In all likelihood, Israel arose in the north of the Judean Highlands towards the end of the 13th century. BC. as a local Canaanite tribal association, into which in the XII century. BC. a certain number of Semitic refugees from Egypt joined, bringing with them legends about descent from the Amorite ancestor Seth (Set), life in Egypt, escape from it and making a covenant with the Midian god of the sandstorm Yahweh on the way from Egypt to Canaan. Apart from these externally introduced traditions, the people of Israel remained Canaanite in culture and religion and continued to speak the dialect of the Canaanite language, from which the Hebrew language eventually developed.
According to the Deuteronomic history, c. 1000 BC The Israelite tribes united and created a powerful state with its capital in Jerusalem, headed by King David. David was succeeded on the throne by his son Solomon, under whom Israel reached incredible political, economic, military and cultural prosperity. After the death of Solomon, unrest began, as a result of which ten northern tribes came out from under the power of Jerusalem, forming a separate, proper kingdom of Israel. However, the existence of the power of David and Solomon is refuted by archeological data, which does not reveal any traces of developed statehood in the Judean Highlands in the 10th century. BC. The contradictions between the statements of EB and the data of archeology are especially clearly seen in the example of Jerusalem. In a city that, according to the Deuteronomic historian, was the fabulously wealthy capital of a vast empire, archaeologists find nothing but shards of primitive pottery.
Evidence of archeology is confirmed by written data. The existence of the power of David and Solomon is not noted in any contemporary text. For example, the Egyptian pharaoh Sheshonk I (940-920 BC) tells about his military campaign in Canaan in an inscription from the Karnak temple. The Hebrew Bible reports the same campaign, which is the first mention of a historical event in it, confirmed by an external source: “In the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, Susakim (šišaq), the king of Egypt, rose up against Jerusalem and took the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the royal house. I took everything; took all the golden shields that Solomon had made” (1 Kings 14:25-26). At the same time, in Sheshenq's own inscription, listing 150 cities taken by him in Canaan, there is no Jerusalem. The closest city to it, mentioned by the Egyptian pharaoh, is Gibeon, located 10 km north of Jerusalem. It would be very strange if, when listing the many small cities, Sheshenq did not mention the capital of the powerful kingdom he took, which, according to the EB, was Jerusalem. The reason for the strange forgetfulness of the Egyptian ruler is that in fact Jerusalem in his time was only an insignificant poor settlement, which ruled only its immediate district. The "united kingdom" of David and Solomon is nothing more than a fiction of late Jewish authors who sought to use it to substantiate Jerusalem's claims to power over all Jewish lands.
An inscription from the Temple of Karnak about the campaign of Pharaoh Sheshenq to Canaan with a list of captured cities
Judging by archaeological data, the first Jewish state was the Kingdom of Israel, which arose at the end of the 10th century. BC. Its emergence was supposedly facilitated by the campaign of Sheshonk, which undermined the strength of the rich and developed Canaanite cities of the Jezreel Valley, which allowed the inhabitants of the "Mount Ephraim" to master them. According to the Deuteronomic history, the first king of Israel was Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim, to whom tradition ascribes the foundation of the main Israelite sanctuaries at Bethel and Dan. The first capital of the kingdom of Israel was in Shechem, then it moved to Tirzah. Finally, ok. 880 BC Omri (Omri), who seized the royal throne, moved the capital to Samaria. Omri became the true founder of the Israeli great power - even after the death of his dynasty, the Assyrians called Israel "the house of Omri", and the Israeli kings - "the sons of Omri." Omri is also mentioned in an inscription of the Moabite king Mesha in the 9th century. BC.
The Omri dynasty ruled Israel for about four decades. By the time of her reign are monumental buildings in the capital of the kingdom of Samaria, the second royal residence - Jezreel, as well as in Gezer, Hatzor and Megiddo, which were previously attributed to Solomon. Omri was replaced on the throne by his son Ahab, who married the daughter of the Tyrian king Etbaal (Ethbaal) Jezebel, with whose name Deuteronomic historians associate the conflict between the supporters of Baal and Yahweh. Under Ahab, the kingdom of Israel first appears in Mesopotamian sources. In 853 BC The Assyrian king Shalmaneser III made a campaign to the west. Near the city of Karkara on the Orontes River, his battle took place with a coalition of Syrian and Canaanite kings, in which the monolith of Shalmaneser III from Karkha mentions "2,000 chariots and 10,000 foot soldiers of Ahab the Israelite (A-ha-ab-bu MATSir-ila-a-a)". Shalmaneser declares his victory in the battle, but after it the Assyrians had to retreat.
Ahab was succeeded on the throne of Israel by his sons Ahaziah and then by Jehoram. The reign of Jehoram includes the war of Israel against Moab, described both in EB (2 Kings 3:4-27) and in the inscription of the Moabite king Mesha. Mesha (mš‘ - “Savior”) reports that for the sins of Moab, Gd Kemosh allowed the king of Israel Omri (‘mry mlk yśr’l) to oppress Moab for many years. Oppression continued under an unnamed son, Omri. Chemosh then ordered Mesha to go to war. The Moabite king defeated the Israelites and captured several cities from them, including in the city of Nebo, he took the “vessels of Yahweh” ([k]ly yhwh) and brought them before the face of the god Kemosh. This message contains the oldest definite reference to Yahweh outside of the Hebrew Bible. Mesha states that Chemosh "saved me from all the kings" (hš'ny mkl hmlkn), and "Israel perished forever" (yśr'l 'bd 'bd 'lm). 2 Kings reports that Mesha was a tributary of Israel, but after Ahab's death he was separated from him. The Israeli king Jehoram, in alliance with the Jewish king Jehoshaphat, went to war against Moab. At first he was successful, but after Mesha sacrificed the burnt offering of his firstborn, the Israelites were struck with fear and they fled.
During the ninth century BC. Israel also waged bitter wars with the Aramean kingdom of Damascus. OK. 842 BC Hazael seized the throne in Damascus. Probably, Jehoram decided to take advantage of this opportunity to return the city of Ramoth of Gilead, previously taken from him by the Syrians. Having united with the Jewish king Ahaziah, he opposed Hazael, but in the battle with him he was wounded and brought for treatment to the royal residence of Jezreel. At this time, a rebellion occurred in the Israeli army, which remained with Ramoth of Gilead. Jehu (Yehu), who seized power, killed Jehoram and his mother Jezebel and exterminated all his brothers and other relatives. He also killed the Jewish king Ahaziah, who was at that time in Jezreel, and his brothers, who were going to visit him. In addition, the Deuteronomic historian credits Jehu with the extermination of all the priests and servants of Baal in the kingdom of Israel, but this account is highly doubtful.
A fragmentary Aramaic inscription found in the city of Dan is presumably connected with the death of the Omri dynasty. Its unnamed author (the Syrian king Azail?) reports that he killed<…>rm.br.<…>/mlk.ysr'l.w<…> <…>yhw.br<…> / <…>k.bytdwd.w'<…>, which can be reconstructed as "[Jo]ram son of [Ahab] king of Israel, and [Ohazi] son of [Joram king] of the house of David." In the event that bytdwd in this inscription does mean "house of David", this is the first mention of David (more precisely, the dynasty of David) outside the Hebrew Bible. It is noteworthy that if the author of this inscription is Hazael, he attributes the murder of the Israelite and Jewish kings to himself, while EB attributes it to Jehu. Perhaps the usurper acted as a Syrian agent, which gave Azail the right to consider his deed as his own.
Jehu is mentioned as mIa-ú-a DUMU mHu-um-ri-i ("Jehu, son of Omri") and depicted among the slaves of Assyria on Shalmaneser III's "Black Obelisk" of Nimrud, dated to about 825 BC. The Assyrian king reports about him: “Tribute to Yehu the son of Omri: I received from him silver, gold, a golden cup, a golden vase with a sharp bottom, golden glasses, golden ladles, tin, a royal staff, spears.” The “jealousy of Jehu for Yahweh” praised by the Deuteronomic authors, which prompted him, according to the EB, to arrange an orgy of bloody terror in Israel, did not bring him any foreign policy benefits. On the contrary, in addition to the fact that Israel lost its independence from Assyria, which Ahab, cursed by the Deuteronomists, managed to defend, during the reign of Jehu and his son Jehoahaz, he continued to suffer military defeats from Syria and lose his lands to her. The situation changed only under Jehu's grandson Joash, but the reason for this was by no means the latter's Yahwist piety, but the intensified Assyrian onslaught on Syria.
