Jewish History: 18 Key Battles (Part 1/3: Ancient)

Jewish history, comprising 4,000 years, has no shortage of military engagements; indeed, the original Hebrew, the patriarch Abraham himself, took up arms and led fighters into battle to rescue his captured nephew Lot (Genesis 14:12-16). Yet for almost two millennia—some 1,785 years, from the close of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (135 CE) until the formation of the Haganah paramilitary (1920)—the Jewish people had no organized army of its own. For this reason, during the intervening centuries, Jews and warriors became antonymous terms. The biblical battles and the classical revolts against imperial-colonial conquerors and occupiers of the Land of Israel were long forgotten or overlooked. Jewry became primarily a diasporic people, everywhere a minority amid gentile and often hostile lands. Without a polity of their own, scattered and dispersed Jews were almost universally deemed downtrodden, vulnerable, and passive, a race of foreigners outnumbered by, and at the mercy of, dominant natives.

Judaism idealizes, but does not idolize, peace. There is, as the sage Kohelet (traditionally identified with King Solomon) posits, “a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:8). While peace is always preferred, war is sometimes necessary. Whenever conflict made combat inevitable, Jews girded their loins and gathered on the battleground, fortified by their faith.

What follows is a précis of fateful battles whose outcome forever altered the course of Jewish history.

The Ancient Era

Yahtzah & Edrei (c. 1273 BCE) – During the last stages of their Exodus from Egypt (c. 1313–1273 BCE) and the early stages of their repatriation to the Land of Israel (c. 1273–1245 BCE), the Israelites encountered opposition in the Transjordanian highlands and eastern tableland from King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan. Encamped by the Arnon River, the border between the Moabites and Amorites, Moses and the Israelites sought the right of way along the ancient Derekh HaMelekh (The King’s Highway/The Road to Bashan) international trade route connecting Egypt and Mesopotamia, but were refused entry to the regions of the Mishor and southern Gilad by Sihon, who with his forces confronted them at Yahtzah, a gamble that cost him dearly. The Israelites triumphed and possessed his kingdom, from the Arnon River in the south to the Yabbok River in the north. Next they proceeded northward to the realm of Og in Bashan, where the giant ruler confronted them at the royal city of Edrei, an important locus along the interregional Lower Galilee-Bashan Road. Og and his warriors fared no better than the Amorites and were utterly extirpated; his domains, too, were claimed by the victors. Yahtzah and Edrei were the first major battles wherein the Israelites gained critical military experience; their victories eliminated preliminary adversaries and cleared their path as they prepared to cross the Jordan River and resettle/conquer their ancestral homeland. Bashan became the main region of the tribal territory of eastern Menasheh; southern Gilad became the main part of the tribal territory of Gad; and the Mishor became the entirety of the tribal territory of Reuven. The desert site of Yahtzah subsequently became one of the 48 Levitical cities, and Edrei is modern Daraa (Syria).

“The Conquest of the Amorites”, by James Tissot (c. 1902). Wikimedia Commons.

Givon (c. 1265 BCE) – Jericho and Ai had fallen; the Givonites had prudently made peace with the advancing Israelites. Such stark developments terrified King Adoni-Tzeddek of Jerusalem, who formed (with Hoham of Hebron, Piram of Yarmut, Yafia of Lakhish, and Dvir of Eglon) an alliance of five Amorite kings from the southern highlands of Canaan. Their immediate target was Givon, not the Israelites (who were then encamped at Gilgal down in the Plains of Jericho), but the Givonites prevailed upon their peace partners to rush to their rescue. Heeding the call of duty, Israelite leader Joshua (Hoshea, Yehoshua) and his fighters ascended from Gilgal into the central hill country overnight until they reached Givon, then suddenly sprang upon the Amorite forces, throwing them into confusion and routing them before pursuing them in flight along the interregional road The Way to Beit Horon, slaying them all the way until Azeikah and Makkeidah. According to the biblical account, miracles then occurred: a hailstorm slew more Amorites than the Israelites had slain, and when Joshua adjured, “Sun, stand still upon Givon, and Moon in the Ayalon Valley”, the heavens obliged him. The five Amorite kings sought refuge in a cave at Makkeidah, albeit in vain; they were slain, hanged on poles, then buried in their cave. As a result, much of the southern portion of the Land of Israel—the Central Benjamin Plateau, the Shfeilah (Shfeilat Yehudah), the southern Coastal Plain, the Judean Hills (commonly divided into the Beit El Hills, the Jerusalem Saddle, and the Hebron Hills), the Judean Desert, the Desert of Yiru’eil, and the northern Negev Desert (including the Be’ersheva Basin)—were possessed by the Israelites.

“Joshua Stops the Sun”, by Ilario Spolverini (c. 1725). Wikimedia Commons.

Waters of Meirom (c. 1260 BCE) – The southern alliance had been defeated by Joshua (Hoshea, Yehoshua) and the Israelites, and word of its demise reached the ears of northern kinglets in Canaan, including King Yavin of Hatzor, who wasted little time in forging a multi-ethnic coalition of northern Canaanite city-states from the northern hill country, foothills, and Jordan Valley (including Yovav of Madon, the kinglets of Shimron and Akhshaph, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Hivites), “many people, as the sand that is upon the seashore in multitude, with numerous horses and chariots.” The rulers assembled and encamped at the waters of Meirom, springs lying on the western side of the Hulah Valley. Seeing the numbers of the enemy arrayed against them, Joshua and the Israelites recognized the formidable challenge confronting them, but Joshua received divine reassurance of their imminent victory. He apparently relied upon his tried-and-true tactic of a night march followed by an early morning attack, as at Givon, and led his forces in a sudden approach and assault against the northern alliance. The enemy was struck down, put to flight, and pursued variously to Tzidon, Misrphot-Mayyim, and the Mitzpeh Valley. Their horses were hamstrung, their chariots burned, their kinglets executed, and their city-states utterly destroyed; Hatzor, which stood at the head of all the other city-states, was not only destroyed but burned to the ground. The Israelites wiped out their enemies to a man, and reaped the spoils of war, including much livestock. Almost the entirety of the country had been conquered, so that Joshua was able to partition the land and apportion to the 12 Israelite tribes their tribal territories as permanent possessions, and thereafter “the land had rest from war”.

Apheik (c. 1050 BCE) – Samuel the prophet had been established, and the fall of the Israelite Judge and priest Eli and his dynasty divinely ordained. The Israelites mustered at Evven HaEizer for war against the Philistines, who were encamped at Apheik, near the confluence of the Kanah River and the Yarkon River. There, in the tribal territory of Ephraim, where the southern Plain of Sharon abuts the Samarian foothills, battle was joined and the Philistines trounced the Israelites, slaying about 4,000 fighters. The elders of Israel were confounded by the nation’s failure: it seemed that God had abandoned them to the enemy. They resolved to take from the capital Shiloh the Ark of the Covenant so that the divine presence would be prominently in their midst and save them from their adversaries. Accompanying the Ark were Eli’s two unscrupulous sons, Hophni and Pinhas, whose doom was in the offing. Upon beholding the Ark arriving at their camp, the excited Israelites hollered a great shout that stirred the earth and was heard in the camp of the Philistines, who understood that the Ark was now present and thus were terrified. Motivated by their fear of servitude, the Philistines roused themselves to victory and defeated the Israelites once more, this time slaying 30,000 of them—including Hophni and Pinhas—and capturing the Ark. A Benjaminite (according to Rashi, the future King Saul) escaped the battleground and, clothed in grief, fled to Shiloh to report the terrible tidings to Eli, who was anxiously awaiting word on a roadside chair by the city gate. All of Shiloh had already learned of the tragedy and was crying out in mourning and sorrow at what had befallen Israel. When the Benjaminite mentioned the loss of the Ark, Eli—98 years old, blind, and heavy—fell backward off his chair beside the gate, broke his neck, and died. Weak and corrupt leadership had brought ruin upon the people. Glory, for the time being, had been exiled from Israel.

