7 The End and Beyond: A New Meaning for “Israel”
The decline of Israel commenced after the days of Jeroboam II. This was a result of another change in the geopolitical scene that brought about the renewed strengthening of Damascus, combined somewhat later with a dramatic transformation in the Assyrian policies in the west—from remote influence to conquest and annexation. In 732 b.c.e. Tiglath-pileser III king of Assyria took over the Galilee and northern valleys of the northern kingdom and annexed them to the Assyrian empire. According to 2 Kgs 15:29, the Gilead was conquered at the same time. It seems, however, that Israel had already lost its Transjordanian territories to Damascus a few years earlier, as Tiglath-pileser III recounts that he took this territory from Damascus rather than Israel (Na’aman 1995). Samaria was captured by Assyria in 722–720 b.c.e. (for details, see Becking 1992). The northern kingdom disappeared forever, groups of its elite population were deported to Mesopotamia, and foreign groups were settled by the Assyrians in the territories of the fallen kingdom. This was the end. Or was it? In a surprising twist of history, a short while later Israel was back, not as a kingdom but as a concept.1 In fact, the fall of one Israel opened the way for the rise of another Israel—the children of Israel—composed of twelve tribes, encompassing the territory ruled by the two Hebrew kingdoms. In the course of this transformation, texts that originated in the northern kingdom were incorporated into the Bible, to form part of the great Hebrew epic.
1. On the development of the concept of early Israel, see details in Davies 2007b and bibliography.
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