722 BCE- Sennacherib, King of Assyria, fails to crush the Kingdom of Israel, the long siege of Shechem is cut short by a out break of disease in the Assyrian camps.  King Hoshea pays greatly for the Assyrians to leave, and is once more made an Assyrian vassal.  The Ten Tribes of Israel have survived their darkest hour, for now.

    It has been almost two hundred years since the end of the reign of Solomon and the rebellion of the northern Tribes.  The South, the Kingdom of Judah, remains under the Davidic family, one of the longest ruling families in the Middle Eat.  For the past two hundred years each Kingdom has developed side by side.  Including different religious beliefs.

    Both Kingdoms had separate tales of how Israel acquired Shechem, the capitol of Israel.  In the South, the story was that the natives were massacred by Simeon and Levi.  According to the North, the land was peacefully purchased.  While in the North the sons and grandsons of Jacob were listed as the Tribes of Israel, the Southern Kingdom only referred to four tribes, three that lost their territory and merged into other tribes and the Tribe of Judah.  Each Kingdom had their own stories that told things from their perspective.

    During the reforms of King Hezekiah, additions were made to the texts of the Kingdom of Judah.  A centralization of the religion was supported in these texts that focus on the Ark and the Temple of Solomon.  Probably written by an Aaronid Priest, it makes clear distinctions between the Levites and the priests.  The book of Leviticus is written almost solely by this priest, referred to as P.  The original Judah texts are referred to as J.

    After King Hezekiah, his son and grandson did not continue with the reforms.  It was not until the reign of King Josiah that the reforms once more continued.  The idols were smashed, the Temple cleansed, and the religion was centralized at Jerusalem.  Most importantly, Josiah raised an army to unite the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah once more.  In 609 BCE, King Josiah defeated the Israelites.  Their heretical texts were burned and the golden calves they worshipped smashed.

    In 622 BCE, there was discovered in the Temple of Yahweh a scroll of the torah.  This previously unknown scroll would become the book of Deuteronomy, and was a centerpiece of the religious reforms of King Josiah.  It is thought that this text was also written by an Aaronid Priest, with the Law Code being central to Deuteronomy like the Holiness Code was central to P.

    Although the Assyrians had been defeated by both Israel and Judah, there was no repeat of these victories with the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah during the later years of King Josiah’s rule.  In the siege of Jerusalem, Josiah was killed and thousands of Judeans were exiled to Babylon.  Following this, Judah was ruled over by a series of Babylonian vassals until 587 BCE, when Nebuchadnezzar returned after the assassination of the local governor.  Jerusalem was burned, the Temple destroyed, and the people were exiled from their homeland.

    In 538 BCE, Babylon was conquered by the Persian Empire, and the Jews were allowed to return to Judah.  The writings of J, D and P were combined into one, probably by the Aaronid Priest Ezra.  Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings.  It contained the four major covenants (Noah, Abraham, Sinai, and David).  There were the Commandments, the Holiness Code, the Law Code, the stories of the Creation, the Flood, of Moses and Aaron.  It was the foundation of Judaism, and all other religions that would come from it.

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