2000 Years of The Jewish Kings Leading to Chanukah and Beyond

                                                                                   Nadene Goldfoot 
12 Tribes of Jacob-Israel from 12 Sons-
The Exodus happened in about 1445 BCE.  
Judges were first to solve the problems of the people.  These judged from about 1220 to 1015 BCE.  As in most tribes, the elders of the community acted as judges.  There were Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Shamgar, Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon

Notice where the tribe of Simeon is on the map.  Simeon was the 2nd son of Jacob.  To protect his sister, Dinah's good name, he and Levi attacked the men of the tribe of the man who had kidnapped her.  Gen. 34.  Jacob, his father, didn't agree with this act.  Simeon's tribe received territory in Eretz Yisrael in 2 places of the Negev.  At one time they lived in Seir/Edom- south of the Dead Sea and along the Red Sea at Eleath and Ezion Geber.  Semetic people lived here, the Edomites and were descendants of Esau and lived by hunting. Some settled in the mountains of Ephraim.

1. The first king of Israel was from the tribe of Benjamin, Saul.  c1040-1010 BCE.
2. David was from the tribe of Judah. 1010 -970 BCE
3. Solomon, his son, followed from 961-920 BCE  This was an inherited position.  Sons followed.

                       Israel then divided between north and south.
The southern part renamed itself Judah since the tribe of Judah lived there along with some Benjaminites.

        ISRAEL                                                               JUDAH
4. Jeroboam 933-912 BCE-21 years           4. Rehoboam 933-917 BCE -16 years        
5. Nadab 912-911 BCE-1 year                   5. Abijam  917-915 BCE-2 years
6. Baasha 911-888 BCE-23 years               6. Asa   915-875 BCE-40 years
7. Elah 888-887 BCE-1 year                       7. Jehoshaphat 875-851 BCE-24 years
8. Zimri 887 BCE -7 days                            8. Jehoram   851-844 BCE-7 years
9. Omri 887-876 BCE-1 year                     9. Ahaziah 844-843 BCE-1 year
10. Ahab 876-853 BCE -23 years             10. Athaliah 843-837 BCE-6 years
11. Ahaziah 853-idolator, brother next       11. Joash  837-798 BCE-39 years
12. Jehoram 853-843 BCE -10 years        12. Amaziah 798-780 BCE-18 years
13. Jehu 843-816 BCE--27 years              13. Azariah (Uzziah) 780-740 BCE-40 years
14. Jehoahaz 816-800 BCE-16 years         14. Jotham 740-735 BCE-5 years
15. Jehoash  800-785 BCE -15 years         15. Ahaz 735-720 BCE-15 years
16. Jeroboam II 785-745 BCE-40 years    16. Hezekiah 720-692 BCE-28 years
17. Zechariah 744 BCE  - 6 months            17. Manasseh 720-692 BCE-28 years
18. Shallum 743 BCE -5 months                 18. Amon 638-637 BCE-1 year
19. Menahem 743-736 BCE-7 years          19. Josiah  637-608 BCE-29 years
20. Pekahiah  736-735 BCE-1 year            20. Jehoahaz 608 BCE-3 months, captive-taken to Egypt
21. Pekah   735-730 BCE-5 years             21. Jehoiakim 608-598 BCE-10 years
22. Hoshea 730-721 BCE -9 years            22. Jehoiachin 598-597 BCE-1 year
Assyrian Attack                                       23. Zedekiah  597-586 BCE  Babylonian Attack-11 years

Judah had been taken to Babylonia by 586 BCE and were in exile.  The authority of the exilarchs in Babylonia was the basis of the authority until the 14th century CE.  From the 2nd century BCE, the Davidic house was thought to be the one to deliver the Messiah.

Hashmonean kings were also filling the role as high priests, too.  Jewish revolutionary movements of the 1st and 2nd centuries CE produced many claimants to be the messianic kingship. There were Andreas, Lukuas, General Bar Kokhba, etc.

The Hasmoneans was the name of a priestly family  and dynasty founded by Mattathias of Modiin and were called the Hashmonai (Hashmoneans).  Mattathias had 5 sons;   Judah the Maccabee, Jonathan, simon, John and Eleazar.  The directed the popular revolt against the hellenizing policy in Israel-Judah by the Syrian king Antiochus Epiphanes.

From 166-164 BCE, the Hasmoneans fought a number of battles against the Syrians and in 164 BCE, Judah captured Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple.  We celebrate this event to this day as Chanukah!

This was followed up by a series of raids to rescue the Jewish population of Ammon, Idumea, Gilead and the Galilee.  They were then defeated in 163 at Bet Zechariah where Eleazar was killed.  The Hasmoneans were able to get terms securing religious freedom for the Jews, but Judah and his party kept on fighting anyway and Judah fell at Elasa in 160 BCE.  John was murdered afterwards and Jonathan took over the leadership.  He then became the high priesthood in 152 BCE and governorship of Judah in 150 BCE.  Simon was able to get exemption from tribute from the Jews in 147 BCE.  He was then confirmed by the people as hereditary high priest, ethnarch and general in 142 BCE but was then murdered in 135 BCE.  His son, John Hyrcanus succeeded him and was defeated horribly by Antiochus VII Sidetes, .  Jerusalem was then taken by the Syrians after a prolonged siege and  Judea once more became a Seleucid province.

After the defeat of Antiochus in his war against Parthia, John launched an offense against Transjordan, Samaria and Idumea which marked the transition of the Hasmoneans to a semii-hellenized secular military dynasty.  This led to his repudiation of the Pharisees and his belonging to the aristocratic Sadducee party.
                                                                   

Herod, king -73 BCE-4 BCE-governor over the Galilee before becoming king of Judah.  His mother was Cypros, a Nabatean and his father was Antipater the Idumean.  He had been appointed king by the Senate in Rome.  He then captured Jerusalem in 37 BCE with a large Roman force.  He left a will.  In it he partitioned his kingdom which went to his sons, Archaelaus, Herod Antipas, and Philip.  

He was succeeded by his sons Judah Aristobulus in 105-104 BCE and Alexander Yannai in 104-76 BCE. Yanni was the first to adopt the royal title. He set up a standing mercenary army and conquered Transjordan, Idumea and the coastal plain.  The Pharisees were the leaders during the reign of his widow, Salome Alexandra from 76 to 69 BCE.  When she died, the Hasmonean power declined.  She had sons Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II who were not in agreement.  Their behavior led to the domination of Antipater and his son, Herod  the Idumean, who now had Roman help in taking over as king.  Pompey reduced the country's territory in 63 BCE.  Hyrcanus was just a puppet.

Aristobulus II and his sons Alexander and Antigonus Mattathias tried to regain power but failed.  Hyrcanus' granddaughter, Mariamne married Herod who put her to death in 29 BCE along with  other surviving Hasmoneans being Aristobulus II in 35 BCE,  Hyrcanus II in 30 BCE, and Mariamane's sons Alexander and Aristobulus in 7 BCE.  So ended the line of Hasmonean leadership after the fall of Judea.

Resource: The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia