Ancient Israel and Judah
The history of ancient Israel and Judah spans from the early appearance of the Israelites in Canaan's hill country during the late second millennium BCE, to the establishment and subsequent downfall of the two Israelite kingdoms in the mid-first millennium BCE. This history unfolds within the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. The earliest documented mention of "Israel" as a people appears on the Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian inscription dating back to around 1208 BCE. Archaeological evidence suggests that ancient Israelite culture evolved from the pre-existing Canaanite civilization. During the Iron Age II period, two Israelite kingdoms emerged, covering much of Canaan: the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south.
According to the Hebrew Bible, a "United Monarchy" consisting of Israel and Judah existed as early as the 11th century BCE, under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon; the great kingdom later was separated into two smaller kingdoms: Israel, containing the cities of Shechem and Samaria, in the north, and Judah, containing Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple, in the south. The historicity of the United Monarchy is debated—as there are no archaeological remains of it that are accepted as consensus—but historians and archaeologists agree that Israel and Judah existed as separate kingdoms by and, respectively. The kingdoms' history is known in greater detail than that of other kingdoms in the Levant, primarily due to the selective narratives in the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, which were included in the Bible.
The northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed around 720 BCE, when it was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire. While the Kingdom of Judah remained intact during this time, it became a client state of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire and then the Neo-Babylonian Empire. However, Jewish revolts against the Babylonians led to the destruction of Judah in 586 BCE, under the rule of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II. According to the biblical account, the armies of Nebuchadnezzar II besieged Jerusalem between 589 and 586 BCE, which led to the destruction of Solomon's Temple and the exile of the Jews to Babylon; this event was also recorded in the Babylonian Chronicles. The exilic period saw the development of the Israelite religion towards a monotheistic Judaism.
The exile ended with the fall of Babylon to the Achaemenid Empire. Subsequently, the Achaemenid king Cyrus the Great issued a proclamation known as the Edict of Cyrus, which authorized and encouraged exiled Jews to return to Judah. Cyrus' proclamation began the exiles' return to Zion, inaugurating the formative period in which a more distinctive Jewish identity developed in the Persian province of Yehud. During this time, the destroyed Solomon's Temple was replaced by the Second Temple, marking the beginning of the Second Temple period.
Periods
In archaeological terms, the history covered in this article falls within the Iron Age, which is commonly divided into two main phases :- Iron Age I: 1150–950 BCE
- Iron Age II: 950–586 BCE
- First Temple period :
Background
Geography
The eastern Mediterranean seaboard stretches north to south from the Taurus Mountains to the Sinai Peninsula, and east to west between the sea and the Arabian Desert. The coastal plain of the southern Levant, broad in the south and narrowing to the north, is backed in its southernmost portion by a zone of foothills, the Shfela; like the plain this narrows as it goes northwards, ending in the promontory of Mount Carmel. East of the plain and the Shfela is a mountainous ridge, the "hill country of Judea" in the south, the "hill country of Ephraim" north of that, then Galilee and Mount Lebanon. To the east again lie the steep-sided valley occupied by the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and the wadi of the Arabah, which continues down to the eastern arm of the Red Sea. Beyond the plateau is the Syrian desert, separating the Levant from Mesopotamia. To the southwest is Egypt, to the northeast Mesopotamia. The location and geographical characteristics of the narrow Levant made the area a battleground among the powerful entities that surrounded it.Late Bronze Age Canaan
Ancient Israel emerged during the late second millennium BCE. Canaan, as the region was known in the Late Bronze Age, was then a patchwork of city-states under the imperial domination of the New Kingdom of Egypt. During this period, Canaan was a shadow of what it had been centuries earlier: many cities were abandoned, others shrank in size, and the total settled population was probably not much more than a hundred thousand. Settlement was concentrated in cities along the coastal plain and along major communication routes; the central and northern hill country which would later become the biblical kingdom of Israel was only sparsely inhabited. The Amarna letters, discovered in Egypt, offer insight into regional politics and mention cities such as Ashkelon, Hazor, Gezer, Shechem, Jerusalem, and Megiddo. Several of these city-states were embroiled in rivalries and territorial disputes, with local rulers like Abdi-Heba of Jerusalem and Lab'ayu of Shechem appealing to the pharaoh for assistance against neighboring leaders.Alongside the city-states, Late Bronze Age texts mention other groups inhabiting the region. The 'Apiru were a marginalized social class that included migrants, mercenaries, and others living on the fringes of society. As the word 'Apiru is possibly related linguistically to the term "Hebrew," early scholars equated them with the Israelites, but most now view any connection as indirect: while some early Israelites may have come from Apiru-like backgrounds, the term "Hebrew" later developed into a distinct ethnic identity. The Shasu, often associated with pastoralist groups east of the Dead Sea, are sometimes linked to early Israel—particularly due to an Egyptian reference that names them alongside a term resembling Yahweh, which some scholars see as a reference to the Israelite deity. Some texts describe these groups as tribal or settled communities, possibly indicating ethnic identities and suggesting that the Egyptians may have grouped diverse populations under a single label.
Late Bronze Age collapse
Around 1200 BCE, the entire Eastern Mediterranean was impacted by the Late Bronze Age collapse, a period of widespread upheaval marked by population movements, invasions, urban destruction, and the fall of major powers, including the Mycenaean kingdoms, the Hittite Empire, and Egypt's New Kingdom. Scholars attribute these disruptions to war, famine, plague, climate change, invasions, or a combination of factors. Canaan was affected too, its large cities were devastated, setting the stage for a new era in the region's history. The process was gradual, and some Canaanite cities survived into Iron Age I.Around 1140 BCE, Egypt lost control over Canaan, and various groups of Sea Peoples settled along its coastal regions. Among them were the Peleset, who are widely considered to be the biblical Philistines, settling in the southern coastal plain, west of Judah. Their material culture, genetic evidence, and the biblical narrative all point to an Aegean or Cypriot origin. It is in this later part of the Late Bronze Age that a people called Israel are first attested.
Origins of ancient Israel
Biblical account
The Hebrew Bible chronicles the descent of the Israelites from the Patriarchs. The Book of Genesis describes how Abraham, under God's guidance, migrated from Mesopotamia to Canaan and entered into a covenant with God, who promised to make his descendants a chosen people and grant them the land of Canaan as an eternal inheritance. The narrative continues with the lives of his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, who was renamed Israel after wrestling with an angel. The twelve sons of Israel moved to Egypt during a famine, and their descendants, the Twelve Tribes of Israel, were enslaved by the pharaoh. After generations of bondage, Moses, an Israelite from the Tribe of Levi raised in the Egyptian court, led the Israelites out during The Exodus—their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Following a miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, and forty years of wandering in the wilderness, Moses died as the Israelites reached the threshold of Canaan. Under his successor Joshua, the Israelites crossed the Jordan River and began the conquest of Canaan. The land was allotted among the tribes and distributed to families as inheritance, but in the absence of centralized authority, the tribes were left to confront local populations on their own. During the era of the Judges, the Israelites existed as a loose tribal confederation in the hill country, without a centralized government, but with judges. The Book of Judges is thought to reflect early Israelite tribal society.Archaeological and scholarly perspectives
Modern scholarship generally views ancient Israel's origins as emerging primarily from the indigenous population of Canaan. According to this view, the early Israelites likely consisted of diverse elements drawn from Late Bronze Age society, including rural villagers, former settled peoples, displaced peasants, and pastoralist groups. These were joined by marginal segments of society, such as the 'Apiru and Shasu, who lived on the fringes of settled areas. Additional external elements may have included fugitive or runaway Semitic slaves from Egypt, who likely constituted at least part of the emerging Israelite population.At the same time, scholars argue that the Exodus story may preserve a kernel of historical truth, though it has been reshaped over time. Various Semitic peoples lived in Egypt at different periods, and the biblical narrative could reflect the experiences of a particular group which was later expanded into a national saga. The Egyptian origin of Moses's name, as well as the presence of other Egyptian names within the Levite tribe, suggests an authentic Egyptian connection. Additionally, the story's references to brickmaking, the mention of city of Ramesses and the route taken by the Israelites align with the reality of the Late Bronze Age. Some scholars propose that multiple groups left Egypt at different times, while others suggest the Exodus traditions reflect the memories of refugees displaced during Egypt's withdrawal from Canaan. The conquest story under Joshua, particularly regarding Jericho, et-Tell, and Gibeon, is often described as being contradicted by archaeological evidence, as these cities were unoccupied during the relevant periods, though Hazor's destruction layer does align with the biblical account.
While biblical texts often portray Israel as opponents of the Canaanites, scholars note that much of Israel's heritage was deeply Canaanite in character—culturally, linguistically, and religiously. Some of the Bible's earliest compositions, such as the Song of the Sea and the Song of Deborah, seem to have Canaanite roots. The Hebrew language is referred to in the Book of Isaiah as the "lip of Canaan", and was closely related to neighboring dialects like Phoenician and Moabite. Alongside material continuity with Late Bronze Age Canaan—albeit with some distinctive developments—the early Israelite religion also mirrored typical Canaanite traditions. Other scholars dispute the idea of a purely Canaanite origin for the Israelites, pointing to distinctive practices that set them apart. These include the settlement of small, unwalled hill villages, in contrast to the larger, walled towns typically found in the plains during the Canaanite period. The Israelites also displayed unique pottery styles, characterized by the absence of painted or imported pottery in the hills. Additionally, the Israelites avoided consuming pig meat, unlike the Canaanites and Philistines, and their religious practices lacked Canaanite-style temples, with limited evidence of organized cultic activity.