According to Bible, King David (ca. 1000 BC) conquered Jerusalem from Jebusites and made there his site of administration, the City of David. David’s son, Solomon, built the temple and a city wall around the City of David. However, archeological findings are meager. In 2010 Eilat Mazar announced having found a part of the city wall, that the Large Stone Structure was David’s palace, and that the Stepped Stone Structure, uncovered by Kathleen Kenyon, is the Milla mentioned in the Bible.
However, this is not at all clear. The Stepped Stone Structure may indeed be the Milla, but it can well be a Jebusite construction from 1000 BC, but used by Judean administration in first the 8th and 7th century BC. Israel Finkelstein dates the Large Stone Structure to the 8th and 7th century. Finkenstein also claims that the Stepped Stone Structure was built in several stages. The Givati parking lot excavations by Doron Ben-Ami and Yana Tchekhanovets gave evidence that there was no wall in the 10th century around the City of David. Even the Springs tower turned out to have a 9th century date in radiocarbon dating. It does not imply that there was no older tower, but the fact that the tower was repaired first in the 9th century after the Bronze Age shows that before the time there was no reason for anybody to attack the city.
According to the Bible, Pharaoh Shishak invaded the kingdom Judah in ca. 926 BC. Shishak provided a refuge to Jeroboam, later the king of Israel. Jeroboam’s people and other local tribes joined Egyptians in sacking Judea. Shishak robbed the Jerusalem temple but did not destroy Jerusalem. Josephus Flavius agrees with this: king Rehoboam of Judea paid Shishak with the gold from the temple. Egyptian history confirms that Pharaoh Shoshenq I invaded Canaan 925 BC, but it is not clear if it confirms the Biblical story. The Bubastite Portal in Karnak gives a list of subdued cities, but it does not include Jerusalem. Some of the cities in the list, like Megiddo, were not destroyed, as Shosenq set a stele in Megiddo. Thus, Jerusalem would have been mentioned if Shoshenq took loot from the city. The Bubastine Portal is fragmentary, which may explain why Jerusalem is not mentioned, but no Egyptian sources mention the gold obtained from Jerusalem. Furthermore, there is no indication that the cities are Judean and not Israelian. This is only concluded by first assuming that there were two Hebrew speaking states in this time. If the cities are Judean and the capital was Jerusalem, then why was Jerusalem not fortified like other cities of Judea and why Shoshenq did not destroy the city. I think the simplest reason is that it was not a Judean city at this time.
Tel Dan Steele describes the victory of Hazael the king of Aram over Israel. Hazael was the king 843-803 BC. Hazael is said to have killed Joram, son of Ahab, king of Israel, and Ahazaihu, son of Joram, House of David. Notice that Ahaziahu is not titled king of Judea, only House of David, bytdwd. The interpretation of bytdwd is not accepted by everybody, but what can be accepted it that it is not king of Judea. I conclude that Ahaziahu was not preceived as a king in the 9th century.
The Bible was edited in Joshiah’s (648-609 BC) in the 8th century and cannot be considered reliable. It does not correctly describe Israelite religion, which included worship of Asherah. There are two (and only two) prophetic books written before the reforms: Amos and Hosea. They inlude content that does not well fit into the version in the Books of Moses and therefore may be in the original state. Amos was written 760-755 BC and Hosea 750-725 BC.
Amos refers to Israel only as the chosen tribe (Amos 3:1-2). Amos 5:6 refers to Israel as the House of Joseph and to Judea as Bethel. Amos mentions the ruin of Joseph (6:6) and the remained or Joseph (Amos 5:12). Israel is the tribe that God led from Egypt (Amos 9:7) with 40 years in wilderness (Amos 2:10) in tents, who worshipped a star god (Amos 5:26). Thus, Israel is a descendat of Joseph.
Amos mentions Pride of Jacob (Amos 6:8) in the context of Israel (Amos 6:11). (Here as a false god, in Amos 8:7 Pride of Jacob is God.) Amos 7 says that God saved Jacob twice and in (Amos 7:8) says that Israel will not be saved any more. Thus, Israel belongs to Jacob.
Israel is of the tribe of Isaac (Amos 7:16). Sacrificial hills are from Isaac (Amos 7:9) and will be deserted.
In Amos 3:13-14 Jacob is said to worship in Bethel. Worship in both Bethel and Gilgal is sinful (Amos 4:4). The place suggests that Israelites worship in Bethel and Gilgal. The people are not to go to Bethel, Gilgal or Bersheba (Amos 5:5). Amos 7:13 informs that Bethel is king’s temple and kingdom’s temple. Thus, Bethel is under the king of Israel.
Judea is not under the king of Israel as Amos can escape there (Amos 7:12). Amos 2:4 says that Judea does not keep the laws of God. Amos 8:14 also condemns the tribe of Dan and the way of Beesheba, but does not say that they are not under the kind of Israel.
The house of David has fallen (Amos 9:11) and David will take the remains of Edom and other pagan tribes taken to God’s name (Amos 9:12). King David composed psalms (Amos 6:5). Israel will not be completely destroyed (Amos 9:9, 3:12, 5:3), but Jerobeam’s family is destroyed (Amos 7:9, 7:10).
As a conclusion, Amos gives the genealogy of Israel as: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Israel. Bethel is a temple under the king of Israel. Dan and Beesheba seem to be under the king of Israel, but Judea is not. Amos mentions Judea only once. The promise is to Israel: Israel will not be completely destroyed.
