The Two Kingdoms, 920 - 597 B.C.  When Solomon died, his kingdom split in two: in the north, Israel, and in the south, Judah. The Israelites formed their capital in the city of Samaria, and the Judeans kept their capital in Jerusalem. These kingdoms remained separate states for over two hundred years. The Hebrew empire soon collapses; Moab soon successfully revolts against Judah, and Ammon successfully secedes from Israel. Within a century of Solomon's death, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah are tiny little states. Located directly between the Mesopotamian kingdoms in the northeast and the powerful state of Egypt in the southwest, Israel and Judah were of the utmost commercial and military importance to all these warring powers. Being small and weak was a liability, and Israel was the first to learn this lesson. The Conquest of Israel
A weakened and divided country could not sustain its independence indefinitely; consequently, Israel fell to Assyria in about 722 B.C. and the Babylonians ultimately conquered Judah in 586 BC. The Assyrians were a Semitic people living in the northern reaches of Mesopotamia; they were aggressive and effective; the history of their dominance over the Middle East is a history of constant warfare. In order to assure that conquered territories would remain pacified, the Assyrians would force many of the native inhabitants to relocate to other parts of their empire. They almost always chose the upper and more powerful classes, for they had no reason to fear the general mass of a population. They would then send Assyrians to relocate in the conquered territory. When they conquered Israel, the Assyrians did not settle the Israelites in one place, but scattered them in small populations all over the Middle East. When the Babylonians later conquered Judah, they, too, relocated a massive amount of the population. The Conquest of Judah
Judah, barely escaped the Assyrian menace, but would eventually be conquered by the Chaldeans or the "Babylonians" about a century later. In 701, the Assyrian Sennacherib gained territory from Judah, and the Jews would have suffered the same fate as the Israelites, but by 625 BC, the Babylonians, under Nabopolassar, would reassert control over Mesopotamia, and the Jewish king Josiah aggressively sought to extend his territory in the power vacuum that resulted. But Judah soon fell victim to the power struggles between Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians. When Josiah's son, Jehoahaz, became king, the king of Egypt, Necho (put into power by the Assyrians), rushed into Judah and deposed him, and Judah became a tribute state of Egypt. When the Babylonians defeated the Egyptians in 605 BC, then Judah became a tribute state to Babylon. But when the Babylonians suffered a defeat in 601 BC, the king of Judah, Jehoiakim, defected t o the Egyptians. So the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, raised an expedition to punish Judah in 597 BC. The new king of Judah, Jehoiachin, handed the city of Jerusalem over to Nebuchadnezzar, who then appointed a new king over Judah, Zedekiah. In line with Mesopotamian practice, Nebuchadnezzar deported around 10,000 Jews to his capital in Babylon; all the deportees were drawn from professionals, the wealthy, and craftsmen. Ordinary people were allowed to stay in Judah. This deportation was the beginning of the Exile. The story should have ended there. However, Zedekiah defected from the Babylonians one more time. Nebuchadnezzar responded with another expedition in 588 and conquered Jerusalem in 586. Nebuchadnezzar caught Zedekiah and forced him to watch the murder of his sons; then he blinded him and deported him to Babylon and again, Nebuchadnezzar deported the prominent citizens. Thus in 586 BC, Judah itself ceased to be an independent kingdom.  Exile, 597 - 538 B.C.
This period of deportation which began in 597 BC, when the Chaldeans deported the Jews after conquering Jerusalem, is traditionally dated as 586 BC in Jewish history and is called the Exile. It ends in 538 when the Persians overthrow the Chaldeans. Only the most prominent citizens of Judah were deported: professionals, priests, craftsmen, and the wealthy. The "people of the land" were allowed to stay. So history refers to: the Jews in Babylon and the Jews who remain in Judah. Almost nothing, of the Jews in Judah after 586 BC, is known. Judah seems to have been wracked by famine, according to the biblical book, Lamentations, which was written in Jerusalem during the exile. The salient feature of the exile, however, was that the Jews were settled in a single place, by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Chaldeans. While the Assyrian deportation of Israelites in 722 BC resulted in the complete disappearance of the Israelites, the deported Jews formed their own community in Babylon and retained their religion, practices, and philosophies. Some, it would seem, adopted the Chaldean religion , but for the most part, the community remained united in its common faith. Sources:
Richard Hooker, World Civilizations
Richard Stockton College
thetruthaboutpalestine.com
salam.co.uk
palestinehistroy.com
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