<P> The conflict between Israel and Judah was resolved when Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, allied himself with the house of Ahab through marriage . Later, Jehosophat's son and successor, Jehoram of Judah, married Ahab's daughter Athaliah, cementing the alliance . However, the sons of Ahab were slaughtered by Jehu following his coup d'état around 840 BCE . </P> <P> In c. 732 BCE, Pekah of Israel, while allied with Rezin, king of Aram, threatened Jerusalem . Ahaz, king of Judah, appealed to Tiglath - Pileser III, the king of Assyria, for help . After Ahaz paid tribute to Tiglath - Pileser Tiglath - Pileser sacked Damascus and Israel, annexing Aram and territory of the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh in Gilead including the desert outposts of Jetur, Naphish and Nodab . People from these tribes including the Reubenite leader, were taken captive and resettled in the region of the Khabur River system . Tiglath - Pilesar also captured the territory of Naphtali and the city of Janoah in Ephraim and an Assyrian governor was placed over the region of Naphtali . According to 2 Kings 16: 9 and 15: 29, the population of Aram and the annexed part of Israel was deported to Assyria . </P> <P> Israel continued to exist within the reduced territory as an independent kingdom until around 720 BCE, when it was again invaded by Assyria and the rest of the population deported . The Bible relates that the population of Israel was exiled, becoming known as the Ten Lost Tribes, leaving only the Tribe of Judah, the Tribe of Simeon (that was "absorbed" into Judah), the Tribe of Benjamin and the people of the Tribe of Levi who lived among them of the original Israelites nation in the southern Kingdom of Judah . However, in their book The Bible Unearthed, authors Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman estimate that only a fifth of the population (about 40,000) were actually resettled out of the area during the two deportation periods under Tiglath - Pileser III and Sargon II . Many also fled south to Jerusalem, which appears to have expanded in size fivefold during this period, requiring a new wall to be built, and a new source of water (Siloam) to be provided by King Hezekiah . </P> <P> The remainder of the northern kingdom was conquered by Sargon II, who captured the capital city Samaria in the territory of Ephraim . He took 27,290 people captive from the city of Samaria resettling some with the Israelites in the Khabur region and the rest in the land of the Medes thus establishing Hebrew communities in Ecbatana and Rages . </P>

When was the northern kingdom of israel destroyed