The Holy Land / Regional Superpower

From 1000 to 720 BCE

Between the biblical axis and the extra-biblical archaeological and written findings, dramatic events took place from the 10th century BC to 720 BC that influenced and shaped the political and religious discourse to this day: The Kingdom of Israel as a regional power.

About three thousand years ago, in the 10th century BC, the northern region of the Land of Israel was ruled by the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which stretched at its peak from the northern Galilee along the coastal plain and across the eastern Jordan, its southern border was a weapon of the Kingdom of Judah and its branches reached as far as the Sinai desert.

The Bible says that the kingdom of Israel arose after King David's kingdom was torn in two during the time of his grandson Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon.

Historical evidence describes the powerful royal houses that ruled the kingdom: the dynasty of King Omri, who establishes his rule in a military coup and establishes a new capital - the city of Samaria - where the splendor and greatness of a rich and cosmopolitan kingdom appeared.

During the time of Ahab, the son of Omri, the kingdom grows into a rich regional power, with the largest army in the Levant, which manages a system of alliances and conquests with its neighbors in the north: Tyre, Sidon and Aram Damascus, in the east: Moab and Ammon and in the south: the Kingdom of Judah.

The relations of the Kingdom of Israel with the Kingdom of Judah - the southern and smaller sister - are relations of patronage and political-state influence, sometimes through diplomacy and sometimes through force.

When the main threat to the Levant region appears in the form of the Assyrian Empire, King Ahab very wisely makes an alliance with the neighboring kingdoms to fight the Assyrian army invading the region.

Yoram, the son of Ahab, the last king of the house of Omri, died in a battle against the Assyrians, and the general Yehu, who was a commander in his army, took power. In 842, Yehu destroys the house of Omri and establishes a magnificent dynasty that brings the kingdom to a peak of growth.

The Assyrian Empire continues its inevitable expansion and destroys all the cities of Israel, including Megiddo (Armageddon), where according to the New Testament, the world will come to an end. In 720 BC, the Assyrians destroy the capital city of Samaria, discover the aristocracy and the intellectuals and wipe out the kingdom of Israel without revival. Thus, after about two hundred years of greatness, only the name 'Israel' remains as a national historical souvenir.

A dramatic episode in the history of the Land of Israel and the people of Israel, accompanied by rare aerial photographs, photographs in Jordan and throughout the kingdom and unique archaeological finds.