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See also History of ancient Israel and Judah

Text to integrate from Easton's Bible Dictionary:

Kingdom of Israel

(B.C. 975-B.C. 722). Soon after the death of Solomon, Ahijah's

prophecy (1 Kings 11:31-35) was fulfilled, and the kingdom was

rent in twain. Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon, was

scarcely seated on his throne when the old jealousies between

Judah and the other tribes broke out anew, and Jeroboam was sent

for from Egypt by the malcontents (12:2,3). Rehoboam insolently

refused to lighten the burdensome taxation and services which

his father had imposed on his subjects (12:4), and the rebellion

became complete. Ephraim and all Israel raised the old cry,

"Every man to his tents, O Israel" (2 Sam. 20:1). Rehoboam fled

to Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:1-18; 2 Chr. 10), and Jeroboam was

proclaimed king over all Israel at Shechem, Judah and Benjamin

remaining faithful to Solomon's son. War, with varying success,

was carried on between the two kingdoms for about sixty years,

till Jehoshaphat entered into an alliance with the house of

Ahab.

Extent of the kingdom. In the time of Solomon the area of

Palestine, excluding the Phoenician territories on the shore of

the Mediterranean, did not much exceed 34,000 km (13,000 square miles). The

kingdom of Israel comprehended about 24,000 km (9,375 square miles). Shechem

was the first capital of this kingdom (1 Kings 12:25),

afterwards Tirza (14:17). Samaria was subsequently chosen as the

capital (16:24), and continued to be so till the destruction of

the kingdom by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:5). During the siege of

Samaria (which lasted for three years) by the Assyrians,

Shalmaneser died and was succeeded by Sargon, who himself thus

records the capture of that city: "Samaria I looked at, I

captured; 27,280 men who dwelt in it I carried away" (2 Kings

17:6) into Assyria. Thus after a duration of two hundred and

fifty-three years the kingdom of the ten tribes came to an end.

They were scattered throughout the East.

"Judah held its ground against Assyria for yet one hundred and

twenty-three years, and became the rallying-point of the

dispersed of every tribe, and eventually gave its name to the

whole race. Those of the people who in the last struggle escaped

into the territories of Judah or other neighbouring countries

naturally looked to Judah as the head and home of their race.

And when Judah itself was carried off to Babylon, many of the

exiled Israelites joined them from Assyria, and swelled that

immense population which made Babylonia a second Palestine."

After the deportation of the ten tribes, the deserted land was

colonized by various eastern tribes, whom the king of Assyria

sent thither (Ezra 4:2, 10; 2 Kings 17:24-29).