About 926 BC (About 2,900 years ago)
Shortly after the reign of King Solomon, his son Rehoboam becomes king and Israel becomes a divided kingdom.
Rehoboam refuses to ease the many burdens of taxation and forced labor, which Solomon had enacted, and the northern Tribes of Israel break away from the united Kingdom of Israel and form their own kingdom -- the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
The northern kingdom includes 10 of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Their first king is Jeroboam. They eventually settle on the city of Samaria, which is in the region of Samaria, which is in the middle of Israel, as their capital. Mount Gerizim eventually becomes their place of worship. The northerners reject most of the books of the Old Testament and practice a divergent form of Judaism.
The southern kingdom continues to use Jerusalem as its capital city and the Temple in Jerusalem as the God-sanctioned place for worshipping the God of Israel, during pre-Messiah times. This kingdom includes the Tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
Next: Assyrians conquer the Northern Kingdom of Israel
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