[8][9] In the 10th and early 9th centuries BCE, the territory of Judah appears to have been sparsely populated, limited to small rural settlements, most of them unfortified.

[8][14] In the 7th century BCE, the kingdom's population increased greatly, prospering under Neo-Assyrian vassalage, despite Hezekiah's revolt against the Assyrian king Sennacherib.

[15] Josiah took advantage of the political vacuum that resulted from Assyria's decline and the emergence of Saite Egyptian rule over the area to enact his religious reforms.

The central ridge, ranging from forested and shrubland-covered mountains gently sloping towards the hills of the Shephelah in the west, to the dry and arid landscapes of the Judaean Desert descending into the Jordan Valley to the east, formed the kingdom's core.

In prosperous periods, Judah's influence expanded, stretching southward to Beersheba and beyond, including Kadesh Barnea and likely Kuntillet Ajrud.

[19] Due to geopolitical factors like security issues, isolation, and political changes, the core area of the Kingdom of Judah on the south-central highlands has seen limited archaeological exploration compared to regions west of the Jordan River.

[26] Recent archaeological discoveries by Eilat Mazar in Jerusalem and Yosef Garfinkel in Khirbet Qeiyafa have been interpreted as supporting the existence of the United Monarchy, but the datings and identifications are not universally accepted.

[10] The oldest part of Jerusalem and its original urban core are the City of David, which does show evidence of significant Israelite residential activity around the 10th century.

According to Professor Eliezer Piasetsky, who participated in analyzing the texts, "Literacy existed at all levels of the administrative, military and priestly systems of Judah.

[40] Tel Be'er Sheva, believed to be the site of the ancient biblical town of Be'er-sheba, was the main Judahite center in the Negev in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE.

[41] Khirbet Abu et-Twein, which is situated on the Judaean Mountains between modern day Bat Ayin and Jab'a, is one of the most noteworthy fortresses from the period.

The main Judahite fortification in the Judaean Desert was found at Vered Yeriho; it protected the road from Jericho to the Dead Sea.

[41] It is clear from the position of Judaean strongholds that one of their primary purposes was to facilitate communications via fire signals across the Kingdom, a method well-documented in the Book of Jeremiah and the Lachish letters.

Before the coronation took place, the northern tribes, led by Jeroboam, asked the new king to reduce the heavy taxes and labor requirements that his father Solomon had imposed.

In the fifth year of Rehoboam's reign, Shishak, who is identified as the pharaoh Shoshenq I of the 22nd Dynasty of Egypt, brought a vast army and took many cities.

In the sack of Jerusalem (10th century BCE), Rehoboam gave them all of the treasures out of the temple as a tribute and Judah became a vassal state of Egypt.

According to the Books of Chronicles, Abijah and his people defeated them with a great slaughter, so that 500,000 chosen men of Israel fell slain,[43] and Jeroboam posed little threat to Judah for the rest of his reign.

[44] Abijah's son and successor, Asa of Judah, maintained peace for the first 35 years of his reign,[45] and he revamped and reinforced the fortresses initially built by his grandfather, Rehoboam.

However, on seeing Mesha's act of offering his son in a human sacrifice on the walls of Kir of Moab (now al-Karak) filled Jehoshaphat with horror, he withdrew and returned to his land.

A raid by Philistines and Arabs or perhaps South Arabians looted the king's house and carried off all of his family except for his youngest son, Ahaziah of Judah.

After Hezekiah became the sole ruler in c. 715 BCE, he formed alliances with Ashkelon and Egypt and made a stand against Assyria by refusing to pay tribute.

Manasseh is listed as being required to provide materials for Esarhaddon's building projects and as one of a number of vassals who assisted Ashurbanipal's campaign against Egypt.

[60] Taking the coastal route into Syria at the head of a large army, Necho passed the low tracts of Philistia and Sharon.

However, the passage over the ridge of hills, which shuts in on the south the great Jezreel Valley, was blocked by the Judean army, led by Josiah, who may have considered that the Assyrians and the Egyptians were weakened by the death of Pharaoh Psamtik I only a year earlier (610 BCE).

However, when the Egyptians were defeated by the Babylonians at Carchemish in 605 BCE, Jehoiakim changed allegiances to pay tribute to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon.

Jeconiah and his court and other prominent citizens and craftsmen, along with a sizable portion of the Jewish population of Judah, numbering about 10,000[71] were deported from the land and dispersed throughout the Babylonian Empire.

When the Philistine city of Ashkelon was conquered in 604 BCE, the political, religious and economic elite (but not the bulk of the population) was banished and the administrative centre shifted to a new location.

The population that was left in the land and those who had returned fled to Egypt for fear a Babylonian reprisal, under the leadership of Yohanan ben Kareah.

The numbers that were deported to Babylon and that made their way to Egypt and the remnant that remained in the land and in surrounding countries are subject to academic debate.

It is now widely agreed among academic scholars that the Books of Kings are not an accurate portrayal of religious attitudes in Judah or Israel of the time.