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SOLOMON

Solomon came to the throne under questionable circumstances - but this was not unusual in Israel. He had an older brother whom people assumed would succeed King David, but through the machinations of a court clique headed by his mother Bathsheba, Solomon was able to take over power. Soon afterwards he got rid of his brother on trumped up charges.

His reign was long, prosperous and peaceful - he happened to be king at a time when Egypt and Mesopotamia were having troubles of their own, and these great powers did not bother him. This meant he was able to organize a great building program, and it was at this time that the first great Temple was built in Jerusalem. As well, he built palaces, worship centers and fortifications throughout his kingdom.

The Bible levels some charges against him - that he married far too many women, and foreign women at that who brought their strange gods with them. Solomon would have defended himself by saying that each of these women represented an alliance between Israel and the woman's native country, guaranteeing peace and stability with Israel's neighbors.

The trouble was that Solomon used large amounts of money for his projects, and this meant that people had to pay more tax than previously. There was also a system of forced labor, to build the temple and palace in Jerusalem and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. These were deeply resented by ordinary people, and towards the end of his reign the cracks were beginning to show. Revolts broke out here and there - the clock was quietly ticking....

For more on Solomon, see
 BIBLE PEOPLE: SOLOMON

A reconstruction of the Temple built 
during the reign of Solomon

Solomon receives the Queen of Sheba

REHOBOAM

By the time that Solomon died, his small empire was groaning at the seams, but his son Rehoboam is portrayed as the king directly responsible for the division of the kingdom in Israel (north) and Judah (south).

Rehoboam reminds one of Edward VIII of England, the king famous for abdicating the throne in order to marry Wallis Simpson. Like him, Rehoboam was too ready to listen to the counsel of his young, sophisticated friends, rather than the sound advice of older, more experienced courtiers. At a meeting with the disgruntled northern tribes, soon after he ascended the throne, Rehoboam insisted in taking a firm hand with them, rather than a conciliatory one. Not only did he refuse to lessen the taxes and forced labor they had endured under Solomon, but Rehoboam threatened to increase them. In response, the ten northern tribes rebelled, breaking away and forming their own kingdom. Rehoboam tried repeatedly to re-conquer them, but was never successful.

The other event that sullied Rehoboam's reign was the raid into Judah made by the Egyptian pharaoh Sheshonq I. To buy him off, Rehoboam had to hand over the treasure of both the Temple and the royal palace. In short, he inherited a small kingdom and died having lost at least two-thirds of it, as well as having surrenedered much of the wealth that Solomon had accumulated during his reign.

From the reign of Rehoboam until after the Exile in Babylon, the country was divided into two separate kingdoms: Israel in the north, Judah in the south

AHAB

Ahab was one of the most successful kings of ancient Israel, but the Bible has blackened his name, since he did not favor the Jahwist priesthood over the agricultural gods, but rather attempted to get them to live together in toleration - something the Bible suggests he failed at.

He completed work on the new capital at Samaria, begun by his father, and is credited with building the Ivory House there, as well as a number of cities and fortifications throughout Israel - among them Hazor and Megiddo (see for example BIBLE ARCHITECTURE: MEGIDDO ) These included elaborate water systems, to withstand any siege.

The large number of chariots and soldiers listed in the Assyrian records show that Ahab had built up a formidable army. He probably used this against troublesome neighbors such as Moab, and Judah may also have been under his control. He continued his father Omri's policy of alliances with other small states, often through marriage - Jezebel, his wife from Sidon, probably brought the Mount Carmel area as her dowry.

In religious matters, Ahab was a pragmatist. He encouraged tolerance for his wife's religion, the worship of the god of rain, Baal, which was popular and widespread. The Bible criticizes him for the confiscation of Naboth's vineyard, since it flouted the tradition of traditional ownership of land, but this high-handed behavior fits with an autocratic system of strong leadership accompanied by economic prosperity and new (though not necessarily better) ways of doing things.

He died in battle at Ramoth-gilead and was buried in his city of Samaria, which is probably as he would have wished.

This staircase forms part of the massive water system at Hazor, probably built during the reign of Ahab. Five flights of steps lead down to a tunnel 82ft (25m) in length, which reaches the water table, giving people access to drinking water during a siege.

