#6. THE DIVIDED KINGDOM, THE EXILE, AND THREE RETURNS

(1 Kings 12 – 22, 2 Kings, Ezra, and Nehemiah)

THE KINGDOM DIVIDED INTO TWO KINGDOMS. Solomon's rule ended. The united kingdom was divided into two kingdoms in 931 BC.

1. The Northern Kingdom ... Israel. The Northern Kingdom, Israel, was comprised of ten tribes (including the tribes of Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim). Israel was led by 19 bad kings. In 722 BC, Israel was taken into Assyria and dispersed (see G on map, page 4-13).

2. The Southern Kingdom ... Judah. The Southern Kingdom, Judah, was comprised of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi. Judah was led by a combination of good and bad rulers. There were 19 kings and a queen (Athaliah). In 586 BC, Judah fell when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. They were taken into exile in Babylonia through three deportations (see H on map, page 4-13). Daniel was in the first in 606 BC, Ezekiel in the second in 597 BC, and the rest in 586 BC when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. Babylonia fell to Persia in 539 BC after Judah had been in exile for 70 years (606 BC to 536 BC). At that time, Judah was able to begin returning to Jerusalem.

THE THREE RETURNS OF THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM. Judah was taken into exile in three waves. After 70 years, they returned in three waves.

1. Zerubbabel led the first wave, over 40,000, back to Jerusalem in 536 BC to rebuild the temple ... completed in 516 BC.

2. Ezra led the second wave back in 458 BC. He brought spiritual revival to the people.

3. Nehemiah brought the third wave back in 445 BC. He rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. Esther records the story of a godly woman among the exiles in Persia.

FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF SILENCE. Four hundred years of Biblical silence separate the conclusion of Old Testament history and the birth of Christ. No books in the standard canon of Scripture were written in those years. During that time in history, Alexander the Great and the Greeks ruled that part of the world. Then the Roman Empire followed the Greek and was in power before and during the birth and life of Christ.

...................................................................................................................................................................
THE OLD TESTAMENT 12   PAGES: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17     
<< PREVIOUS PAGE | NEXT  >>     << PREVIOUS CHAPTER | NEXT  >>
..................................................................................................................................................................
 

Disciplemaking 1, copyright 2003, is available free from www.MyDisciplemaker.org where you can study online or print free copies. You may copy this course, any any part of it, for free or at-cost distribution ... without change to the content ... and with this copyright policy attached. Published by www.ActsOneEight.org. Bible Quotations are from the NASB unless noted.