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Jotham Of Judah

Jotham of Judah

Jotham (Yotam in Hebrew "God is perfect or complete") was the king of Judah, and son of Uzziah with Jerusha, daughter of Zadok. William F. Albright has dated his reign to 742 BC-735 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 740 BC-732 BC. Because his father Uzziah was afflicted with tzaraas towards the end of his reign, Jotham was appointed royal steward. Because both 2 Chronicles (26:21, 27:1) and 2 Kings 15:33 state Jotham became king at the age of 25, scholars have concluded that Jotham became stewart at 25, but upon his father's death sole king for 16 years. He is recorded as having built the Upper Gate of the Temple of Jerusalem, and extended the "wall of Ophel" (2 Chr. 27:3). The author of 2 Kings mentions that he fought wars against Rezin, king of the Arameans, and Pekah, king of Israel (15:37). The account of 2 Chronicles adds an account of his victory over the Amorites, which resulted in the Amorites paying him tribute of 100 talents of silver, and 10,000 kors each of wheat and barley (27:5). He was contemporary with the prophets Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah, by whose advice he benfitted. Category:Kings of ancient Judah

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than 6 million people, mainly in Israel, the West Bank, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. The core of the Tanakh (sometimes referred to as the Hebrew Bible), the Torah (which Christianity and Judaism traditionally hold to have been first recorded in the time of Moses 3,300 years ago), is written in (Biblical) Classical Hebrew. Jews have always called it לשון הקודש Lashon ha-Qodesh ("The Sacred Language") as the scriptures written in this language were considered sacred. Most scholars agree that after the first destruction of Jerusalem by the Nebuchadnezzar II and the Babylonians in 586 BCE, the kind of Hebrew prevalent in the Tanakh was replaced in daily use by Mishnaic Hebrew and a local version of Aramaic. After the depletion of the Jewish population of parts of Roman occupied Judea, it is believed that Hebrew gradually ceased to be a spoken language roughly around 200 CE, but has stayed as the major written language throughout the centuries. Not only religious, but texts for a large variety of purposes: letters and contracts, science, philosophy, medicine, poetry, protocols of courts—all resorted to Hebrew, which thus adapted itself to various new fields and terminologies by borrowings and new inventions. Hebrew was revitalized as a spoken language during the late 19th and early 20th century as Modern Hebrew, replacing a score of languages spoken by the Jews at that time, such as Arabic, Judezmo (also called Ladino), Yiddish, Russian, and other languages of the Jewish diaspora as the spoken language of the majority of the Jewish people living in Israel. Modern Hebrew became an official language in British-ruled Palestine in 1921, and the primary official language of the State of Israel, (Arabic maintained its official language status). The Hebrew name for the language is עברית, or Ivrit (IPA: )

History

While the term "Hebrew" as a nationality is customarily used to refer to the ancient Israelites, the classical Hebrew language was extremely similar to the Canaanite languages spoken by their neighbors, such as Phoenician; indeed, Moabite and Hebrew are often considered to be two dialects of the same language. Hebrew strongly resembles Aramaic and to a lesser extent South-Central Arabic, sharing many linguistic features with them.

Early history

Hebrew is an Afro-Asiatic language. This language family is generally thought by linguists to have originated somewhere in northeastern Africa, and began to diverge around the 8th millennium BCE, although there is much debate about the exact date and place. (The theory is espoused by most archeologists and linguists, but at odds with traditional reading of the Torah.) One branch of this family, Semitic, eventually reached the Middle East; it gradually differentiated into a variety of related languages. By the end of the 3rd millennium BCE the ancestral languages of Aramaic, Ugaritic, and other various Canaanite languages were spoken in the Levant alongside the influential dialects of Ebla and Akkad. As the Hebrew founders from northern Haran filtered south into and came under the influence of the Levant, like many sojourners into Canaan including the Philistines, they adopted Canaanite dialects. The first written evidence of distinctive Hebrew, the Gezer calendar, dates back to the 10th century BCE, the traditional time of the reign of David and Solomon. It presents a list of seasons and related agricultural activities. The Gezer calendar (named after the city in whose proximity it was found) is written in an old Semitic script, akin to the Phoenician one that through the Greeks and Etruscans later became the Roman script. The Gezer calendar is written without any vowels, and it does not use consonants to imply vowels even in the places where more modern spelling requires it (see below). Roman script, dates to the 7th century BCE.]] Numerous older tablets have been found in the region with similar scripts written in other Semitic languages, for example Protosinaitic. It is believed that the original shapes of the script go back to the hieroglyphs of the Egyptian writing, though the phonetic values are instead inspired by the acrophonic principle. The common ancestor of Hebrew and Phoenician is called Canaanite, and was the first to use a Semitic alphabet distinct from Egyptian. One ancient document is the famous Moabite Stone written in the Moabite dialect; the Siloam Inscription, found near Jerusalem, is an early example of Hebrew. Less ancient samples of Old Hebrew include the ostraka found near Lachish which describe events preceding the final capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian captivity of 586 BCE. The most famous work originally written in Hebrew is the Tanakh, though the time at which it was written is a matter of dispute (see dating the Bible for details). The earliest extant copies were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, written between the 2nd century BCE and the 1st century CE. The formal language of the latter Babylonian Empire was Aramaic (its name is either derived from "Aram Naharayim", Upper Mesopotamia, or from "Aram," the ancient name for Syria). The Persian Empire, which had captured Babylonia a few decades later under Cyrus, adopted Aramaic as the official language. Aramaic is also a North-West Semitic language, quite similar to Hebrew. Aramaic has contributed many words and expressions to Hebrew, mainly as the language of commentary in the Talmud and other religious works. In addition to numerous words and expressions, Hebrew also borrowed the Aramaic writing system. Although the original Aramaic letter forms were derived from the same Phoenician alphabet that was used in ancient Israel, they had changed significantly, both in the hands of the Mesopotamians and of the Jews, assuming the forms familiar to us today around the first century CE. Writings of that era (most notably, some of the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Qumran) are written in a script very similar to the "square" one still used today.

Later history

The Jews living in the Persian Empire adopted Aramaic, and Hebrew quickly fell into disuse. It was preserved, however, as the literary language of Bible study. Aramaic became the vernacular language of the renewed Judaea for the following 700 years. Famous works written in Aramaic include the Targum, the Talmud and several of Flavius Josephus' books (several of the latter were not preserved, however, in the original.) Following the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Jews gradually began to disperse from Judaea into foreign countries (this dispersion was hastened when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem (and turned it into a pagan city named Aelia Capitolina) in 135 CE after putting down Bar Kokhba's revolt.) For many hundreds of years Aramaic remained the spoken language of Mesopotamian Jews, and Lishana Deni, one of several Judæo-Aramaic languages, is a modern descendant that is still spoken by a few thousand Jews (and many non-Jews) from the area known as Kurdistan; however, it gradually gave way to Arabic, as it had given way to other local languages in the countries to which the Jews had gone. Hebrew was not used as a mother tongue for roughly 1800 years. However the Jews have always devoted much effort to maintaining high standards of literacy among themselves, the main purpose being to let any Jew read the Hebrew Bible and the accompanying religious works in the original (see rabbinic literature, Codes of Jewish law, The Jewish Bookshelf). It is interesting to note that the languages that the Jews adopted from their adopted nations, namely Ladino and Yiddish were not directly connected to Hebrew (the former being based on Spanish and Arabic borrowings, latter being a remote dialect of Middle High German), however, both were written from right to left using the Hebrew script. Hebrew was also used as a language of communication among Jews from different countries, particularly for the purpose of international trade. The most important contribution to preserving traditional Hebrew pronunciation in this period was that of scholars called Masoretes (from masoret meaning "tradition"), who from about the seventh to the tenth centuries CE devised detailed markings to indicate vowels, stress, and cantillation (recitation methods). The original Hebrew texts used only consonants, and later some consonants were used to indicate long vowels. By the time of the Masoretes this text was considered too sacred to be altered, so all their markings were in the form of pointing in and around the letters.

