Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)

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The Kingdom of Israel (Hebrew: מַמְלֶכֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל‎, Mamleḵeṯ Yīśrāʾēl) was an Israelite kingdom in the Southern Levant in antiquity. The first extra-biblical mention of Israel dates from the Merneptah Stele created by Pharaoh Merneptah in 1208 BCE. According to the Deuteronomistic history in the Hebrew Bible, the United Kingdom of Israel or the United Monarchy existed under the reigns of Saul, Ish-bosheth, David, and Solomon, encompassing the territories of both the later kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The extent and nature of the Israelites' United Monarchy are matters of ongoing academic debate. During the 1980s, some biblical scholars began to argue that the archaeological evidence for an extensive kingdom before the late 8th century BCE is too weak, and that the methodology used to obtain the evidence is flawed. Scholars remain divided among those who support the historicity of the biblical narrative, those who doubt or dismiss it, and those who support the kingdom's theoretical existence...

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