Jewish military history focuses on the military aspect of history of the Jewish people from ancient times until the modern age.
Ancient Israelite battles
While complete details in the Biblical account of a system of fighting forms are not extant, the Midrashic, Talmudic, and Rabbinic accounts testify to fighting and combat strategies used by the ancient Israelites as well as legendary depictions of Israelite combatants.
Against Egypt (Late Bronze Age)
The campaign of Pharaoh Merneptah in Canaan
The initial years of Merneptah's reign, the fourth Pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, were characterized by a series of military campaigns, as recorded on the Merneptah Stele. Although the main focus of the Stele is Merneptah's victory over the invading Libyans and Sea Peoples during the fifth year of his reign (1208 BCE), the text concludes with a short poem depicting his victories over various elements in the land of Canaan, namely the cities of Ashkelon, Gezer and Yano'am and the ethnic group Israel:"Canaan has been plundered into every sort of woe: Ashkelon has been overcome; Gezer has been captured; Yano'am was made non-existent. Israel is laid waste (and) his seed is not."While some scholars have questioned the accuracy of the interpretation of "Israel" and its relationship to biblical Israel, the majority of Egyptologists concur that it should indeed be understood as referring to Israel, and mainstream scholarship acknowledges a connection between the Israel mentioned and biblical Israel. It appears that the stele was erected after a number of rebellions in Canaan were repressed. The book of Joshua relates a military engagement between the Israelites and the king of Gezer and his troops, though it does not mention that Gezer was conquered by the Israelites. According to Richard Gabriel, Merneptah sent troops to Gezer to limit the Israelite campaign in the Shephelah and to prevent the Israelite advance in the region, in order to keep the road over the central mountain range towards the Jordan river in Egyptian hands. There is evidence that suggests that the Merrneptah stele refers to this campaign.
Against Assyria, Aram and Moab (Iron Age II) As opposed to the Late Bronze Age, during which the region was dominated by Egypt, between the 9th-7th centuries BCE the Assyrian empire rose and gradually but aggressively asserted its dominion over the local kingdoms, until its decline at the end of the 7th century BCE.
The initial Assyrian incursions into the western territories, including those of Aram and Israel were initiated by Ashurnasirpal II (884-859 BCE) and his successor Shalmaneser III (859-824 BCE). These military campaigns were ultimately thwarted by a coalition formed among the western kingdoms, particularly in the battle of Qarqar in 853 BCE.
It was during the next century between the mid-ninth century and the mid-eighth century BCE that the local kingdoms, such as Aram, Israel, Judah and Moab, enjoyed a certain degree of independence, with one kingdom occasionally asserting its dominance over others. Such was the case when the kingdom of Israel conquered lands from the kingdom of Aram and when the Hazael led Aramean armies into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. It was during this period too that Omride kings dominated Moabite lands and Mesha, king of Moab regained hold of them.
During the reign of Tiglath-pileser (745–727 BCE) nearly the entire Near East was brutally subjugated and incorporated as vassal states under Assyrian control. This expansion prompted a resurgence of the coalition and a renewal of the coalition opposing Assyrian dominance, ultimately leading to the conquest of Samaria by Shalmaneser V in 722 BCE. This event marked the dissolution of the politically independent northern kingdom of Israel.
Battle of Qarqar
The Battle of Qarqar took place in 853 BCE, and was fought by Shalmaneser III, king of Assyria, and a coalition of 11 kings including Ahab, king of Israel. In the Kurkh Monoliths, it is mentioned that the Israelite forces constituted troops and 2000 chariots.Battle of Qarqar, at livius.org
The campaigns of Hazael in the lands of Israel and Judah
The Tel Dan Stele, discovered in 1993–94 at the archaeological site of Tel Dan, tells of a seesawing military conflict between the kingdom of Dasmascus and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, beginning in the mid 9th century BCE. Correlating with the texts of the monolith of Kurkh, the Baghdad text, the Kurbail statue of Shlmaneser III, the Aramean dedications on horse bliders and forehead ornaments, and the biblical text it was most probably erected there during the mid-ninth century BCE by Hazael of Aram-Damascus, in honor of his successful occupation of the prominent Israelite city of Dan. The stele consists of three fragments constituting part of a triumphal inscription in Aramaic. The beginning of the surviving fragments has the lament of Hazael over the conquering or infiltration of the lands of his father by the king or kings of Israel:"And the king of I[s-]rael entered previously in my father's land"In the end of the inscription, the speaker boasts of his victories over the king of Israel and his ally the king of the "House of David", who are mentioned as having commanded vast armies:"And I killed two power[ful] kin[gs], who harnessed two thou[sand cha-]riots and two thousand horsemen. [I killed Jo]ram son of [Ahab] king of Israel, and I killed [Achaz]yahu son of [Joram king] of the House of David."It is believed that the stele was shattered by the Israelites after they repossessed the city of Dan, in order to protest the insult of its erection by the Aramean king in their land.
