Page 55 - Biblical Backgrounds student textbook

Study Section 9: Judah and the Divided Monarchy
(I Kings 12-22, 2 Kings 1-17, Chronicles 10-36; the Prophets)

9.1 Connect

Northern Israel has been taken captive and many people have been relocated into the Assyrian
empire. A few poor Jews are left to care for the land and Assyrians are relocated into the land.
Over the years, they mix their race and basically Israel in the north is no more. However, the
Jews in the south have some kings that remain faithful to Yahweh. God allows them to remain
strong for almost 150 more years. But as we will see, eventually they walk away from God
leading to their eventual judgment from the great empire to the east. The Bible says that whom God
loves, He disciplines. We will see how God loves and disciplines Judah in this lesson.

9.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to describe many of the significant kings of Judah and identify
whether they walked with the Lord or not.

2. The students must be able to determine what caused the Lord to abandon the people of Judah
and give them over to Babylon.

3. The students should be able to describe the final battles that led up to the fall of Jerusalem.

9.3 The Kingdom of Judah Alone (722-587 BCE)

Location.

The Assyrians invaded northern Israel in 722 BCE during the reign of king Hoshea. King Ahaz
was the king of Judah during the time of Israel’s demise.

Judah was a small territory located between the
Dead Sea and the coastal plains toward
Philistia. It was only about 50 miles wide and
110 miles north to south, but over half of the
southern part of Judah was desert and scarcely
populated. The Dead Sea was not a water
source for Judah, so the main water was
obtained from deep wells or from the base of
the Jordan River. Much of the eastern part of
the country saw very little rainfall, so is
somewhat arid. The central part of the country
is very hilly, so not a good location for farmland
and most trees were cut down and scarce.

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