This history of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Judah is quite different
from the usual narratives of biblical history. It parallels the same
author’s History of the Kingdom of Israel (OLA 275) and is mainly
based on information provided by epigraphic sources dating from the
19th/18th century B.C. on, when Jerusalem and its rulers are first
mentioned. The book is divided in seven chapters. The first one deals
with the proto-history of Jerusalem in Bronze Age and Iron Age I. The
second one concerns the Davidic dynasty whose lineage is followed until
the mid-ninth century. Chapters III and IV continue the history of the
kingdom until the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylonians in 587. After
ca. 800 B.C. the name of the kingdom was changed from Beth David
in Judah following internal dynastic problems. Chapter V examines some
questions concerning religion in Jerusalem and Judah, especially the
alleged "sacred prostitution" and the "molk-sacrifices". Chapter
VI discusses the special case of the relations between the Yahwistic
sanctuary of Bethel, annexed to Judah by king Josiah, and the theonym
Bethel, attested in Jewish-Aramaean ambiences of the Persian period.
Chapter VII deals with burial customs and the conception of the
netherworld or Sheol, mainly from the monarchic period on.