Israeli king Jehu kneeling before the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III
Image on the "Black Obelisk"
In 796 BC Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III laid siege to Damascus and forced its ruler Bar-Hadad (Venadad) III to capitulate. The weakening of Syria took advantage of Joash of Israel, who returned to Israel the cities previously captured from him by the Syrians. He also defeated and captured the Jewish king Amaziah, took Jerusalem and plundered the royal palace and the temple of Yahweh. The forty-year reign of the son of Joash, Jeroboam II (780-740 BC), saw the last flowering of the kingdom of Israel, marked by material well-being, the flourishing of monumental construction, and the widespread use of writing. Jeroboam II is the first king of Israel whose name is attested by a seal inscription (belonging to "Shema the servant of Jeroboam").
Jeroboam's son Zechariah was killed 6 months after his accession to the throne of Israel, which marked the end of the Jehu dynasty. The usurper Shallum was himself soon killed by Menahem, who ruled for ten years. To maintain his power, he was forced to pay huge tribute to Assyria. The son of Menachem Pekahya (Fakia), after two years of reign, was killed by his commander Pekah (Fakei). In 732 BC Pekah entered into an anti-Assyrian alliance with the king of Damascus, Rezin, in response to which Tiglath-Palaser III defeated Syria, killed Rezin and annexed his possessions to Assyria, and also forced Pekah to surrender and annexed the northern regions of the kingdom of Israel. Shortly after these events, Pekah was killed by Hosea (Hoshei), who initially acted as a loyal vassal of Assyria, but then made an alliance with Egypt and stopped paying tribute to the Assyrians. This caused the punitive measures of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser V, who took Hosea prisoner and laid siege to Samaria. The capital of Israel fell three years later, already under the new ruler of Assyria, Sargon II. The entire territory of the Kingdom of Israel was included in Assyria, a significant part of its population was deported, and settlers from other Assyrian regions were transferred to its place.
Somewhat earlier than these events, in the middle of the VIII century. BC, there are signs of the transformation of Judea into a full-fledged state. Up to this point, it was more of a backward tribal association, in the shadow of a much stronger and more developed kingdom of Israel. In terms of population, Judea was related to Israel approximately as 1 to 10, the same can be said about other indicators. Israeli king Jehoash, c. 800 BC who took and plundered Jerusalem, figuratively expressed this balance of power between the two Jewish states, comparing in his message to the Jewish king Amaziah Israel with the “Lebanese cedar”, and Judea with the “Lebanese thorn”, which was trampled by wild animals (2 Kings 14, 9) . The situation changed decisively under the Jewish king Ahaz (743-727), who, in the war between Assyria and Israel, took the side of Assyria, recognizing himself as a slave of Tiglath-Pileser III. In one of the inscriptions of Tiglath-Palasar, there is the earliest mention of Judea outside of EB - the Assyrian ruler names Ya-ú-ha-zi MATYa-ú-da-a among his tributaries, i.e. Ahaz of the Jews.
With the support of the Jews, the Assyrians in 732 BC. defeated the kingdom of Israel and deprived it of the northern regions, and in 720 BC. took Samaria and incorporated the remainder of Israel into Assyria. If for Israel these events turned out to be a catastrophe, then for Judea they, on the contrary, became a gift of fate. In the last years of the reign of Ahaz and the first years of the reign of his son Hezekiah (727-698), the kingdom of Judah experienced an incredible flowering. Jerusalem, which until then occupied only a small area of the City of David and the Temple Mount, extends to the western hill and is surrounded (for the first time since the Middle Bronze Age) with new fortress walls. Within one generation, its population is experiencing explosive growth - about 10 times (from 1 to 10 thousand). A similar population explosion is observed in the agricultural district of Jerusalem and other areas of Judea.
To a large extent, the rise of Judah was caused by the flight to the south of the population of Israel, but the economic boom that followed the integration of the Kingdom of Judah into the economy of the Assyrian superpower also played a role. Judea became a supplier of olive oil and wine to the imperial market, and a lucrative Arabian caravan trade ran along its southern border. The breadbasket of Judea is the fertile valley of Shephela, the main city of which Lachish becomes the second most important city of the state after Jerusalem, and in the second half of the 8th century. BC. It is decorated with monumental administrative buildings and surrounded by powerful fortifications. In centralized workshops, mass production of ceramics for state needs is unfolding.
From the middle of the 8th century BC. in Judea, for the first time, personal seals with the names of the owners, inscribed stone scales and ostraca appear, indicating the spread of writing, which is one of the main signs of a developed statehood. After the destruction of the sanctuaries of the Kingdom of Israel (Dan, Bethel, Samaria, etc.), Jerusalem, which until then was only one of the many Jewish religious centers, becomes the main center of Yahwism. This was facilitated by the "religious reform" of King Hezekiah, which apparently consisted in the abolition of all Yahwist sanctuaries outside the capital of Judea. Probably, in the last years of the reign of Ahaz, with the assistance of the Assyrians, a new temple of Yahweh was built in Jerusalem, described in EB as "the temple of Solomon."
However, this heyday did not last long. In 705 BC The Assyrian king Sargon II died in battle with the Cimmerians, after which uprisings of the conquered peoples broke out on the territory of the Assyrian Empire. The Jewish king Hezekiah also rebelled, joining the anti-Assyrian coalition of the Canaanite states under the auspices of Egypt. It is likely that Hezekiah prepared for such a development in advance, as evidenced by his stockpiling of grain, olive oil, and wine, and by building a tunnel from the spring of Siloam, which provided Jerusalem with water in case of a siege. Having suppressed uprisings in the south and east of his state, the son of Sargon II Sennacherib in 701 BC. marched out to the west.
The Assyrian army led the Phoenicians and Philistines into submission, after which they entered Judea and subjected its territory to a terrible defeat. According to the annals of Sennacherib, he captured forty-five Jewish cities and took captive two hundred thousand men and women along with their cattle. The largest city of Judea after Jerusalem, Lachish, which offered stubborn resistance to the Assyrian king, was completely destroyed, its population was destroyed or deported by the Assyrians. Details of the siege and capture of Lachish were depicted in bas-reliefs made for the palace of Sennacherib in Nineveh, which are now kept in the British Museum.
Jewish prisoners from Lachish in front of Sennacherib
Bas-relief from the royal palace in Nineveh
The Jewish king Hezekiah Sennacherib “like a bird in a cage” was locked up in Jerusalem and forced to capitulate and pay huge tribute, including royal daughters for his harem: “Together with 30 talents of gold, 800 talents of selected silver, antimony, large stone jewelry, lodges from ivory, high thrones of ivory, elephant skins, ivory, ebony, boxwood - all that is, noble wealth, also his daughters, concubines of his palace, singers and singers to Nineveh, my capital, he sent for me , and sent his messenger to pay tribute and perform the service ”(Annals of Sennacherib). From the capture and complete destruction of Jerusalem, apparently, the approach of the troops of the Nubian crown prince of Egypt Taharka (“Tirgak, the king of Ethiopia”), about which Sennacherib was reported during the siege of Jerusalem: “Behold, he came out to fight with you” (2 Kings 19, 9). Contrary to the predictions of the prophet Isaiah about the futility of Egyptian help (2 Kings 30, 2-7; 31, 1-3, etc.), it was the appearance of the Egyptians (or rather, the black Nubians who then ruled Egypt) that saved Jerusalem from destruction.
Black Nubian Taharka - God who saved Jerusalem from destruction by Sennacherib
However, the rest of the consequences of the invasion of Sennacherib were catastrophic for Judea. In addition to paying a huge humiliating tribute, she lost her most fertile lands, located in the Shefela valley, which Sennacherib gave to his Philistine vassals. In essence, Judea became a city-state, shrinking to the size of Jerusalem and its environs. The land was devastated, many inhabitants were driven into captivity. Not a trace of economic prosperity remained. Nevertheless, Jerusalem, unlike Samaria, survived, which was attributed by the Yahwists to the patronage of the "God of Israel", whose messenger de destroyed one hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian soldiers and thereby forced Sennacherib to leave (2 Kings 19, 35).
