Editing Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) (section)

==In the Hebrew Bible==
One traditional source for the history of the Kingdom of Israel has been the Hebrew Bible, especially the Books of [[Books of Kings|Kings]] and [[Books of Chronicles|Chronicles]]. These books were written by authors in [[Jerusalem]], the capital of the Kingdom of Judah. Being written in a rival kingdom, they were inspired by ideological and theological viewpoints that influence the narrative.<ref name=":0"/> Anachronisms, legends and literary forms also affect the story. Some of the recorded events are believed to have occurred long after the destruction of the kingdom of Israel. [[Biblical archaeology]] has both confirmed and challenged parts of the biblical account.<ref name=":0" /> According to the Hebrew Bible, there existed a United Kingdom of Israel (the [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|United Monarchy]]), ruled from [[Jerusalem]] by [[David]] and his son [[Solomon]], after whose death Israel and [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]] separated into two kingdoms.

The first mention of the name ''Israel'' is from an Egyptian inscription, the [[Merneptah Stele]], dating from the Late Bronze Age (c. 1208 BCE); this gives little solid information, but indicates that the name of the later kingdom was borrowed rather than originating with the kingdom itself.{{sfn|Davies|2015|p=71-72}}

===Relationship with the Kingdom of Judah===
According to the Hebrew Bible, for the first sixty years after the split, the kings of Judah tried to re-establish their authority over the northern kingdom, and there was perpetual war between them. For the following eighty years, there was no open war between them, as, for the most part, Judah had engaged in a military alliance with [[Aram-Damascus]], opening a northern front against Israel.{{sfn|Roberts|2016|p=203}} The conflict between Israel and Judah was temporarily settled when [[Jehoshaphat]], King of Judah, allied himself with the reigning house of Israel, [[Ahab]], through marriage. Later, Jehosophat's son and successor, [[Jehoram of Judah]], married Ahab's daughter [[Athaliah]], cementing the alliance.{{sfn|Roberts|2016|p=203}} However, the sons of Ahab were slaughtered by [[Jehu]] following his [[coup d'état]] around 840 BCE.{{sfn|Roberts|2016|p=204}}

===From Hazael to Jeroboam II===
After being defeated by [[Hazael]], Israel began a period of progressive recovery following the campaigns against Aram-Damascus of the Assyrian [[Adad-nirari III]].{{sfn|Roberts|2016|p=206}} This ultimately led to a period of major territorial expansion under [[Jeroboam II]], who extended the kingdom's possessions throughout the Northern Transjordan. Following Jeroboam II's death, the Kingdom experienced a period of decline as a result of sectional rivalries and struggles for the throne.{{sfn|Roberts|2016|p=207}}

=== Conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire (732–720 BCE) ===
{{main|Assyrian captivity}}

[[File:Black Obelisk, Jewish delegation to Shalmaneser III.jpg|thumb|center|upright=3|[[Jehu]]'s delegation to [[Shalmaneser III]], [[Black Obelisk]], 841–840 BCE.]]
In c. 732 BCE, King [[Pekah]] of Israel, while allied with [[Rezin]], king of [[Aram (biblical region)|Aram]], threatened [[Jerusalem]]. [[Ahaz]], [[King of Judah]], appealed to [[Tiglath-Pileser III]], the King of [[Assyria]], for help. After Ahaz paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser,<ref>{{Bibleverse|2|Kings|16:7-9|NIV}}</ref> Tiglath-Pileser sacked Damascus and Israel, annexing Aram<ref name="Grabbe">{{cite book |first=Lester L. |last=Grabbe |title=Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It? |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientisraelwha00grab |url-access=limited |location=New York |publisher= T&T Clark |date=2007 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ancientisraelwha00grab/page/n154 134] |isbn=978-05-67-11012-1}}</ref> and the territories of the tribes of [[Tribe of Reuben|Reuben]], [[Tribe of Gad|Gad]] and [[Tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]] in Gilead, including the desert outposts of [[Jetur]], [[Naphish]] and [[Nodab]]. People from these tribes, including the Reubenite leader, were taken captive and resettled in the region of the [[Khabur (Euphrates)|Khabur River]] system, in [[Halah]], Habor, Hara and [[Tell Halaf|Gozan]] ({{Bibleverse|1 Chronicles|5:26}}). Tiglath-Pilesar also captured the territory of [[Tribe of Naphtali|Naphtali]] and the city of [[Janohah|Janoah]] in [[Tribe of Ephraim|Ephraim]], and an Assyrian governor was placed over the region of Naphtali. According to {{Bibleverse|2 Kings|16:9}} and {{Bibleverse|2 Kings|15:29}}, the population of Aram and the annexed part of Israel was deported to Assyria.<ref>{{Bibleverse|2|Kings|16:9|NIV}} and {{Bibleverse-nb|2|Kings|15:29|NIV}}</ref>

