09/08/2021 – How Many "Israels" Were There?
What did the word “Israel” mean in ancient times? Was it a geographical area, a people group, or an idea? It might have been all of these at different times. Hold up! Watch this entire video to get the complete answer. This is TenOnReligion.
Hey peeps, it’s Dr. B. with TenOnReligion. This video is closed-captioned here on YouTube and the transcript is available at TenOnReligion.com. If you like this vid make sure to smash that sub button and share because it really helps us out. Okay, I realize this is a bit of a provocative question, “How many ‘Israels’ were there?” But the reason I ask the question is that there seems to be a little bit of a confusion on when, where, and how this term “Israel” was used in ancient times. There could have been as many as four different “Israels.” Check this out.
“Israel” #1. The first written appearance of the word is not from the Hebrew Bible but in an inscription known as the Merneptah Stele in the early 1200’s BCE. I think I said it right this time. I embarrassingly pronounced it wrong in my last video. Merneptah was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the son of Ramesses II. He is proclaiming his victories on this inscription, which includes a reference to eradicating Israel’s seed. Now no one knows if this meant destroying Israel’s seed as in grain supplies, or as in Israel’s people. But even more interesting is, who or what is Israel? It could refer to a known geographical area at the time, or it could refer to a people group. Either interpretation is possible, so it’s entirely unclear. In the Karnak Temple complex, an important ancient Egyptian center, there are some carvings into stone walls called reliefs which depict military victories. They include a battle in an open hilly country against a Canaanite enemy which could have been the “Israel” mentioned in the Merneptah Stele, but again, that’s just historical speculation. Israel then disappears from the archaeological record and written history for more than 350 years. That’s over 100 years longer than the United States has been a country!
“Israel” #2. The Mesha Stele, dated to 840 BCE, describes, among other things, how the king of Moab was oppressed by Omri, the king of Israel. This is the oldest known archeological reference to any specific character mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. This “Israel” is the ancient kingdom of Israel sometimes referred to as the Northern Kingdom of Israel. It developed out of the Canaanites who were living in the land over many centuries and is partly described in the Bible, but here’s where things get a little tricky. The history of ancient Israel in the Hebrew Bible was written much later by Judahite authors in Jerusalem, the capital of the southern kingdom and the hub of the Davidic dynasty. As such the Bible transmits Judahite ideas regarding territory, kingship, temple, and religious ideology.
The original northern texts – or at least some of them – could have been written much earlier in the capital of Samaria, or in Bethel located on the northern border of Judah. Both written texts and oral traditions were probably brought to Judah by Israelite refugees after the fall of Israel in 720 BCE. The northern traditions were incorporated into the Judahite canon either because they supported the Judahite ideology or because of political needs in Judah to absorb the significant Israelite population in the kingdom. Because we all need to be “one.”
The political ideology of the Judahite history in the Bible depicts the reality after the fall of the northern kingdom. It is Judah-centric, arguing that all territories that once belonged to Israel must be ruled by a Davidic king, that all Hebrews must accept the rule of the Davidic dynasty, and worship the God of Israel at the temple in Jerusalem. The story of the northern kingdom’s tone is mostly negative. The individual Hebrews can all join the nation if they accept the centrality of the Jerusalem temple and dynasty, while the Northern Kingdom and all their kings must be viewed as illegitimate. So, there’s a political move going on here. The biblical idea of a great united monarchy is a literary construct to support this political move. If the united monarchy as a historical reality didn’t exist, this means that the two Hebrew kingdoms emerged parallel to each other, as neighboring entities independent of each other. Thus, the first known “Israel” was a real kingdom in the 800’s BCE originally separate from another much smaller kingdom called Judah to the south. This first “Israel” could have started as much as one to two centuries earlier, but the political and cultural origin is unclear other than it likely arose out of the ancient Canaanite culture (basically the people already living there). One more interesting thing about this “Israel” is that there is no indication that religion was centralized and they possibly were polytheistic as were most ancient cultural groups in the region.
