Hebrew term father can refer to a father of a household, similar to the Latin term paterfamilias. In this sense, a man who is the father of a household can therefore be referred to as the father of his own siblings, nephews and nieces. Zerubbabel could be called a son if they lived in Shealtiels household, perhaps both speculations could be true. Zerubbabel could be the son of Shealtiel and therefore also a member of his household. Yet another speculation simply suggests that the text which identifies Zerubbabel as a son of Pedaiah could be a scribal error and it occurs in a part of the text where the Hebrew seems discongruent and possibly garbled. The expected mention of Shealtiel being a father seems accidentally omitted, there may be other problems with these verses as well. Therefore, with one descending from David and the other from Aaron, derivations include Chaaltiel, Chaltel, Challtelli, Chaltiel, Chartiel, Cheltiel, Saltelli, Saltellus, Salter, Saltijeral, von Saltiel and Xaltiel
38.
Jeremiah
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Jeremiah, also called the Weeping prophet, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. Greater detail is known about Jeremiahs life than for that of any other prophet, however, no biography of him can be written, as there are few facts available. Judaism considers the Book of Jeremiah part of its canon, christianity also regards Jeremiah as a prophet and he is quoted in the New Testament. Islam also considers Jeremiah a prophet, and his narrative is given in Islamic tradition, Jeremiahs ministry was active from the thirteenth year of Josiah, king of Judah, until after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomons Temple in 3358 AM or 587 BC. This period spanned the reigns of five kings of Judah, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, the Hebrew-language chronology Seder HaDoroth gives Jeremiahs final year of prophecy to be 3350 AM or 595BC, whereby he transmitted his teachings to Baruch ben Neriah. Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah, a kohen from the Benjamite village of Anathoth, the difficulties he encountered, as described in the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations, have prompted scholars to refer to him as the weeping prophet. Jeremiah was called to prophetic ministry c.626 BC, Jeremiah was called by YHWH to give prophesy of Jerusalems destruction that would occur by invaders from the north. This was because Israel had been unfaithful to the laws of the covenant and had forsaken God by worshiping Baal, the people of Israel had even gone as far as building high altars to Baal in order to burn their children in fire as offerings. This nation had deviated so far from God that they had broken the covenant, Jeremiah was guided by God to proclaim that the nation of Judah would be faced with famine, plundered and taken captive by foreigners who would exile them to a foreign land. The prophetess, Huldah, was a relative and contemporary of Jeremiah while the prophets Zephaniah and Isaiah were his mentors, such was the lust of the nation for false gods that after Josiahs death, the nation would quickly return to the gods of the surrounding nations. Jeremiah was said to have appointed to reveal the sins of the people. Jeremiah resisted the call by complaining that he was only a child, however, the Lord insisted that Jeremiah go and speak, and he touched Jeremiahs mouth to place the word of the Lord there. God told Jeremiah to Get yourself ready, the character traits and practices Jeremiah was to acquire are specified in Jeremiah 1 and include not being afraid, standing up to speak, speaking as told, and going where sent. In his early ministry, Jeremiah was primarily a preaching prophet and he condemned idolatry, the greed of priests, and false prophets. Many years later, God instructed Jeremiah to write down these early oracles, Jeremiahs ministry prompted plots against him. Unhappy with Jeremiahs message, possibly for concern that it would shut down the Anathoth sanctuary, his priestly kin, however, the Lord revealed the conspiracy to Jeremiah, protected his life, and declared disaster for the men of Anathoth. When Jeremiah complains to the Lord about this persecution, he is told that the attacks on him will become worse. A priest Pashur the son of ben Immer, an official in Jerusalem had Jeremiah beaten
39.
Eliakim
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Eliakim is a moshav in northern Israel. Located in the Menashe Heights, it falls under the jurisdiction of Megiddo Regional Council, in 2015 it had a population of 857. The village was established in 1949 as a moshav by Jewish refugees from Yemen on the lands of the depopulated Arab village of Umm az-Zinat, and was named after Jehoiakim, in 1970 it was converted to a communal settlement, but returned to being a moshav in 2008. Boaz Mauda, winner of season 5 of Kokhav Nolad
40.
