The Divided Kingdom and the Prophets
The kingdom splits into Israel and Judah. Prophets confront kings, Assyria destroys the north, and for the first time inscriptions name the Bible’s rulers.
From this era on, Assyrian and Babylonian records give fixed dates: Ahab at Qarqar in 853 BC, Jehu’s tribute in 841 BC, the fall of Samaria in 722 BC, Sennacherib’s campaign in 701 BC. The great prophets, Elijah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah, speak into these crises, and their words become Scripture.
Events of this era
- about 930 BC, estimated dateThe Kingdom Divides
After Solomon’s death the northern tribes reject his son Rehoboam at Shechem and make Jeroboam their king. Israel in the north and Judah in the south become separate kingdoms, and Jeroboam sets up his own sanctuaries at Bethel and Dan.
- about 925 BC, estimated dateShishak Invades Judah
In Rehoboam’s fifth year the Egyptian king Shishak marches on Jerusalem and carries off the treasures of the temple and the palace. Shoshenq I’s relief at Karnak lists towns he claimed in Judah, Israel and the Negev.
- about 860 BC, traditional dateElijah on Mount Carmel
During a long drought the prophet Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal, whom King Ahab and Queen Jezebel support, to a contest on Mount Carmel. Kings tells of fire from heaven, the people’s return to the Lord, and Elijah’s flight to Horeb.
- 853 BC, firm dateAhab at the Battle of Qarqar
Shalmaneser III of Assyria meets a coalition of Syrian and Palestinian kings at Qarqar on the Orontes. His stela lists Ahab the Israelite among them. The Bible does not mention the battle, which gives the first fixed date in the history of Israel’s kings.
- about 850 BC, traditional dateElisha Succeeds Elijah
Elijah and his disciple Elisha cross the Jordan near Jericho. Kings says that Elijah is carried up to heaven in a whirlwind and that Elisha, taking up his master’s cloak, returns as the prophet in his place.
- 841 BC, firm dateJehu’s Revolt and Tribute to Assyria
The army commander Jehu, anointed at Elisha’s word, kills the kings of Israel and Judah, Jezebel and the house of Ahab, and destroys the temple of Baal in Samaria. In the same year Assyrian records show him paying tribute to Shalmaneser III.
- about 840 BC, estimated dateMoab’s Revolt and the Mesha Stele
Mesha, king of Moab, throws off the rule of Israel after Ahab’s death. Kings tells of the campaign sent against him; Mesha’s own stele, found at Dibon, tells of the towns he took from Israel in the name of his god Chemosh.
- about 840 BC, estimated dateThe House of David Inscription from Tel Dan
A king of Aram sets up a victory stele at Dan in which he claims to have killed a king of Israel and a king of the “House of David”. Found in 1993 and 1994, it is the earliest clear mention of David’s dynasty outside the Bible.
- about 760 BC, traditional dateJonah Sent to Nineveh
The book of Jonah tells of a prophet of Israel who is sent to preach against Nineveh, flees by sea, is swallowed by a great fish and then sees the Assyrian city repent and be spared. Jesus later speaks of “the sign of Jonah”.
- about 755 BC, estimated dateAmos and Hosea Prophesy to Israel
In the prosperous years of Jeroboam II, Amos, a herdsman from Judah, denounces injustice and worship without righteousness at Bethel. Hosea makes his own marriage a picture of Israel’s unfaithfulness and of a love that will not give it up.
- about 740 BC, estimated dateThe Call of Isaiah
In the year King Uzziah dies, Isaiah sees the Lord enthroned in the temple and is sent as a prophet to Judah. When Syria and Israel attack, he tells King Ahaz to trust God, gives the sign of Immanuel and speaks of a coming king from David’s line.
- 722/721 BC, estimated dateThe Fall of Samaria
After a siege of three years the Assyrians take Samaria, deport its people and settle others in their place. The northern kingdom of Israel comes to an end. Kings, a Babylonian chronicle and the inscriptions of Sargon II all record it.
- 701 BC, firm dateHezekiah Withstands Sennacherib
Sennacherib of Assyria overruns Judah, takes Lachish and shuts Hezekiah up in Jerusalem. Hezekiah pays tribute, Isaiah promises that the city will not fall, and it is not taken. Assyrian annals and reliefs record the campaign from the other side.
- 627 BC, estimated dateThe Call of Jeremiah
In the thirteenth year of King Josiah, Jeremiah, of a priestly family at Anathoth, is called to be a prophet to the nations. For some forty years he warns Judah of disaster from the north, and he promises a new covenant written on the heart.
- 622 BC, estimated dateJosiah’s Reform and the Book of the Law
During repairs to the temple in Josiah’s eighteenth year the high priest Hilkiah finds a book of the law. The king consults the prophetess Huldah, renews the covenant, destroys the shrines of other gods throughout the land and keeps a great Passover.
- 609 BC, firm dateJosiah Falls at Megiddo
Pharaoh Necho marches north to the Euphrates in support of Assyria. King Josiah of Judah goes out against him at Megiddo and is killed. Three months later Necho deposes Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and makes Jehoiakim king as Egypt’s vassal.
- 605 BC, firm dateBabylon Defeats Egypt at Carchemish
The Babylonian crown prince Nebuchadnezzar destroys the Egyptian army at Carchemish on the Euphrates and, within months, becomes king. Egypt loses Syria and Palestine, and Judah passes from Egyptian to Babylonian rule.