Map of Babylonians conquering Judah
Map of 33 cities the Israelites conquered
Map of 33 cities the Israelites conquered
Israel and Syria attack Judah
Israel and Syria attack Judah
King Ahaz of Judah
(2 Kings 16.1-4)
28 Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled from Jerusalem for 16 years.
Ahaz was nothing like his ancestor David. Ahaz disobeyed the Lord 2 and was as sinful as the kings of Israel. He made idols of the god Baal, 3 and he offered sacrifices in Hinnom Valley. Worst of all, Ahaz sacrificed his own sons, which was a disgusting custom of the nations that the Lord had forced out of Israel. 4 Ahaz offered sacrifices at the local shrines,[a] as well as on every hill and in the shade of large trees.
Syria and Israel Attack Judah
(2 Kings 16.5,6)
5-6 Ahaz and the people of Judah sinned and turned away from the Lord, the God their ancestors had worshiped. So the Lord punished them by letting their enemies defeat them.
The king of Syria attacked Judah and took many of its people to Damascus as prisoners. King Pekah[b] of Israel later defeated Judah and killed 120,000 of its bravest soldiers in one day. 7 During that battle, an Israelite soldier named Zichri killed three men from Judah: Maaseiah the king's son; Azrikam, the official in charge of the palace; and Elkanah, the king's second in command. 8 The Israelite troops captured 200,000 women and children and took them back to their capital city of Samaria, along with a large amount of their possessions. They did these things even though the people of Judah were their own relatives.
Oded the Prophet Condemns Israel
9 Oded lived in Samaria and was one of the Lord's prophets. He met Israel's army on their way back from Judah and said to them:
The Lord God of your ancestors let you defeat Judah's army only because he was angry with them. But you should not have been so cruel! 10 If you make slaves of the people of Judah and Jerusalem, you will be as guilty as they are of sinning against the Lord.
11 Send these prisoners back home—they are your own relatives. If you don't, the Lord will punish you in his anger.
12 About the same time, four of Israel's leaders arrived. They were Azariah son of Johanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai. They agreed with Oded that the Israelite troops were wrong, 13 and they said:
If you bring these prisoners into Samaria, that will be one more thing we've done to sin against the Lord. And he is already angry enough with us.
14 So in front of the leaders and the crowd, the troops handed over their prisoners and the property they had taken from Judah. 15 The four leaders took some of the stolen clothes and gave them to the prisoners who needed something to wear. They later gave them all a new change of clothes and shoes, then fixed them something to eat and drink, and cleaned their wounds with olive oil. They gave donkeys to those who were too weak to walk, and led all of them back to Jericho, the city known for its palm trees. The leaders then returned to Samaria.
Ahaz Asks the King of Assyria for Help
(2 Kings 16.7-9)
16-18 Some time later, the Edomites attacked the eastern part of Judah again and carried away prisoners. And at the same time, the Philistines raided towns in the western foothills and in the Southern Desert. They conquered the towns of Beth-Shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco, Timnah, and Gimzo, including the villages around them. Then some of the Philistines went to live in these places.
Ahaz sent a message to King Tiglath Pileser of Assyria and begged for help. 19 But God was punishing Judah with these disasters, because Ahaz had disobeyed him and refused to stop Judah from sinning. 20 So Tiglath Pileser came to Judah, but instead of helping, he made things worse. 21 Ahaz gave him gifts from the Lord's temple and the king's palace, as well as from the homes of Israel's other leaders. The Assyrian king still refused to help Ahaz.
The Final Sin of Ahaz and His Death
22 Even after all these terrible things happened to Ahaz, he sinned against the Lord even worse than before. 23 He said to himself, “The Syrian gods must have helped their kings defeat me. Maybe if I offer sacrifices to those gods, they will help me.” That was the sin that finally led to the downfall of Ahaz, as well as to the destruction of Judah.
24 Ahaz collected all the furnishings of the temple and smashed them to pieces. Then he locked the doors to the temple and set up altars to foreign gods on every street corner in Jerusalem. 25 In every city and town in Judah he built local shrines[c] to worship foreign gods. All of this made the Lord God of his ancestors very angry.
26 Everything else Ahaz did while he was king is written in The History of the Kings of Judah and Israel. 27 Ahaz died and was buried in Jerusalem, but not in the royal tombs. His son Hezekiah then became king.
