According to the Biblical account (see bible), Israel is descended from Hebrew slaves who left the Land of Goshen, Egypt during the Exodus at an uncertain date, often considered to be in the late 13th century BCE. Prior to the establishment of the kingdom, the Hebrew people, (the Israelites) were led by the patriarchs and later by Judges. The notion of kingship was for a long time anathemetised, as it was seen as one man being put in a position of reverence and power that in their faith was reserved for the one true God. According to the bible, it was Samuel, one of last of the judges, to whom the nation appealed for a king, as his sons, who had been appointed judges over Israel, misused the office. Although he tried to dissuade them, they were resolute and Samuel anointed Saul ben Kish from the tribe of Benjamin as king.

Around 1030-1020 BCE (chronology varies), the children of the patriarch Jacob (Israel) united to form the Kingdom of Israel. Saul was the first King of Israel. He unified the tribes under a single Israelite authority, but, according to the book Samuel, due to his disobedience to God, he ruled for only two years.

David, the second King of Israel, established Jerusalem as Israel's national capital around 3,000 years ago. Before then, Shilo (modern day Tel Shilo) had been capital of Israel.

David succeeded in truly unifying the Hebrew tribes, and firmly consolidated the monarchical government. He embarked on successful military campaigns against Israel's enemies, and defeated bitter foes such as the Philistines, thus creating secure borders for Israel. David established a central government in Jerusalem, a standing army, judiciaries across the land, and a sophisticated infrastructure.

Under King David, Israel grew from Kingdom to Empire, and its military and political sphere of influence in the Middle East expanded greatly, as it controlled a number of weaker client states around it.

The third King of Israel, Solomon, (meaning "one whose peace is his" in Hebrew), is portrayed as a wise leader in the Hebrew Bible. Solomon constructed the First Temple in Jerusalem. His reign was a time of peace for Israel.

Following Solomon's death, tensions between the northern part of Israel, containing the ten northern tribes, and the southern section, dominated by Jerusalem and the southern tribes, increased, and around 920 BCE, Israel split into two kingdoms: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. See also History of ancient Israel.

Soon after the death of Solomon, the prophecy of Ahijah (1 Kings 11:31-35) was fulfilled with the division of the kingdom. Rehoboam, the son and successor of Solomon, was scarcely seated on his throne when the old jealousies between Judah and the other tribes broke out anew, and Jeroboam was sent for from Egypt by the malcontents (12:2,3).

Rehoboam insolently refused to lighten the burdensome taxation and services that his father had imposed on his subjects (12:4), and the rebellion became complete. The Tribe of Ephraim and all Israel raised the old cry, "Every man to his tents, O Israel" (2 Samuel 20:1). Rehoboam fled to Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:1-18; 2 Chronicles 10), and Jeroboam was proclaimed king over all Israel at Shechem, with the Tribe of Judah and the Tribe of Benjamin remaining faithful to Rehoboam. War continued, with varying success, between the two kingdoms for about sixty years, until Jehoshaphat allied himself with the house of Ahab through marriage. Later, his son and successor Jehoram of Judah married Ahab's daughter Athaliah, cementing the alliance. The sons of Ahab were slaughtered by Jehu following his Coup d'état.

The area of Solomon's kingdom, excluding the Phoenician territories on the shore of the Mediterranean, is usually agreed to not have much exceeded 34,000 km² (13,000 square miles). The kingdom of Israel encompassed about 24,000 km² (9,375 square miles). However, a minority of biblical literalists grant a much larger land area for his empire. Shechem was the first capital of this kingdom (1 Kings 12:25), afterwards Tirza (14:17). Samaria was subsequently chosen as the capital (16:24), and continued as such until the destruction of the kingdom by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:5). During the siege of Samaria (lasting for three years) by the Assyrians, Shalmaneser V died and was succeeded by Sargon II of Assyria, who himself records the capture of that city thus: "Samaria I looked at, I captured; 27,280 men who dwelt in it I carried away" (2 Kings 17:6) into Assyria. Thus, after a duration of two hundred fifty-three years, the kingdom of the nine tribes came to an end. They were scattered throughout the East, and are popularly known as the Lost ten tribes of Israel.

"Judah held its ground against Assyria for yet one hundred and twenty-three years, and became the rallying-point of the dispersed of every tribe, and eventually gave its name to the whole race. Those of the people who in the last struggle escaped into the territories of Judah or other neighbouring countries naturally looked to Judah as the head and home of their race. And when Judah itself was carried off to Babylon, many of the exiled Israelites joined them from Assyria, and swelled that immense population which made Babylonia a second Judah".

After the deportation of the ten tribes, the vacated land was colonized by various eastern tribes, especially Syrians, whom the king of Assyria sent there (Ezra 4:2, 10; 2 Kings 17:24-29).