Necho II
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Necho II of Egypt was a king of the 26th Dynasty. Necho undertook a number of projects across his kingdom. In his reign, according to the Greek historian Herodotus, Necho II sent out an expedition of Phoenicians and his son, Psammetichus II, upon succession may have removed Nechos name from monuments. Necho played a significant role in the histories of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, Necho II is most likely the pharaoh mentioned in several books of the Bible. The aim of the second of Nechos campaigns was Asiatic conquest, to contain the Westward advance of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, however, the Egyptians were defeated by the unexpected attack of the Babylonians and were eventually expelled from Syria. Necho II was the son of Psammetichus I by his Great Royal Wife Mehtenweskhet and his prenomen or royal name Wahem-Ib-Re means Carrying out Heart Re. That once mighty empire was now reduced to the troops, officials, and nobles who had gathered around a general holding out at Harran, who had taken the throne name of Ashur-uballit II. Necho attempted to assist this remnant immediately upon his coronation, but the force he sent proved to be too small, in the spring of 609 BC, Necho personally led a sizable force to help the Assyrians. He prepared to cross the ridge of hills which shuts in on the south the great Jezreel Valley and their king, Josiah, sided with the Babylonians and attempted to block his advance at Megiddo, where a fierce battle was fought and Josiah was killed. Although Necho became the first pharaoh to cross the Euphrates since Thutmose III, he failed to capture Harran, at this point, Ashur-uballit vanished from history, and the Assyrian Empire was conquered by the Babylonians. The Book of Kings states that Necho met King Josiah of the Kingdom of Judah at Megiddo, leaving a sizable force behind, Necho returned to Egypt. On his return march, he found that the Judeans had selected Jehoahaz to succeed his father Josiah and he brought Jehoahaz back to Egypt as his prisoner, where Jehoahaz ended his days. The Book of Chronicles gives an account of his death and he was then brought back to Jerusalem to die. Necho is quoted as saying, What quarrel is there between you and me, O king of Judah and it is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry, so stop opposing God, the Babylonian king was planning on reasserting his power in Syria. In 609 BC, King Nabopolassar captured Kumukh, which cut off the Egyptian army, Necho responded the following year by retaking Kumukh after a four-month siege, and executed the Babylonian garrison. Nabopolassar gathered another army, which camped at Qurumati on the Euphrates, however, Nabopolassars poor health forced him to return to Babylon in 605 BC. In response, in 606 BC the Egyptians attacked the leaderless Babylonians who fled their position, although Nebuchadnezzar spent many years in his new conquests on continuous pacification campaigns, Necho was unable to recover any significant part of his lost territories
41.
Babylonian captivity
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The Babylonian captivity or Babylonian exile is the period in Jewish history during which a number of Judahites of the ancient Kingdom of Judah were captives in Babylonia. After the Battle of Carchemish in 605 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, besieged Jerusalem, the dates, numbers of deportations, and numbers of deportees given in the biblical accounts vary. These deportations are dated to 597 BCE for the first, with others dated at 587/586 BCE, after the fall of Babylon to the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 539 BCE, exiled Judeans were permitted to return to Judah. According to the book of Ezra, construction of the second temple in Jerusalem began around 537 BCE. All these events are considered significant in Jewish history and culture, the return of the exiles was a gradual process rather than a single event, and many of the deportees or their descendants did not return. In the late 7th century BCE, the kingdom of Judah was a client state of the Assyrian empire, in the last decades of the century, Assyria was overthrown by Babylon, an Assyrian province. Egypt, fearing the rise of the Neo-Babylonian empire, seized control of Assyrian territory up to the Euphrates river in Syria. In the process Josiah, the king of Judah, was killed in a battle with the Egyptians at the Battle of Megiddo, after the defeat of Pharaoh Nechos army by the Babylonians at Carchemish in 605 BCE, Jehoiakim began paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. Some of the nobility of Judah were taken to Babylon. In the following years, the court of Jerusalem was divided into two parties, in support of Egypt and Babylon, after Nebuchadnezzar was defeated in battle in 601 BCE by Egypt, Judah revolted against Babylon, culminating in a three-month siege of Jerusalem beginning in late 598 BCE. Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, died during the siege and was succeeded by his son Jehoiachin at the age of eighteen. The city fell on 2 Adar 597 BCE, and Nebuchadnezzar pillaged Jerusalem and its Temple and took Jeconiah, his court, jehoiakims uncle Zedekiah was appointed king in his place, but the exiles in Babylon continued to consider Jeconiah as their Exilarch, or rightful ruler. Despite warnings by Jeremiah and others of the party, Zedekiah revolted against Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar returned, defeated the Egyptians, and again besieged Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city wall and the Temple, together with the houses of the most important citizens. Zedekiah and his sons were captured, the sons were executed in front of Zedekiah, Judah became a Babylonian province, called Yehud, putting an end to the independent Kingdom of Judah. Some time later, a member of the royal family assassinated Gedaliah and his Babylonian advisors. According to the book of Ezra, the Persian Cyrus the Great ended the exile in 538 BCE, the exile ended with the return under Zerubbabel the Prince and Joshua the Priest and their construction of the Second Temple in the period 521–516 BCE. He appointed there a king of his own choice and taking heavy tribute brought it back to Babylon, one of the tablets refers to food rations for Ya’u-kīnu, king of the land of Yahudu and five royal princes, his sons
42.
