An Atheist's Guide to the Bible

Israel - the northern kingdom

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The historical background of the Old Testament story is the rise and fall of two kingdoms in the land of Canaan - one was Israel and the other was Judah.

Israel was originally the name of the more northerly of the kingdoms, centred on the city of Samaria. Later, the term Israel came to be applied to the whole nation of believers in Yahweh. In Genesis, Israel is given as a name to Jacob, the hero-ancestor of the Israelites. One of the sons of Jacob, Ephraim, was particularly associated with the area around Shechem and Samaria - the northern kingdom is sometimes referred to as Ephraim.

The kingdom came to prominence under the Omride dynasty in the ninth century BCE. It was always under the shadow of Assyrian power in the region, sometimes paying them tribute and sometimes rebelling against them. Finally, Israel was defeated by the Assyrians, and Samaria destroyed in 722 BCE.

In the Biblical legend, the two kingdoms were supposed to have originated in a division of a United Monarchy, ruled by David and Solomon. This picture is not substantiated archaeologically and can safely be assumed to be a later tradition.

The earliest prophets stood out against the inequity and injustice of the society of Israel, and interpreted the downfall of the kingdom as the result of Yahweh's anger against idolatry and the failure of the kings to follow the divine commands. This is one of the major theological themes of the Old Testament.

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