Revival

cantillation The revival of Hebrew as a mother tongue was initiated by the efforts of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858-1922) (אליעזר בן־יהודה). He joined the Jewish national movement and in 1881 emigrated to Eretz Israel, then a province of the Ottoman Empire. Motivated by the surrounding ideals of renovation and rejection of the diaspora "shtetl" lifestyle, Ben-Yehuda set out to develop tools for making the literary and liturgical language into everyday spoken language. However, his brand of Hebrew followed norms that had been replaced in Eastern Europe by more modern grammar and style, in the writings of people like Achad Ha-Am and others. His organizational efforts and involvement with the establishment of schools and the writing of textbooks pushed the vernacularization activity into a gradually accepted movement. It was not, however, until the 1904-1905 "Second aliyah" that Hebrew had caught real momentum in Ottoman Palestine with the new and better organized enterprises set forth by the new group of immigrants. When the British Mandate of Palestine recognized Hebrew as one of the country's three official languages (English, Arabic, and Hebrew, in 1922), its new formal status contributed to its diffusion. While many saw his work as fanciful or even blasphemous, many soon understood the need for a common language amongst Jews of pre-state Israel who at the turn of the 20th century were arriving in large numbers from diverse countries and speaking different languages. A Committee of the Hebrew Language was established. Later it became the Academy of the Hebrew Language, an organization that exists today. The results of his and the Committee's work were published in a dictionary (The Complete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew). Ben-Yehuda's work fell on fertile ground, and by the beginning of the 20th century, Hebrew was well on its way to becoming the main language of the Jewish population of both Ottoman and British pre-State Israel.

Modern Hebrew

Ben-Yehuda based Modern Hebrew on Biblical Hebrew. Often new words were coined by applying unused word-patterns to existing roots (Biblical k-t-v, "write," gave rise to modern Hebrew hikhtiv, "dictated," and hitkatev, "corresponded.") When this did not suffice and the Committee set out to invent a new word for a certain concept, it searched through the Biblical word-indexes and foreign dictionaries, particularly Arabic. While Ben-Yehuda preferred Semitic roots to European ones, the abundance of European Hebrew speakers led to the introduction of numerous foreign words. Other changes which had taken place as Hebrew came back to life were the systematization of the grammar - the Biblical syntax was sometimes limited and ambiguous -- and the adoption of standard Western punctuation. Modern Hebrew shows influences from Russian (for example, the Russian suffix -acia is used in nouns where English has the suffix -ation); German (particularly in combination words like "tapuakh-adama," meaning potato (German Erdapfel , earth-apple) or "iton" (German Zeitung, news-ity, news-paper). English has been a very strong influence, both from British influence during the period of the Mandate and American influence in the present day. Finally, Arabic, being the language of numerous Mizrahic and Sephardic Jewish immigrants from Arab countries as well as of the Palestinians and Israeli Arabs, has also had an important influence on Hebrew, especially in slang (for example, "sababa", meaning "excellent", or "ya'alla", meaning "come on".) Due to its many influences and its youth, Modern Hebrew has many characteristics which are distinctly not Semitic. At the phonetic level, it has abandoned the pharyngeal and emphatic consonants (in most pronunciations). It also uses the occasional foreign morpheme, in words such as רכבל ("rakevel") (meaning "cable car", formed by adding a lamed to the word for "vehicle") and רמזור ("ramzor") (meaning "traffic light", formed by adding a vav and a resh to the root for "hinting" and "allusion"). Even so, the Hebrew preserved part of the prominent characteristics of the Semitic languages. One of the main questions which occupying the researchers of the Modern Hebrew is how much the Modern Hebrew is a Semitic language. Another non-Semitic property of Modern Hebrew is the pronunciation of certain letters. For instance, the letter Heth (ח) now sounds like Khaf (כ), the letter 'Ayin (ע) now sounds like (sometimes) Alef (א), Qof (ק) sounds like Kaf (כּ), and Thav (ת) sounds like Teth (ט). Modern Hebrew is printed with a script known as "square". It is the same script, ultimately derived from Aramaic, that was used for copying of Bible books in Hebrew for two thousand years. This script also has a cursive version, which is used for handwriting. Hebrew has been the language of numerous poets, which include Rachel, Hayim Nahman Bialik, Shaul Tchernihovsky, Lea Goldberg, Avraham Shlonsky and Natan Alterman. Hebrew was also the language of hundreds of authors, one of whom is the Nobel Prize laureate Shmuel Yosef Agnon.

Hebrew language in the USSR

, Yevsektsiya The Soviet authorities considered Hebrew a "reactionary language" since it was associated with both Judaism and Zionism, and it was officially banned by the Narkompros (Commissariat of Education) as early as 1919. Hebrew books and periodicals ceased to be published and were seized from the libraries. Despite numerous protests in the West, teachers and students who attempted to study Hebrew language were pilloried and sentenced for "counter revolutionary" and later for "anti-Soviet" activities.

Dialects

According to Ethnologue, dialects of Hebrew include Standard Hebrew (General Israeli, Europeanized Hebrew), Oriental Hebrew (Arabized Hebrew, Yemenite Hebrew). In practice, there is also Ashkenazi Hebrew, still widely used in Ashkenazi Jewish religious services and studies in Israel and abroad. It was influenced by the Yiddish language. Sephardi Hebrew language is the basis of Standard Hebrew and not all that different from it, although traditionally it has had a greater range of phonemes. It was influenced by the Ladino language. Mizrahi (Oriental) Hebrew is actually a collection of dialects (including Yemenite) spoken liturgically by Jews in various parts of the Arab and Islamic world. It was influenced by the Arabic language. Nearly every immigrant to Israel is encouraged to adopt Standard Hebrew as their daily language. Phonologically, this "dialect" may most accurately be described as an amalgam of pronunciations preserving Sephardic vowel sounds and Ashkenazic consonant sounds—its recurring feature being simplification of differences among a wide array of pronunciations. This simplifying tendency also accounts for the collapse of the Ashkenazic /t/ and /s/ pronunciations of unaspirated and aspirated ת into the single phoneme /t/. Most Sephardic dialects differentiated between these two pronunciations as /t/ and /θ/. Within Israel, the pronunciation of "Standard Hebrew", however, more often reflects the national or ethnic origin of the individual speaker, rather than the specific recommendations of the Academy. For this reason, over half the population pronounces ר as , (a uvular trill, as in Yiddish and some varieties of German) or as (a uvular fricative, as in French or many varieties of German), rather than as /r/, an apical trill, as in Spanish. The pronunciation of this phoneme is often used as a determinant among Israelis when ascertaining the national origin of perceived foreigners.

Languages strongly influenced by Hebrew

See main article Jewish languages Yiddish, Ladino, Karaim, and Judaeo-Arabic were all highly influenced by Hebrew. Although none are completely derived from Hebrew, they all make extensive use of Hebrew loanwords. In a less direct manner, the revival of Hebrew is often cited by proponents of International auxiliary languages as the best proof that languages long dead, with small communities, or modified or created artificially can become living languages used by a large number of people.

Sounds

Hebrew has two kinds of stress: on the last syllable (milra‘) and on the penultimate syllable (the one preceding the last, mil‘el). The former is more frequent. Specific rules connect the location of the stress with the length of the vowels in the last syllable; however due to the fact that Modern Hebrew does not distinguish between long and short vowels, these rules are often ignored in everyday speech. Interestingly enough, the rules that specify the vowel length are different for verbs and nouns, which influences the stress; thus the mil‘el-stressed ókhel (="food") and milra‘-stressed okhèl (="eats", masculine) are written in the same way. Little ambiguity exists, however, due to nouns and verbs having incompatible roles in normal sentences. This is, however, also true in English, in, for example, the English word "conduct," in its nominal and verbal forms.