Solomon's Temple
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Because of the religious sensitivities involved, and the politically volatile situation in Jerusalem, only limited archaeological surveys of the Temple Mount have been conducted. No archaeological excavations have been allowed on the Temple Mount during modern times, therefore, there are very few pieces of archaeological evidence for the existence of Solomons Temple. The only source of information on the First Temple is the Hebrew Bible, according to the biblical sources, the temple was constructed under Solomon, during the united monarchy of Israel and Judah. The Bible describes a Hiram I of Tyre who furnished architects, workmen and he also co-operated with Solomon in mounting an expedition on the Red Sea. 1 Kings 6,1 puts the date of the beginning of building the temple in the year of Solomons reign over Israel. The conventional dates of Solomons reign are circa 970 to 931 BCE and this puts the date of its construction in the mid-10th century BCE. Some scholars have speculated that a Jebusite sanctuary may have occupied the site. 1 Kings 9,10 says that it took Solomon 20 years altogether to build the Temple, the Temple itself finished being built after 7 years. During the united monarchy the Temple was dedicated to Yahweh, the God of Israel, according to the Hebrew Bible, the Temple was plundered by the Neo-Babylonian Empire king Nebuchadnezzar II when the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem during the brief reign of Jehoiachin c. A decade later, Nebuchadnezzar again besieged Jerusalem and after 30 months finally breached the city walls in 587 BCE, subsequently burning the Temple, according to Jewish tradition, the Temple was destroyed on Tisha BAv, the 9th day of Av. The Temple of Solomon is considered to be according to Phoenician design. The detailed descriptions provided in the Tanakh are the sources for reconstructions of its appearance, technical details are lacking, since the scribes who wrote the books were not architects or engineers. Nevertheless, the descriptions have inspired modern replicas of the temple, the usual explanation for the discrepancy between its height and the 30-cubit height of the temple is that its floor was elevated, like the cella of other ancient temples. It was floored and wainscotted with cedar of Lebanon, and its walls, there was a two-leaved door between it and the Holy Place overlaid with gold, also a veil of tekhelet, purple, and crimson and fine linen. It had no windows and was considered the dwelling-place of the name of God, kodesh haKodashim was prepared to receive and house the Ark, and when the Temple was dedicated, the Ark, containing the original tablets of the Ten Commandments, was placed therein. When the priests emerged from the place after placing the Ark there. The Hekhal, or Holy Place, is called the greater house and the temple, the word also means palace, was of the same width and height as the Holy of Holies. Its walls were lined with cedar, on which were carved figures of cherubim, palm-trees, and open flowers, chains of gold further marked it off from the Holy of Holies
43.
High Priest of Israel
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High Priest was the title of the chief religious official of Judaism from the early post-Exilic times until the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. This tradition came to an end in the 2nd century BCE during the rule of the Hasmoneans, when the position was occupied by other priestly families. Aaron, though he is but rarely called the great priest, being simply designated as ha-kohen, was the first incumbent of the office. The succession was to be one of his sons, and was to remain in his own family. If he had no son, the office devolved upon the next of age. In the time of Eli, however, the passed to the collateral branch of Ithamar. But King Solomon is reported to have deposed the High Priest Abiathar, and to have appointed Zadok, a descendant of Eleazar, in his stead. After the Exile, the succession seems to have been, at first, in a line from father to son. Antiochus IV Epiphanes for instance, deposed Onias III in favor of Jason, Herod the Great nominated no less than six high priests, Archelaus, two. The Roman legate Quirinius and his successors exercised the right of appointment, as did Agrippa I, Herod of Chalcis, even the people occasionally elected candidates to the office. The age of eligibility for the office is not fixed in the Law, aristobulus, however, was only seventeen when appointed by Herod, but the son of Onias III was too young to succeed his father. The age a Levite entered the priesthood was 30 years of age, legitimacy of birth was essential, hence the care in the keeping of the genealogical records and the distrust of one whose mother had been captured in war. The high priest had to abstain from ritual defilement and he may marry only an Israelite virgin. In Ezekiel 44,22 this restriction is extended to all kohanim, according to Josephus, birth on foreign soil was not a disqualification, but the disqualifications of Leviticus 21,17 et seq. applied to the high priest as well as to other priests. The Torah provides for specific vestments to be worn by the priests when they are ministering in the Tabernacle, And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for dignity and these garments are described in detail in Exodus 28, Exodus 39 and Leviticus 8. The high priest wore eight holy garments, of these, four were of the same type worn by all priests, and four were unique to the Kohen Gadol. That of the High Priest was embroidered, those of the priests were plain, Priestly sash, that of the High Priest was of fine linen with embroidered work in blue and purple and scarlet, those worn by the priests were of white, twined linen. It was fastened to the Ephod On the front of the turban was a golden plate inscribed with the words, the High Priest, like all priests, would minister barefoot when he was serving in the Temple