Of the reign of Hezekiah after the Assyrian invasion, we know nothing. When he died, his son Manasseh (698-642) ascended the throne of Judea, during whose almost half a century of rule there was a relative revival of the Kingdom of Judah after the defeat of 701. The main reason for this revival was Manasseh's loyalty to his Assyrian overlords. It is curious that the Jewish kings, who pursued a pro-Assyrian policy that ensured Judah's peace and prosperity, are portrayed as villains by Deuteronomic authors, while the hero for them is Hezekiah, whose rebellion against Assyria brought Judah to the brink of total destruction. EB is modestly silent about Manasseh's relations with the Assyrians, but Assyrian sources help to correct this silence. Thus, the son of Sennacherib Esarhaddon mentions Manasseh among the vassal kings who sent materials to Nineveh for the construction of a new royal palace, and the son of Esarhaddon Ashurbanipal names him among his tributaries, whose troops participated in the Assyrian conquest of Egypt.
The reign of Manasseh was marked by a new demographic and economic rise of the kingdom of Judah. The population of the rural district of Jerusalem grew, and the agricultural development of new lands in the south and east took place. The main sources of income for Judah were olive oil and grain supplied to the imperial Assyrian market. In the 7th century BC. in general, there are hundreds of Jewish seals and bulls with inscriptions, as well as ostraca, which indicates the first widespread literacy among the population of Judea in history. The earliest written record of a number of texts later included in the Hebrew Bible, such as the Yahwist-Elohist source and a number of prophetic texts formerly transmitted orally, can presumably be attributed to this century. After the death of Manasseh in 642 BC. his son Amon (who bore the name of the Egyptian God Amon) ascended the throne, who was killed by the conspirators two years later. The new king of Judah was the eight-year-old son of Amon Josiah (640-609). In the middle of his reign, the weakening of Assyria began, which ultimately led to its death. The consequence of the termination of Judah's dependence on Assyria was, apparently, the removal from the Jerusalem temple of the symbols of this dependence - "horses and chariots of the Sun" (2 Kings 23, 11), which, under the pen of later Deuteronomists, turned into a comprehensive religious reform in the spirit of exclusive Yahwism.
Already ok. 656 BC Pharaoh Psammetich I (664-610), who united all of Egypt under his rule, declared himself a ruler independent of Assyria. He was probably recognized by the Assyrians, to whom he was more profitable as an ally than an enemy. After the death of the last great Assyrian king, Ashurbanipal (669-627), Assyria began to plunge into turmoil. In 626 a rebellion broke out in Babylonia, and in 623 a civil war broke out in Assyria itself. In 612, the Assyrian capital of Nineveh fell under the blows of the Babylonians and the Medes, the remnants of the Assyrian court and troops fled west to Harran. In one of his inscriptions, Psammetichus I reports that he owns the entire coast of the Levant to Phoenicia. Presumably, he concluded an agreement with Assyria, according to which all Assyrian possessions west of the Euphrates, including Judea, came under the rule of Egypt in exchange for military assistance against the Babylonians.
In 610 BC The Babylonians took Harran, and Psammetichus died the same year. In 609, his son Necho II set out on a campaign north to recapture Harran from the Babylonians. On the way there, in the city of Megiddo, he killed the Jewish king Josiah. The Deuteronomic historian reports this very succinctly: “In his days, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went up against the king of Assyria on the river Euphrates. And King Josiah went to meet him, and he slew him in Megiddon when he saw him” (2 Kings 23:29). A later chronicler claims that Josiah died in battle with the Egyptians (2 Chron. 35:20-24), but the account of 2 Kings is more credible. Apparently, Necho simply executed his vassal Josiah for ties with the Babylonians. The life of the king, whom the Deuteronomists present as the greatest champion of Yahwism, ended so ingloriously that the Deuteronomist historian could not even find words to comment on.
Pharaoh Necho slaying an Asiatic barbarian (Josiah?)
Seal from Megiddo at the end of the 7th century. BC.
Necho II's attempt to recapture Harran from the Babylonians was unsuccessful. On the way back, he removed from power the son of Josiah, Jehoahaz, who had sat on the Jewish throne for only 3 months, and sent him to Egypt. Instead, Necho appointed another son of Josiah, Joachim (Eliakim) (609-598), as the king of Judea, who was forced to pay the heaviest tribute to Egypt. In 605 BC in the battle of Carchemish, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II defeated the remnants of the Assyrian army and Necho II, who supported them. The Egyptians were forced to leave Canaan, which came under the rule of Babylonia. Judea also recognized her authority, but the son of Joachim Jeconiah, who ascended the throne in 598, tried to break away from the Babylonians by entering into an alliance with Egypt. In response to this, Nebuchadnezzar II took Jerusalem in 597 and robbed the royal palace and the temple of Yahweh. The former king Jeconiah was taken to Babylon along with a large number of representatives of the Jewish nobility, priesthood and artisans. Instead, Nebuchadnezzar placed another son of Josiah Zedekiah (Mattania) (597-586) on the throne of Judea.
Ten years later, Zedekiah now made an attempt to break away from Babylon. In response to this, Nebuchadnezzar II, at the head of his army, again moved to Jerusalem. After a year and a half of siege, the Babylonians broke into the city. King Zedekiah and his associates managed to escape, but he was captured near Jericho and brought to Nebuchadnezzar. The sons of Zedekiah were executed before his eyes, after which he himself was blinded and taken in chains to Babylon. By order of the Babylonian king, Jerusalem was burned and its walls destroyed. On the site of the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BC. the Babylonian province of Judea arose with the administrative center in the city of Mizpah in the tribe of Benjamin (probably the current Tel en-Nasba, 12 km north of Jerusalem). The ancient sanctuary at Bethel became the religious center of the new province.
Kingdom of Israel
The Bible describes the time of the reign of Saul and David and the unification of South and Central Canaan. After the expulsion of the Philistines, David made several campaigns to the north. David made the city of Urishamere (now Jerusalem) the capital of his kingdom; a sanctuary of the god Judah was built there. David's successor was his son Solomon. Solomon's kingdom was divided into 12 districts. In each district, the head of the city ruled. He collected taxes and sent them to the king's house. He established trade relations not only with Phoenicia, but also with Egypt, Syria and Arabia. From these countries they received horses, slaves, gold, silver, precious stones, fragrant oils. He started a numerous harem, one of his wives was the daughter of a pharaoh. The life of ordinary people was also difficult, as in many states of Syria and Palestine. Slaves built magnificent temples, and ordinary peasants were driven away for forced labor. Gradually, dissatisfaction with Solomon began to grow. At the head of the movement against Solomon was Jerabeam, a noble man who led the work on the king's house. Solomon wanted to execute Jerabiam, but he managed to escape to Egypt. After the death of Solomon, the leaders of the northern tribes contributed to the division of Canaan into two kingdoms: Judah, in which the Davidic dynasty was preserved, and the kingdom of Ephraim (Israel), in which dynasties changed frequently. In 722, the Assyrian king Sargon destroyed the capital of Israel, Shomeron, and the kingdom of Israel ceased to exist.
The kingdom of Judah lasted longer, almost a century and a half.
After the fall of the kingdom of Israel, the Jewish kings were forced to recognize the supreme power of the Assyrian king over them. By this time, the influence of the Assyrian-Babylonian culture was spreading in Judah, penetrating even into religion: cults of heavenly bodies were introduced in the Jerusalem temple. The Jewish kings paid heavy tribute to Assyria. Kings changed, but neither reforms nor the nationalization of religious cults saved the kingdom of Judah. External wars were added to the rebellions of the peasants. The Egyptian pharaoh Necho moved against Judah. In 586 Jerusalem was destroyed. Temples were burned, and the entire population, except for the poor, was taken into slavery in Babylonia. The kingdom of Judah ceased to exist.
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Flag of Israel
The flag is a white rectangular panel with two horizontal blue stripes along the edges and a Star of David in the center.
The Israeli flag symbolizes the state from the Nile to the Euphrates: the lower stripe is the bank of the Nile River, the upper stripe is the bank of the Euphrates River, and the Star of David is Jerusalem.
