Kingdom of Judah

The Kingdom of Judah, (Malchut Yehudah in Hebrew), in the times of the Hebrew Bible, was the nation formed from the territories of the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin after the Kingdom of Israel was divided, and was named after Judah son of Jacob (Israel). The name Judah itself is derived from Y(e)huda meaning Praise of God.

Judah is often referred to as the Southern Kingdom to distinguish it from the Northern Kingdom (being the Kingdom of Israel) after the division of the Kingdom. Its capital was Jerusalem. See History of ancient Israel and Judah.

When the disruption took place at Shechem, at first only the tribe of Judah followed the house of David. But very soon after the tribe of Benjamin joined the tribe of Judah, and Jerusalem became the capital of the new kingdom (Joshua 18:28), which was called the kingdom of Judah.

For the first sixty years the kings of Judah aimed at re-establishing their authority over the kingdom of the other ten tribes, so that there was a state of perpetual war between them. For the following eighty years there was no open war between them. For the most part they were in friendly alliance, co-operating against their common enemies, especially against Damascus. For about another century and a half Judah had a somewhat checkered existence after the termination of the kingdom of Israel till its final overthrow in the destruction of the temple (586 BC) by Nebuzar-adan, who was captain of Nebuchadnezzar's body-guard (2 Kings 25:8-21).

The kingdom maintained a separate existence for three hundred and eighty-nine years. It occupied an area of 8,900 km² (3,435 square miles).

This article is about what the Bible says. For how this relates to history, see the Bible and history.

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The kings of Judah

For this period, most historians follow either the chronology established by William F. Albright or Edwin R. Thiele, both of which are shown below. All dates are BC/BCE.

Albright dates	Thiele dates	Common/Biblical Name	Regnal name and style	Notes
922–915	931–913	Rehoboam	רהבעם בן-שלמוה מלך יהודה Rehbem ben Shelmoh, Melek Yahudah	Hitherto king of Israel.
915–913	913–911	Abijam	אבים בן-רהבעם מלך יהודה ’Abyam ben Rehbem, Melek Yahudah
913–873	911–870	Asah	אסא בן-אבים מלך יהודה ’As’a ben ’Abyam, Melek Yahudah
873–849	870–848	Jehoshaphat	יהושפט בן-אסא מלך יהודה Yehoshafat ben ’As’a, Melek Yahudah
849–842	848–841	Jehoram	יהורם בן-יהושפט מלך יהודה Yehoram ben Yehoshafat, Melek Yahudah	Killed
842–842	841–841	Ahaziah	אחויהו בן-יהורם מלך יהודה ’Achazyhu ben Yehoram, Melek Yehudah	Killed by Yehu, King of Israel
842–837	841–835	Athaliah	עטליתו בת-עמרי מלכח יהודה Athalyhu bet Omry, Melika Yehudah	Queen Mother, wife of Jehoram; died in a coup
837–800	835–796	Jehoash	יהואש בן-אחויהו מלך יהודה Yehu’ash ben ’Achazyhu, Melek Yahudah	killed by his servants
800–783	796–767	Amaziah	אמציה בן-יהואש מלך יהודה ’Amatzyah ben Yehu’ash, Melek Yahudah	Assassinated
783–742	767–740	Uzziah or Azariah	עזיה בן-אמציה מלך יהודה Uzyah ben ’Amatzyah, Melek Yahudah עזריה בן-אמציה מלך יהודה Uzaryah ben ’Amatzyah, Melek Yahudah	George Syncellus wrote that the First Olympiad took place in Uzziah's 48th regnal year.
742–735	740–732	Jotham	יותם בן-עזיה מלך יהודה Yutham ben Uzyah, Melek Yahudah
735–715	732–716	Ahaz	אחז בן-יותם מלך יהודה ’Achaz ben Yutham, Melek Yahudah	The Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser III records he received tribute from Ahaz; compare 2 Kings 16:7-9. Fate unknown
715–687	716–687	Hezekiah	הזקיה בן-אחז מלך יהודה Hizqiyah ben ’Achaz, Melek Yahudah	Contemporary with Sennacherib of Assyria, and Merodach-baladan of Babylon (but see note 1 below).
687–642	687–643	Manasseh	מנשה בן-הזקיה מלך יהודה Manasheh ben Hizqiyah, Melek Yahudah
642–640	643–641	Amon	אמון בן-מנשה מלך יהודה ’Amon ben Manasheh, Melek Yahudah	Assassinated
640–609	641–609	Josiah	יאשיהו בן-אמון מלך יהודה Y’ashyahu ben ’Amon, Melek Yahudah	Died in battle against Necho II of Egypt.
609	609	Jehoahaz or Ahaz	יהואחז בן-יאשיהו מלך יהודה Yehu’achaz ben Y’ashyahu, Melek Yahudah אחז בן-יאשיהו מלך יהודה ’Achaz ben Y’ashyahu, Melek Yahudah
609–598	609–598	Jehoiakim	יהויקים בן-יהואחז מלך יהודה Yehuyaqim ben Yehu’achaz, Melek Yahudah	The Battle of Carchemish occurred in the fourth year of his reign (Jeremiah 46:2).
598	598	Jehoiachin or Jeconiah	יהויכין בן-יהויקים מלך יהודה Yehuychyn ben Yehuyaqim, Melek Yahudah יכניהו בן-יהויקים מלך יהודה Yekonyhu ben Yehuyaqim, Melek Yahudah	Perhaps reigned from March to May as 2 Chronicles 36:10 suggests. Called 'Jeconiah' in Jeremiah and Esther
597–587	597–586	Zedekiah	צדקיהו בן-יהויכין מלך יהודה Tzidqiyahu ben Yehuychyn, Melek Yahudah	The last king of Judah. Deposed, blinded and sent into exile. Fate unknown. See note 2 below.

Notes:-

1. Hezekiah was contemporary with Sennacherib of Assyria, and Bar-Hebraeus mention a "King Sennacherib the Less" as well. Furthermore, there was another king named Merodakh Baladan ben Baladan, also known as Mardokempad. (Ptolemy assumed, without any reason, that Mordac Empadus was contemporary with King Hezekiah.) These two Baladans remained pretenders during Sennacherib's reign, therefore it is not easy to identify their regnal years as Ptolemy attempted. According to Robert R. Newton (The Crime of Claudius Ptolemy, 1977), this ancient scholar frequently attributed some observations to certain years of some kings for the sake of simplicity in his tabulation, but those were not part of the original observations. Newton also asserts Ptolemy often contrived astronomical data in order to support his own theories.

2. Zedekiah rebelled twice: in the first rebellion (597 BC), Nebuchadnezzar II captured Jerusalem, and took most of its leaders into exile. In the second rebellion (588–586 BC), Jerusalem was captured after a lengthy siege, the temple burnt, Zedekiah taken into exile and Judah was reduced to a province. Nebuchadnezzar had left Gedaliah as his governor, who was killed in one last revolt, and the few members of the ruling classes left from the kingdom of Judah took the prophets Jeremiah and Baruch with them as they fled to sanctuary in Egypt.

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