Vowels

vowel length The Hebrew word for vowels is tnu‘ot. The marks for these vowels are called Niqqud. Modern Israeli Hebrew has 5 vowel phonemes:
- /a/ (as in "car") - The vowels qamatz and patakh
- /e/ (as in "set") - The vowels seggol and tzereh
- /i/ (as in "beak")- The vowel khiriq
- /o/ (as in "horn")- The vowel kholam
- /u/ (as in "room")- The vowels shuruq and qubbutz In Biblical Hebrew, each vowel had three forms: short, long and interrupted (hataf). However, there is no audible distinction between the three in modern Israeli Hebrew. Hebrew phonetics include a special feature called shva. According to "Ha-Yesod, the Fundamentals of Hebrew" by Luba Uveeler and Norman M. Broznick, this feature is pronounced "Shva" and is spelled Shin Vav He. There are two kinds of shva: resting (nax) and moving (na' ). The resting shva is pronounced as a brief stop of speech. The moving shva sounds much like the English a in about. Hebrew also has dagesh, a strengthening. There are two kinds of strengthenings: light (qal, known also as dagesh lene) and heavy (hazaq or dagesh forte). There are two sub-categories of the heavy dagesh: structural heavy (hazaq tavniti) and complementing heavy (hazaq mashlim). The light affects the phonemes /b/ /k/ /p/ in the beginning of a word, or after a resting schwa. Structural heavy emphases belong to certain vowel patterns (mishkalim and binyanim; see the section on grammar below), and correspond originally to doubled consonants. Complementing strengthening is added when vowel assimilation takes place. As mentioned before, the emphasis influences which of a pair of (former) allophones is pronounced. Interestingly enough, historical evidence indicates that /g/, /d/ and /t/ used to have strengthened versions of their own, however they had disappeared from virtually all the spoken dialects of Hebrew. All other consonants except gutturals may receive the heavy emphasis, as well. One-letter words are always attached to the following word. Such words include: the definite article h (="the"); prepositions b (="in"), m (="from"), l (="to"); conjunctions sh (="that"), k (="as", "like"), v (="and"). The vowel that follows the letter thus attached depends in general on the beginning of the next word and the presence of a definite article which may be swallowed by the one-letter word. The rules for the prepositions are complicated and vary with the formality of speech. In most cases they are followed by a moving schwa, and for that reason they are pronounced as be, me and le. In more formal speech, if a preposition is put before a word which begins with a moving schwa, then the preposition takes the vowel /i/ (and the initial consonant is weakened), but in colloquial speech these changes do not occur. For example, colloquial be-kfar (="in a village") becomes bi-khfar. If l or b are followed by the definite article ha, their vowel changes to /a/. Thus
- be-ha-matos becomes ba-matos (="in the plane"). However it does not happen to m, therefore me-ha-matos is a valid form, which means "from the plane". :
- indicates that the given example is not grammatically correct

Consonants

The Hebrew word for consonants is ‘itsurim (עיצורים). ע was once pronounced as a voiced pharyngeal fricative. Modern Ashkenazi (Northern and Eastern European Jews) reading tradition ignores this; however, Mizrahi (Middle Eastern and North African Jews) and Israeli Arabs accent these phonemes in a traditional semitic fashion which resembles Arabic `ain ع. Georgian Jews pronounce it as a glottalized g. Western European Sephardim and Dutch Ashkenazim traditionally pronounce it as "ng" in "sing" — a pronunciation which can also be found in the Italki tradition and, historically, in south-west Germany. Postalveolar sounds (with the exception of ) are not native to Hebrew, and only found in borrowings. The pairs (/b/, /v/), (/k/, /x/), (/p/, /f/), written respectively by the letters bet (ב), kaf (כ) and pe (פ) have historically been allophonic. In Modern Hebrew, however, all six sounds are phonemic, due to mergers involving formerly distinct sounds (/v/ merging with /w/, /k/ merging with /q/, /x/ merging with ), loss of consonant gemination (which formerly distinguished the stop members of the pairs from the fricatives when intervocalic), and the introduction of syllable-initial /f/ through foreign borrowings.

Historical sound changes

Standard (non-Oriental) Israeli Hebrew (SIH) has undergone a number of splits and mergers in its development from Biblical Hebrew .
- BH /b/ had two allophones, [b] and [v]; the [v] allophone has merged with /w/ into SIH /v/
- BH /k/ had two allophones, [k] and [x]; the [k] allophone has merged with /q/ into SIH /k/, while the [x] allophone has merged with into SIH /x/
- BH /t/ and have merged into SIH /t/
- BH and have merged into SIH
- BH /p/ had two allophones, [p] and [f]; the incorporation of loanwords into Modern Hebrew has probably resulted in a split, so that /p/ and /f/ are separate phonemes

Grammar

See main article Hebrew grammar Hebrew grammar is mostly analytical, expressing such forms as dative, ablative, and accusative using prepositional particles rather than grammatical cases. However inflection does play an important role in the formation of the verbs, nouns and the genitive construct, which is called "smikhut". Words in smikhut are often combined with hyphens.
Writing system
Modern Hebrew is written from right to left using the Hebrew alphabet. Modern scripts are based on the "square" letter form. A similar system is used in handwriting, but the letters tend to be more circular in their character, and sometimes vary markedly from their printed equivalents. Biblical Hebrew text contains nothing but consonants and spaces, and most modern Hebrew texts contain only consonants, spaces and western-style punctuation. A pointing system (nikud, from the root word meaning "points" or "dots") developed around the 5th Century C.E. is used to indicate vowels and syllabic stresses in some religious books, and is almost always found in modern poetry, children's literature, and texts for beginning students of Hebrew. The system is also used sparingly to avoid certain ambiguities of meaning — such as when context is insufficient to distinguish between two identically spelled words — and in the transliteration of foreign names. All Hebrew consonant phonemes are represented by a single letter. Although a single letter might represent two phonemes — the letter "bet," for example, represents both /b/ and /v/ — the two sounds are always related "hard" (plosive) and "soft" (fricative) forms, their pronunciaton being very often determined by context. In fully pointed texts, the hard form normally has a dot, known as a dagesh, in its center. The letters hei, vav and yud can represent consonantal sounds (/h/, /v/ and /j/, respectively) or serve as a markers for vowels. In the latter case, these letters are called "emot qria" ("matres lectionis" in Latin, "mothers of reading" in English). The letter hei at the end of a word usually indicates a final /a/, which in turn is usually indicative of feminine gender. Vav may represent /o/ or /u/, and yod may represent /i/. There is no consonantal marker for /e/. In some modern Israeli texts, the letter alef is used to indicate long /a/ sounds in foreign names, particularly those of Arabic origin. Terminal syllabic emphasis is most common. Fully pointed texts will note variations with a vertical line placed underneath the first consonant of the emphasized syllable, to the left of the vowel mark if there is one.
Romanization
See also Romanization of Hebrew The Hebrew language is normally written in the Hebrew alphabet. Due to publishing difficulties, and the unfamiliarity of many readers with the alphabet, there are many ways of transcribing Hebrew into Roman letters. The most accurate method is the International Phonetic Alphabet. It is used (in a simplified ASCII form) in the section concerned with Phonology, to describe the sounds of the Hebrew language. However, the IPA is not well known, and is often considered cumbersome for transcribing pronunciations for a general audience. Therefore this article uses a different system to express Hebrew pronunciation, and at least some orthographic peculiarities. The system comes down to the following:
- The letter tzadi (צ) is transcribed by "c" so that it could be distinguished from other combinations of /t/ and /s/, although "ts" or "tz" is usually acceptable.
- The letter ‘ayin (ע) is transcribed ', the same as alef. In word-final position, this phoneme is always preceded by the vowel /a/.
- The letter shin (ש) is transcribed by "sh", and the letter sin as "s".
- Both the letter tav (ת) and the letter tet (ט) are transcribed by "t".
- The letter he (ה) at the end of a word, in those cases where it marks feminine gender, is transcribed by "ah" (it is read /a/).
- The letter chet (ח) is usually transcribed by "ch" as there is no "ch" sound in hebrew. "kh" is usually acceptable but not as common. "h" is occasionally used but often avoided as "h" is also used for he (ה).
- The letter qof (ק) is transcribed by "q" (it is pronounced /k/ by many speakers).
- Single-letter prepositions and the definite article are separated with a dash (-) from their subject.
- Stresses and schwas are not marked.
- The vowels are always written.
- The letter yod is usually transcribed by "y".
See also

