History of the Kings of Israel

The History of the Kings of Israel (Divre malkhe Yisra’el) is the penultimate section of Abraham ibn Dā’ūd’s Generations of the Ages (Dorot ‘olam). Despite the title, this section is not exclusively focused on individual rulers but instead covers the political history of the Jews from Alexander the Great, who ruled in the fourth century BCE, to shortly after the fall of Masada, in 73 or 74 CE. Utilizing an older text, The Book of Josippon (a medieval reworking of some writings by the first-century historian Josephus), as its primary source, this work claims that no leader during this period had Davidic authority and that therefore these figures did not rule legitimately. Ibn Dā’ūd uses this thesis to criticize both the Maccabees and Herod. These excerpts touch on the period leading up to the Maccabean revolt and some of the reign of Herod.