[[File:Jehu-Obelisk-cropped.jpg|thumb|The tribute of Israel's king "[[Jehu]] of the people of the land of [[Omri]]" ({{langx|akk|𒅀𒌑𒀀 𒈥 𒄷𒌝𒊑𒄿}}), as depicted on the [[Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III]] from 841 to 840 BCE.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kuan|first1=Jeffrey Kah-Jin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMOqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA65|title=Neo-Assyrian Historical Inscriptions and Syria-Palestine: Israelite/Judean-Tyrian-Damascene Political and Commercial Relations in the Ninth-Eighth Centuries BCE|date=2016|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|isbn=978-1-4982-8143-0|pages=64–66|language=en}}</ref> This is "the only portrayal we have in [[Ancient Near East|ancient Near Eastern art]] of an Israelite or Judaean monarch."<ref name="AD">{{cite book|last1=Cohen|first1=Ada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uRKU0YXBWtgC&pg=PA127|title=Assyrian Reliefs from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II: A Cultural Biography|last2=Kangas|first2=Steven E.|date=2010|publisher=UPNE|isbn=978-1-58465-817-7|page=127|language=en}}</ref>]]
The remainder of the northern kingdom of Israel continued to exist within the reduced territory as an independent kingdom until around 720 BCE, when it was again invaded by Assyria and more of the population was deported. Not all of Israel's populace was deported by the Assyrians. During the three-year siege of [[Samaria (ancient city)|Samaria]] in the territory of Ephraim by the Assyrians, [[Shalmaneser V]] died and was succeeded by [[Sargon II of Assyria|Sargon II]], who himself records the capture of that city thus: "Samaria I looked at, I captured; 27,280 men who dwelt in it I carried away" into Assyria. Thus, around 720 BCE, after two centuries, the northern kingdom came to an end. Some of the Israelite captives were resettled in the Khabur region, and the rest in the land of the [[Medes]], thus establishing Hebrew communities in [[Ecbatana]] and [[Rages]]. The [[Book of Tobit]] additionally records that Sargon had taken other captives from the northern kingdom to the Assyrian capital of [[Nineveh]], in particular Tobit from the town of Thisbe in Naphtali.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

The Hebrew Bible relates that the population of the Kingdom of Israel was exiled, becoming known as the [[Ten Lost Tribes]]. To the south, the [[Tribe of Judah]], the [[Tribe of Simeon]] (that was "absorbed" into Judah), the [[Tribe of Benjamin]] and the people of the [[Tribe of Levi]], who lived among them of the original [[Israelites|Israelite]] nation, remained in the southern Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of Judah continued to exist as an independent state until 586 BCE, when it was conquered by the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]].

====Samaritan tradition====
The tradition of the [[Samaritans|Samaritan people]] states that much of the population of the Kingdom of Israel remained in place after the [[Assyrian captivity]], including the Tribes of Naphtali, Manasseh, Benjamin and Levi – being the progenitors of the modern Samaritans. Many members of these northern tribes also fled south to the Kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem seems to have expanded in size five-fold during this period, requiring a new wall to be built, and a new source of water [[Siloam]] to be provided by King [[Hezekiah]].<ref name=":2" />

