Source: Marvin A. Sweeney, Reading Ezekiel: A Literary and Theological Commentary, Reading the Old Testament Series (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Incorporated, 2013), 1–21.
This video outlines a chronological history of the ancient Near East, focusing on the rise and fall of major powers and their impact on the region that would become Israel and Judah. Following the weakening of the Egyptian and Hittite empires after the Battle of Kadesh circa 1300 BCE, a political vacuum in Canaan allowed for the emergence of smaller regional states, including Israel/Judah. During the reign of Solomon in the tenth century BCE, Israel briefly achieved wealth and power due to its strategic position on trade routes, but this was followed by centuries of subjugation, as Jerusalem became a vassal paying tribute to successive suzerain overlords: Aram, Israel, Assyria, and finally Babylonia. This tumultuous period culminated in the Babylonian conquest and destruction of Jerusalem and the temple of YHWH in 587/586 BCE, leading to the Exile of the people of Judah to Babylon.
Second Millennium BCE:
The Semitic Amorite population emerges as a dominant force in formerly Sumerian culture in Mesopotamia.
The Hittite empire is located in Asia Minor until around 1300 BCE.
Jerusalem, identified as a Jebusite city, is situated in a crossroads region between Asia Minor and Mesopotamia.
Circa 1300 BCE:
Battle of Kadesh: Hittites defeat the Egyptians, driving them out of western Asia. Both empires are weakened, creating a political vacuum in Canaan.
Conditions become ripe for the emergence of smaller states in the region, including Israel/Judah, Philistia, Aram, Ammon, Moab, and Edom, during the transition from the Bronze to the Iron Ages.
Early Iron Age:
Emergence of smaller states in the region, including Israel/Judah, Philistia, Aram, Ammon, Moab, and Edom.
Jerusalem, as a conquered Jebusite city, forms a core population for later Judean/Jewish identity.
Tenth Century BCE: