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THE DIVIDED MONARCHY
931 BC
Nine years later, Solomon died. His son Rehoboam succeeded him. However, a
short while later, the kingdom divided; Rehoboam retained Judah, of which
Jerusalem remained the capital. Jeroboam I was chosen to rule over the remaining
tribes of Israel (27),
which henceforth, at their wish, would include the tribes of Reuben and Simeon.
925 BC
Rehoboam, by now in his fifth regnal year, had been allowing skirmishing
parties to raid Egyptian settlements. The pharaoh, Ramesses II (mentioned at the
beginning), whom it has since been established was also known as Shishak,
decided to punish him by leading his army into Judah. The outcome was that a
number of hill towns were destroyed. Jerusalem was captured and about to be
treated likewise but, following a plea from Rehoboam, the city was spared in
exchange for most of the Temple's moveable treasures. (28)
Fortunately the Ark was spared and left in place. There now followed a period of
relative tranquillity for the next three centuries or so.
690 BC
The two kingdoms remained separate until, by common consent, Hezekiah, who
had been King of Judah since 715 BC, took control of a part of Israel as well.
Hezekiah was one of the great kings of the day; his particular forte was the
construction of many enormous stone structures, both civil and military. Several
still exist. It was he who also extended the complex system of tunnels, siphons
and cisterns under Mount Moriah to improve the water supply into Jerusalem.
597 BC
After conquering Syria, Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylonia, went on to
seize Israel and later Judah. Having successfully laid siege to Jerusalem, he
imposed a series of puppet kings to govern it. This unsatisfactory state of
affairs continued for the next ten years until the Jews revolted, and
Nebuchadnezzar finally decided to crush all remaining resistance.
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