Samaria (725–722 BCE) – King Hoshea of Israel, deemed less wicked than his disreputable predecessors, ascended to the throne with the aid of Emperor Tiglat-Pileser III of Assyria, and remained loyal to that mighty conqueror. Upon the latter’s decease, however, Hoshea sought to regain Israel’s independence and conspired with Pharaoh So (Osorkon IV) of Egypt against the Assyrians, whose Emperor Shalmaneser V (son of Tiglat-Pileser III) did not take kindly to the Kingdom of Israel’s discontinuation of tribute and soon imprisoned Hoshea (and perhaps blinded him) and besieged Samaria for three years. In 722, Israel’s capital was finally conquered, perhaps by Shalmaneser’s successor (and possible brother) Emperor Sargon II, and thereafter 27,290 of the kingdom’s residents were exiled variously to Hilah, Havor by the Gozan River, and the Median cities ruled by Assyria. They were replaced with pagan gentiles from Babylon, Khutah, Avva, Hammat, and Sipharvayim (722–720 BCE), who together with the undeported Israelites constituted a mixed population known as Samaritans. Thus was the Kingdom of Israel officially reduced to a province of the Assyrian Empire: the city and region of Samaria became known as Samerina and were ruled by an Assyrian governor for more than a century.

Megiddo (609 BCE) – The declining Assyrian Empire was by now moribund, weakened and reeling from its struggle with the renascent Babylonian Empire. The newest Assyrian capital of Harran had just been captured, and the remnant of the Assyrian army was relying heavily on Egyptian allies for military support. Newly enthroned, Pharaoh Neco II of Egypt hastened northeastward with his large army, mostly foreign mercenaries, along the ancient Derekh HaYam (The Way of the Sea/The Coastal Highway) international trade route connecting Egypt and Syria, and began traversing the Land of Israel’s Coastal Plain region en route to Carchemish on the Euphrates River, there to withstand the advancing Babylonian forces. But his unauthorized trespassing through the Kingdom of Judah did not go unchallenged: King Josiah of Judah intercepted him in the Megiddo Valley (part of the Jezreel Valley) and battle ensued; although disguised on the battleground, Josiah was soon slain by enemy archers. The righteous monarch was conveyed back to Jerusalem by chariot and buried in the royal tombs, lamented by all Judahites, including by his friend the prophet Jeremiah. Josiah’s son, Yeho’ahaz, reigned for only three months before he was taken captive to Riblah by the Orontes River and deposed, in favor of his older half brother Yehoiakim, by Neco. Yeho’ahaz was exiled to Egypt, where he died in captivity; Yehoiakim became a vassal of Egypt then of Babylonia, against whom he soon rebelled, which cost him his life. Josiah’s reign had been the last heyday of the Kingdom of Judah, whose demise now drew nigh.

“The Death of King Josiah”, by Antonio Zanchi (c. 1660). Wikimedia Commons.

Jerusalem (588–586 BCE) – The Holy City, besieged for many months, was immiserated by severe famine: Jerusalemites were starving. Sucklings were parched from thirst. Children begged for bread in vain. People were perishing in the streets. Horrific conditions engendered desperate acts, possibly even cannibalism (Lamentations 4:10). When finally the Babylonians breached the city walls, the Judahite soldiery fled at night by way of a gate near the royal garden, scattering and deserting King Zedekiah of Judah, whose own attempt to escape ended when he was apprehended in the Plains of Jericho. Emperor Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylonia was in no mood for mercy: he dispatched his general Nebuzaradan to Jerusalem, where on the 9^th of Av he methodically burned the city to the ground, including Solomon’s Temple, the royal palace, and all the residential quarter. The Babylonian army also demolished the city walls. Nebuzaradan later released the prophet Jeremiah from the coffle of captives assembled at Ramah in the tribal territory of Benjamin, but conveyed high priest Sirayah and his deputy Zephaniah to Nebuchadrezzar at Riblah by the Orontes River, where both priests were put to death. All of the plundered Temple vessels and treasures were carted off to Babylonia, and most of the surviving Judahites were deported to Melah, Harsha, and Aviv, settlements by the Khevar Canal. Only the poorest of the people were permitted to remain behind to tend the land as vinedressers and farmers. Having endured as a polity for 345 years, the southern Kingdom of Judah collapsed with the destruction of Jerusalem, bringing to a close the First Commonwealth. Judah became the Babylonian province of Yehud with its administrative center at Mitzpah of Benjamin.

“The Flight of the Prisoners”, by James Tissot (c. 1900). Wikimedia Commons.