Star of David
The Star of David (Hebrew Magen David, "Shield of David"; in Yiddish pronounced mogendovid) is an ancient symbol, an emblem in the form of a six-pointed star (hexagram), in which two identical equilateral triangles (one is turned upside down, the other upside down) are superimposed on top of each other, forming a structure of six identical equilateral triangles attached to the sides of a regular hexagon. There are various versions of the origin of the name of the symbol, from those linking it with the legend about the shape of the shields of the soldiers of King David to raising it to the name of the false messiah David Alroy or the Talmudic turnover denoting the God of Israel. Another version of it is known as the "Seal of King Solomon".
Seal of King Solomon
The seal of King Solomon is a symbol of two superimposed equilateral triangles (Star of David), placed on the legendary signet ring of King Solomon, which gave him power over genies and the ability to talk with animals.
Coat of arms of Jerusalem
The heraldic shield has an English shape with a blue outline. The Wailing Wall and the figure of a lion are depicted all over the shield. On the sides of the shield are olive branches. The name of the city is written in Hebrew above the coat of arms. The lion symbolizes the tribe of Judah, the olive branches symbolize the world, the blue color symbolizes Judaism.
Modern reconstruction of King Solomon's seal
The Seal of Solomon is a symbol representing a six-pointed star. The seal of Solomon has other names: the shield of Solomon, the star of David. According to legend, this seal was engraved on the famous ring of King Solomon, with which he could control the hordes of demons.
The history of the Jerusalem temple is full of legends: scientists still cannot come to a consensus. It is believed that Solomon began construction 4 years after his accession. Hiram, king of Tire and Byblos, sent him the experienced architect Hiram Abiff, skilled carpenters and artisans to help him. They worked on the building for 7 years - according to some reports, more than 150 thousand people participated in the construction. In 950, work on the temple was completed, and a year later it was consecrated. The greatest holiday was arranged, which lasted 14 days. The Ark of the Covenant was installed in the Holy of Holies. (A special place in the temple where the Foundation Stone or the so-called Cornerstone was located. It is believed that it was from this place that God began the creation of the world. Now the Muslim Dome of the Rock is located above this stone). Solomon publicly recited a prayer.
The Jerusalem temple was part of the palace complex. Not far from it was a large palace, where a separate entrance led from the temple. Nearby were also the summer palace of Solomon himself and the palace of his wife, the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh.
Kingdom of Israel
Hebrew ממלכת ישראל
Section is under development
Tribes of Israel
When the tribes are first listed, the Bible names them after the 12 sons of Jacob. Jacob had two wives - Leah, Rachel, and maidservants of wives - Valla (Bilha) and Zilpha (Zilpa).
Leah's sons: Reuben (Reuven), Simeon (Shimon), Levi (Levi), Judah (Yehuda), Issachar, Zebulun (Zevulun). Sons of Rachel: Joseph (Yosef), Benjamin (Benyamin). Sons of Valla (Bilhi): Dan, Naphtali (Naftali). Sons of Zilpah (Zilpah): Gad, Asher (Asher)
Joseph had two sons: Manasseh (Menashe) and Ephraim (Ephraim), whom Jacob elevated to the ancestors of two independent tribes instead of their father Joseph, which increased the number of tribes to 13.
The lists of the tribes of Israel in the Bible do not list the tribe of Joseph as an independent one, linking it only to Ephraim and Manasseh. Reservations are also made everywhere, excluding the tribe of Levi as dedicated to the service of God. So, it is not included in the account of combat-ready men, its place is not indicated in the order of the knees during the transitions on the way to Canaan; it does not receive a portion in the Promised Land and in Transjordan. The tribe of Levi, deprived of its land allotment, is not actually included in the total count, and its selection from the community of the tribes to perform only its permitted functions restores the original number of the twelve tribes of Israel. Prescriptions regarding the number of tribes without listing them also give 12 as their traditional number. Thus, 2 interpretations of the 12 tribes of Israel are possible: the above 14, with the exception of either Levi and Joseph, or the sons of Joseph.
In the Promised Land, each tribe received its share.
After the death of King Solomon in 928 BC, the united kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms: Judah in the south (the lands of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin) and Israel in the north (the territory of the remaining ten tribes).
In 732-722 BC. The kingdom of Israel was captured by Assyria; most of its population was taken captive and settled in small groups in various regions of this vast power. Thus began the first Jewish diaspora. The bulk of the Israelites were gradually assimilated by the peoples among whom they lived.
In the era of the Second Temple, most Jewish families, apparently, could no longer prove their belonging to one or another tribe.
According to the New Testament, John the Baptist was a priestly family, a certain prophetess Anna came from the tribe of Asher, the Apostle Paul from Tarsus - from the tribe of Benjamin. The number of apostles of the Christian church - twelve - is symbolic and is associated with the number of the sons of Jacob and, accordingly, the tribes of Israel.
To date, the consciousness of tribal involvement has been preserved only among the descendants of the tribe of Levi (Levites), some of whom (cohens) even keep the memory of their origin from the family of Aaron.
Exodus
According to the Bible, the shepherd family of Jacob-Israel, the progenitor of the Jews, left Canaan due to famine and moved to Egypt, settling in the land of Goshen, due to the fact that his son Joseph the Beautiful became an adviser to the pharaoh and intermarried with the local aristocracy.
According to the Bible, the Israelites were in Egypt for 400 years, or 430 years.
Over time, the number of Israelites increased significantly, exceeding the number of Egyptians. The new pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, fearing military clashes with the Israelites, ordered the Israelites to be exhausted with hard work in order to restrain their growth in numbers.
When the pharaoh saw that the measures he had taken were not able to weaken the young people, he ordered the killing of born boys from the tribe of the Israelites. At this time, the future leader and liberator of the Jewish people Moses is born.
Moses' mother Jochebed (Yocheved), in order to save him from murder, put her three-month-old son in a tarred basket and let her go through the waters of the Nile under the supervision of her daughter. The daughter of the pharaoh found the baby and took it to her house.
When Moses grew up and found himself among the Israelites, he saw an Egyptian overseer severely punishing an Israelite. Moses killed an Egyptian and fled Egypt, fearing revenge. He settled in the land of the Midianites, married the daughter of a Midian priest and herded his father-in-law's cattle.
Once, when Moses was tending the flock near the mountain, God appeared to him in a burning, but unburned bush (burning bush) and ordered him to return to Egypt in order to lead the Israelites out of slavery and move to Canaan, as was promised to the forefathers.
At the age of 80, Moses returns to Egypt and asks Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but Pharaoh refuses. Then God sends ten plagues on Egypt (Ten Plagues of Egypt). Only after the tenth plague, which resulted in the death of all the firstborn children of the Egyptians and the firstborn cattle, did Pharaoh insist that the Israelites leave Egypt. According to Exodus, the ten plagues did not affect the Israelites. In the case of the last execution, the angel of death "passed" the houses of the Jews, who were marked with the blood of the sacrificial lamb.
After collecting valuable things from the Egyptians, the Israelites left Egypt with 600,000 men. Meanwhile, the pharaoh changed his mind and chased the Israelites with an army, hoping to enslave them again. The pharaoh's army overtook the Jews at the sea of reeds. By the will of God, the waters of the sea parted, and the Israelites passed along the bottom, after which the waters closed, destroying the army of the Egyptians.
After three months of marching through the desert, the Israelites reached Mount Sinai. Here the Israelites witnessed the theophany, and Moses on the top of the mountain received the Ten Commandments from God. The mountain also had a covenant between God and the Israelites. In the same place, by the will of God, the Tabernacle (camping Temple) was built, men from the tribe of Levi (Levites) were appointed priests. Moses' brother Aaron became the high priest.
During the year, the Israelites lived near Mount Sinai. During this period, a census was taken, according to which among the Israelis there were 603,550 men capable of fighting.
From Sinai, the Israelites made their way to Canaan through the Desert of Paran. When they reached the borders of Canaan, they sent twelve spies into the promised land. Ten of them returned and expressed doubts about the possibility of conquering Canaan. The people, doubting God's promise to secure victory over the Canaanites, began to murmur. For this, God condemned the Jews to wander in the wilderness for forty years, so that during this time all who were slaves in Egypt, including Moses, would die.
Forty years later, the Israelites rounded Moab from the east and defeated the Amorites in battle. After this victory, they went to the banks of the Jordan at Mount Nebo. Here Moses died, appointing Joshua (1272-1244 BC) as his successor.
