Seder Olam: C24- Judah and Israel
- Albert Benhamou
- Mar 14
- 32 min read
Updated: Mar 20
BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY
Generation 24: Hebrew years 2760 to 2880 (1000-880 BCE)
Introduction
This chronological 24th generation covers the end of the reign of Solomon and the first kings of Judah and Israel after the scission of the unified kingdom.
Year 2761– 999 BCE – Solomon deviates from God’s path
At the end of twenty years of reign, after having built his kingdom, the Temple for 7 years and his own Palace for 13 years (I Kings 7:1), Solomon started to fall into complacency. In particular, he loved many women who influenced his heart and judgment, and drove him away from God’s faith:
Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, besides the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel: 'You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods'; Solomon did cleave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not whole with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the detestation of the Ammonites. And Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father.
Then did Solomon build a high place for Chemosh the detestation of Moab, in the mount that is before Jerusalem and for Molech the detestation of the children of Ammon. And so, he did for all his foreign wives, who offered and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he kept not that which the Lord commanded.
Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon: "Forasmuch as this has been in your mind, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely rend the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant. Notwithstanding, in your days I will not do it, for David your father's sake; but I will rend it out of the hand of your son. Howbeit I will not rend away the entire kingdom; but I will give one tribe to your son; for David My servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen." (I Kings 11:1-13)
At the beginning of Solomon’s reign, God had promised him to extend his life, at the condition that he would keep His commandments. But, after 20 years of reign on the path of God, Solomon’s spirit changed because of his foreign wives. So, God only granted another 20 years for the sinful reign to Solomon, one sinful year for one year of righteousness, with no extension of life.
Year 2768 – 992 BCE – Osorkon the Elder, of Egypt
The 21st Dynasty of Egypt came into trouble again during Solomon’s second phase of reign. His father-in-law Psusennes I was succeeded by his son Amenemope, brother of Solomon’s wife, in 1001 BCE. But the new Pharaoh was inexperienced due to his youth, and only reigned for about 10 years until his death in 992 BCE. It is possible that he was murdered because, in the same year, Smendes II, the High Priest of Amon in Thebes (Upper Egypt), also died. Pinedjem II, the brother of Smendes II took over the task of High Priest but, in Tanis (Lower Egypt), the lineage of male king was broken: a new ruler, called Osorkon, came from a Berber tribe in present-day Libya and took the Pharaoh’s power in Upper Egypt. These people were of Canaanite origin, from the Girgashites who came to that region at the time of the conquest of Joshua. To the Egyptians, these tribes were known as the Meshwesh.
Osorkon changed the balance of alliances when he established the Meshwesh dynasty in Lower Egypt, while the Priests of Amon were still ruling Upper Egypt from their capital Thebes. Osorkon had no benefit in maintaining the alliance with Solomon, because the Israelite king was married to the princess from the previous Egyptian dynasty. The Bible brings us some light about what happened in parallel:
And the Lord raised up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was of the king's seed in Edom. For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the host was gone up to bury the slain, and had smitten every male in Edom --for Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom-- that Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him, to go into Egypt; Hadad being yet a little child. And they arose out of Midian and came to Paran; and they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, unto Pharaoh King of Egypt, who gave him a house, and appointed him victuals, and gave him land.
And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpennes the Queen. And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh's house; and Genubath was in Pharaoh's house among the sons of Pharaoh. And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh: "Let me depart, that I may go to my own country." Then Pharaoh said unto him: "But what have you lacked with me, that, behold, you seek to go to your own country?" And he answered: "Nothing; howbeit let me depart in any wise." (I Kings 11:14-22)
When David took the kingship over all Israel in 1052 BCE (see document C23b), he started to wage wars against Aram and Edom. Hadad, child heir to the throne of Edom, had fled to Egypt with the help of his father’s close advisors. There he was welcomed and raised in the royal house. His host was probably Pinedjem I who crowned himself Pharaoh in year 1054 BCE.
Pinedjem I had an extended family with a few wives. Many of his sons and daughters got a share in the power of both political Tanis and religious Thebes. One of his sons, Psusennes I, became Pharaoh in Tanis in 1047 BCE and he gave one daughter as wife to King Solomon. Hadad grew up in the house of Pinedjem I and knew all the family children in Thebes and Tanis. Pinedjem I married Hadad to a sister of his own wife Tahpennes. This Biblical Tahpennes was probably the Egyptian queen whose name was Setepe-Amon which means chosen by Amon: it was her official name, called the "throne name", like any other important royal member had. Most of the rulers of the 21st Dynasty used this chosen by Amon as a root for their official throne name. Psusennes for example is the Greek version of his name but his real Egyptian names were: Paseba-khanniut for his personal name ("nomen") and Akhepe-Re-Setepe-Amon, meaning Great are the manifestations of Ra, chosen by Amon, for his throne name ("praenomen"). Psusennes had two wives, one called Wiay and one who was his own sister, Mutnedjmet.