Hosea ends his book to: “Who is wise enough to understand these things? Who is intelligent enough to know them?”, which is a typical indication that the texts needs to be interpreted. Hosea declares that God will not forgive Israel, and then explains that Israel will be forgiven. One simple interpretation for such an apparent contradiction is that the chosen tribe is changed: Jacob is declared Israel, thus Judea, a descendant of Jacob, becomes the new Israel, while the original Israel will go to slavery (Hosea 9:3, 9:17) and disappears. Judea will be punished for its sins (Hosea 8:14), but later pardoned. If so, Hosea is has a different idea than Amos, but also Amos can fit to this interpretation. Though Amos hardly has meant it so, Amos does say that the remainder of Edom and other pagan tribes, who are taken to God, become a part of the new Israel. Thus, this may be the intended interpretation: the chosen nation is changed.
At the time of Hosea there are two kingdoms: Israel and Judea but interestingly, Hosea 5:10 mentions: “The princes of Judah have become like those who move the landmark; upon them I will pour out my wrath like water.” This may mean that Judea was not centrally governed by one king. Israel does not govern Judea, but Judea is not necessarily governed by a Davidic king.
But later the new Israel will be governed by David (Hosea 3:4), which suggests that there was king David, the one in Amos who composed palms and whose house has fallen, and his lineage still exists, probably as one of the princes of Judea.
Hosea mentions the Battle of Gibea twice (Hosea 9:9, 10:9). In Gibea Benjamites were nearly extinguished. Saul was a Benjamite, but usually in Hosea Israel is called Ephraim (Hosea 4:17, 5:3), the younger son of Joseph. Hosea 12:12 says: “Is there iniquity in Gilead? Surely they are worthless”. This difficult to translate sentence may refer to Jabesh Gilead, the city, which did not want to punish Benjamites in the Battle of Gibea and where other tribes killed the men and gave the women to Benjamites. Jeroboam, the first king of Israel (922-901, or 931-910 BC) was from the tribe of Ephraim. Why are here references to Benjamites?
These places are understandable if they refer to a time when descendant of Saul still ruled over Israel and Judea was a rebelling district. Pharaoh Shishak invaded Canaan, destroyed many fortified Judean cities and set Jeroboam to the throne. According to Amos the House of David had fallen. Some of the princes of Judah were of Davidic lineage, but these princes did not govern Judea. The sins of Israel derived from the time Saulites ruled.
The charge against Israel is worship of false gods. Asherah worship by Israel is clear from Hosea. Hosea 4:12 tells of sex rites and sacrifices in hight places under trees (Hosea 4:12-14) and sacred raisin cakes (Hosea 3:1). Also the worship of the golden calf (Hosea 10:5) is condemned and human sacrifice (Hosea 13:2).
Judea is warned from not doing the same as Israel (Hosea 4:15): “Do not go to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth Aven. And do not swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!'”. The warning to swear seems to refer to the way of Beersheba mentioned in Amos.
Hosea 11:1 says, like Amos, that God called Israel from Egypt. There is no implication in Hosea (or Amos) that the tribe of Judah was in Egypt. Hosea 12:14 says again that through prophet God took Israel away from Egypt. Before that place Hosea talks of Jacob. In 1. Moses Jacob is given the name Israel, but Hosea does not confirm it. The text in Hosea, especially Hosea 12:3-13, can be understood in a way that Jacob, meaning Judea, is now taken as the new Israel. Surviving men of Israel can join Judea and become a part of the new Israel.
There seems to be no contradiction between Amos and Hosea. My conclusion is that in the 10th century Jerusalem was not a Judean city. It was still a Jebusite site. There were Israelite cities both in the North and South Israel, like the Tel Arad Temple, a house in Tel Etan, buildings in Khirbet Qeuyafa, and many other places show. They had once belonged to the Unified Monarchy, but the House of David had fallen, and maybe David never conquered most of the area. It may have remained as Saulite Israel up to the time when Pharaoh Shishak invaded and set Jeroboam as the king of Israel. The southern cities finally unified under a Davidic prince and Jerusalem become the capital of Judea, but this was in the 8th century.
So, this is my solution. It is rather close to what Israel Finkelstein has been saying. But I base my solution to a reading of Amos and Hosea, he would never do such a thing. On the other hand, I have never excavated any site. All I do is sit in my chair and solve all possible problem simply by thinking. This problem was not even difficult. I think it is difficult only because there are religious and political dimensions in this particular problem.
Maybe, as this playing Mycroft Holmes and solving problems in an armchair, is so easy today, I will still solve another problem. Who controlled the copper mines of Edom. Finkelstein says Edomites, some other say Egypt, and the supporters of the Unified Monarcy thesis say Judea. This is a simple problem. In the very beginning of Amos there are mentioned two states that took slaves and sent them to forced work in Edom. They obviously become slaves in the mines. David was supposed to have conquered Edom, so it would have been a part of Judea, but in Amos’ time Edom was not a part of Judea: it is given its own condemnation. Thus, David did not conquer Edom around 1000 BC and in Amos time Edomites controlled the mines. But in Hosea there is a discussion of Jacob. Jacob betrayed his brother in mother’s womb. 1. Moses gives it a very concrete meaning, but the meaning in Hosea is symbolic. Edom is Esau, as 1. Moses confirms. Jacob put such a high price to food that Esau lost his birth right. Thus, the mines had to be supplied with food, as it was a desert, and Judea put a high price to the food and got the control of the mines. Then Babylon destroyed Judea, so it did not last so long. In general, 1. Moses is a teaching book. It teaches all dirty tricks. Joseph uses usury to rob and enslave Egyptians. All those teachings can and should be understood correctly. They are not at all moral. There is also a puzzle for you. What does Hosea 12:13 mean by having Jacob escape to Aram (not to Harran, Aram-Damascus was the state of Hazael) and that Jacob served for a woman. Please, not the 1. Moses story, Hosea had some idea in everything he wrote, it is for intelligent readers.