First, the Jews, led by Joshua, attack Jericho. For seven days, their troops march around the city walls, led by priests carrying the ark of the covenant. On the seventh day, the army marched around the city seven times, accompanied by priests playing trumpets. At a certain moment, Jesus orders all the people to shout at the same time, and immediately the walls of the city fall by themselves.
After that, Jesus orders the complete extermination of the population of Jericho, including women, the elderly, children, and livestock. Only the harlot Rahab and her relatives were spared because Rahab had previously sheltered Jewish spies who had entered the city. Jericho itself was completely burned.
Further, having entered the Promised Land, he defeated several Canaanite tribes in a whole series of battles, despite the fact that they sometimes opposed him in whole coalitions. Gaius Jesus captured the city, and completely exterminated its population, as in Jericho. Five kings - Jerusalem, Hebron, Ieramuth, Lachish and Eglon - united against the Israelites. However, Jesus managed to defeat them. God took part in the battle on his side, throwing stones from the sky at the enemy army. All the inhabitants of these cities were completely exterminated. The king of Gazer came to the aid of the king of Lachish, but the Israelites prevailed and completely exterminated his people. The same fate befell all the inhabitants of the cities of Eglon and Hebron.
After conquering and dividing the land, Jesus died peacefully and was buried on Mount Ephraim.
The era of judges 1244-1040 BC
The era of judges covers the period of biblical history from the death of Joshua to the destruction of the covenant tabernacle at Shiloh, which corresponds to the late Bronze Age.
Despite the "legal" name, this era can be called a troubled time, characterized by outbreaks of intertribal and interethnic violence: "when he did not have a king and when everyone did what he thought was fair." At this time, the Israelites (descendants of Jacob) broke up into 12 tribes, symbolically united around the religion of their ancestors and the awareness of their blood relationship, which did not interfere with such excesses of tribalism as the massacre of the tribe of Ephraim and the tribe of Benjamin, during which up to 92 thousand Israelis (42 thousand Ephraimites, 25 thousand sons of Benjamin and 22 thousand soldiers of the Israeli militia). The total number of Israelis capable of war at that time numbered 400 thousand people. It is noteworthy that earlier the total number of Israelites who left Egypt under Moses was 600 thousand people.
In the era of the Judges, part of the Israelites continued to lead a nomadic lifestyle, while the other began to move to a settled way of life. The inhabitants of Jewish Bethlehem, for example, grew barley and wheat.
The symbolic authorities of the Israelites at that time were the judges (shoftim), to whom they came "for judgment." The judges were active bearers of Israeli identity and therefore fiercely resisted the tendencies of assimilation of the Israelis among the local population: the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites and the Jebusites. This was also manifested in the fact that the judges led the Israeli militia and called for the destruction of the sanctuaries of the local peoples (the temples of Baal and Astarte). The judge could be a prophet (Samuel), and the leader of a gang of robbers (Jephthah), and a woman (Deborah). At the same time, all of them actively performed judicial functions, which made it possible to raise the question that the philosophy of law, as well as the modern doctrine of the separation of powers, has its origins in the Old Testament.
The subsequent establishment of the Israelite monarchy through Judge Samuel, after the era of the judges, demonstrates what the judges did not have: a regular army, universal taxation and real executive power. The moral authority of the judges did not always match their popularity. They did not disdain murder and fornication (Samson), as well as bribery (Samuel's sons Joel and Abijah), although in general their power was based either on high moral authority or on military force, since both of them made it possible to fulfill the orders they had issued. judicial decisions, especially in the case of litigation between representatives of different tribes.
United Kingdom of Israel 1040-928 BC
The history of the kingdom of Israel begins with the elevation of the high priest and prophet Samuel Saul to the royal dignity - the anointing of Saul as the first king of Israel. As the books of Kings testify, Saul was not a faithful servant of God for long. In particular, through Samuel, God commanded Saul to punish the Amalekites, including putting the king of the Amalekites to death and destroying all the livestock of the Amalekites. But Saul did not fully comply with God's command. The king of the Amalekites was taken prisoner, but not killed, and the cattle of the Amalekites were declared spoils of war. On another occasion, Saul arbitrarily performed a burnt offering without waiting for the high priest, in this case the prophet Samuel, who was delayed on the way to Saul's military camp. As a result, Samuel was commanded by God to anoint young David, who at that time was tending his father's flocks, to the kingdom.
After David's victory over Goliath, which predetermined the victory of the Israeli army over the Philistines, as well as after a number of other successful military actions against the Philistines, David's popularity skyrockets. Saul was in a panic, afraid that David would take away his royal throne. As a result, the kingdom of Israel actually survived the first (but not the last) civil war. The reign of Saul ended with the defeat of his army by the Philistines, his son fell in battle, and Saul himself committed suicide, fearing to be taken prisoner.
The period of the reign of David and Solomon (1010-928) is the golden age of the kingdom of Israel. In 1010, David moves the capital to Jerusalem and significantly expands the city. According to the description from the Book of Kings, the kingdom of David extended from the banks of the Euphrates to Gaza. But his reign was not cloudless. In particular, there was a new civil war. David was opposed by his son Absalom, who illegally claimed the royal throne. As a result of this war, Absalom was killed by David's servants against the king's orders. Nevertheless, Israel, under David's rule, is very successful in waging wars against external enemies. Extensive construction is also underway, including in Jerusalem.
Solomon, son and successor of David on the throne of Israel, is described as the wisest of kings and as the builder of the Jerusalem Temple. Solomon was able to build on David's foreign and domestic political achievements. Actually, in the reign of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was at the zenith of its power.
Separation
The death of Solomon (928) practically put an end to the history of the kingdom of Israel as a single state. His son Rehoboam ascends the throne. But he pursues an overly harsh repressive domestic policy. The ten tribes of Israel did not recognize his authority over themselves and united under the rule of Jeroboam I, forming the northern (Israeli) kingdom in the northern part of the previously unified kingdom of Israel. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the House of David and formed the Southern Kingdom centered in Jerusalem, later known as the Kingdom of Judah.
The period of the Northern (Israeli) kingdom 928-721 BC
After the death of King Solomon in 928 BC, the united kingdom of Israel was divided. Ten tribes (tribes) formed the northern kingdom, which was called Israel. Shechem became the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, then Tirtza (Firza) and finally Samaria (Sebastia, Shomron). According to the Old Testament, the kings of the northern Israeli state retreated from the monotheistic service to the One God of Israel, first erecting temples with golden statues of calves in the cities of Bethel and Dan, and then even worshiping the deities of the Phoenician cult. From the biblical point of view, none of them was a "godly king."
In the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the ruling dynasties repeatedly changed as a result of coups d'état, the longest rule was the Jeu (Jehu) dynasty. In 721 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian king Sargon II. A significant part of the population of the kingdom were taken into Assyrian captivity and settled in small groups in various regions of this vast power. Thus began the first Jewish diaspora. The bulk of the Israelites were gradually assimilated by the peoples among whom they lived.
Assyrian captivity, or Assyrian exile
The period in the history of the people of Israel, during which several thousand Israelites from ancient Samaria were driven to Assyria and its provinces. The northern kingdom of Israel was defeated by the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmaneser V. The next ruler of Assyria, Sargon II, completed the siege of Samaria in 721 BC, thus finally destroying the Northern Kingdom, which summed up its twenty-two-year decline.
According to Assyrian cuneiform sources from Dur-Sharrukin, 27,290 captives were deported from Samaria.
Unlike the later exiles of the Kingdom of Judah, who were able to return from the Babylonian captivity, the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom did not receive permission to return to their homeland. Many centuries later, the rabbis of the restored Judea continued to argue about the fate of the lost tribes.
