Quick Primer on Israelite History
[No, you didn’t miss any posts from me—I’ve not written anything since 6/24.]
Psalm 78 draws on Israelite history, so here’s a quick primer:
God gives Jacob the name Israel—from now on in the Bible, Jacob/Israel is a shorthand way of referring to the people of God;
Jacob has 12 sons;
The 12 sons give their names to the 12 tribes of Israel;
The 12 tribes are enslaved in Egypt;
After the Exodus, the Israelites live in the Promised Land, but they constantly forsake the Lord and turn after foreign gods;
Saul is the first king of Israel—he’s from the tribe of Benjamin, but he’s a bad king;
David follows Saul around 1000 BC—he unites all 12 tribes under his leadership;
Rehoboam is David’s grandson, and during his reign the 10 northern tribes rebel and form their own country called—confusingly—Israel;
The 2 southern tribes—Judah and Benjamin—form the nation of Judah, with Jerusalem as their capital;
In 722 BC, the Assyrian Empire destroys the 10 northern tribes (“Israel”);
In 586 BC, the Babylonian Empire conquers Judah and destroys Jerusalem, carrying off the best and the brightest of Judean society into exile.
