The Kings of Judah were the monarchs who ruled over the ancient Kingdom of Judah, which was formed in about 930 BC, according to the Hebrew Bible, when the United Kingdom of Israel split, with the people of the northern Kingdom of Israel rejecting Rehoboam as their monarch, leaving him as solely the King of Judah.
The capital of the Kingdom of Judah was Jerusalem. All of the kings of Judah lived and died in Judah except for Ahaziah (who died at Megiddo in Israel), Jehoahaz (who died a prisoner in Egypt) and Jeconiah and Zedekiah who were deported as part of the Babylonian captivity.
Judah was conquered in 587 or 586 BC,[1] by the Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nebuzaradan, captain of Nebuchadnezzar's body-guard.[2] With the deportation of the elite[3] and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the Kingdom of Judah was dissolved.
- ^ Hans M. Barstad (2008). History and the Hebrew Bible: Studies in Ancient Israelite and Ancient Near Eastern Historiography. Mohr Siebeck. p. 90. ISBN 978-3-16-149809-1.
- ^ 2 Kings 25:8–21
- ^ As to the Babylonian captivity deporting a minority of the Judahite population, see: Klaus-Peter Adam; Mark Leuchter (2010). Klaus-Peter Adam; Mark Leuchter (eds.). "Preface", Soundings in Kings: Perspectives and Methods in Contemporary Scholarship. Fortress Press. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-1-4514-1263-5.