Israel [Israel]
The legendary patriarchs of the Jews (habiru)
| Abraham (Abraham) | |
| Yitzhak (Isaac) | |
| Jacob (Jacob) | |
| Yehuda (Judah) | |
| Moshe (Moses) | |
| Yehoshua ben Nun (Jesus Nun) |
Shoftim [judges] of the Jews in Canaan (Palestine)
| Othniel (Othoniel) | |
| Ehud (Aod) | |
| Shamgar (Samegar) | |
| Barak (Varak) | |
| Jerovaal (Gideon) | |
| Abimelek (Abimelech) | |
| Fola | |
| Jairus | |
| Yiftah (Jephthah) | |
| Esevon | |
| Elon | |
| Avdon | |
| Shimshon (Samson) | |
| Eliyahu (Elijah) | |
| Shmuel (Samuel) |
Anointed Priests, or High Priests of the Tabernacle of Congregation [Jewish Camping Temple]
Kings of the Kingdom of Israel 1040 - 928
|
House of Saul (ben Shaul) |
|
| 1040-1012 | |
|
House of David (Ben David) |
|
| 1012-972 | |
| 972-928 | |
|
Division into Northern (Israeli) and Southern (Judean) kingdoms |
928 |
Kings of the Northern, or Israelite kingdom 928 - 721
|
I dynasty (ben Nawat) |
|
| 928-910 | |
| 910-908 | |
|
II dynasty (ben Baasha) |
|
| 908-885 | |
| 885-884 | |
|
III dynasty |
|
| 884-884 | |
|
IV dynasty (ben Omri) |
|
| 884-873 | |
| 884-881 | |
| 873-853 | |
| 853-852 | |
| 852-842 | |
|
Fifth Dynasty (ben Yehu) |
|
| 842-814 | |
Flag of Israel
The flag is a white rectangular panel with two horizontal blue stripes along the edges and a Star of David in the center.
The Israeli flag symbolizes the state from the Nile to the Euphrates: the lower stripe is the bank of the Nile River, the upper stripe is the bank of the Euphrates River, and the Star of David is Jerusalem.
Star of David
The Star of David (Hebrew Magen David, "Shield of David"; in Yiddish pronounced mogendovid) is an ancient symbol, an emblem in the form of a six-pointed star (hexagram), in which two identical equilateral triangles (one is turned upside down, the other upside down) are superimposed on top of each other, forming a structure of six identical equilateral triangles attached to the sides of a regular hexagon. There are various versions of the origin of the name of the symbol, from those linking it with the legend about the shape of the shields of the soldiers of King David to raising it to the name of the false messiah David Alroy or the Talmudic turnover denoting the God of Israel. Another version of it is known as the "Seal of King Solomon".
Seal of King Solomon
The seal of King Solomon is a symbol of two superimposed equilateral triangles (Star of David), placed on the legendary signet ring of King Solomon, which gave him power over genies and the ability to talk with animals.
Coat of arms of Jerusalem
The heraldic shield has an English shape with a blue outline. The Wailing Wall and the figure of a lion are depicted all over the shield. On the sides of the shield are olive branches. The name of the city is written in Hebrew above the coat of arms. The lion symbolizes the tribe of Judah, the olive branches symbolize the world, the blue color symbolizes Judaism.
Modern reconstruction of King Solomon's seal
The Seal of Solomon is a symbol representing a six-pointed star. The seal of Solomon has other names: the shield of Solomon, the star of David. According to legend, this seal was engraved on the famous ring of King Solomon, with which he could control the hordes of demons.
The history of the Jerusalem temple is full of legends: scientists still cannot come to a consensus. It is believed that Solomon began construction 4 years after his accession. Hiram, king of Tire and Byblos, sent him the experienced architect Hiram Abiff, skilled carpenters and artisans to help him. They worked on the building for 7 years - according to some reports, more than 150 thousand people participated in the construction. In 950, work on the temple was completed, and a year later it was consecrated. The greatest holiday was arranged, which lasted 14 days. The Ark of the Covenant was installed in the Holy of Holies. (A special place in the temple where the Foundation Stone or the so-called Cornerstone was located. It is believed that it was from this place that God began the creation of the world. Now the Muslim Dome of the Rock is located above this stone). Solomon publicly recited a prayer.
The Jerusalem temple was part of the palace complex. Not far from it was a large palace, where a separate entrance led from the temple. Nearby were also the summer palace of Solomon himself and the palace of his wife, the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh.
Kingdom of Israel
Hebrew ממלכת ישראל
Section is under development
Tribes of Israel
When the tribes are first listed, the Bible names them after the 12 sons of Jacob. Jacob had two wives - Leah, Rachel, and maidservants of wives - Valla (Bilha) and Zilpha (Zilpa).
Leah's sons: Reuben (Reuven), Simeon (Shimon), Levi (Levi), Judah (Yehuda), Issachar, Zebulun (Zevulun). Sons of Rachel: Joseph (Yosef), Benjamin (Benyamin). Sons of Valla (Bilhi): Dan, Naphtali (Naftali). Sons of Zilpah (Zilpah): Gad, Asher (Asher)
Joseph had two sons: Manasseh (Menashe) and Ephraim (Ephraim), whom Jacob elevated to the ancestors of two independent tribes instead of their father Joseph, which increased the number of tribes to 13.
The lists of the tribes of Israel in the Bible do not list the tribe of Joseph as an independent one, linking it only to Ephraim and Manasseh. Reservations are also made everywhere, excluding the tribe of Levi as dedicated to the service of God. So, it is not included in the account of combat-ready men, its place is not indicated in the order of the knees during the transitions on the way to Canaan; it does not receive a portion in the Promised Land and in Transjordan. The tribe of Levi, deprived of its land allotment, is not actually included in the total count, and its selection from the community of the tribes to perform only its permitted functions restores the original number of the twelve tribes of Israel. Prescriptions regarding the number of tribes without listing them also give 12 as their traditional number. Thus, 2 interpretations of the 12 tribes of Israel are possible: the above 14, with the exception of either Levi and Joseph, or the sons of Joseph.
In the Promised Land, each tribe received its share.
After the death of King Solomon in 928 BC, the united kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms: Judah in the south (the lands of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin) and Israel in the north (the territory of the remaining ten tribes).
In 732-722 BC. The kingdom of Israel was captured by Assyria; most of its population was taken captive and settled in small groups in various regions of this vast power. Thus began the first Jewish diaspora. The bulk of the Israelites were gradually assimilated by the peoples among whom they lived.
In the era of the Second Temple, most Jewish families, apparently, could no longer prove their belonging to one or another tribe.
According to the New Testament, John the Baptist was a priestly family, a certain prophetess Anna came from the tribe of Asher, the Apostle Paul from Tarsus - from the tribe of Benjamin. The number of apostles of the Christian church - twelve - is symbolic and is associated with the number of the sons of Jacob and, accordingly, the tribes of Israel.
To date, the consciousness of tribal involvement has been preserved only among the descendants of the tribe of Levi (Levites), some of whom (cohens) even keep the memory of their origin from the family of Aaron.
Exodus
According to the Bible, the shepherd family of Jacob-Israel, the progenitor of the Jews, left Canaan due to famine and moved to Egypt, settling in the land of Goshen, due to the fact that his son Joseph the Beautiful became an adviser to the pharaoh and intermarried with the local aristocracy.
According to the Bible, the Israelites were in Egypt for 400 years, or 430 years.
Over time, the number of Israelites increased significantly, exceeding the number of Egyptians. The new pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, fearing military clashes with the Israelites, ordered the Israelites to be exhausted with hard work in order to restrain their growth in numbers.
When the pharaoh saw that the measures he had taken were not able to weaken the young people, he ordered the killing of born boys from the tribe of the Israelites. At this time, the future leader and liberator of the Jewish people Moses is born.
Moses' mother Jochebed (Yocheved), in order to save him from murder, put her three-month-old son in a tarred basket and let her go through the waters of the Nile under the supervision of her daughter. The daughter of the pharaoh found the baby and took it to her house.
When Moses grew up and found himself among the Israelites, he saw an Egyptian overseer severely punishing an Israelite. Moses killed an Egyptian and fled Egypt, fearing revenge. He settled in the land of the Midianites, married the daughter of a Midian priest and herded his father-in-law's cattle.
Once, when Moses was tending the flock near the mountain, God appeared to him in a burning, but unburned bush (burning bush) and ordered him to return to Egypt in order to lead the Israelites out of slavery and move to Canaan, as was promised to the forefathers.
At the age of 80, Moses returns to Egypt and asks Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but Pharaoh refuses. Then God sends ten plagues on Egypt (Ten Plagues of Egypt). Only after the tenth plague, which resulted in the death of all the firstborn children of the Egyptians and the firstborn cattle, did Pharaoh insist that the Israelites leave Egypt. According to Exodus, the ten plagues did not affect the Israelites. In the case of the last execution, the angel of death "passed" the houses of the Jews, who were marked with the blood of the sacrificial lamb.