- Common phrases in Hebrew
- Cantillation
- Hebrew alphabet
- Niqqud (vowel points)
- Samaritan Hebrew
- The study of Hebrew
- Hebrew literature
Notes
# [http://www.jewishmag.com/43mag/ben-yehuda/ben-yehuda.htm Eliezer Ben Yehuda and the Resurgence of the Hebrew Language] by Libby Kantorwitz # [http://www.zionistarchives.org.il/ZA/SiteE/pShowView.aspx?GM=Y&ID=48&Teur=Protest%20against%20the%20suppression%20of%20Hebrew%20in%20the%20Soviet%20Union%20%201930-1931 Protest against the suppression of Hebrew in the Soviet Union 1930-1931] signed by Albert Einstein, among others # Robert Hetzron. (1987). Hebrew. In The World's Major Languages, ed. Bernard Comrie, 686–704. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-520521-9.
External links

- [http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=heb Ethnologue report for Hebrew]
- [http://hebrew-academy.huji.ac.il/english.html Academy of Hebrew Language], the Institute which prescribes standards for modern Hebrew grammar, orthography, transliteration, and punctuation based upon the study of Hebrew's historical development.
- History of the Hebrew Language
- [http://www.adath-shalom.ca/history_of_hebrew.htm History of the Hebrew Language Steinberg]
- [http://www.adath-shalom.ca/rabin_he.htm Short History of the Hebrew Language Rabin]
- [http://www.adath-shalom.ca/israeli_hebrew_tene.htm Israeli Hebrew Tene]
- [http://www.adath-shalom.ca/israel_lang_policy_rosen.htm Israel Language Policy and Linguistics Rosén]
- [http://www.adath-shalom.ca/hebrew_words_history.htm Words and their History Kutscher]
- [http://www.adath-shalom.ca/hebrew_slang_sappan.htm Hebrew Slang and Foreign Loan Words Sappan ]
- Grammars
- [http://foundationstone.com.au/HtmlSupport/FrameSupport/onlineHebrewTutorialFrame.html Online Hebrew Tutorial] (foundationstone)
- [http://perso.wanadoo.fr/babel-site/ Hebrew is easy] (babel-site)
- [http://www.adath-shalom.ca/gk_cont.htm Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar]
- Dictionaries
- [http://www.hebrewatmilah.org/maskilon1/index.htm Root-based] (Maskilon)
- [http://milon.morfix.co.il/ Word-search] English-Hebrew and Hebrew-English (Morfix)
- [http://www.hebrewatmilah.org/maskilon3/index.htm Hebrew-English] (Maskilon)
- [http://www.faithofgod.net/davar/ Hebrew-English] (DAVAR freeware, english)
- [http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Hebrew-english/ Hebrew-English] (Webster's Rosetta Edition)
- [http://www.hebrewatmilah.org/maskilon4/index.htm English-Hebrew] (Maskilon)
- General
- [http://www.yiwoodmere.org/library/cybrary/hebrew.html Learning Hebrew - Links], Young Israel
- [http://www.yomanim.com Hebrew Writings and Diaries]
- [http://infoshare1.princeton.edu/katmandu/hebrew/atoc.html Hebrew Abbreviations], Princeton University Library
- [http://www.mikledet.com Mikledet.com]: Send Hebrew emails without having a Hebrew keyboard.
- [http://www.amhaaretz.org/translit/ Hebrew translit]: type in Hebrew using an English keyboard
- Category:Jewish languages Category:Judaism Category:Guttural R Category:Semitic languages Category:Canaanite languages Category:Languages of Israel ko:히브리어 ja:ヘブライ語 simple:Hebrew language th:ภาษาฮีบรู

Kingdom of Judah

The Kingdom of Judah (Hebrew מַלְכוּת יְהוּדָה, Standard Hebrew Malḫut Yəhuda, Tiberian Hebrew Malḵûṯ Yəhûḏāh) 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 means Praise of God. God. The territory of the Kingdom of Judah is marked light-green.]] 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 about 8,900 km² (3,435 square miles).

The Kings of Judah

For this period, most historians follow the chronology established by William F. Albright, by Edwin R. Thiele, or by Gershon Galil, all of which are shown below. All dates are BCE.

Notes

#Hezekiah: contemporary with Sennacherib of Assyria, and Merodach-baladan of Babylon. #Zedekiah: King during the second rebellion (588–586 BCE). 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.

From the end of the kingdom to the present

After the end of the ancient kingdom the area passed into foreign rule, apart from brief periods, under the following powers: 587–539 BC: Babylonian Empire 539–332 BC: Persian Empire 332–305 BC: Empire of Alexander the Great 305–198 BC: Ptolemaids 198–141 BC: Seleucids 141–37 BC: The Hasmonean state in Israel established by the Maccabees, since 63 BC under Roman supremacy 37 BC–AD 70: Herodian Dynasty ruling Judea under Roman supremacy (37 BC-6 AD, 41-44 AD), interchanging with direct Roman rule (6-41, 44-66). This ended in the first Jewish Revolt of 66 - 73, which saw the Temple destroyed in 70. AD 70–395: province of Roman Empire first called Judea, after 135 called Palestine. In 395 the Roman Empire is split into a Western and an Eastern part. 395–638: Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire 638–1099: Arab Caliphates and subject rulers 1099–1187: Crusader states, most notably the Kingdom of Jerusalem 1187–1260: dominated by the Ayyubides of Egypt 1260–1516: dominated by the Mamluks of Egypt 1516–1917: Ottoman Turks, having previously conquered the Byzantine Empire in 1453 1918–1948: British mandate of Palestine under, first, League of Nations, then, successor United Nations; the Emirate of Trans-Jordan was separated from the rest of Palestine in 1922, and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan became independent upon the expiration of the League of Nations Mandate in 1946. May 1948 to present: independent State of Israel 1948-1967 the West Bank was occupied by and in 1950 annexed to Jordan 1967 to present: the West Bank occupied by Israel in the Six Day War, since 1994 a semi-autonomous Palestinian Authority governs territories in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

External links

- [http://www.complete-bible-genealogy.com/judah_israel_kings.htm Complete Bible Genealogy] A synchronized chart of the kings of Judah and Israel Category:Ancient Israel and Judah Judah, Kingdom of ja:ユダ王国 ko:유다 왕국

William F. Albright

William Foxwell Albright (May 24, 1891–September 19/September 20, 1971) was an evangelical American Methodist archaeologist, biblical scholar, linguist and expert on ceramics. He was born in Coquimbo, Chile to Protestant missionaries Wilbur Finley and Zephine Viola Foxwell Albright, the eldest of six. He married Dr. Ruth Norton in 1921 in Jerusalem. The couple had four sons. Albright received his Ph.D. in 1913 from Johns Hopkins University, where he later taught from 1929 to 1959 and was director of the American school of Oriental Research at Johns Hopkins. One of his major achievements was confirming the authenticity of the Dead Sea Scrolls following their discovery. In 1923 he made the first significant excavation of a tumulus near Jerusalem--possibly the site where an ancient king of Judah was memorialized. Another noteworthy contribution he made to the field of Biblical archaeology was his study of the LMLK seals and the impact it had on other researchers from 1925-1960 (Grena, 2004, pp. 149-78). He edited the Anchor Bible volumes on Jeremiah, Matthew, and Revelation; his books include Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan, The Archaeology of Palestine: From the Stone Age to Christianity, and The Biblical Period from Abraham to Ezra. The W. F. Albright institute of Archaeological research, a branch of the American Schools of Oriental Research is located in Jerusalem.

References

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-

External links

- [http://aiar.org/ Official AIAR website]
- [http://www.BiblicalArcheology.Net Resources on Biblical Archaeology] Albright, William F. Albright, William F. Albright, William F. Albright, William F. Albright, William F. Albright, William F.

742 BC

Centuries: 9th century BC - 8th century BC - 7th century BC Decades: 790s BC 780s BC 770s BC 760s BC 750s BC - 740s BC - 730s BC 720s BC 710s BC 700s BC 690s BC ----

Events and trends

- February 26 747 BC - Nabonassar becomes king of Assyria
- 747 BC - Meles becomes king of Lydia
- 745 BC - Crown of Assyria seized by Pul, who takes the name Tiglath-Pileser III
- 743 BC - Duke Zhuang of the Chinese state of Zheng comes to power.
- 740 BC - Tiglath-Pileser III conquers the city of Arpad in Syria after two years of siege.
- 740 BC - Start of Ahaz's reign of Judah.

