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The Jews after the State of Solomon

(peace be upon him)

After the death of Solomon, his kingdom was divided into two parts comprising two separate States with fights between them from time to time. Both suffered from internal corruption, military and political weakness and foreign influence. When Solomon passed away, the representatives of the 12 tribes of the Children of Israel held a meeting at Shechem (near Nablus) to set up Rehbe'am bin Solomon as a king. However, according to narrations, the representatives from 10 of the tribes agreed not to set him up as a king because he did not promise them to reduce taxes. They, instead, elected "Yarba'am" from the tribe of Ephraim as a king and called their kingdom "Israel". They took Shechem as their capital (then Tarzah then Samaria).

As to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, they maintained their loyalty to Rehbe'am bin Solomon and established the kingdom of "Judah", with Jerusalem as its capital under his rule.

The kingdom of Israel lasted during the period from 923 BC to 721 BC. The Encyclopedia Britannica disdainfully named it "The Tail Kingdom". Because of the invasion by the residents of Damascus, it lost all its lands located in the east of Jordan and north of Yarmouk. "Omri" was the most famous king of the kingdom of Israel whose reign lasted from 885 BC to 874 BC. He built Samaria and took it as the capital.

His successor "Akhab" reigned from 874 BC till 852 BC. He allowed his wife, "Isabel", the daughter of the king of Sidon and Tyre, to enjoin the worship of the Phoenician God "B'al", which consequently caused a revolution carried out by an officer named "Yaho", who overthrew "Akhab" and restored the worship of "Yahweh".

In the period of "Yab'am the second" from 785 BC till 745 BC, the third of in the line of "Yaho" ancestry, his kingdom expanded towards the north on the account of the Aramaians. But this situation did not last for long because of the emergence of the Assyrian king "Tajilat Blissr the third" (745 BC-727 BC), who put an end to this expansion. His successor "Shillmanasar the fifth" and after him "Sarjon the second" had punished Joshua, who was the last of the kings of "Israel". They exterminated his kingdom in 721 BC. Then, the Assyrians moved the people of Israel to Haran, Khabour, Kurdistan and Persia and replaced them with groups of Aramaians. It seems that the banished Israelis were completely mixed in with their neighbours in exile. Thereafter, there was not a trace left of the ten tribes of the Children of Israel.

According to the Israeli narrations, which should be considered very carefully and with caution because there is very little available to prove or disprove most of them, the Kingdom of Judah was one of great turmoil during the period 923 BC to 586 BC. Idol worshipping had spread during the period of Yarba'am bin Solomon's rule (923-916 BC). The manners of the people were corrupted owing to the spread of sodomy. When his son, Abyam, succeeded him from 915 BC to 913 BC, their manners remained corrupted. And when Yahoram bin Yahoshfat ruled during the period 849 BC to 842 BC, he killed his six brothers along with a group of the people's chiefs. As for Youhaz bin Yatam, who ruled during the period 735 BC to 715 BC, it is mentioned that his heart had been attached to the love of idols. He even went so far as to sacrifice his own children on the altars of idolatrous gods and gave himself the free reins of lust and evil-doing. Mansi bin Hazqiya, who ruled from 687 BC to 642 BC, had misguided his people from worshipping god and built idolatrous temples for them.

Such things are not strange to the Children of Israel. Their manners with Moses (peace be upon him) would testify to this. The Holy Qur'an also points out that they have changed, replaced and deviated from the words of God, and slew many prophets: "We took the covenant of the Children of Israel and sent them apostles. Every time there came to them an apostle with what they themselves desired not--some (of these) they called impostors, and some they (go so far as to) slay". History proves that they slew the prophet Haziqual because he prohibited one of his judges from committing iniquities. The king Mansi bin Hazqiya killed the prophet Ashiya bin Amous. He gave orders to hang him on a tree stump because the prophet had offered him advice and preachment. The Jews killed the prophet by throwing stones at him because he blamed them for iniquities they themselves did.

It seemed that the Kingdom of Judah faced many weakness factors, as well as falling under the foreign influence for a long period of time. It was attached and defeated several times, and the attackers entered Jerusalem itself. Sheshaq, the Pharaoh of Egypt, entered Jerusalem and took it over in the late tenth century BC.

Arabs had also attacked Jerusalem during the period of Yahoram (849 BC-842 BC). They entered it and occupied Yahoram's palace and captured his children and women. As to the king Hazqiya (715 BC-687 BC), he was forced to declare his full surrender to the king of the Assyrians, Sarjon the Second, after he seized the Kingdom of Israel. Mansi Bin Hazqiya paid the tax to Assyrhadon and Assyrbanybal, two kings of Assyria. The Assyrians tied up this king with brass chains and sent him to Babylonia. Then, he returned to Jerusalem and died there. During the rule of Yoshyia bin Amon (640 BC-609 BC), the Egyptian Nackhaw had only been ruling for three months. Yoshyia captured him and sent him back to Egypt where he died. He was replaced with Yahoyaqim bin Yashyia (609 BC-548 BC). This ruler had overtaxed his people in order to pay tax to his Egyptian master and reverted to idol worshipping. During the time of Yahoyaqim, the Babylonian Buchadnezzar defeated the Egyptian Nackhaw, north of Syria in the year 605 BC and advanced till he entered Jerusalem. There he conquered Yahoyaqim, humiliated him and forced his country to surrender to his influence. And when Yahoyaqim revolted against Buchadnezzar, the latter entered Jerusalem, with his army, and tied Yahoyaqim up with brass chains till he died.

When Yahoyaqim ruled from 598 BC-597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar, or Buchadnezzar, besieged Jerusalem and captured the king and his family, the chief of the Jews and about 10,000 of its population, which is known as the first capture, and robbed some of the temple treasures and sent them to Babylon. Thereafter, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Sodkiya bin Yoshyia (597 BC-586 BC), who swore the oath of loyalty to him. However, Sodkiya, during the last days of his regime, revolted against the Babylonians, who in turn advanced towards Jerusalem and besieged it for 18 months till it surrendered. Nebuchadnezzar captured Sodkiya, tied him up with brass chains and sent him to Babylonia where, as mentioned, his children were slain before him and his eyes were poked out. Then Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem. He demolished the temple, robbed the treasures and wealth, and captured about 40,000 Jews and sent them to Babylonia, known as "the second Babylonian capture". The remaining Jews migrated to Egypt, including the Prophet Arimyah. The Kingdom of Judah fell in 586 BC.

The Talmud recorded that the fall and the destroying of the Jewish State would not have happened unless the sins of the Children of Israel had reached the utmost and their sins overburdened the great God. When they refused to listen to Arimyah's words and warnings and after destroying the temple, the Prophet Arimyah addressed his speech to Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldaeans. He said: "You should not think that by your strength alone you were able to overcome the chosen People of God; it was by their unchaste sins that drove them to this torture".

The Old Testament had referred to the collapseof the kingdom of the Children of Israel as being a direct result of these sins. It mentioned that Prophet Ashiya said: "Woe to the sinful people, the people of heavy sins, the progeny of evil-doers, the depraved children who abandoned God and despised the holy Israel, who had retreated and fallen back" (Ashiya Book-Chapter 1). The Old Testament also said: "The land had been profaned under its people because they abandoned the laws, changed the obligations and broke the eternal covenant" (Ashiya Book, Chapter 24).


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The rule of David and Solomon lasted for about 80 years, which was considered a golden period during which Palestine was ruled under the banner of monotheism and faith prior to the Muslim Conquest.

   

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