Chapter 7: The Divided Kingdom
Study activity, printable worksheet, explained answers, and source references for your chapter.
Printed chapter: pages 42-47. Complete connected chart: pages 98–145. These page references match the reviewed manuscript.
Listen to Chapter 7 · View Chapter 7 on the chart · Download the two-page worksheet
Follow two kingdoms
Read 1 Kings 12 and 2 Kings 17 and 24-25. Draw separate routes for Israel and Judah. Add Jeroboam and Rehoboam, then match Samaria with Assyria and Jerusalem with Babylon. Older learners can add one example showing that succession, genealogy, and a reign number convey different information.
Find the detail on the chart, identify what each number measures, and record the source used for your explanation.
Practice questions and explained answers
Try the worksheet first. Tap a question to reveal its explanation.
1. Which first king belongs to Israel and which to Judah?
Jeroboam begins the northern kingdom; Rehoboam rules Judah. Their similar names must not collapse the two routes.
2. Why is Samaria not Jeroboam’s original capital?
Samaria becomes the royal center under Omri. The northern kingdom’s later capital should not be projected onto its beginning.
3. Does Jehu’s succession prove he was Joram’s son?
No. The transition involves overthrow. Succession on a royal timeline is not automatically fatherhood.
4. Which three kings are omitted in Matthew 1:8’s transition?
Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah stand between Jehoram and Uzziah in the fuller royal sequence. A selected ancestry can omit intermediate names.
5. What do Hezekiah’s 28 and 29 measure in the comparison?
Adams’ reign figure and the KJV’s 29-year reign. The verse’s accession age of 25 is another measurement. Preserve the discrepancy rather than silently equating the figures.
6. Does Israel’s band ending mean every northerner disappeared?
No. The kingdom’s political ending is not the disappearance of every person. Biblical accounts describe survivors and later contacts across the former division.
Complete connected chart
Download all four parts and print in order, at actual size (100%). These contain one complete set of 48 numbered chart tiles, divided into four downloads. Follow the tile labels to connect the chart. Use the chapter enlargements for small lettering.
- Chart part 1 of 4 — tiles 1–12
- Chart part 2 of 4 — tiles 13–24
- Chart part 3 of 4 — tiles 25–36
- Chart part 4 of 4 — tiles 37–48
Sources to consult
These are the chapter’s source references, not quotations from those works. Use the named title, institution, record number, or passage to locate the source. Some external sources may have access restrictions.
- 1 Kings 12:1-33.
- 2 Chronicles 30:1-11, especially verses 6 and 10-11.
- 1 Kings 14:20; 15:25-16:34.
- 1 Kings 14:21-15:24; 22:41-50; 2 Kings 8:16-29; 11-16.
- Matthew 1:6-11, compared with 2 Kings 8:24-26; 11-12; 14:1, 21; 15:1-7, 32.
- 1 Kings 14:20; 15:33; 2 Kings 10:36; 12:1; 18:2.
- Amos 1:1; Hosea 1:1; Isaiah 1:1; Micah 1:1; Jeremiah 1:1-3.
- 1 Kings 17-19; 2 Kings 2:1-15; 13:14-21.
- Karen Radner, “Israel, the ‘House of Omri’,” Assyrian Empire Builders, UCL / ORACC (hosted by the University of Pennsylvania), section “722 BC: the taking of Samaria.” Discusses Shalmaneser V, Hoshea, Sargon II, and limits of the surviving evidence. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, “The Eastern Mediterranean and Syria, 1000 B.C.-1 A.D.” Key events: 722/721 BC, Samaria; 587/586 BC, Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon’s temple.
- British Museum, Discover the Arab World, teaching resource, section “Stone relief of the siege of Lachish”: 701 BC campaign and the Nineveh reliefs. Collection objects 124904 and 124908: assault and prisoners.
- Babylonian Chronicle 5, BM 21946, primary inscription, translated excerpt presented by the Center for Online Judaic Studies, “The Babylonian Chronicle (Chronicle 5): Nebuchadnezzar Besieges Jerusalem, 597 BCE.” Used only for the earlier capture, royal replacement, and tribute.
Use the printed chapter for its selected enlargements and the qualifications around each explanation. No account or personal information is required on this resource page. Downloaded files can be kept for offline study.