Significant people

- Romulus and Remus Category:740s BC

E. R. Thiele

Edwin R. Thiele (1895 – 1986) was a American missionary, writer, archaeologist, and professor of the Old Testament. He is best known for his doctoral research on Old Testament chronology at the University of Chicago. This work, in which Thiele attempted to construct a consistent chronology of the Hebrew kings, became well known after its publication under the title The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings. Thiele, Edwin R. Thiele, Edwin R. Thiele, Edwin R. Thiele, Edwin R. Thiele, Edwin R.

740 BC

Centuries: 9th century BC - 8th century BC - 7th century BC Decades: 790s BC 780s BC 770s BC 760s BC 750s BC - 740s BC - 730s BC 720s BC 710s BC 700s BC 690s BC ----

Events and trends

Significant people

- Romulus and Remus Category:740s BC

732 BC

Centuries: 9th century BC - 8th century BC - 7th century BC Decades: 780s BC 770s BC 760s BC 750s BC 740s BC - 730s BC - 720s BC 710s BC 700s BC 690s BC 680s BC ----

Events and trends

- 739 BC - Hiram II becomes king of Tyre
- 738 BC - King Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria invades Israel, forcing it to pay tribute
- 734 BC - Naxus in Sicily founded as a colony of Chalcis in Euboea. (traditional date)
- 732 BC - Hoshea becomes the last king of Israel
- 730 BC - Osorkon IV succeeds Sheshonq IV as king of the Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt
- 730 BC - Piye succeeds his father Kashta as king of the Nubian kingdom of Napata
- 730 BC - Mattan II succeeds Hiram II as king of Tyre

Significant people

- Category:730s BC

Tzaraas

Tzaraath (tzaraas, tzaraat, tsaraas, tsaraat; Hebrew צרעת) was an affliction mentioned in the Tanach and other Jewish sources, starting in Leviticus chapters 13–14. Although the term is commonly mistranslated leprosy, tzaraath was not leprosy. It affected primarily the afflicted person's skin, but sometimes his clothes and/or house. It is traditionally believed to have come not through natural means but as a punishment for sin, and to have been cured not through natural means but through repentance and forgiveness. There are no reported recent cases.

Causes of tzaraath

The Talmud (Babylonian Talmud Arachin 16a) lists seven causes for tzaraath: (1) lashon hara (speaking negatively of others), (2) murder, (3) a vain oath, (4) illicit sexual intercourse, (5) pride, (6) theft and (7) stinginess. However, other midrashic sources add other reasons, and one source states categorically that tzaraath appeared only as punishment for lashon hara. Midrash Rabbah states that tzaraath initially affected a person's house. If he repented, it required only the removal of affected stones; if not, it required tearing down the entire house (as the tzaraath would not go away). Then the plagues came upon one's clothes. If he repented, they only required washing; if not, they required burning. Then the plagues would come upon a person's body. If he repented, he underwent purification; if not, "he shall dwell alone" (Leviticus 13:46).

Types of tzaraath

Tzaraath of garments

Tzaraath could appear upon any article made of wool, linen, or leather, not only garments; however, as most such items are garments, this form of tzaraas is commonly referred to as that of garments.

Tzaraath of houses

If tzaraath were to appear upon the bricks of a house, everything in the house would be removed from the house, and a kohen would then examine the bricks. Depending on the severity of the tzaraath, the bricks may need to be removed, or the house demolished. Tzaraath of houses is viewed by some as a punishment, by others as a reward or blessing, as follows. It may be a punishment for stinginess. Suppose someone's neighbors ask him for the use of some item — a tool, perhaps — and he replies that he has no such item. Tzaraath may appear upon his house, so that all of his possessions are laid outside (see above), his neighbors will be able to look and see that he does indeed have whatever he would not lend them. On the other hand, Rashi states (basing himself on a Midrashic source) that tzaraath of houses was a blessing on the Israelites when they entered Canaan in the thirteenth century BC. The Canaanites had hid their gold and other valuables in the walls of their houses. When tzaraath appeared on a house and the bricks were removed, the homeowner would find the treasures that had been hidden. Category:Jewish law and rituals Category:Hebrew words

Books of Kings

The Books of Kings (also known as [The Book of] Kings in Hebrew: Sefer Melachim מלכים) is a part of Judaism's Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible. It was originally written in Hebrew, and it was later included by Christianity as part of the Old Testament.

It contains accounts of the kings of the ancient Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah. They contain the annals of the Jewish commonwealth from the accession of Solomon till the subjugation of the kingdom by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians (apparently a period of about four hundred and fifty-three years). The books of Chronicles are more comprehensive in their contents than those of Kings. The latter synchronize with 1 Chronicles 28 - 2 Chronicles 36:21. While in the Chronicles greater prominence is given to the priestly or Levitical office, in the Kings greater prominence is given to the royal office. Kings appears to have been written considerably earlier than Chronicles, and as such is generally considered a more reliable historical source.

Authorship

The authorship, or rather compilation, of these books is uncertain. The sources of the narrative are explicitly given as: #The "book of the acts of Solomon" (1 Kings 11:41) #The "book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah" (14:29; 15:7, 23, etc.) #The "book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel" (14:19; 15:31; 16:14, 20, 27, etc.). The date of its composition was perhaps some time between 561 BC, the date of the last chapter (2 Kings 25), when Jehoiachin was released from captivity by Evil-merodach, and 538 BC, the date of the decree of deliverance by Cyrus the Great.

Similarities with other Biblical books

There are some portions that are almost identical to the Book of Jeremiah, e.g., 2 Kings 24:18-25 and Jeremiah 52; 39:1-10; 40:7-41:10. There are also many undesigned coincidences between Jeremiah and Kings (2 Kings 21-23 and Jer. 7:15; 15:4; 19:3, etc.), and events recorded in Kings of which Jeremiah had personal knowledge. Because of this, traditionally Jeremiah was credited the author of the books of Kings. An alternative supposition is that Ezra, after the Babylonian captivity, compiled them from official court chronicles of David, Solomon, Nathan, Gad, and Iddo, and that he arranged them in the order in which they now exist. It is more usually said that Ezra was the compiler of the Books of Chronicles, an alternate history of the period of the kings. Recent scholars have pointed to similarities of the Books of Kings with the majority of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, and posited their joint compilation by a single author, the Deuteronomist, or Deuteronomic historian. Followers of this theory generally see the Books of Kings as a compilation, in which the Deuteronomic Historian has edited together various other texts, and interpolated his own comments, to form a single narrative.

Organization

The two books of Kings comprise the fourth book in the second canonical division of Hebrew Scriptures: in the threefold division of the Tanach, these books are ranked among the Prophets. The present division into two books was first made by the Septuagint, which numbers them as the third and fourth books of "Kingdoms", the two books of Samuel being considered the first and second books of Kingdoms; this numbering was also followed in the Vulgate with 1-4 Kings, but most modern Christian Bibles have two books of Samuel and two of Kings.

In Christianity

The Books of Kings are frequently quoted or alluded to by (Matthew 6:29; 12:42; Luke 4:25, 26; 10:4; comp. 2 Kings 4:29; Mark 1:6; comp. 2 Kings 1:8; and Matthew 3:4, etc.).

External links

Online translations of the Books of Kings:
- Original text:
- [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09a01.htm מלכים א Melachim Aleph - Kings A] (Hebrew - English at Mechon-Mamre.org)
- [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt09b01.htm מלכים ב Melachim Bet - Kings B] (Hebrew - English at Mechon-Mamre.org)
- Jewish translations:
- [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et09a01.htm 1 Kings at Mechon-Mamre] (Jewish Publication Society translation)
- [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et09b01.htm 2 Kings at Mechon-Mamre] (Jewish Publication Society translation)
- [http://www.chabad.org/library/archive/LibraryArchive2.asp?AID=15753 Melachim I - Kings I (Judaica Press)] translation with Rashi's commentary at Chabad.org
- [http://www.chabad.org/library/archive/LibraryArchive2.asp?AID=15754 Melachim II - Kings II (Judaica Press)] translation with Rashi's commentary at Chabad.org
- Christian translations:
-
- Related article:
- [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=226&letter=K&search=Kings Books of Kings article] (Jewish Encyclopedia) Kings, Books of Kings zh-min-nan:Lia̍t-ông-kí ko:열왕기 상 ja:列王記

Ophel

Ophel - hill; mound, the long, narrow, rounded promontory on the southern slope of the temple hill in Jerusalem, between the Tyropoeon and the Kedron valley (2 Chr. 27:3; 33:14; Neh. 3:26, 27). It was surrounded by a separate wall, and was occupied by the Nethinim after the Captivity. This wall has been discovered by the engineers of the Palestine Exploration Fund at the south-eastern angle of the temple area. It is 4 feet below the present surface. In 2 Kings 5:24 this word is translated "tower" (R.V., "hill"), denoting probably some eminence near Elisha's house. Category:Jerusalem

Arameans

The Aramaeans, or Arameans, were a Semitic, nomadic people who originated or had lived in the Syrian Desert and the Fertile Crescent. Aramaeans have never had a unified nation-state; they were divided in independent kingdoms all across the Near East. Yet to these Aramaeans befell the privilege of imposing their language upon the entire Near East and beyond.

