Kingdom of Judah (931–587 BCE)

Judah 𐤌𐤌𐤋𐤊𐤕 𐤉𐤄𐤃
c. 931 BCE–587 BCE
Location of Judah and other nearby kingdoms
Capital	Jerusalem
Common languages	Biblical Hebrew
Religion	Semitic polytheism (10th–7th centuries BCE) Judaism (7th–6th centuries BCE)
Dominant mode of production	Slavery
Government	Monarchy
History
• Established	c. 931 BCE
• Dissolution	587 BCE

The Kingdom of Judah was an Iron Age kingdom located in southern Palestine.

History

In 608 BCE, the Egyptian pharaoh Nekau II went to war with Judah and killed its king Yōʾšīyyāhū at the Battle of Megiddo. In 605 BCE, the Babylonians crossed the Euphrates and destroyed the city of Karkemish, which contained an Egyptian garrison and its Greek mercenaries. After defeating Egypt, the Babylonians took over Judah.

In 598 BCE, Yəhōyāqīm of Judah ended his alliance with Babylon at the request of Nekau. In response, Nabûkudurriuṣur besieged Jerusalem and captured it in early 597 BCE. He installed Ṣīḏqīyyāhū as the new king. In late 595 and early 594 BCE, a rebellion broke out in the army. The king oversaw a military tribunal that sentenced the leading conspirator to death. The pharaoh Wahibra seized the cities of Gaza, Ṣīdūn, Ṣūr and backed a Judean rebellion against Babylon in an attempt to take control of Phoenicia. In 587 BCE, the Babylonians recaptured Jerusalem after an 18-month siege and annexed Judah.

The Babylonians destroyed the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem. They exiled King Ṣīḏqīyyāhū and about 10,000 of his nobles and craftsmen to other parts of the empire.

Religion

Class society and slavery rapidly developed between the tenth and seventh centuries BCE. In response, Jewish prophets idealized the past, when tribes were not divided into rich and poor. Because class society emerged in Judah and Israel later than other Canaanite states, the prophets denounced the polytheistic religions of their neighbors and promoted Yahweh as the only god.