When he learned about David’s death in in 1019 BCE, Hadad desired to depart Egypt to have his revenge about the Israelites. But this desire could not meet Psusennes’ approval because he knew that Hadad hated the Israelites, and thus Solomon who was Pharaoh’s son-in-law, and would necessarily cause trouble to him. However, after Solomon deviated from God’s path, the rest of the Biblical text indicates that something went awfully wrong:
And God raised up another adversary unto him [Solomon], Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah [a region of Aram]. And he gathered men unto him, and became captain over a troop, when David slew them [of Zobah]; and they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus. And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the evil that Hadad did; and he abhorred Israel and reigned over Aram. (I Kings 11:23-25)
What evil did Hadad do? Amenemope died of a suspicious death in 992 BCE, and the control of Upper Egypt was taken by Osorkon. The “evil” may be that Hadad had been instrumental to the death of the young Pharaoh and to the rise of Osorkon, a Canaanite of origin like him, to rule over Lower Egypt. Then Hadad had the opportunity to renew his demand to the new foreign ruler.
Hadad would have in effect politically destroyed the family who had an alliance with King Solomon, the son of David who had destroyed Hadad's family and kingdom. This is why the Biblical text mentioned "evil" in his case, unlike the king of Aram who was only an "adversary". Hadad was not a direct military threat to Solomon’s kingdom, like Aram was, but his evil actions indirectly had impacts on the fate of the Israelite kingdom. And God, who had been protecting Solomon for the first 20 years of his reign, until 999 BCE, now changed His attitude towards the Israelite dynasty.
Year 2770 – 989 BCE – Jeroboam and Shoshenq
Solomon also had trouble in his own house. Jeroboam, the son of a king’s servant from the tribe of Ephraim, lifted his hand against the king (I Kings 11:26). Jeroboam was a mighty young man. The text tells us the root cause of his rebellion, even though Solomon gave him position and responsibility. It was the consequence of a divine prophecy that Ahijah had told him:
And he [Ahijah the Shilonite] said to Jeroboam: "Take you ten pieces; for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you -- but he shall have one tribe, for My servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel -- because that they have forsaken Me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon; and they have not walked in My ways, to do that which is right in My eyes, and to keep My statutes and My ordinances, as did David his father. Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand; but I will make him prince all the days of his life, for David My servant's sake, whom I chose, because he kept My commandments and My statutes; but I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand, and will give it unto you, even ten tribes. And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David My servant may have a lamp always before Me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen Me to put My name there. And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires and shall be king over Israel. And it shall be, if you will hearken unto all that I command you, and will walk in My ways, and do that which is right in My eyes, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as David My servant did, that I will be with you, and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and will give Israel unto you. And I will for this afflict the seed of David, but not forever.'
Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam; but Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. (I Kings 11:31-40)
Jeroboam fled to Egypt, but not to the Pharaoh of Egypt, which at the time was Osorkon the Elder. Jeroboam found asylum to Shishak king of Egypt.
Who was Shishak? He was Shoshenq, the father of Osorkon. Shoshenq was king of the Meshwesh dynasty of Egypt, but he was not himself the Pharaoh, the political ruler over Lower Egypt, with capital Tanis. It was his son Osorkon who was the Pharaoh. So, the Meshwesh dynasty sheltered two enemies of Solomon, first Hadad the Edomite and then Jeroboam who would later wage war against Solomon’s son.
Year 2781 – 979 BCE – Death of Solomon
When King Solomon died after 40 years of reign, like his father David. The Israelite kingdom was still intact, but it was undermined by threats waiting to unleash. The root cause of them was that Solomon allowed idolatry to take root in his kingdom. God did not accept such deviation from His commandments, and had planned to split the kingdom, as announced to Jeroboam.
Year 2781 – 979 BCE – Scission of the kingdom
Solomon was succeeded by his son Rehoboam who would make irreparable political mistakes which led to a scission of the kingdom in the first year of his reign. In addition, Egypt was no longer an ally to David’s house, due the previous change of dynasty and rulers. As for the borders in the north, they were also under the threat from the rise of Aram. As soon as he heard about the death of Solomon, Jeroboam returned to Israel and was soon chosen to be king for all the tribes which broke away from the house of Judah, following their discontent with Rehoboam. The threat of a civil war was growing:
And when Rehoboam was come to Jerusalem, be assembled all the house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and fourscore thousand chosen men that were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom back to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying: "Speak unto Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying: Thus says the Lord: You shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel; return every man to his house; for this thing is of Me." So, they hearkened into the word of the Lord, and returned and went their way, according to the word of the Lord. (I Kings 12:21-24)
Eventually, Rehoboam had to bind to the fact that the other tribes, except Benjamin, would not accept his kingship. The kingdom split in that first year, about 280 years after the end of the conquest by Joshua.
But the reigns of the early kings of Judah and Israel were plagued by recurrent conflicts between the two sides, without any of the side to be able to overcome the other.The kingdom of Israel would be sinful from the very first reign of Jeroboam and will remain so until its demise. In Judah, a few kings would follow the path of God but most of them would sin as well, but they always kept the same dynasty, from David.
Year 2781 – 979 BCE – Jeroboam establishes idolatry in the kingdom of Israel
Jeroboam established the capital of his new kingdom in Sichem (modern-day Nablus), in the territory of his tribe, Ephraim. During the reign of Solomon, he had been ordered to build the "House of Joseph" in this city (I Kings 11:28), meaning a mausoleum, as Joseph had been laid to rest by Joshua just outside Sichem. Jeroboam’s chief concern was that the people of his new kingdom would still go to Jerusalem for pilgrimage and religious sacrifices to the Temple and, at some point, may turn against him to remain under the protection of the House of God. The solution was to divert his people from their traditional divine service and force them to serve idol worship:
Whereupon the king took counsel and made two calves of gold; and he said unto them: 'You have gone up long enough to Jerusalem; behold your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'
And he set the one in Beth-El, and the other put he in Dan [see document C22]. And this thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people, that were not of the sons of Levi. And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he went up unto the altar; so did he in Beth-El, to sacrifice unto the calves that he had made; and he placed in Beth-El the priests of the high places that he had made. (I Kings 12:28-32)
The choice of locations for the two new high places, Beth-El and Dan, was carefully chosen. Beth-El was important because the Ark of the Covenant had been placed there in the Judges period, and Beth-El was at the border with the kingdom of Judah thus enabling the Israelites not to have to travel to Jerusalem any more during the festivals. As for Dan, it was located in the northern part of the kingdom, so it kept the Israelites of the north as farther as possible from the kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. As a result of this turn to idolatry, all the Levites who had been in the divine service among the territories of Israel left and found refuge in the kingdom of Judah. This is why Jeroboam had to appoint priests from the common people and not from the tribe of Levi.
God tried to send signs to Jeroboam to turn him back into the good path, but to no avail. His dynasty was doomed to disappear:
After this thing Jeroboam returned not from his evil way but made again from among all the people priests of the high places; whosoever would, he consecrated him, that he might be one of the priests of the high places. And by this thing there was sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth. (I Kings 13:33-34)
Jeroboam also established a new calendar of festivals in which the new year of his kingdom was set on the 8th month compared to the calendar used in Judah (I Kings 12:32). The Hebrews had used a solar-lunar calendar, combining the 12 months and the 4 seasons, and the start of it was decreed to be in Nisan, which was also called Aviv, as the month of Spring. Conveniently it was also the month when the Hebrews were taken out from Egypt, as the Exodus took place on a 15th of Nisan. The Egyptian calendar was not much different as it also started in that same period, but was divided in 12 months of 30 days, thus not taking into account the lunar phases: this is the calendar that the Hebrews used when they were in Egypt, but they had been given a new calendar by divine commandments based both on solar (seasons) and lunar (regular) cycles. When Jeroboam started to reign, after a few months of conflicts with Rehoboam, he decreed to start the year from the start of his reign, which took place on the 15th day of the 8th month of the corresponding Judah calendar: this was the month of Marshvevan, called the month of “Bul” at the time (I Kings 6:38). This was another important step for him to grad mindshare of his people because he knew that, after a while, they would adapt to the new calendar and would be forgetful of the Judean calendar and high festivals.
Respective chronology in the two kingdoms
This difference of calendar has some implication in the calculation of the chronology of events that followed because when a new king would reign, the count of his years of reign would be from the start of his reign when he would reign a full year. But the start of year was now different in Judah and in Israel when Jeroboam changed the system: in Judah the year started in Nisan and in Israel it was in Marshevan. In other words, the reference points were different in both kingdoms. But the impact would be a difference of up to 2 years, due to one year difference at the start of the reign and at the end of the reign.
Here is the counting explained in the Talmud:
Mishnah I. There are four New Years. On the First of Nisan is New Year for kings and festivals. [...]