Language

Aramaeans are mostly defined by their use of the Aramaic language, first written using the Phoenician alphabet slightly modified. The Aramaean language, or Aramaic, belongs -- like Hebrew, Ammonite and others -- to the north-western group of Semitic dialects. As early as the 8th century BC, Aramaic language and writing competed with the Akkadian language and script (cuneiform) in Assyria, and thereafter it spread throughout the Orient. Around 500 BC, when the Achaemenid monarchs looked for a tongue that could be understood by all their subjects, they chose Aramaic, which became the lingua franca of their vast empire. It was not until Greek emerged several centuries later that Aramaic lost its prestige as the most sophisticated language; but it remained unchallenged as the common dialect of all peoples of the Near East and was to remain so until the Arab invasion (7th century CE).

History

The origin of the Aramaeans is still uncertain, arising from the limited amount of evidence regarding the mention of Aramaeans in Mesopotamian inscriptions. The appearance of the Aramaeans is retraced to two different dates: the 14th and the 12th depending upon the acceptance of some kind of relationship between the Aramaeans and the Ahlamû.

14th century BC

The Ahlamû are first mentioned in the el-Amarna letters alluding to the king of Babylon; the presence of the Ahlamû are also attested in Assyria, Nippur and even at Dilmun (Bahrain); Shalmaneser I (1274-1245 BC) defeated the Shattuara, King of Mitanni and his Hittite and Ahlamû mercenaries at Jazirah. In the following century, they cut (the Ahlamû) the road from Babylon to Hattusas, and Tukulti-Ninurta I (1244-1208 BC) claims that he conquered Mari, Hana and Rapiqum on the Euphrates and "the mountain of the Ahlamû".

12th century BC

For the first time, an inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I (1115-1077 BC) refers to the ‘Ahlamû-Aramaeans’ (Ahlame Armaia) and from then on, the Ahlamû rapidly disappear from Assyrian annals -- to be replaced by the Aramaeans (Aramu, Arimi). ‘Ahlamû-Aramaeans’ would consider the Aramaeans as an important and in time dominant faction of the Ahlamû tribes, however it is possible that the two peoples had nothing is common, but operated in the same area.

11th century B.C.

The Aramaeans were, in the 11th century BC, established in Syria. The Bible tells us that Saul, David and Solomon (late 11th to 10th centuries) fought against the Aramaeans kingdoms across the northern frontier of Israel: Aram-Sôvah in the Beq’a, Aram-Bêt-Rehob and Aram-Ma’akah around Mount Hermon, Geshur in the Hauran, and Damascus. Farther north, the Aramaeans were in possession of Hamath on the Orontes and were soon to become strong to dissociate the Neo-Hittite block.

10th – 9th centuries BC

The Aramaeans conquered, during the 10th and the 9th centuries, Sam’al (Zenjirli), the region of Aleppo which they renamed Bît-Agushi, and Til-Barsip, which became the chief town of Bît-Adini. At the same time, Aramaeans invaded the steppe to the east of the Euphrates, where they settled in such numbers that the whole region became known as Aram-Naharaim or "Aram of the two rivers". One of their earliest kingdoms in Mesopotamia was Bît-bahiâni (Tell Halaf).

From 8th century BC

Aramaean kingdoms were subjugated by Adad-nirari II, Ashurnasirpal II, and his son Shalmaneser III, who destroyed many of the small tribes, and gave control of Syria and local trade and natural resources to the Assyrians. Some Assyrian kings even took Aramaean wives. Though without a state, Arameans continued their presence in the Near East, where they were assimilated into the local societies.

Religion and art

It appears from their inscriptions as well as from their names, that Aramaeans worshipped Sumero-Akkadian and Canaanite gods, such Haddad, (Adad), the storm-god, El, the supreme deity of Canaan, Sin, Ishtar (whom they called ‘Attar), the Phoenician goddess Anat (‘Atta) and others. The Aramaeans apparently followed the traditions of the country where they settled. The King of Damascus, for instance, employed Phoenician sculptors and ivory-carvers. In tell Halaf-Guzana, the palace of Kapara, an Aramaean ruler (9th century B.C.), was decorated with orthostats and with statues that display a mixture of Mesopotamian, Hittite and Hurrian influences.

Modern

Modern Arameans, also known as Syriacs, are mostly Christians. Modern Arameans are the original Syrians, but because of the large modern-day Arab population with this appellation, the term Syriacs is used to refer to more recent Aramaic-speaking peoples. These people are also called Assyrians or Chaldeans living in northern Iraq. The modern-day Arameans are followers of the Melkite, Maronite, Syriac Catholic, Chaldean Catholic, Syriac Orthodox, Antiochian Orthodox, and Assyrian Churches. The original word for Syriac in Syriac-Aramaic is Suryoye/Suryaye/Suroye/Suraye. The term for Syriac in Arabic is Suryani.

External references

- [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1701&letter=A Jewish Encyclopedia:] Aram-Naharaim
- [http://leb.net/~farras/aram.htm The Arameans]

References

- S. Moscati, 'The Aramaean Ahlamû', FSS, IV (1959), pp. 303-7;
- M. Freiherr Von Oppenheim, Der Tell Halaf, Leipzig, 1931 pp. 71-198;
- M. Freiherr Von Oppenheim, Tell Halaf, III, Die Bauwerke, Berlin, 1950;
- A. Moortgat, Tell Halaf IV, Die Bildwerke, Berlin, 1955;
- B. Hrouda, Tell Halaf IV, Die Kleinfunde aus historischer Zeit, Berlin, 1962;
- G. ROUX, Ancient Iraq, London, 1980. Category:Torah people Category:History of Syria
- Category:Eurasian nomads

Kingdom of Israel

The Kingdom of Israel (Hebrew: מַלְכוּת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Standard Hebrew Malḫut Yisraʼel, Tiberian Hebrew Malḵûṯ Yiśrāʼēl) was the Kingdom proclaimed by the Israelite nation around 1030-1020 BCE. The nation itself was formed as the Israelites left the Land of Goshen, Egypt during the Exodus at an uncertain date, often considered to be in the late 13th century BCE. Prior to the establishment of the kingdom, the Hebrew people, (the Israelites) were led by the patriarchs and later by Judges. The notion of kingship was for a long time anathemetised, as it was seen as one man being put in a position of reverence and power that in their faith was reserved for the one true God. According to the Bible, it was Samuel, one of last of the judges, to whom the nation appealed for a king, as his sons, who had been appointed judges over Israel, misused the office. Although he tried to disuade them, they were resolute and Samuel anointed Saul ben Kish from the tribe of Benjamin as king.