The occupation of Lands by Mesha of Moab
Mesha Stele was discovered in 1868–70 and was created around 840 BCE by King Mesha of Moab. Mesha tells how Kemosh, the God of Moab, had been angry with his people and had allowed them to be subjugated to Israel, but at length Kemosh returned and assisted Mesha to throw off the yoke of Israel and restore the lands of Moab.
The campaigns of Sennachrib against Israel and Judah
Sennacherib's campaign in Judah was a military conflict in 701 BCE between Kingdom of Judah and the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the conflict is part of the greater conflict of Sennacherib's campaigns.
Siege of Jerusalem
In 721 BCE, the Assyrian army captured the Israelite capital at Samaria and carried away the citizens of the northern kingdom into captivity. The virtual destruction of Israel left the southern kingdom, Judah, to fend for itself among warring Near Eastern kingdoms. The siege took place in approximately 701 BCE by Sennacherib, king of Assyria. The siege failed and Jerusalem survived until its eventual destruction by the Neo-Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar.
Siege of Lachish
The siege of Lachish occurred in 701 BCE, by the Neo-Assyrian empire, and ended with the conquest of the town. The towns inhabitants led into captivity and the leaders of Lachish tortured to death. The town was abandoned, but resettled after the return from Babylonia.
Against Egypt (Late Period)
Battle of Megiddo
The Battle of Megiddo is recorded as having taken place in 609 BCE with Necho II of Egypt leading his army to Carchemish to fight with his allies the Assyrians against the Babylonians at Carchemish in northern Syria. This required passing through territory controlled by the Kingdom of Judah and Necho requested permission from its king, Josiah. Josiah refused to let the Egyptians pass and a battle took place in which Josiah was killed. The battle is recorded in the Bible, 1 Esdras, and the writings of Josephus.
Against Babylon (Iron Age II)
The Jewish–Babylonian war was a military conflict between the Kingdom of Judah and Babylonia that lasted from 601 to 586 BCE. The conflict marked the end of the Kingdom of Judah and Jewish independence until the Hasmonean revolt. After Babylonia invaded Jerusalem it destroyed the First Temple, and started the Babylonian exile.
First siege of Jerusalem
In 605 BCE Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon defeated Pharaoh Neco at the Battle of Carchemish, and subsequently invaded Judah. To avoid the destruction of Jerusalem, King Jehoiakim of Jerusalem, in his third year, changed allegiances from Egypt to Babylon. He paid tribute from the treasury in Jerusalem, some temple artifacts, and some of the royal family and nobility as hostages. In 601 BCE, Nebuchadnezzar failed to invade Egypt, the failure led to rebellions among states in the Levant including Judah. Nebuchadnezzar sieged Jerusalem in 597 BCE, and managed to get in and capture king Jehoiachin,2 Kings 242 Chronicles 36Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle and all of the Aristocracy of Jerusalem. The siege resulted with fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the First Temple. Then Nebuchadnezzar exiled of the officers, and the craftsmen, and 7000 soldiers.
Second Siege of Jerusalem
In July 587 BCE, Zedekiah rebelled against Babylonia, making an alliance with Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar sieged Jerusalem again, starving the people. The siege resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of the Kingdom of Judah.
Classic era Maccabees
The Maccabees (Hebrew: מכבים or מקבים, Makabim) were a Jewish warrior community who spearheaded a national liberation movement that fought for and won independence from Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Hellenistic Seleucid dynasty, who was succeeded by his infant son Antiochus V Eupator. The Maccabees founded the Hasmonean royal dynasty and established Jewish independence in the Land of Israel for about one hundred years, from 164 BCE to 63 BCE.
In service of the Romans Around 7 BCE, King Herod of Judaea invited Zamaris, a Jew from Babylonia, and his 500 mounted archers to settle in the village of Bathyra in Batanea, in modern Syria, granting them tax exemptions. This settlement was tasked with protecting Batanea from Trachonite brigands and safeguarding Jewish pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem. Additionally, Ein Targhuna, an archaeological site near Massah, Libya, is believed to have been a Jewish military settlement established to defend the area from raids, possibly consisting of troops relocated from Trachonitis by Augustus.
New Testament Luke's Gospel refers to "soldiers" among those who heard the message proclaimed by John the Baptist, and who asked for direction on what his call to repentance required of them.: English Standard Version Theologian Albert Barnes notes that "whether these were Jews or Romans cannot be ascertained".Barnes, A. (1834), Barnes' Notes on Luke 3, accessed on 15 December 2024 John's instructions were that they should avoid extortion and false accusation, and be content with their wages.
Jewish–Roman wars
Judaea, which had existed as an independent kingdom under the Hasmonean dynasty, fell to Roman conquest in 63 BCE. After several decades of rule by client kings, it was formally incorporated into the Roman Empire in 6 CE as a directly administered province named Iudaea. This period saw the deterioration of Jewish-Roman relations, marked by the rule of harsh governors, ethnic and religious tensions in Judaea and other places in the empire, economic discrepancies, and growing nationalistic sentiments. These tensions eventually led to the Jewish–Roman wars, spanning from 66 to 135 CE.