The Wars of Israel

Canaan, a small piece of land barely larger than the state of New Jersey, has been fought over for thousands of years. During the period of the Judges, Israel was faced new challenges from the Philistines and old adversaries, including the Moabites, Edomites, and Ammonites. However, Israel would face another challenge--itself. Israel's struggle to survive external threats paralleled an internal struggle calling for change. Many Israelite elders during the time of Judges wanted a stronger powerbase to thwart the Philistines and anyone else who sought to take over the lands promised to them by Yahweh. So they called for Samuel, last of the Hebrew Judges and the first of the major prophets, to ask Yahweh for a king. Samuel grudgingly agreed and found a man by the name of Saul to lead Israel into the next chapter of their history. The Israelites would soon find out that the power the elders requested to unify the peoples would require taxes and more war. While Saul represented the monarchy in its infancy, his reign marked the beginning of pushing back at the Philistines, although he had limited success. Saul never felt comfortable with his role as king and struggled with the responsibilities. However, there were those who entered the court of Saul, particularly David, who noticed Saul's struggles and saw much potential in expanding the powers of the state if he could just acquire the people's confidence and the throne. After Saul fell at the battle of Mount Gilboa, the Israelite defensive strategy of holding on to their allotted territories with no followup quickly shifted once David was anointed king. While Saul had a defensive strategy, David went on the offensive. It was during his reign that the Israelite state quickly began to centralize. After David died, having expanded the borders of Israel, Solomon would take what his father had built and expand its foreign policies through multiple marriages for political gain. This internal expansion of domestic affairs would backfire on Solomon as he grew older. When he died, the state the elders had desired during the time of Samuel collapsed and divided, in two, with the Kingdom of Israel to the north and the Kingdom of Judah to the south. Israel would never be united again. A few centuries after the death of Solomon, Israel would cease to exist when the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel. A few centuries after that, the Babylonians would conquer the Kingdom of Judah. ---Woe to Israel.