“Israel” #3. In the 700’s, the superpower in the area, Assyria, changed its policies from remote influence to conquest and annexation. The capital of Samaria was captured by Assyria between 722-720 BCE. Groups of its ruling class were deported to Mesopotamia in Assyria, and foreign groups from Assyria were settled by the Assyrian leaders in the territories of the former kingdom of Israel. The northern kingdom then disappeared forever. Israel seemingly ceased to exist. Or did it? In a surprising twist of fate, “Israel” came back, but not as a kingdom. It came back as a concept. The fall of one “Israel” opened the way for the rise of another “Israel” composed of twelve tribes and described as encompassing the territory ruled by both of the two Hebrew kingdoms – Israel and Judah.
See, after the fall of the original kingdom of Israel, the population of Judah surged. It doubled, or possibly even tripled, in a short period of time. Such a dramatic increase in population could not be the result of natural growth, and Judah along with its capital of Jerusalem had no economic appeal that could explain such an escalation in the population over a so relatively short period of time. An evaluation of settlement patterns in the northern kingdom shows a major decrease in population in the southern part of the territory during time period contrasted with stability in the northern part of the northern kingdom. Archeology also shows northern traits of material culture, such as olive-oil installations, burial traditions, and certain pottery types suddenly appearing in Judah. The only possible reason for this is the fall of the northern kingdom and a resettlement of Israelite groups in Jerusalem and Judah. Judah was subsequently transformed from an isolated, clan-based homogeneous society into a mixed Judahite-Israelite kingdom under Assyrian domination. This, in turn, brought about the rise of pan-Israelite ideas in Judah. In essence, “Israel” was transformed into a concept. If you like irony, listen to this next sentence. The emergence of biblical Israel as a concept was the result of the fall of the historical kingdom of Israel. Like, seriously.
Two main ideas made up the core of the pan-Israelite concept. These were the centrality of the Davidic dynasty and the Jerusalem temple for all Hebrews. The authors of the Hebrew Bible we have today incorporated both the northern and southern traditions, but subjected them to their main ideological goals which were to promote the Davidic kings as the only legitimate rulers over all “Israel” and the Jerusalem temple as the only legitimate cult-place for all people who were a part of this “Israel.” Though, oddly, at this stage in history, they were still under Assyrian domination.
After the withdrawal of Assyria in the region probably in the days of King Josiah in the late 7th century BCE, a full-fledged pan-Israelite ideology developed through an appeal to those living in the ex-Israelite territories in the north to the join the nation. In doing so, the idea of a united monarchy was needed in order to provide “historical” legitimacy to the Jerusalem claim for dominance over all Hebrew territories and Hebrew people – in both the north and the south. Since the survivors write the history, the earlier, more historically important Israel, was intentionally downplayed. Appropriating the term “Israel” and changing it to a concept while simultaneously disparaging the historical nation of Israel was crucial, both in the end days of Judah prior to the Babylonian conquest, and in the later Persian period.
Now hang on a second, because we’re not quite done yet. “Israel” #4. The concept of “Israel” that developed in the culture of Judah continued on during the Babylonian exile, the return to the land under Persian control where it was turned into a province of Persia called by the Aramaic name “Yehud,” and even later in Hellenistic Judea under Greek and Syrian rulers. During all of this time, there were still people living in the north. These were descendants of people living in the original kingdom of Israel along with people deported from the east. This means that while the concept of “Israel” was being developed and written about in the south, there was simultaneously a competing Israel which was a geographical, contemporary people group. They became known as Samaritans, with their temple on Mount Gerizim in the north. Not only did they continue to thrive for centuries, but they even exist today in the 21st century.
So, let’s try to recap all of this. There was some unknown entity referred to as “Israel” in the 1200’s BCE – either a geographical area, cultural people group, or both. There was the original, historical kingdom of Israel from probably the 900’s BCE to the 700’s BCE until it was ransacked by Assyria. Then there was the concept of “Israel” developed by Judah to incorporate both the Israelites from the southern part of the former northern kingdom and the contemporary Judahites underneath a single political system. While this was happening, the Israelites living in the northern part of the former northern kingdom reorganized their culture and worship centered on a temple on Mount Gerizim and became known as the Samaritans. Clear…as…mud?
Leave a comment on what you found the most interesting about any of the four ancient claims to the term “Israel.” Until next time, stay curious. If you enjoyed this, please like and share this video and subscribe to this channel. This is TenOnReligion.