Are Israel and Judah the same?

(Asked on Quora).

No they aren’t. When King Solomon, the son of David, died he was succeeded by his son Rehoboam in 930 BCE. Unfortunately Rehoboam proved to be a terrible ruler and soon afterward the country split into two kingdoms - Israel in the North (consisting of ten tribes) and Judah in the South. The former included the cities of Schechem and Samaria. The latter contained the city of Jerusalem and was comprised of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. It is from Judah that the word Jew originates.

Judah would continue to be governed largely by rulers from the House of David (although some have disputed this). The Kingdom of Israel existed from 930 -772 BCE and was finally destroyed by the Assyrians (leading to the mythology of the Ten Lost tribes). Judah survived until the Babylonian exile of 538 BCE that followed the destruction of the First Temple.

Map: Jewish Virtual Library