The Philistines were very real as a people, we know a reasonable amount about them and in the Book of Samuel, Saul does indeed meet death and defeat at their hands at the Battle of Gilboa after proving himself unworthy in the eyes of God although whether he fell on his own sword or was polished off by an Amalekite is unknown as both accounts are given in 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel respectively. David is followed in turn by the great temple builder Solomon and the united kingdom lasted until BC when Rehoboam, son of Solomon, came to the throne.
At this point, says the Bible, the 10 most northerly tribes of Israel rebelled, apparently after Rehoboam seemed poised to continue the policy of heavy taxation implemented by his father.
It is suggested that Solomon, in the building of his temple in Jerusalem and in supporting his increasingly decadent lifestyle, had implemented heavy taxes and effectively used his people as slave labour.
The elders of the northern tribes, Jeroboam at their head, went before Rehoboam asking for some relief from these duties.
Older men counselled Rehoboam to take a sympathetic line and grant the wishes of the Ten Tribes but younger men called for no compromise and in fact an even tougher stance. At this the Ten Tribes rebelled, with the powerful and influential Tribe of Ephraim being among the most vocal in their condemnation of Rehoboam.
Jeroboam who had led the delegation was part of the tribe of Ephraim and they acclaimed him king. Yet Jeroboam was immediately faced with a serious problem. Although the larger territory, his Kingdom of Israel was bereft of important religious sites. The Israelites, no less than the Judeans, were bound by their Covenant with Yahweh and the centre of that important bond was very firmly established at the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem — now enemy territory.
In order to establish religious authority over the new kingdom and break the bond with Jeroboam reintroduced polytheism. He did this, says the Bible, because he was afraid the people would continue to head to Jerusalem, now in the Kingdom of Judah, to make their sacrifices and so be reconciled with Rehoboam and turn against him.
Of course this reversion back to the worship of false idols and the like gives Jeroboam something of a poor reputation in the Bible. Jeroboam died, it is said, in BC to be succeeded by his son, Nadab.
Nadab reigned for just two years before he was murdered by one of his own lieutenants, Baasha, who then made himself king. Even the existence of King David himself is open to serious question. The Kingdoms of Judah and Israel Samaria certainly did exist as separate entities and were rivals. The Bible seems to have been largely composed in the Kingdom of Judah however and so we must be aware of its bias. The kings of Israel Samaria are inevitably dismissed as wicked and sinful in the eyes of Yahweh and very real kings who we know quite a lot about thanks to archaeological evidence get hardly a verse or two apiece in the Old Testament — usually that they came to the throne in such a year and then died in such a year.
In effect, the Biblical authors from Judah are accusing the northerners of being rotten spoilsports who ruined everything by their refusal to play ball with Judah. Rehoboam, as the first part made clear, was the son and successor of Solomon. Jeroboam became king of Israel Samaria and Rehoboam king of Judah, which encompassed the territories of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah and with Jerusalem as his capital.
After his declaration to the northern tribes he was forced, ignominiously, to flee Sechem without being crowned after one of his lieutenants was stoned to death by a mob. Although a state of war existed between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Rehoboam did not succeed in defeating the rebellious northern tribes and his attentions were soon drawn elsewhere when his territory was invaded by the Egyptians. Shisaq as he is referred to in both Kings and Chronicles has tentatively been identified as Shoshenq I who did pursue an aggressive foreign policy in the Levant, attacking numerous towns in the region as listed on the Bubasite Portal.
According to the Biblical narrative, Sishaq captured the fortified towns leading to Jerusalem and laid siege to the city. Others suggest that Jerusalem may be one of the missing names on the list many are lost or damaged or Rehoboam may have surrendered the city and its treasures without a fight so Shoshenq did not consider it truly part of his conquests.
Not that pharaohs are much noted for their humility. He is first mentioned in Genesis as part of the genealogy linking Adam to Noah. It is explained that he was the son of Enoch who was already aged 65 when Methuselah was born and lived to years old himself! Methuselah easily surpassed his father, however, begetting his first son, Lamech, at the age of and having more children over the span of years before dying aged Of course, these figures are nonsense, although people have tried to justify them literally through all manner of tenuous arguments.
It may very well be that Methuselah, Enoch and Lamech were important, semi-legendary figures who lived for an unusually long time. The only problem then is that would make his father, Enoch, just five or six when Methuselah was conceived.
Better is to take these extreme ages as either symbolic or out-and-out fiction. Methuselah is counted as the eighth patriarch, Adam being the first and Noah the tenth. So the lengthy lives of these figures might just be a convenient way of having 10 figures representing the history of Man from Adam to Noah. Having 10 names is likely just a device to move the story on quickly and efficiently from the expulsion from Eden to the flood.
In the litany of Assyrian kings that have had the name Salmanazar, the one the bottle may refer to is Salmanazar V — this would lend some historical continuity to the early bottles at least. Salmanazar was king of Assyria from BC. The Assyrians were a very ancient Semitic people whose civilization had emerged in the early Bronze Age, around 2, BC, based around the cities of Assur and Nineveh.
In the late s BC however the Assyrian empire, frequently referred to now as the Neo-Assyrian Empire, began to expand once again and grew enormously over the course of the next years. It subjugated Babylon and spread westwards until its territories encompassed the entire span of the fertile crescent from the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates to the Negev desert and borders of Egypt.
Hoshea came to the throne of Israel in BC, having overthrown king Pekah, and initially remained a loyal vassal of the Assyrians but when Salmanazar succeeded his father this loyalty began to waver. Hoshea was captured but the fate of this last King of Israel is entirely unknown.
It is likely he was executed. Barossa Coonawarra Alpine Valley. Old Testament Patriarch Invented Wine. Who Invented Wine? Wine is a fermented drink, usually made from grapes. It is thought by scholars that it originated in 6,, BC between the Nile and the Persian Gulf, in the territories of modern Iran and Georgia. How exactly man invented wine is unknown. Estimated Reading Time: 2 mins. Thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, May Teachout has given me permission to publish his Ph.
It is a powerful defense of the Biblical mandate for total abstinence from alcohol and Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins. Grapes are handpicked from plants growing in the limestone soil of Testament winery's organic vineyard.
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs R. When his sons were gathered together in the seventh month, on the 3 first day of the month, while still in good health, he made them a feast of food and wine.
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