Judaism Ch. 06 : "Rise of the United Kingdom”

a very long synopsis of Judaism

Judaism Ch 6 "Rise of the United Kingdom"

Now that they had the Ten Commandments and the covenant with Jehovah, the Israelites felt especially empowered. They conquered their way through a bunch of the land and vanquished all. Sometimes easily, sometimes with some creative thinking and Deus ex machina.

Eventually, they reached the fertile land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua. Oh by the way, Moses died somewhere along the way earlier on. So once they’re in Canaan, they have to start philosophically shifting from being nomads and warriors to being settlers and farmers.

Wandering around is great. But there’s one thing you don’t have when you’re wandering around, besides a solid foundation: neighbors. Once they settled down, they had neighbors. And they had to figure out how to make friends and get along with them. Or at least distinguish between friend and foe and who to trust and who to not.

And they had a land. Their own land again. No longer scattered and spread out and in servitude. Their own land and their own God. God of Palestine.

For three hundred years, Palestine was ruled by Judges (capital-J).

Eventually the Twelve Tribes organized themselves into a kingdom. A kingdom must have a king. So they chose a tall guy named Saul. He did some good things, and some bad things, and then some more bad things. Sad. Worse than sad. Tragic.

There were a total of three kings during the glory days of unity.

Saul established the kingdom.

David strengthened and expanded the kingdom.

Solomon enriched the kingdom and brought peace (after a bloody beginning).

So there were some good years.

Have you heard the phrase “calm before the storm?”

There’s a storm coming. Sad.