Gemara. Our Rabbis learnt: If a king ascended the throne on the twenty-ninth of Adar [the month before Nisan], as soon as the first of Nisan arrives he is reckoned to have reigned a year. If on the other hand he ascended the throne on the first of Nisan, he is not reckoned to have reigned a year till the next first of Nisan comes round. (Talmud, Rosh Hashanah, 2a)
Chronology of the two kingdoms during the 24th generation
The issue about the chronology of Kings has puzzled scores of historians because of some apparent discrepancies of the Biblical text. This is how this chronology should be for the present 24th generation, keeping in mind that there is a difference of about 8 months (Nisan to Marshevan) between the calendars of the two kingdoms, so all the years given below are to be understood +/- one year. Some historical events enable from time to time to adjust the chronology.
Hebrew Year | CE | Differ. | Kingdom of JUDAH | Kingdom of ISRAEL | I & II Kings | Text |
2781 | -979 | 40 | Solomon dies after 40Y reign | I - 11:42 | reigned 4Y | |
2781 | -979 | 0 | Rehoboam son of Solomon reigns | I - 11:43 | ||
2781 | -979 | 0 | Jeroboam son of Nebat reigns | I - 11:43 | ||
2785 | -975 | 4 | Shoshenq sacks Jerusalem | I - 14:25 | Y5 Rehoboam | |
2798 | -962 | 17 | Rehoboam son of Solomon dies | I - 14:21 | reigned 17Y | |
2798 | -962 | 17 | Abijam son of Rehoboam reigns | I - 15:1 | Y18 Jeroboam | |
2801 | -959 | 3 | Abijam son of Rehoboam dies | I - 15:2 | reigned 3Y | |
2801 | -959 | 20 | Asa son of Abijam reigns | I - 15:9 | Y20 Jeroboam | |
2803 | -957 | 22 | Jeroboam son of Nebat dies | I - 14:20 | reigned 22Y | |
2803 | -957 | 2 | Nadav son of Jeroboam reigns | I - 15:25 | Y2 Asa | |
2803 | -957 | 2 | Baasa kills Nadav and reigns in Tirzah | I - 15:25,33 | Y3 Asa | |
2827 | -933 | 24 | Baasa son of Ahijah dies | I - 15:33 | reigned 24Y | |
2827 | -933 | 26 | Elah son of Baasa reigns in Tirzah | I - 16:6 | Y26 Asa | |
2828 | -932 | 27 | Zimri kills Elah and the house of Baasa | I - 16:10 | Y27 Asa | |
2828 | -932 | 27 | Zimri loses to Omri and commits suicide | I - 16:15 | reigned 7 days | |
2832 | -928 | 31 | Omri reigns in Tirzah after civil war | I - 16:23 | Y31 Asa | |
2834 | -926 | 6 | Omri establishes his capital Samaria | I - 16:24 | ||
2839 | -921 | 11 | Omri dies | I - 16:23 | reigned 12Y | |
2839 | -921 | 38 | Ahab son of Omri reigns | I - 16:29 | Y38 Asa | |
2840 | -920 | Obadiah the Edomite, the Prophet | estimate | |||
2842 | -918 | 3 | Elijah kills the prophets of Baal | estimate | ||
2842 | -918 | 41 | Asa son of Abijam dies | I - 15:10 | reigned 41Y | |
2842 | -918 | 3 | Jehoshaphat reigns; peace with Israel | I - 22:41 | Y4 Ahab | |
2857 | -903 | -3 | Ahab spares Ben-Hadad king of Aram | I - 20:42 | 3Y peace Aram-Israel | |
2858 | -902 | 16 | Ahaziah son of Ahab reigns | I - 22:52 | Y17 Jehoshaphat | |
2860 | -900 | 21 | Ahab dies in battle against Aram | I - 16:29 | reigned 22Y | |
2860 | -900 | 2 | Ahaziah falls by accident; dies | I - 22:52 | reigned 2Y | |
2860 | -900 | 18 | Jehoram, second son of Ahab, rules | II - 3:1 | Y18 Jehoshaphat | |
2860 | -900 | Elijah the Prophet taken to heaven | II - 2:11 | |||
2860 | -900 | Mesha king of Moab rebellion | II - 3 | |||
2865 | -895 | 5 | Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat reigns | II - 8:16 | Y5 Jeroham of Ahab | |
2866 | -894 | 1 | Jehoram son of Ahab reigns | II - 1:17 | Y2 Jeroham of Judah | |
2867 | -893 | 25 | Jehoshaphat dies | I - 22:42 | reigned 25Y | |
2872 | -888 | 7 | Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat dies | II - 8:17 | reigned 8Y | |
2872 | -888 | 12 | Ahaziah son of Jehoram reigns | II - 8:25 | Y12 Jeroham of Ahab | |
2872 | -888 | 12 | Jehoram son of Achab dies | II - 3:1 | reigned 12Y | |
2873 | -887 | Jehu son of Hanani is anointed by Elisha | II - 9:6 | |||
2873 | -887 | 1 | Jehu kills Ahaziah | Jehu kills Jehoram and Jezebel | II - 3:1, 9:29 | reigned 1Y |
2873 | -887 | Jehu reigns | ||||
2893 | -867 | 20 | God promises 4 generations to Jehu (est.) | II - 10:30 | ||
2873 | -887 | 0 | Athaliah mother of Ahaziah reigns | II - 10:30 | ||
2879 | -881 | 6 | Joash reigns; Athaliah executed | II - 12:1 | Y7 Jehu |
Year 2785 – 975 BCE – Shoshenq sacks Jerusalem
During the reign of Rehoboam in Judah, his people sinned, as they built altars to idol gods and practiced sodomy, which is an abomination in the eyes of God (I Kings 14:24) and caused the destruction of Sodom (see document C18). Divine punishment was due, and it came from the former ally of Jeroboam:
And it came to pass in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak King of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; and he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the King's house; he even took away all; and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. And King Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard, who kept the door of the King's house. (I Kings 14:25-27)
This Shoshenq, king of the Meshwesh (called Ma in Egypt), must not be confused with Shonsheq I, wrongly assumed to be the Shishak of the Bible. But, in fact, the Shishak of the Bible was indeed this Shoshenq, king of the Meshwesh of Egypt, and grandfather of Shonshenq I (who founded the 22nd Dynasty and reigned from 943 BCE).
Shoshenq was a former ally to Jeroboam, and too happy to attack the weakened kingdom of Judah and spoil their Temple. This surely was welcomed by Jeroboam who was at war against Rehoboam all the days of his life (I Kings 15:6). The sack of the Temple was also a sign of the weakening of the faith in both Israel and Judah: the people of Judah especially would no longer feel that they were protected by God. The name Shoshenq is a Greek adaptation of the Egyptian name which was ššnq. This name was not uncommonly written ššq, transcribed as Sh-Sh-Q without the letter n, and was therefore even closer to the Hebrew name Shishaq (the vowels have no incidence in Hebrew and in ancient languages).
Shoshenq’s successful campaign was depicted as a relief on a wall of the Temple of Karnak. One side of the relief shows city rulers that Shoshenq attacked, with each city name in a cartouche. In total, there are 156 names of cities. Many of them are damaged in the relief, and others cannot be identified with certainty, but scholars agree that the following ones are listed.
The war against Judah continued in the time of Rehoboam’s son, Abijam, who also did evil in the eyes of God (I Kings 15:7).
Year 2801 – 959 BCE – Asa king of Judah
Abijam’s son, Asa, started to reign from 2801 in Judah. He restored the faith to God, destroyed the altars, and put away the sodomites from his kingdom. God granted him a long reign of 41 years (I Kings 9:12).
During that time, God relieved the hardship on the kingdom of Judah and punished the kingdom of Israel which went into crisis. After Jeroboam had died, his successor son Nadav was assassinated one year later by Baasa from the tribe of Issachar. Baasa then reigned over Israel in the stead of the house of Ephraim, founded by Jeroboam:
And it came to pass that, as soon as he was king, he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him; according unto the saying of the Lord, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Ahijah the Shilonite. (I Kings 15:29)
But Baasa was a belligerent king who did not pursue peace with the kingdom of Judah. So, Asa made a pact with the Aram kingdom in the northern border with Israel:
And there was war between Asa and Baasa king of Israel all their days. And Baasa king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants; and king Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Aram, that dwelt at Damascus, saying: 'There is a league between me and thee, between my father and thy father; behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasa king of Israel, that he may depart from me.' And Ben-hadad hearkened unto king Asa and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maacah, and all Kinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. (I Kings 15:16-20)
Baasa reigned 24 years and made the kingdom of Israel to sin again (I Kings 15:33-34). He was succeeded by his son Elah who just reigned for about a year before being assassinated by one of his two army chiefs, Zimri, who then killed the entire house of Baasa. But, after a week, the rest of the Israelite army decided to show support to the other army chief, Omri, and proclaimed him king. His army marched onto Tirzah, the capital of the house of Baasa, where Zimri had settled, and besieged it. Seeing that the battle was lost, Zimri set his house on fire and killed himself in it (I Kings 16:18). However, the succession conflict was not over and triggered a civil war:
Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri. But the people who followed Omri prevailed against the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath; so Tibni died, and Omri reigned. (I Kings 16:21-22)
Year 2834 – 926 BCE – Samaria
After having reigned 6 years over part of the kingdom of Israel, Omri finally gained the upper hand in the civil war and started to reign over all this kingdom. He had initially settled in Tirzah, and then moved the capital to a hill near Sichem, that he called Samaria (Shomron in Hebrew) after the name of the owner of the land:
And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill, Samaria [Shomron in Hebrew]. (I Kings 16:24)
The ruins of Omri's capital, which changed name to Sebastia in some point of history, are located north-west from the modern-day Palestinian city of Nablus.
Omri was then succeeded by his son Ahab.
Year 2839 – 921 BCE – Ahab king of Israel and Ben-Hadad king of Aram
Ahab reigned in Samaria. He married Jezebel (her name gave root to the name Isabel), the daughter of the king of Sidon, a Phoenician. She influenced him to allow the cult of foreign gods in his kingdom and, ultimately, to adopt them as well: Ahab started to worship Baal and built a pagan temple in Samaria. The idolatry was complete in the kingdom in his days:
And Ahab made the Asherah [idolatry]; and Ahab did yet more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel that were before him. (I Kings 16:33)
Then Jezebel went further: she ordered all the prophets of God to be killed. But Obadiah, who was the prophet attached to the royal house, and who lived in fear of the king, managed to save 100 of them in two caves (I Kings 18:4).
A couple of years after Ahab rose to power, the good king Asa died in Judah. He was succeeded by his son Jehoshaphat who followed him in the path of God (I Kings 22:43).In Samaria, the prophet Elijah showed himself in front of King Ahab and asked him to assemble all the prophets of Baal and Astarte unto Mount Carmel to challenge them and prove the existence of their gods: there were 850 of them (I Kings 18:19). After they failed, Elijah rebuilt an old altar of God, which had been destroyed, and called upon God to make a miracle in front of the people assembled:
And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said: 'The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.' And Elijah said unto them: 'Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.' And they took them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slew them there. And Elijah said unto Ahab: 'Get you up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of abundance of rain.' (I Kings 18:39-41)
Jezebel then threatened to kill Elijah. He fled and hid in a cave on Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, in the Sinai (I Kings 19:18). There God gave him the mission to go back and prophesize the death of the people of the kingdom of Israel:
And the Lord said unto him: 'Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when you come, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Aram; and Jehu the son of Nimshi shall you anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shall you anoint to be prophet in your room. And it shall come to pass, that he that escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay; and him that escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet will I leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.' (I Kings 19:15-18)
Ben-Hadad, the king of Aram, raised a large army and invaded the kingdom of Israel. When he besieged the city of Samaria, Ahab however received a divine message that God will deliver the enemy to him. At the time, Ahab’s army had barely 7000 men of war according to the prophecy, and all of them were those who had never adopted the cult of Baal. The large Aramaean army was nonetheless defeated and Ben-Hadad had to escape for his life. Their defeat made them believe that they couldn’t beat the Israelites in the hill regions so should rather focus on conquering the plains.
A year later, Ben-Hadad invaded the plains and established his camp at Aphek, the old Philistine stronghold. But again, the Israelites defeated them as God wanted to show that he was not just the God of the hills (I Kings 20:28). After the battle, and against the divine will, Ahab spared the life of Ben-Hadad and they made a peace covenant together. This displeased God who sent a prophet to Ahab:
And he [the prophet] said unto him: 'Thus says the Lord: Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.' And the king of Israel went to his house sullen and displeased and came to Samaria. (I Kings 20:42-43)
Probably tired of power, or maybe out of fear of God following his mistake concerning Ben-Hadad, Ahab named his son Ahaziah king to rule in his stead. Peace lasted for 3 years between Aram and Israel (I Kings 22:1). Then Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, son of Asa, made an alliance with Israel against Aram to take back their territory in Gilead. In the battle, Ahab was fatally wounded and died soon after. He had reigned over Israel for 22 years. His son Ahaziah worshipped idols following his mother and only reigned for two years before falling from a balcony and dying from his accident sometime later. During his illness, he sent a messenger to the city of Ekron to find out from their god there, Baal-zebub, if he would recover. But God sent Elijah to him to sentence him to death for having invoked another god than the God of Israel. (II Kings 1:2-16).
