<P> After Hezekiah became sole ruler in c. 715 BCE, he formed alliances with Ashkelon and Egypt, and made a stand against Assyria by refusing to pay tribute . (Isaiah 30--31; 36: 6--9) In response, Sennacherib of Assyria attacked the fortified cities of Judah. (2 Kings 18: 13) Hezekiah paid three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold to Assyria--requiring him to empty the temple and royal treasury of silver and strip the gold from the doorposts of Solomon's Temple . (2 Kings 18: 14--16) However, Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem (2 Kings 18: 17) in 701 BCE, though the city was never taken . </P> <P> During the long reign of Manasseh (c. 687 / 686--643 / 642 BCE), Judah was a vassal of Assyrian rulers--Sennacherib and his successors, Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal after 669 BCE . 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 . </P> <P> When Josiah became king of Judah in c. 641 / 640 BCE, the international situation was in flux . To the east, the Neo-Assyrian Empire was beginning to disintegrate, the Neo-Babylonian Empire had not yet risen to replace it, and Egypt to the west was still recovering from Assyrian rule . In this power vacuum, Judah was able to govern itself for the time being without foreign intervention . However, in the spring of 609 BCE, Pharaoh Necho II personally led a sizable army up to the Euphrates to aid the Assyrians . Taking the coast route Via Maris 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 of the great Jezreel Valley was blocked by the Judean army led by Josiah, who may have considered that the Assyrians and Egyptians were weakened by the death of the pharaoh Psamtik I only a year earlier (610 BCE). Presumably in an attempt to help the Babylonians, Josiah attempted to block the advance at Megiddo, where a fierce battle was fought and where Josiah was killed . Necho then joined forces with the Assyrian Ashur - uballit II and together they crossed the Euphrates and lay siege to Harran . The combined forces failed to capture the city, and Necho retreated back to northern Syria . The event also marked the disintegration of the Assyrian Empire . </P> <P> On his return march to Egypt in 608 BCE, Necho found that Jehoahaz had been selected to succeed his father, Josiah . Necho deposed Jehoahaz, who had been king for only three months, and replaced him with his older brother, Jehoiakim . Necho imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver (about 3 ⁄ tons or about 3.4 metric tons) and a talent of gold (about 34 kilograms (75 lb)). Necho then took Jehoahaz back to Egypt as his prisoner, never to return . </P>

The southern kingdom fell to whom in 586 bc