A History of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Judah

This history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Judah is quite different

from the usual narratives of biblical history. It parallels the same

author’s History of the Kingdom of Israel (OLA 275) and is mainly

based on information provided by epigraphic sources dating from the

19th/18th century B.C. on, when Jerusalem and its rulers are first

mentioned. The book is divided in seven chapters. The first one deals

with the proto-history of Jerusalem in Bronze Age and Iron Age I. The

second one concerns the Davidic dynasty whose lineage is followed until

the mid-ninth century. Chapters III and IV continue the history of the

kingdom until the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonians in 587. After

ca. 800 B.C. the name of the kingdom was changed from Beth David

in Judah following internal dynastic problems. Chapter V examines some

questions concerning religion in Jerusalem and Judah, especially the

alleged sacred prostitution and the molk-sacrifices . Chapter

VI discusses the special case of the relations between the Yahwistic

sanctuary of Bethel, annexed to Judah by king Josiah, and the theonym

Bethel, attested in Jewish-Aramaean ambiences of the Persian period.

Chapter VII deals with burial customs and the conception of the

netherworld or Sheol, mainly from the monarchic period on.