The Biblical name of Ekron, one of the five cities of the Philistines in the times of the Judges, has been found inscribed on a limestone slab discovered in the debris of the ancient city, some 35 km west from Jerusalem, which was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 603 BCE. The inscription says:
The temple which he built, Achish (Ikausu) son of Padi, son of YSD, son of Ada, son of Ya’ir, ruler of Ekron, for PTGYH his lady. May she bless him, and protect him, and prolong his days, and bless his land. (Israel Museum, Jerusalem, for more details, click here)
As Ahaziah had no heir, his brother Jeroham, second son of Ahab, took the throne. He destroyed the temples of Baal in the kingdom of Israel, so he was not as bad in the eyes of God as his father and brother had been. Maybe he did it out of hate for his stepmother Jezebel, who was still alive and worshipping Baal. He nonetheless kept away from God’s commandments and made the people of his kingdom sin (II Kings 3:1-3).
Year 2860 – 900 BCE – Death of Elijah the Prophet
Elijah was taken to Heaven in a chariot of fire (II Kings 2:11). The Prophet was replaced in his role by Elisha.
Year 2860 –900 BCE – The Mesha stele
As soon as Ahab of Israel died, Mesha the king of Moab, vassal of Israel, rebelled and waged a war against Jeroham the new king of Israel, son of Ahab. The Biblical text narrates these events:
Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master; and he rendered unto the king of Israel the wool of a hundred thousand lambs, and of a hundred thousand rams. But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. And king Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying: 'The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you go with me against Moab to battle?' And he said: 'I will go up; I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.' And he said: 'Which way shall we go up?' And he answered: 'The way of the wilderness of Edom.' So, the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom; and they made a circuit of seven days' journey; and there was no water for the host, nor for the beasts that followed them. And the king of Israel said: 'Alas! for the Lord has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hands of Moab.' But Jehoshaphat said: 'Is there not here a prophet of the Lord that we may inquire of the Lord by him?' And one of the kings of Israel's servants answered and said: 'Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.' (II Kings 3:4-11)
Eventually the three kings were told by Elisha the Prophet that, because of the presence of the king of Judah among them, they would smite the Moabites, and they did. Mesha escaped sure death at battle and offered his own son and heir to the fire as a sacrifice to his gods. The Israelites, when seeing this abomination, abandoned the battlefield and Mesha returned to Moab (II Kings 3:26-27).
Archaeologists have found a stele in 1868 that mentions these historical characters and therefore puts some weight on the truth of the Bible. The so-called Mesha Stele mentions the House of Omri because the seat of the kingdom of Israel was in Samaria from the time that Omri moved the capital there, and because the reigning kings, from Ahab to Jeroham, were Omri’s son and grandson respectively. The House of Omri simply means the Dynasty of Omri. The stele recollects the earlier events and successes of the rebellion of Moab against Israel after 40 years of yoke since the time of Omri. Some extracts of the translation of the stele are as follows:
I am Mesha, son of Chemosh-gad, king of Moab, the Dibonite. My father reigned over Moab thirty years, and I have reigned after my father. And I have built this sanctuary for Chemosh in Karchah, a sanctuary of salvation, for he saved me from all aggressors, and made me look upon all my enemies with contempt. Omri was king of Israel, and oppressed Moab during many days, and Chemosh was angry with his aggressions. His son succeeded him, and he also said, I will oppress Moab. In my days he said: Let us go, and I will see my desire upon him and his house, and Israel said I shall destroy it forever. Now Omri took the land of Madeba, and occupied it in his day, and in the days of his son, forty years. […] And the king of Israel fortified Jahaz, and occupied it, when he made war against me, and Chemosh drove him out before me, and I took from Moab two hundred men in all, and placed them in Jahaz, and took it to annex it to Dibon. (King, James, Rev., Moab’s Patriarchal Stone, London, 1878, chapter V)
Year 2865 –895 BCE – The two kings Jeroham
Soon after these events, the old Jehoshaphat decided to leave the power to his son, as Ahab had done in his kingdom. And Jehoshaphat had also named him ‘Jeroham’ out of friendship with Ahab. The two kingdoms were at peace together in the time of the two kings Jeroham.
In Aram, Ben-Hadad was old and ill. He was murdered by Hazael who reigned in his stead. Just before, Elisha the Prophet had been on a visit to Damascus and prophesized to Hazael that Aram will ruin Israel. Surely the latter wanted to accelerate the prediction by getting rid of the old king !
In the Biblical text, the names Jeroham and Joram are at times mixed for both kings, as to show that they both followed the same path, away from God’s commandments. This was particularly true because the king of Judah married a daughter of Ahab, thus making him also a son of Ahab by marriage:
And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being the king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab; for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife; and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. Howbeit the Lord would not destroy Judah, for David His servant's sake, as He promised him to give unto him a lamp and to his children always. (II Kings 8:16-19)
The text however reveals a more complicated relation because it is further mentioned that Ahaziah, the heir and son of Jeroham of Judah, had for mother Athaliah, the daughter of Omri, Ahab’s father (II Kings 8:26). So, it is possible that, while Jeroham was married to a daughter of Ahab, he also had a relationship with Athaliah, daughter of Omri, sister or half-sister of Ahab.
