The division of a kingdom
Following the reign of David, king Solomon ruled over an
undivided kingdom
of Israel. However, after his death the kingdom was divided, with
Solomon's
willingness to embrace foreign influences cited as the spiritual cause.
The two new kingdoms comprised a southern kingdom and a northern
kingdom. The
Southern Kingdom included Judah and Benjamin and commanded the loyalty
of most
of the Levites. The Northern Kingdom contained the remainder
of the tribes.
The dominant tribe within of the Northern Kingdom was Ephraim.
The
Ephraimite
town of Samaria became the residence of its kings and a cultic system
to rival
that of Jerusalem operated from there.
Whilst the scriptures refer to the Southern Kingdom as Judah, the
Northern
Kingdom is variously called Israel, Ephraim or Samaria. Northern
Kingdom is
used on this site in preference to these other terms whenever it is
necessary
to avoid ambiguity.
Established when Jeroboam led the
northern tribes in rebellion against the unpopular governance
of Solomon’s son
Rehoboam,
the Northern Kingdom was led by a series of dynasties
that embraced cultural diversity
and departed
from adherence to the Law of Moses. These replaced one another through
assassination, generally followed by the murder of the deposed kings
potential heirs.
The powerful dynasty of Omri established Samaria as the chief city in
the
kingdom, but in its thirst for power it nearly destroyed the line of
David. Omri himself reigned for fifty years and is famously mentioned
on the Moabite Stone and in Assyrian inscriptions.
Hostilities with Judah continued intermittently throughout the Northern
Kingdom’s existence and eventually provoked king Ahaz of Judah to
appeal for
Assyrian assistance.
The Assyrians then reduced the Northern Kingdom to little more than a city-state
based on Samaria. When Samaria then rebelled against Assyrian rule, the
city withstood an Assyrian siege for three years, but its eventual fall marked the end of the
Northern
Kingdom.