Excerpt from The Kings and Prophets of Israel and Judah: From the Division of the Kingdom to the Babylonian Exile The three centuries and a half, which began with the division of the Hebrew empire and extended to the Babylonian exile, were in many ways the most important period in Israel's history. It was during this epoch that the Israelites ceased to be a provincial people, limited in their out look to the narrow horizon of Palestine. Events over which they had little control brought them into close contact with the great world powers of the day, thereby vastly broadening their faith, as well as their vision of history and of their relation to the human race. It was a period marked by supreme political, social and religious crises, which funda mentally transformed Israel's religion and institutions. These crises called forth the great ethical prophets of the eighth and seventh centuries B.o.; and their work and teachings made Israel's experience during these trying years one of the most significant chapters in human history. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.