Bible map of Sennacherib’s attack on Judah
Bible map of Sennacherib's attack on Judah
Bible map of Sennacherib's attack on Judah
Assyria's invasion of Judah
Before Sennacherib's attack on Judah, Assyrians invaded Israel in the 700s BC. There, they gave top priority to capturing and pillaging Israel’s elite: rulers, judges, wealthy businesspeople. They followed the money and often butchered the cash cow. Assyria erased this northern Jewish nation and deported the survivors who became known as the Lost Tribes of Israel. Assyrian King Sennacherib’s turn on the only surviving Israelite nation about 20 years layer, in 701 BC. Judah, in the south, was the only surviving Jewish nation.Judah's cities decimated
Sennacherib destroyed most cities during that campaign. And he defeated Egyptians who came to their rescue. Then he lay siege to Jerusalem when Hezekiah was king. But he left suddenly.Assyria fled from Jerusalem
A Bible writer said an angel killed 185,000 of his soldiers (2 Kings 19:35). A Greek writer 250 years later, Herodotus, wrote that the army got stopped by a rat infestation that killed some of the soldiers. Some scholars speculate that the rats carried diseases—plagues such as bubonic, septicemic, pneumonic. Those three diseases—all from the same bacterium (yersinia pestis)—affect the immune system, blood, and lungs. (See Isaiah 10.)Bible map of Assyrians attacking Jerusalem
Map of Babylonians conquering Jerusalem
Three battles of Ahab
Three battles of Ahab
Three battles of Ahab
Israel's King Ahab fought three battles with Syrian King Ben-Hadad. He won two and died in the third one. In the first battle, Syrians invaded and surrounded Israel's capital city, Samaria. Then they made a bold demand and got a little cocky and very drunk. The story of Ahab's three battles starts in 1 Kings 20:WE WANT YOUR WOMEN
Syrian King Ben-hadad mobilized all the armies in his region. He combined the infantry, cavalry, and chariot corps of 32 kings of kingdom territories and towns. Then he took them to Israel’s capital city of Samaria and attacked. He sent this message to King Ahab in the city: “Your silver and gold are mine. Your prettiest wives and children are mine.” Israel’s king sent this message: “You’re the king. You’re in charge. And you’re right. I am yours and everything I have belongs to you.” Ben-hadad’s messengers came back with a reply: “Okay then, get everything ready for us—your silver and gold and your wives and children. About this time tomorrow I’ll send in my people. They’ll search your palace and the houses in town and they’ll take whatever they want.”AHAB REJECTS THE SYRIAN DEMANDS
Ahab called in Israel’s leaders in town at the time and said, “Did you see that? This guy is looking for trouble. When he ordered me to give him my gold and silver and my wives and children, I said, ‘Sure. Done.’ But that wasn’t enough. He wants to take them.” 8Israel’s leaders told Ahab, “Don’t do it. Don’t give into him.” Ahab told Ben-Hadad’s messengers, “Tell the boss, my king, ‘I serve at your pleasure. Everything I have is yours. But they need to stay here.’ The messengers took Ahab’s words back to their king. Ben-Hadad had choice words for Ahab: “When I’m done pulverizing your town, there won’t be enough of it left to give each of my soldiers a little brag bag of Samaritan dust. If there is, may the gods do worse than that to me.” Ahab fired back his response: “A man armored for battle shouldn’t brag like the battle is over.” When Ben-Hadad got that message, he was drinking in the tents with the other kings. He gave the order: “Let’s go. Prep the attack.” So the army set up to launch the attack.AHAB DEFEATS BEN-HADAD
While Syrians prepared to attack, a prophet delivered a message to Ahab. “Here’s what the LORD says: ‘Do you see that overwhelming force out there? I’m giving it all to you today. It’s my way of reminding you of who I am.’” Ahab asked, “How?” The prophet delivered God’s battleplan. “Call up the elite warriors who guard governors of the provinces. They will win the battle for you.” Ahab said, “Who will engage the enemy first?” The prophet said, “That’ll be you.” Ahab called in all 232 elite soldiers from the provinces who were guarding the assembled governors in town. He also mustered an army of 7,000 regulars. 