United Monarchy

Benjamin Around 1030-1020 BCE (chronology varies), the twelve tribes of Israel united to form the Kingdom of Israel. Saul was the first King of Israel. He unified the tribes under a single Israelite authority, but, according to the book Samuel, due to his disobedience to God, he ruled for only two years. David, the second King of Israel, established Jerusalem as Israel's national capital around 3,000 years ago. Before then, Shilo (modern day Tel Shilo) had been capital of Israel. David succeeded in truly unifying the Hebrew tribes, and firmly consolidated the monarchical government. He embarked on successful military campaigns against Israel's enemies, and defeated bitter foes such as the Philistines, thus creating secure borders for Israel. David established a central government in Jerusalem, a standing army, judiciaries across the land, and a sophisticated infrastructure. Under King David, Israel grew from Kingdom to Empire, and its military and political sphere of influence in the Middle East expanded greatly, as it controlled a number of weaker client states around it. The third King of Israel, Shelomoh, (meaning "one whose peace is his" in Hebrew) or "Solomon" in English, is portrayed as a wise leader in the Torah. Solomon constructed the First Temple in Jerusalem. His reign was a time of peace for Israel. Following Solomon's death, tensions between the northern part of Israel, containing the ten northern tribes, and the southern section, dominated by Jerusalem and the southern tribes, increased, and around 920 BCE, Israel split into two kingdoms: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. See also History of ancient Israel and Judah. Soon after the death of Solomon, the prophecy of Ahijah (1 Kings 11:31-35) was fulfilled with the division of the kingdom. Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon, was scarcely seated on his throne when the old jealousies between Judah and the other tribes broke out anew, and Jeroboam was sent for from Egypt by the malcontents (12:2,3). Rehoboam insolently refused to lighten the burdensome taxation and services that his father had imposed on his subjects (12:4), and the rebellion became complete. The Tribe of Ephraim and all Israel raised the old cry, "Every man to his tents, O Israel" (2 Samuel 20:1). Rehoboam fled to Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:1-18; 2 Chronicles 10), and Jeroboam was proclaimed king over all Israel at Shechem, with the Tribe of Judah and the Tribe of Benjamin remaining faithful to Rehoboam. War continued, with varying success, between the two kingdoms for about sixty years, until Jehoshaphat allied himself with the house of Ahab through marriage. Later, his son and successor Jehoram of Judah married Ahab's daughter Athaliah, cementing the alliance. The sons of Ahab were slaughtered by Jehu following his Coup d'état (though this is disputed by the Dan Stele).

Extent of the Kingdom

Dan Stele.]] The area of Solomon's kingdom, excluding the Phoenician territories on the shore of the Mediterranean, did not much exceed 34,000 km² (13,000 square miles). The kingdom of Israel encompassed about 24,000 km² (9,375 square miles). Shechem was the first capital of this kingdom (1 Kings 12:25), afterwards Tirza (14:17). Samaria was subsequently chosen as the capital (16:24), and continued as such until the destruction of the kingdom by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:5). During the siege of Samaria (lasting for three years) by the Assyrians, Shalmaneser V died and was succeeded by Sargon II of Assyria, who himself records the capture of that city thus: "Samaria I looked at, I captured; 27,280 men who dwelt in it I carried away" (2 Kings 17:6) into Assyria. Thus, after a duration of two hundred and fifty-three years, the kingdom of the ten tribes came to an end. They were scattered throughout the East, and are popularly known as the Lost ten tribes of Israel. : " Judah held its ground against Assyria for yet one hundred and twenty-three years, and became the rallying-point of the dispersed of every tribe, and eventually gave its name to the whole race. Those of the people who in the last struggle escaped into the territories of Judah or other neighbouring countries naturally looked to Judah as the head and home of their race. And when Judah itself was carried off to Babylon, many of the exiled Israelites joined them from Assyria, and swelled that immense population which made Babylonia a second Judah". After the deportation of the ten tribes, the vacated land was colonized by various eastern tribes, especially Syrians, whom the king of Assyria sent there (Ezra 4:2, 10; 2 Kings 17:24-29).

The Kings of Israel

For this period, most historians follow either of the older chronologies established by William F. Albright or Edwin R. Thiele, or the newer chronology of Gershon Galil, all of which are shown below. All dates are BCE.

Notes

1. Jehu: Considered to be a contemporary of the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III (858–824) to whom he paid tribute. This is based on an inscription on The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III showing "Yaua" son of Omri paying tribute, dated to 841 BCE. 2. Hoshea: Paid tribute to the Assyrian King Shalmaneser V (727–722 BCE) but rebelled in 725 BCE. Shalmaneser besieged the capital, Samaria, but died shortly before the fall of the city. His brother Sargon II (722–705 BCE) completed the siege with success in 722, making Judah the sole remaining Hebrew kingdom. The ten tribes were exiled to other parts of the Assyrian Empire and never heard from again in recorded history. A small group of people fled south to take refuge in Judah.

External links

- [http://www.complete-bible-genealogy.com/judah_israel_kings.htm Complete Bible Genealogy] A synchronized chart of the kings of Israel and Judah Category:Ancient Israel and Judah Israel, Kingdom of ko:이스라엘 왕국 ja:イスラエル王国 Vi:Y-sô-ra-eân Quốc Vương

Amorite

Amorite (Hebrew ’^emōrî, Egyptian Amar, Akkadian Tidnum or Amurrūm (corresponding to Sumerian MAR.TU or Martu) refers to a Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates, from the second half of the third millennium BC and also appear in the Tanakh and also the god they worshipped (see Amurru).

From inscriptions and tablets

In early Babylonian inscriptions, all western lands, including Syria and Canaan, were known as "the land of the Amorites", who twice conquered Babylonia (at the end of the 3rd, and the beginning of the 1st millennia.) The old name is an ethnic term, evidently connected with the terms Amurru and Amar used by Assyria and Egypt respectively. In the Sumerian spelling MAR.TU, the name is as old as the first Babylonian dynasty, but from the 15th century BC onwards, its syllabic equivalent Amurru is applied primarily to the land extending north of Canaan as far as Kadesh on the Orontes. In unison with the decline of the Sumerian language in Mesopotamia, the Levant archeological era known alternately as either MB1 or Intermediate EB-MB was the time of their most famous incursions. Though herdsmen, the Amorites were not peaceful pastoralists. They were fierce tribal clansmen who apparently forced themselves into lands they needed to graze their herds. The urban Sumerians or Akkadians considered their nomadic way of life with disgust and contempt: :The MAR.TU who know no grain.... The MART.TU who know no house nor town, the boors of the mountains.... The MAR.TU who digs up truffles... who does not bend his knees (to cultivate the land), who eats raw meat, who has no house during his lifetime, who is not buried after death... (Chiera 1934: 58 and 112) :They have prepared wheat and gú-nunuz (grain) as a confection, but an Amorite will eat it without even recognizing what it contains! (Chiera 1934: 3) At first the Amorites were merely a regular irritant to the Ur-III empire, but eventually they undermined it to such an extent that the position of last king Ibbi-Sin was weakened, enabling his Elamite subjects to overthrow his rule. Amorites seem to have worshipped the moon-god Sin and Amurru. Known Amorites (mostly those of Mari) wrote in a dialect of Akkadian found on tablets dating from 1800–1750 BC showing many northwest Semitic forms and constructions. Presumably their original tongue was a northwest Semitic dialect (see Amorite language.) The main sources for our extremely limited knowledge about the language are proper names, not Akkadian in style, that are preserved in such texts. Many of these names are similar to later Biblical Hebrew names. The wider use of the term Amurru by the Babylonians and Assyrians is complicated by the fact that it was also applied to a district in Babylonia, where the land of Canaan did not traditionally extend. Moreover, if the people of the first Babylonian dynasty (about 21st century BC) called themselves "Amorites," as Ranke seems to have shown, then obviously a common origin with them was recognized by the Babylonians at that early date.

Repercussions over Mesopotamia

The advent of Amorite tribes into the Mesopotamian context, engages deep and lasting repercussions over its political, social and economic structures. The division into kingdoms has removed any trace of the Sumerian city-state and with it, disappeared most of it's principles upon which they were founded. Men, land and cattle ceased to belong physically to the gods or to the temples and the king. The new monarchs, gave or let out for an indefinite period numerous parcels of royal or sacerdotal land, freed the inhabitants of several cities from taxes and forced labour, and seem to have encouraged by a new society emerged, a society of big farmers, free citizens and enterprising merchants which was to last throughout the ages. The priest assumed the service of the gods and cared for the welfare of his subjects, but the economic life of the country was no longer exclusively (or almost exclusively) in their hands. It is important to say that generally speaking, the Sumerian civilization survived the arrival of Amorites as it had survived the Akkadian domination and the Gutian conquest. The religious, ethical and artistic concepts current in Mesopotamia since proto-history, have not been affected. The Amorites worshipped the Sumerian gods and the older Sumerian myths and epic tales were piously copied, translated or adapted with in general only minor alterations. As for the scarce artistic production of the period, there is practically nothing to distinguish it from that of the preceding the 3rd dynasty of Ur period.

