Part 5: The Northern Kingdom (928-722)

The monarchic period was a crucial one in the development of Israelite society. At the time, the land was divided between Israel in the north and Judea in the south, but the Northern Kingdom was clearly the dominant one. The bulk of the people we call “the Ancient Israelites” lived in the north, and it contained the largest settlements and evidence of material advancements. Key religious sites include the shrines at Beth El and Beth Dan.

The north oriented north, and the south oriented toward Jerusalem. Once the north falls to the Assyrians in 722, the whole focus will shift to the south – and careful reading of the Bible reveals that most of the authors of the books related to this time period actually came from the south, and they were writing after the north's collapse. Their writings will reveal all kinds of “reasons” why the north fell – usually having to do with “wrong" worship practices and “bad kings”. These are the biases that must be carefully sifted out when trying to discern a more accurate historical view of what was really going on in the monarchic period.

But … I’m getting ahead of myself. To go back …

According to the Bible, the Kingdom of Israel came into being in 928, and was conquered by the Assyrians in 722. Extra biblically, the kingdom is first mentioned about 75 years later as a force to be reckoned with. This is good confirmation that at least in this particular detail, the Bible is basically accurate.

The North’s history can be seen in two periods: Its first half as an independent state, and its second half as a vassal of the Assyrians. Of the North’s many kings (which are listed in a great timeline on page 2111 of the Jewish Study Bible), eight of them are mentioned in extra-biblical sources. The first one mentioned is the dynasty of Omri; and the others include Ahab, Jehoram, Jehu, Jeheash, Menoken, Pelcah and Hosea. The extra-biblical sources come from victory steles and annals written by the neighboring Assyrian superpower, and scholars are able to match up the chronology of the kings in Tanakh with these other sources.

Ahab was a particularly successful Israelite king – despite the fact he is totally vilified by later southern writers for marrying a Phoenician princess and engaging in all sorts of “improper” worship practices. In Assyrian annals, it is clear he was an imposing figure on the international stage, and his marriage to a Phoenician is proof of a strong political allegiance with that neighboring power. The annals also indicate that Ahab was part of a coalition of Assyrian kings that worked together in diplomatic endeavors.

It was under the Israelite kingship of Menoken that the North became an Assyrian vassal state, thus losing its status as an independent kingdom. The Annals of Tigleth-Pileser III (747-727 BCE) talk about this Assyrian king’s creation of the Neo-Assyrian empire, which included his incursion south into Israel in 732. Tigleth-Pileser (in a relief at right) is considered one of the most successful military commanders in world history, conquering most of the world known to the ancient Assyrians before his death in 727.

Becoming a vassal was not necessarily a bad thing. “Vassaldom” gave the Israelite people access to the riches and stability of a major superpower. However, after Tigleth's incursion, he began shipping Israelite inhabitants to other parts of the Assyrian empire -- a practice that was commonly enacted by his predecessors.

Why the North went from being a mere vassal to actually being conquered and pretty thoroughly decimated by the Assyrians in 722 is not 100 percent clear. Assyrian rulers after Tigleth (Shalmanaser V and Sargan II) continue moving further south, until all of the northern kingdom is decimated. With the north fully fallen, the empire would then set its sights on the Southern Kingdom. But conquering it would prove harder than it might have seemed.