Both Jeroham and Joram, who started to reign in the same year also died in a same year. Jeroham of Judah died first and was succeeded by his son Ahaziah. As of Jeroham of Israel, he would be killed in a coup later that year 888 BCE.
Year 2873 – 887 BCE – Jehu king of Israel
Elisha the Prophet, upon divine order, anointed Jehu from Gilead as king of Israel:
And he [Elisha] arose and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head and said unto him [Jehu]: 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel. And you shall smite the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off from Ahab every man-child, and him that is shut up and him that is left at large in Israel. And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasa the son of Ahijah. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her.' And he opened the door and fled. (II Kings 9:6-10)
Jehu then went to Jezreel, where Jehoram son of Ahab was seated, and killed him. He also killed Ahaziah king of Judah who was with Joram at the time. The Biblical text mentions that Ahaziah reigned one year in Judah because, after one year, he spent more time in Israel than in Judah. This is the reason why Jehu killed him, as he was part of the royal circle of Israel and was with the king of Israel at the time of his death. As Ahaziah was from the house of Omri and Ahab, he was struck by the same divine order that said the House of Ahab shall perish.
Then Jehu entered the city of Jezreel and ordered Jezebel, who was mocking him as a king murderer, to be thrown out of her window, and she died. As the prophecy had it, the dogs ate her corpse, and she could not be buried.
Then Jehu went to the other cities to destroy all the family and supporters of the House of Ahab, as ordered by God. Last, Jehu executed all the prophets of Baal who lived in the kingdom of Israel. However, the task was not complete, as Jehu left in place the two golden idols that Jeroboam had made:
Thus, Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. Howbeit from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin, Jehu departed not from after them, the golden calves that were in Beth-El, and that were in Dan. (II Kings 10:28-29)
So, the divine blessing for Jehu was of mixed result:
And the Lord said unto Jehu: 'Because you have done well in executing that which is right in My eyes and have done unto the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.'
But Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord, the God of Israel, with all his heart; he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam, wherewith he made Israel to sin. In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short; and Hazael smote them in all the borders of Israel. (II Kings 10:30-32)
Hazael, the king of Aram, started to conquer all the land of the Israelite kingdom located at the east from the Jordan River, in the territories of Gad, Reuben and half of Manasseh, including Gilead. The Biblical text mentions that he attacked the Israelites in all the borders, and obviously the most relevant border between Israel and Aram was in the north of Israel, in the fortress of Tel Dan which had been fortified by Ahab. It is there, in the archaeological site of Tel Dan, that an important stele was found in 1993: it bears witness of these events and is one of the rare archaeological finds that mentions the “House of David”. It is in fact the oldest mention of the name David as a royal dynasty. It contains the following text (it is in Proto-Canaanite language, which was used at the time in Israel and Judah):
· Line 6- of my kings. And I killed two [power]ful kin[gs], who harnessed two thou[sand cha-]
· Line 7- riots and two thousand horsemen. [I killed Jo]ram son of [Ahab]
· Line 8- king of Israel, and I killed [Achaz]yahu son of [Joram kin]g
· Line 9- of the House of David. (Transcription, source: New World Encyclopedia)
Who killed the two kings? It was Jehu. However, as Hazael defeated the forces of Jehu in the stronghold of Dan and took the northern lands from his kingdom of Israel, Hazael appropriated to himself Jehu's victory over the two previous kings. In other words, the logical sentence would have been: Hazael defeated Jehu, Jehu defeated the two kings, therefore Hazael defeated the two kings. Appropriation of history, and also of cult, was not rare in History which, as it is said, is written by the victors !
Year 2879 – 881 BCE – Joash king of Judah
In Judah, after Ahaziah was killed by Jehu, his mother Athaliah seized power and killed all the royal family. One child, however, was taken away and hidden to be saved: her grandson Joash, son of Ahaziah. Athaliah reigned for 6 years (II Kings 11:3). Then a rebellion occurred among the army, who proclaimed this child Joash, who was 7 years old, king of Judah and they executed Athaliah.
Joash was proclaimed king in the 7th year of the reign of Jehu in Israel (II Kings 12:2), and he was 7 years old (II Kings 12:1). He enjoyed a long reign of 40 years, because he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord all his days. This is because he had not been raised in a royal family environment but instructed by Jehoiada the priest (II Kings 12:3).
To return to the list of chronological generations from Seder Olam Revisited, click here.
Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Adar 5785 - March 2025