Answers to Quora Questions by Yair Davidiy
Who was the last Jewish king before the Jewish kingdom split in two?
https://www.quora.com/Who-was-the-last-Jewish-king-before-the-Jewish-kingdom-split-in-two/answer/Yair-Davidiy
Saul was the first king.
He was followed by Ish-Boshet, his son, who ruled over the northern Tribes.
Then came David who eventually ruled over all Israel.
He was followed by Solomon who built the Temple.
Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, initially ruled over all the Tribes but shortly after his inauguration the northern Tribes rebelled against him.
They appointed Jeroboam son of Nebat over them.
Technically speaking Rehoboam was therefore the Last King of Judah to rule over all Israel.
The Tribes were divided between the Kingdom of Judah in the south and the Kingdom of Israel in the north.
The Last King of the northern tribes was named Hoshea son of Elah.
The Ten Tribes were exiled by the Assyrians.
After the Ten Tribes were exiled King Hezekiah ruled over Judah. He also ruled over the small remnant from the Ten Tribes that had remained and had moved to Judah.
Later Josiah son of Amon (son of Manasseh son of Hezekiah) became King of Judah.
In his time the Scythians took control of the Middle East (cf. Herodotus, book 4;2).
The exiled Israelites (who were part of the Scythian Federation) attempted to re-unite with Judah under the aegis of Josiah.
A few Scythian-Israelite colonies in Israel were established.
Josiah however was defeated and killed by the Egyptians attempting to restore Assyrian hegemony.
The Israelite-Scythians abandoned the land and returned to their places of Exile.
Eventually the exiled Ten Tribes lost all consciousness of their ancestry.
They migrated in stages to Western Europe.
Josiah son of Amon, King of Judah, may therefore in a sense be considered the last king of Israelites from both sections of the nation.