Brief History
The ancient empire of Israel, controlling lands from the Euphrates River to the Egyptian border, became divided after King Solomon's reign passed unto his son Rehoboam in about 931 BCE. Rehoboam refused to grant the northern ten tribes relief from Solomon's taxation and they subsequently formed their own autonomous nation in the north, making Jeroboam I their king.
The Kingdom of Israel, the northern ten tribes, were taken into Assyrian captivity starting in 740 BCE, culminating in 721 BCE with the seizure of Samaria. Even after invitations to return, many years later, no large representation of the tribes ever returned to their former boundaries.
The Kingdom of Judah was taken into Babylonian Captivity between 597 and 586 BCE. The kings of Persia granted Judah permission to return to their lands, which they did, but the Roman-Jewish Wars took a significant toll which included the Destruction of the Second Temple and exile from Jerusalem (except for the day of Tisha B'Av) and the renaming of Roman Judaea to Syria Palaestina.
For greater detail, see History of ancient Israel and Judah.
Read more about this topic: Two House Theology
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