====Recorded accounts====
[[File:Black Obelisk side 4 Jewish delegation.jpg|thumb|Part of the gift-bearing Israelite delegation of [[Jehu|King Jehu]], as depicted on the [[Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III]] (841–840 BCE)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Delitzsch|first1=Friedrich|url=https://archive.org/stream/babelbibl00deli/babelbibl00deli#page/78/mode/1up|title=Babel and Bible;|last2=McCormack|first2=Joseph|last3=Carruth|first3=William Herbert|last4=Robinson|first4=Lydia Gillingham|date=1906|publisher=Chicago, The Open court publishing company|page=78}}</ref>]]
In their book ''The Bible Unearthed'', Israeli authors [[Israel Finkelstein]] and [[Neil Asher Silberman]] estimate that only a fifth (about 40,000) of the population of the northern Kingdom of Israel were actually resettled out of the area during the two deportation periods under [[Tiglath-Pileser III]] and [[Sargon II]].<ref name="fink" /> No known non-Biblical record exists of the Assyrians having exiled people from four of the tribes of Israel: [[Tribe of Dan|Dan]], [[Tribe of Asher|Asher]], [[Tribe of Issachar|Issachar]], [[Tribe of Zebulun|Zebulun]]. Descriptions of the deportation of people from [[Tribe of Reuben|Reuben]], [[Tribe of Gad|Gad]], [[Tribe of Manasseh|Manasseh]], Ephraim and Naphtali indicate that only a portion of these tribes were deported, and the places to which they were deported are known locations given in the accounts. The deported communities are mentioned as still existing at the time of the composition of the [[Books of Kings]] and [[Book of Chronicles|Chronicles]] and did not disappear by assimilation. 2 Chronicles 30:1–18 explicitly mentions northern Israelites who had been spared by the Assyrians, in particular people of Ephraim, Manasseh, Asher, Issachar and Zebulun, and how members of the latter three returned to worship at the [[Temple in Jerusalem]] during the reign of [[Hezekiah]].<ref>{{Bibleverse|2|Chronicles|30:1-18|NIV}}</ref>

[[File:Deportation of Jews by Assyrians.svg|right|thumb|Map of the [[Assyrian captivity]], showing the routes of the deported population of Israel after the kingdom was conquered by the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] in 720 BCE.]]

===Religion===
The [[religious practice|religious climate]] of the Kingdom of Israel appears to have followed two major trends. The first was the worship of [[Yahweh]]; the religion of ancient Israel is sometimes referred to by modern scholars as [[Yahwism]].<ref name="auto"/> The [[Hebrew Bible]], however, states that some of the northern Israelites also adored [[Baal]] (see {{Bibleverse|1 Kings|16:31}} and the [[Baal cycle]] discovered at [[Ugarit]]).<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|last=Miller|first=Patrick D.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44174114|title=The religion of ancient Israel|date=2000|publisher=SPCK|isbn=978-0-664-22145-4|location=London|oclc=44174114}}</ref> The reference in [[Hosea 10]] to Israel's "divided heart"<ref>{{bibleverse|Hosea|10:2|NRSV}} in the [[New Revised Standard Version]], but some translators prefer "deceitful", as in the [[New International Version]].</ref> may refer to these two cultic observances, although alternatively it may refer to hesitation between looking to Assyria and Egypt for support.<ref>Jerusalem Bible (1966), Footnote b at Hosea 10:2</ref>

The Jewish Bible also states that [[Ahab]] allowed the cult worship of [[Baal]] to become acceptable of the kingdom. His wife [[Jezebel]] was the daughter of the [[Phoenicia]]n king of [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]] and a devotee to Baal worship ({{Bibleverse|1 Kings|16:31}}).<ref>{{JewishEncyclopedia|title=JEZEBEL|last=Hirsch|first=Emil G.|last2=Price|first2=Ira Maurice|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8675-jezebel}}</ref>

===Dynasties===
{{History of Israel}}
{{History of Palestine}}
{{Main|Kings of Israel and Judah}}

According to the Bible, the Northern Kingdom had 19 kings across 9 different dynasties throughout its 208 years of existence.

[[File:Genealogy of the kings of Israel and Judah.svg|thumb|550px|center|The genealogy of the kings of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judea, the Kingdom of Israel and the kings of the Kingdom of Judah. Most historians follow either of the older chronologies established by [[William F. Albright]] or [[Edwin R. Thiele]], or the newer chronologies of [[Gershon Galil]] and [[Kenneth Kitchen]], all of which are shown below. All dates are [[Before Christ|BC]]/[[Common Era|BCE]].]]

{{Clear}}