16It was noon when Ahab led his regulars outside the city walls. Ben-Hadad was in a tent, drinking himself into a deeper drunk, and relaxing with his 32 royal allies, each one a king. Israel’s elite corps of guards stepped forward, creating a first line of attack. Ben-Hadad’s scouts saw them coming and reported back, “Men from Samaria are advancing onto our position.” Ben-Hadad said, “Take them alive. It doesn’t matter if they come in peace or come to fight.” Ahab’s army of regulars followed behind the elite warriors. Each of the elites killed the first enemy he engaged. That was all it took to scatter the Syrians into a retreat at full speed. Israel ran many of them down. Ben-Hadad managed to climb on a horse and escape, with some of the cavalry. 21Ahab’s regular army charged the Syrians and inflicted heavy casualties on the cavalry and the chariot corps. 1 Kings 20:1-21For more Bible features
Stephen M. Miller's website , The Casual English Bible, and Bible YouTube channelJoab murders Abner
Joab murders Abner
Joab murders Abner, Israel's general
2 Samuel 3:17-27 PREPING TO DECLARE DAVID KING OF ISRAEL
17Abner sent a message to leaders throughout the northern tribes of Israel. He said, “You’ve been wanting David as your king for a long time. 18Now is the time to make it happen. God gave David this promise: ‘I’m going to save my people of Israel from the Philistines and all their enemies. I’m going to use you to do it.’”19Abner delivered this message in person to leaders of his tribe, Benjamin. Then he went to David, in Hebron, and told him that Israel was ready to transfer power to him.
20David threw a feast to welcome Abner and the 20 men who came with him. 21Abner said, “Let me go back and call the people together so everyone in Israel can pledge their allegiance to you. Then you can begin to rule wherever you like.” David sent Abner on his way to do that.
JOAB MURDERS ABNER
22Abner left peacefully about the time Joab and his men returned from raiding enemies. They came loaded with property they stole from places they raided.23Someone told Joab, “Just so you know, Abner the son of Ner was here to see the king. Afterward, the king sent him on his way in peace.” 24Joab went to the king and said, “What are you doing? Abner came here and you let him go? Why did you do that? 25Don’t you realize he came here on a scouting mission, to learn as much as possible about you and what you’re up to?”
26Joab stormed out of that meeting with David and secretly sent messengers to Abner. They caught up with him at the cistern well of Sirah. 27Abner went back to Hebron. Joab met him at the city gate and asked him to step to the side so they could have a private talk. Instead, Joab stabbed him in the stomach. It was payback for killing Joab’s brother, Asahel.
David’s kingdom of Judah
David's kingdom of Judah
David becomes king of his own tribe
The map of Israel and Judah changed after Philistines killed King Saul and most of his sons in battle. David's tribe of Judah crowned him king of the powerful tribe. The other tribes up north and east of the Jordan River stayed with Saul's son Ishbosheth. He was a weak king, easily intimated by his commanding general, who seems to have slept with one of the woman in the king's herem. Not kosher. Initially, the general, Abner, supported Ishbosheth. He even went to battle against David, to defend the crown for Saul's family. But Abner lost to David's forces, and would later broker a deal to join forces with David.Battle for Israel and Judah
That didn't work out so well, David's general, Joab, murdered him. It was revenge for Abner reluctantly killing Joab's brother in battle. After the battle, Joab's brother, Asahel, who "ran like a wild gazelle," targeted Abner, who was retreating for home.Asahel refused to fight anyone else. He kept eyes on his bullseye, the enemy commander running away. Abner looked back and yelled, “Is that you, Asahel?” He said, “You bet it’s me.” Abner said, “Go after one of these other men and take what you want.” Asahel kept gaining on him. Abner said, “Pick someone else. I don’t want to kill you. If I do, how could I ever face your brother Joab?” Asahel kept running. He ran right into the butt end of Abner’s spear. It bore through his stomach and broke through his back. Asahel, David’s nephew, dropped dead. When fellow warriors came to his body, they stood for a time in silence. (2 Samul 2:19-23)Before long, the map of Israel and Judah would change again. David would unite the tribes and use the force of his armies to pacify Israel's neighbors.
For other Bible versions see Bible Gateway. Website of Casual English Bible paraphraser and mapmaker, Stephen M. Miller.