Biblical Amorites

Amorites was used by the Israelites to refer to certain highland mountaineers, or hillmen (described in Gen. 14:7 as descendants of Canaan) who inhabited that land. In the Bible, they are described as a powerful people of great stature "like the height of the cedars," who had occupied the land east and west of the Jordan river; their king, Og, being described as the last "of the remnant of the giants" (Deut. 3:11). The Biblical usage appears to show that the more specific "Amorite" and less precise general "Canaanite" terms were used synonymously, the former being characteristic of Judaean, the latter of Ephraimite and Deuteronomic writers as well as the Assyro-Babylonians. A distinction is sometimes maintained, however, when the Amorites are spoken of as the people of the past, whereas the Canaanites are referred to as still surviving. The term "Canaan," on the other hand, is confined more especially to the southern district (from Gebal to the south of Palestine). It seems the terms at an early date were interchangeable, Canaan being geographical and Amorite the major ethnical identity of the Canaanites who inhabited the land. The Biblical Amorites seem to have originally occupied the land stretching from the heights west of the Dead Sea (Gen. 14:7) to Hebron (13. Comp. 13:8; Deut. 3:8; 4:46-48), embracing "all Gilead and all Bashan" (Deut. 3:10), with the Jordan valley on the east of the river (4:49), the land of the "two kings of the Amorites," Sihon and Og (Deut. 31:4; Josh. 2:10; 9:10). Historically, these Amorites seem to have been linked to the Jerusalem region, and the Jebusites may have been a subgroup of them. The southern slopes of the mountains of Judea are called the "mount of the Amorites" (Deut. 1:7, 19, 20). One possible etymology for "Mount Moriah" is "Mountain of the Amorites," with loss of the initial syllable. Five kings of the Amorites were first defeated with great slaughter by Joshua (10:10). They were again defeated at the waters of Merom by Joshua, who smote them till there were none remaining (Josh. 11:8). It is mentioned as a surprising circumstance that in the days of Samuel there was peace between them and the Israelites (1 Sam. 7:14). The discrepancy supposed to exist between Deut. 1:44 and Num. 14:45 is explained by the circumstance that the terms "Amorites" and "Amalekites" are used synonymously for the "Canaanites." In the same way we explain the fact that the "Hivites" of Gen. 34:2 are the "Amorites" of 48:22. Comp. Josh. 10:6; 11:19 with 2 Sam. 21:2; also Num. 14:45 with Deut. 1:44. Both Sihon and Og were independent kings.

External link

- [http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1422&letter=A Jewish Encyclopedia] Solid early 20th century scholarship, upon which a more careful entry could be constructed.

References

- E. Chiera, Sumerian Epics and Myths, Chicago, 1934, Nos.58 and 112;
- E. Chiera, Sumerian Texts of Varied Contents, Chicago, 1934, No.3.;
- H. Frankfort, AAO, pp. 54-8;
- F.R. Fraus, FWH, I (1954);
- G. Roux, Ancient Iraq, London, 1980. Category:Torah people Category:Hebrew Bible/Tanakh people Category:Sumer Category: Semitic peoples

Talent (weight)

A talent is an ancient unit of mass. The Babylonians and Sumerians had a system in which there were 60 shekels in a mina and 60 minas in a talent (in Ancient Greece one talent = 26 kg of silver). The Roman talent consisted of 100 libra (pounds) which were smaller in magnitude than the mina. When used as a measure of money, it refers to a talent of gold. The gold talent is reported as weighing roughly the same as a person, and so perhaps 50Kg (112 pounds). Some authorities state, more precisely, that the talent typically weighed about 33 Kg (75 pounds) varying from 20 to 40 Kg. As of 2005 the international price of gold is about $465 per troy ounce, i.e. about $15/gram. So a talent of 33 Kg would be worth about $500,000. Similarly, at the 2005 price of about $7.60/troy ounce or 25 cents/gram, a 26 Kg silver talent would be worth about $6,500. Thus when we read that King Auletes of Egypt paid Gaius Julius Caesar the sum of 6,000 talents of gold to grant him the status of a "Friend and Ally of the Roman People," the amount paid, in modern equivalency, was about three billion 2005 U.S. dollars, a considerable sum. During the Peloponnesian war in Ancient Greece a talent was the amount of silver needed to pay the crew of a trireme for one month. Hellenistic mercenaries were commonly paid 1 drachma for every day of service, which was a good salary in the post-Alexander (III) days; 6,000 drachma made a talent. The talent as a unit of coinage is mentioned in the New Testament in Jesus's parable of the talents, but it is not clear, or important, exactly what quantity of money is implied; all that matters to the story is that even one talent was a very large sum. Category:Ancient Roman currency Category:Obsolete units of measure Category:Units of mass

Homer (unit)

A homer (also kor) is a unit of volume used by ancient Hebrews. 1 homer is equal to 10 ephahs (about 10 bushels) or 10 baths (about 100 gallons). Category:Obsolete units of measure Category:Units of volume

Hosea

The Book of Hosea is a book of the Jewish Hebrew Bible, known to Christians as the Old Testament, written by Hosea. This book stands first in order among the "Minor prophets." The unique contribution of Hosea is the extended allegory of marriage given in chapters 1-3. While a few commentators believe this section to be entirely symbolic, most believe that the events described did occur. First, Hosea was directed by Yahweh to marry a harlot, and he did so. This was a symbolic act, representing Yahweh's covenant with Israel. What was the nation of Israel when Yahweh chose to enter into a covenant relationship with it? It was a group of ex-slaves who chose to worship a golden calf rather than Yahweh, the God who had rescued them from slavery. Thus, Yahweh characterizes the nation as a harlot. Second, Hosea and his wife, Gomer, have a son. Yahweh commands that the son be named Jezreel. This name refers to a valley in which much blood had been shed in Israel's history, especially by the kings of the Northern Kingdom. The naming of this son was to stand as a prophecy against the reigning house of the Northern Kingdom, that they would pay for that bloodshed. Third, the couple has a daughter. Yahweh commands that she be named No Pity or Not Pitied, to show Israel that, although Yahweh will still have pity on the Southern Kingdom, He will no longer have pity on the Northern Kingdom; its destruction is imminent. Fourth, a son is born to Gomer. It is questionable whether this child was Hosea's, for Yahweh commands that his name be Not My People, or more simply, Not Mine. The child bore this name of shame to show that the Northern Kingdom would also be shamed, for its people would no longer be known as God's People. Following this, the prophecy is made that someday this will all be changed, that Yahweh will indeed have pity on his people, Israel. Chapter two describes a divorce. This divorce seems to be the end of the covenant between Yahweh and the Northern Kingdom. However, it is probable that this was again a symbolic act, in which Hosea divorced Gomer for infidelity, and used the occasion to preach the message of Yahweh's rejection of the Northern Kingdom. He ends this prophecy with the declaration that Yahweh will one day renew the covenant, and will take His people back in love. In Chapter three, at Yahweh's command, Hosea seeks out Gomer once more. Either she has sold herself into slavery for debt, or she is with a lover who demands money in order to give her up, because Hosea has to buy her back. He takes her home, but refrains from sexual intimacy with her for many days, to symbolize the fact that Israel will be without a king for many years, but that Yahweh will take Israel back, even at a cost to Himself. Chapters 4-14 spell out the allegory at length. Chapters 4-10 contain a series of oracles, or prophetic sermons, showing exactly why Yahweh is rejecting the Northern Kingdom, what are the grounds for the divorce. Chapter 11 is Yahweh's lament over the necessity of giving up the Northern Kingdom, which is a large part of the people of Israel, whom He loves. He promises that He will not entirely give them up. Then, in Chapter 12, he pleads for their repentance. Chapter 13 foretells the destruction of the kingdom at the hands of Assyria, because there has been no repentance. Chapter 14 urges them to seek forgiveness, and promises the restoration of Israel, while urging the utmost fidelity to Yahweh.

Context

Hosea prophesied in a difficult period of