After collecting valuable things from the Egyptians, the Israelites left Egypt with 600,000 men. Meanwhile, the pharaoh changed his mind and chased the Israelites with an army, hoping to enslave them again. The pharaoh's army overtook the Jews at the sea of reeds. By the will of God, the waters of the sea parted, and the Israelites passed along the bottom, after which the waters closed, destroying the army of the Egyptians.
After three months of marching through the desert, the Israelites reached Mount Sinai. Here the Israelites witnessed the theophany, and Moses on the top of the mountain received the Ten Commandments from God. The mountain also had a covenant between God and the Israelites. In the same place, by the will of God, the Tabernacle (camping Temple) was built, men from the tribe of Levi (Levites) were appointed priests. Moses' brother Aaron became the high priest.
During the year, the Israelites lived near Mount Sinai. During this period, a census was taken, according to which among the Israelis there were 603,550 men capable of fighting.
From Sinai, the Israelites made their way to Canaan through the Desert of Paran. When they reached the borders of Canaan, they sent twelve spies into the promised land. Ten of them returned and expressed doubts about the possibility of conquering Canaan. The people, doubting God's promise to secure victory over the Canaanites, began to murmur. For this, God condemned the Jews to wander in the wilderness for forty years, so that during this time all who were slaves in Egypt, including Moses, would die.
Forty years later, the Israelites rounded Moab from the east and defeated the Amorites in battle. After this victory, they went to the banks of the Jordan at Mount Nebo. Here Moses died, appointing Joshua (1272-1244 BC) as his successor.
First, the Jews, led by Joshua, attack Jericho. For seven days, their troops march around the city walls, led by priests carrying the ark of the covenant. On the seventh day, the army marched around the city seven times, accompanied by priests playing trumpets. At a certain moment, Jesus orders all the people to shout at the same time, and immediately the walls of the city fall by themselves.
After that, Jesus orders the complete extermination of the population of Jericho, including women, the elderly, children, and livestock. Only the harlot Rahab and her relatives were spared because Rahab had previously sheltered Jewish spies who had entered the city. Jericho itself was completely burned.
Further, having entered the Promised Land, he defeated several Canaanite tribes in a whole series of battles, despite the fact that they sometimes opposed him in whole coalitions. Gaius Jesus captured the city, and completely exterminated its population, as in Jericho. Five kings - Jerusalem, Hebron, Ieramuth, Lachish and Eglon - united against the Israelites. However, Jesus managed to defeat them. God took part in the battle on his side, throwing stones from the sky at the enemy army. All the inhabitants of these cities were completely exterminated. The king of Gazer came to the aid of the king of Lachish, but the Israelites prevailed and completely exterminated his people. The same fate befell all the inhabitants of the cities of Eglon and Hebron.
After conquering and dividing the land, Jesus died peacefully and was buried on Mount Ephraim.
The era of judges 1244-1040 BC
The era of judges covers the period of biblical history from the death of Joshua to the destruction of the covenant tabernacle at Shiloh, which corresponds to the late Bronze Age.
Despite the "legal" name, this era can be called a troubled time, characterized by outbreaks of intertribal and interethnic violence: "when he did not have a king and when everyone did what he thought was fair." At this time, the Israelites (descendants of Jacob) broke up into 12 tribes, symbolically united around the religion of their ancestors and the awareness of their blood relationship, which did not interfere with such excesses of tribalism as the massacre of the tribe of Ephraim and the tribe of Benjamin, during which up to 92 thousand Israelis (42 thousand Ephraimites, 25 thousand sons of Benjamin and 22 thousand soldiers of the Israeli militia). The total number of Israelis capable of war at that time numbered 400 thousand people. It is noteworthy that earlier the total number of Israelites who left Egypt under Moses was 600 thousand people.
In the era of the Judges, part of the Israelites continued to lead a nomadic lifestyle, while the other began to move to a settled way of life. The inhabitants of Jewish Bethlehem, for example, grew barley and wheat.
The symbolic authorities of the Israelites at that time were the judges (shoftim), to whom they came "for judgment." The judges were active bearers of Israeli identity and therefore fiercely resisted the tendencies of assimilation of the Israelis among the local population: the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites and the Jebusites. This was also manifested in the fact that the judges led the Israeli militia and called for the destruction of the sanctuaries of the local peoples (the temples of Baal and Astarte). The judge could be a prophet (Samuel), and the leader of a gang of robbers (Jephthah), and a woman (Deborah). At the same time, all of them actively performed judicial functions, which made it possible to raise the question that the philosophy of law, as well as the modern doctrine of the separation of powers, has its origins in the Old Testament.
The subsequent establishment of the Israelite monarchy through Judge Samuel, after the era of the judges, demonstrates what the judges did not have: a regular army, universal taxation and real executive power. The moral authority of the judges did not always match their popularity. They did not disdain murder and fornication (Samson), as well as bribery (Samuel's sons Joel and Abijah), although in general their power was based either on high moral authority or on military force, since both of them made it possible to fulfill the orders they had issued. judicial decisions, especially in the case of litigation between representatives of different tribes.
United Kingdom of Israel 1040-928 BC
The history of the kingdom of Israel begins with the elevation of the high priest and prophet Samuel Saul to the royal dignity - the anointing of Saul as the first king of Israel. As the books of Kings testify, Saul was not a faithful servant of God for long. In particular, through Samuel, God commanded Saul to punish the Amalekites, including putting the king of the Amalekites to death and destroying all the livestock of the Amalekites. But Saul did not fully comply with God's command. The king of the Amalekites was taken prisoner, but not killed, and the cattle of the Amalekites were declared spoils of war. On another occasion, Saul arbitrarily performed a burnt offering without waiting for the high priest, in this case the prophet Samuel, who was delayed on the way to Saul's military camp. As a result, Samuel was commanded by God to anoint young David, who at that time was tending his father's flocks, to the kingdom.
After David's victory over Goliath, which predetermined the victory of the Israeli army over the Philistines, as well as after a number of other successful military actions against the Philistines, David's popularity skyrockets. Saul was in a panic, afraid that David would take away his royal throne. As a result, the kingdom of Israel actually survived the first (but not the last) civil war. The reign of Saul ended with the defeat of his army by the Philistines, his son fell in battle, and Saul himself committed suicide, fearing to be taken prisoner.
The period of the reign of David and Solomon (1010-928) is the golden age of the kingdom of Israel. In 1010, David moves the capital to Jerusalem and significantly expands the city. According to the description from the Book of Kings, the kingdom of David extended from the banks of the Euphrates to Gaza. But his reign was not cloudless. In particular, there was a new civil war. David was opposed by his son Absalom, who illegally claimed the royal throne. As a result of this war, Absalom was killed by David's servants against the king's orders. Nevertheless, Israel, under David's rule, is very successful in waging wars against external enemies. Extensive construction is also underway, including in Jerusalem.
Solomon, son and successor of David on the throne of Israel, is described as the wisest of kings and as the builder of the Jerusalem Temple. Solomon was able to build on David's foreign and domestic political achievements. Actually, in the reign of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was at the zenith of its power.
Separation
The death of Solomon (928) practically put an end to the history of the kingdom of Israel as a single state. His son Rehoboam ascends the throne. But he pursues an overly harsh repressive domestic policy. The ten tribes of Israel did not recognize his authority over themselves and united under the rule of Jeroboam I, forming the northern (Israeli) kingdom in the northern part of the previously unified kingdom of Israel. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to the House of David and formed the Southern Kingdom centered in Jerusalem, later known as the Kingdom of Judah.
The period of the Northern (Israeli) kingdom 928-721 BC
After the death of King Solomon in 928 BC, the united kingdom of Israel was divided. Ten tribes (tribes) formed the northern kingdom, which was called Israel. Shechem became the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, then Tirtza (Firza) and finally Samaria (Sebastia, Shomron). According to the Old Testament, the kings of the northern Israeli state retreated from the monotheistic service to the One God of Israel, first erecting temples with golden statues of calves in the cities of Bethel and Dan, and then even worshiping the deities of the Phoenician cult. From the biblical point of view, none of them was a "godly king."
In the Northern Kingdom of Israel, the ruling dynasties repeatedly changed as a result of coups d'état, the longest rule was the Jeu (Jehu) dynasty. In 721 BC, the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian king Sargon II. A significant part of the population of the kingdom were taken into Assyrian captivity and settled in small groups in various regions of this vast power. Thus began the first Jewish diaspora. The bulk of the Israelites were gradually assimilated by the peoples among whom they lived.
Assyrian captivity, or Assyrian exile
The period in the history of the people of Israel, during which several thousand Israelites from ancient Samaria were driven to Assyria and its provinces. The northern kingdom of Israel was defeated by the Assyrian kings Tiglath-Pileser III and Shalmaneser V. The next ruler of Assyria, Sargon II, completed the siege of Samaria in 721 BC, thus finally destroying the Northern Kingdom, which summed up its twenty-two-year decline.
According to Assyrian cuneiform sources from Dur-Sharrukin, 27,290 captives were deported from Samaria.
Unlike the later exiles of the Kingdom of Judah, who were able to return from the Babylonian captivity, the 10 tribes of the Northern Kingdom did not receive permission to return to their homeland. Many centuries later, the rabbis of the restored Judea continued to argue about the fate of the lost tribes.
Israel [Israel]
The legendary patriarchs of the Jews (habiru)
| Abraham (Abraham) | |
| Yitzhak (Isaac) | |
| Jacob (Jacob) | |
| Yehuda (Judah) | |
| Moshe (Moses) | |
| Yehoshua ben Nun (Jesus Nun) |
Shoftim [judges] of the Jews in Canaan (Palestine)
| Othniel (Othoniel) | |
| Ehud (Aod) | |
| Shamgar (Samegar) | |
| Barak (Varak) | |
| Jerovaal (Gideon) | |
| Abimelek (Abimelech) | |
| Fola | |
| Jairus | |
| Yiftah (Jephthah) | |
| Esevon | |
| Elon | |
| Avdon | |
| Shimshon (Samson) | |
| Eliyahu (Elijah) | |
| Shmuel (Samuel) |
Anointed Priests, or High Priests of the Tabernacle of Congregation [Jewish Camping Temple]
Kings of the Kingdom of Israel 1040 - 928
|
House of Saul (ben Shaul) |
|
| 1040-1012 | |
|
House of David (Ben David) |
|
| 1012-972 | |
| 972-928 | |
|
Division into Northern (Israeli) and Southern (Judean) kingdoms |
928 |
Kings of the Northern, or Israelite kingdom 928 - 721
|
I dynasty (ben Nawat) |
|
| 928-910 | |
| 910-908 | |
|
II dynasty (ben Baasha) |
|
| 908-885 | |
| 885-884 | |
|
III dynasty |
|
| 884-884 | |
|
IV dynasty (ben Omri) |
|
| 884-873 | |
| 884-881 | |
| 873-853 | |
| 853-852 | |
| 852-842 | |
|
Fifth Dynasty (ben Yehu) |
|
| 842-814 | |
The development of trade and war with neighboring peoples contributed to the collapse of the tribal system. During the collapse of the tribal system, the elders and leaders of the tribes that make up the tribal aristocracy began to be called "powerful, noble", "princes" or "chiefs". They decide legal disputes and are at the head of the army.
The elder's staff and the scribe's wand are signs of their authority. In legends, the judicial functions of tribal leaders are especially emphasized. These are the so-called judges, whose power precedes the royal power that arises in the era of the formation of classes and the state.
The weakening of Egypt in the XI-X centuries. BC e. contributed to the formation of separate independent states in Palestine. However, a small territory and a relatively small population did not provide a sufficient basis for the formation of a large state here. The strengthening of small states in Palestine was especially facilitated by the development of foreign trade.
Palestine was at the crossroads between Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia and Arabia. Trade caravan routes crossed here, adjoining the great sea route that went from Egypt along the Mediterranean coast to the Phoenician trading cities, to the island of Cyprus and to the southern coast of Asia Minor.
Caravan trade routes led from Palestine to the south, through the Sinai Peninsula to Arabia and to the coast of the Red Sea, where the ruins of an ancient settlement were discovered on the shores of the Gulf of Aqab. To the north, the roads went to the large trading cities of the interior of Syria, in particular to Damascus, where the Israelites had their shopping streets. On the other hand, Phoenician and Syrian merchants settled in the cities of Palestine, in particular in Samaria.
Agricultural products, grain, fruits, wax, honey, flax, leather, wool, and aromatic resins were exported from Palestine. From neighboring countries, in particular from the Philistine cities, metal products and weapons were brought to Palestine, as well as luxurious works of artistic crafts, such as ivory tablets, which served to decorate rich furniture and walls of buildings; such tablets are found at Megiddo and at Samaria. These tablets, made in Egyptian and Cypriot style, were brought to Palestine, apparently by Phoenician traders.
In the process of struggle between individual tribes, tribal unions are formed. At the head of the unions are the richest and most powerful tribal leaders, such as, for example, the "judge" Samuel, the ruler of Opra, named Gideon, Abimelech, who ruled in Shechem. These leaders, who concentrated in their hands the functions of a military leader, judge and priest, unite under their rule the individual regions of Palestine.
The Bible preserved the traditions of how these tribal unions were formed, from which the most ancient states grew. One of the rulers of the Manassi (menashe) region, named Gideon, defeated the tribe of Midian, united several tribes under his rule and formed a tribal alliance with the center in Opra. Gradually, among the rich tribal nobility, the idea of the need to transfer all supreme power to one person is being strengthened so that he can suppress the working masses and protect the country from attacks by neighboring tribes.
One biblical story tells that "the Israelites said to Gideon: 'You and your son and your son's son rule over us, for you have saved us from the hands of the Midianites.' Gideon, as the supreme commander, takes for himself a part of the spoils of war, amounting to more than 1,700 gold shekels, and donates it to the temple he built in Opra. Although Gideon renounces royal power not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of his sons, nevertheless, in this era, the principle of the hereditary power of the tribal leader is already being strengthened.
One of the sons of Gideon, Abimelech, forcibly eliminating all his rivals, seizes supreme power in Shechem. "All the inhabitants of Shechem ... made Abimelech king by the oak that is near Shechem." The very name Abimelech, meaning "my father-king", points to the formation of the principle of hereditary transfer of supreme power.
The most powerful of the states of Palestine in the XI century. BC e. was the kingdom of Israel, founded, according to tradition, by Saul. Fragments of the heroic epic, which tells about the conquest of Palestine and the formation of the ancient kingdom of Israel, contain a description of the legendary exploits of this ancient Israeli king. They tell how the national hero Saul liberated the city of Iabesh (in the mountainous region east of the Jordan), besieged by the tribe of the Ammonites.
After the release of Jabesh, Saul gathered a militia, mainly among the tribe of the Benjaminites, and began a stubborn struggle with the old enemies of the Jews, the Philistines. Having freed his hometown of Gibeon from the power of the Philistines, Saul was proclaimed king by the tribes of Israel. There were still traces of old tribal relations in Saul's kingdom.
The patriarchal life of this time is figuratively described in the biblical legend about Saul, who lived and ruled in his native city. Once a month at the new moon, he gathered his squad and held a council of war under the sacred tamarisk. He distributed the fields and vineyards captured from the enemies to his soldiers.
At the same time, Saul is trying to unite all of Israel under his rule and spread his influence in neighboring countries. To protect the Israelite tribes who lived in the region beyond the Jordan, he wages war with the king of Moab. Protecting the northern Israelite tribes, he opposes the Aramaic kingdom of Soba. Strengthening his influence in southern Palestine, he wages war with the Amalekites and establishes relationships with the tribes of Kenites and Calebites.
Finally, he joins the Canaanite cities, which still retain their independence, to the kingdom of Israel. The energetic military activity of Saul led to the formation of a rather significant state of Israel, headed by a king, whose authority and power are strengthened and sanctified by religion and priesthood.
So, in the legends about Saul, his piety is emphasized and it is indicated that he was “covered by the spirit of Yahweh”, that he is the representative of the “god of Israel”. Keeping the ancient priestly duties of a tribal leader, Saul participated in the performance of the most important religious rites.