In the burned ruins of the palace at Samaria, archaeologists found thousands of pieces of carved ivory - 12,000 pieces in all - hence the name 'Ivory House'. The throne illustrated above is Christian, from a much later period and a different part of the world, but it gives some idea of the way ivory plaques were used to decorate furniture and walls in ancient palaces 

ATHALIAH

When Joram died and her son Aziah became king, she in turn became 'Gebirah', the title given to the highest-status woman in the kingdom. But he only reigned for one year. When he was still only 22, he was assassinated by Jehu, shot by arrows as he fled in his chariot up the hill towards the fortress of Gur. He died later at Megiddo. At the same time, Jezebel was killed, as were all of Athaliah's male relative in Israel - the seventy boys and young men in the royal family were beheaded by their own servants, and their heads placed in baskets at the gate of Jezreel. 42 of Athaliah's adult male relatives were herded into a pit and slaughtered at Betheked.

When this happened, Athaliah took over the throne of Judah - there were no surviving adult sons or grandsons to do so. She was later accused of murdering all the children herself, including her own grandsons, but it is hard to see why she would have done so. 

Once in power, she attacked the Jahwist priestly party who were behind the attempted coup in Judah and the successful one in Israel. She suppressed worship of Jahweh and promoted worship of the agricultural gods.

She held on to power for six years, but eventually the leader of the Jahwist party, Jehoiada, counter-attacked. He produced a male child whom he said had survived the massacre seven years ago, and who was supposed to be a royal prince saved from death by the action of Athaliah's sister, his wife, Jehosheba. There is no way of knowing whether this boy really was one of the royal family, or an imposter.
Jehoiada's coup was successful. Athaliah was pursued then assassinated at the Horse Gate of the palace. The boy, firmly controlled at first by Jehoiada and the Temple party, succeeded to the throne.

Did she kill all her young male relatives, as described in the Bible and depicted here by Antoine Dufour (1505)? What would have been the motive? Revenge for the deaths of all the young boys of her original family in Israel? There is certainly a precedent for killing all other possible heirs to the throne when you took the throne. But the boys she is supposed to have killed were her own grand-children....

Ivory plaque of a royal woman or goddess

JEHORAM

Jehoram also fought Mesha, the king of Moab, when Mesha rebelled against Israelite rule after the death of Ahab. The Bible says Jehoram was successful, but the Mesha Stele (see right) tells a different story - see a translation of part of the story under the illustration. What probably happened was that Jehoram was successful at first, as described in 2 Kings 3, but lost the overall war against Moab.

In any event, there seems to have been growing internal opposition to Jehoram, led by the Jahwist priests, in particular Elisha. What followed was a coup d'etat led by the very unpleasant captain of Jehoram's army, Jehu. Jehoram was lured out of the city of Jezreel, where he had been recovering from an illness, then shot down with an arrow in his back. His cousin King Ahaziah of Judah, who had been visiting him, was also murdered. His mother Jezebel, standing on a tower of the city of Jezreel, saw her son die. Knowing there was no hope of rescue, she went into the palace, donned the regalia of a queen and high priestess, and went out to face her own death.

(2 Kings 3; 8-9)

The Mesha Stele
'I am Mesha, the king of Moab. My father was king over Moab for thirty years, and I became king after my father. Omri was the king of Israel, and he oppressed Moab for many days. And his son reigned in his place; and he also said, "I will oppress Moab!" In my days he said so. But I looked down on him and on his house, and Israel has been defeated; it has been defeated forever!' (Edited translation of the inscription)

JEHU

Jehu was the founder of the longest dynasty of the northern kingdom of Israel. He seems to have been a commander or general in the Israelite army, and so he knew the army well, and was able to take advantage of the situation when Jehoram, already unpopular, became ill. He deposed the king, killing him and every member of his extended family - see the two section on Jehu's murders in BIBLE TOP TEN MURDERS

The coup, while horrifyingly brutal, seems to have gone off smoothly, probably because Jehoram's reign had seen considerable loss of territory in Moab, as well as sieges at Samaria by the Syrian army. With these setbacks, it is hardly surprising that an ambitious commander should take advantage of the situation to take over the army and proclaim himself king.

The Bible gives religious reasons for Jehu's revolt. According to 2 Kings 9:1-13, the prophet Elisha told one of his followers to travel to Ramoth-gilead and anoint Jehu as king - even though an anointed king still lived. This was done in secret, but when Jehu gave the other commanders a choice between joining him and dying, they understandably rallied to his cause. 

Sad to say, despite his record of appalling violence, Jehu seems to have eventually died a peaceful death.

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III. Jehu is shown at the center of the second panel, prostrating himself before Shalmaneser and offering tribute of silver, gold, golden vessels, tin and his own royal staff

MANASSEH

At one stage of Manasseh's rule he was carried off to Babylon, probably by Ashurbanipal. The Assrian texts show that Manasseh was a vassal of Ashurbanipal as early as 667BC. This suggests that he must have violated his agreements with Ashurbanipal to merit being deported to Babylon. He was taken into captivity in hooks and fetters, a punishment meant to humiliate him - which it no doubt did.

There is no way of knowing how long he spent in Babylon, but he must have reigned for at least some four or five years after that. The manner of his death is not recorded.

(2 Kings 21:1ff; 2 Chronicles 33)

Manasseh allowed worship and images that were forbidden by the Jahwist priests but welcomed by Canaanite religions

JOSIAH

Josiah was king of Judah shortly before the Exile to Babylon, ruling from 639-609BC. He was one of the great reformers in Jewish history.

Josiah ruled during a period when Assyria was losing its grip on power. He came to the throne when he was eight years old, after his father had been assassinated, and he ruled for thirty years. In the eighteenth year of his reign he began to restore the faded glory of the Temple in Jerusalem. While his workmen were doing this, they are supposed to have come across a lost set of scrolls - these may have been hidden for safe-keeping during a previous reign, or they may have been a 'plant' - at this distance in time it is impossible to tell which.

These newly discovered scrolls gave instructions on how the Jewish people were to live, and were read out to the assembled Jewish people (or representatives of them). Consequently there was a renewal of faith and religious practice among the Jewish people. The main point of the reforms was that there was to be only one sanctuary where sacrifice to God could be offered:  Jerusalem. All the popular religious centers throughout the land were to be closed down, and their priests dispersed. Since these centers mostly catered to worshippers of the agricultural gods, it meant that there was a very real power shift - from the local sanctuaries to a centralized priesthood in Jerusalem.

The reforms affected the way that Passover was celebrated. Previously it had been a family celebration with the lamb killed at the local sanctuary. Now sacrifice could only be celebrated in the Temple in Jerusalem, and so it was no longer a local family festival.

Josiah was killed at the fortress of Megiddo, fighting the Egyptian pharaoh Necho II. 

For more on Megiddo, see BIBLE ARCHITECTURE: MEGIDDO

Josiah's workmen found long-lost scrolls in 
the storerooms under the Temple Mount

The city gates at Megiddo; Josiah must have passed through these gates as he went out to fight the Egyptian army, where he met his death.

ZEDEKIAH

The people of Judah never seem to have really accepted him as king - they saw him rather as a regent, ruling in place of the real, exiled king.

Zediakah was in an impossible position: the Assyrians who had conquered Judah were stronger, but the Egyptians offered to help him get rid of them. He wavered between the two. In the fourth year of his reign he went in person to Babylon, to show his loyalty, but he also formed a new coalition with Edom, Moab, Ammon and Phoenicia, and it seems as if he was laying the groundwork for secret plans to rebel.

Nebuchadnezzar seems to have been aware of what was happening, because in 588BC he advanced against Jerusalem and began a siege that finally led to the downfall of the city and the end of the Judean monarchy. The Egyptians tried to help Zedekiah, but one by one Judah's fortresses fell to Nebuchadnezzar, until only Lachish stood between Nebuchadnezzar and Jerusalem. 

What happened at Lachish can be guessed by the broken pieces of pottery known as the Lachish Letters, clay fragments on which were written hastily scrawled letters from Hoshaiah, the commander of an outpost, to the commander of the Judean forces at Lachish. The outpost must have fallen, and Lachish went too, and then it was Jerusalem's turn. 

Zedekiah was forced to flee for his life, but he was captured near Jericho and brought to Nebuchadnezzar's headquarters near Riblah. His children were slaughtered before his eyes, and then his own eyes were put out. Zedekiah himself was then taken to Babylon along with many other captives. His eventual fate is unknown.

This is one of the Lachish Letters written on pot sherds during the last desperate days before the city fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC. 

INTERESTING WEBSITES - stories, pictures, reconstructions

SOLOMON
Wise king? Foolish man? Or both? - BIBLE PEOPLE: SOLOMON
Bathsheba, mother and manipulator - BIBLE WOMEN: BATHSHEBA

AHAB
Top ten warriors in the Bible - BIBLE WARRIORS
The story of a foreign queen -  BIBLE WOMEN: JEZEBEL

ATHALIAH
A woman seizes power - BIBLE TOP TEN BAD WOMEN

JEHU
Jehu murders Jezebel and the royal children - BIBLE TOP TEN MURDERS

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Bible Top Ten: Bad Women, Buildings, Films, Heroes, Heroines, Murders, Perversions, Plagues, Paintings, Slavery, Warriors, Ways to Heaven and Hell,
Ideas about God, Young People, Kings and Queens, and Villains; Bible Resource for Old and New Testament Studies