When did Israel thrive?

Answer 1

According to The Bible, the golden era of Israel was during the reigns of Kings David and Solomon, throughout most of the tenth century BCE. When twentieth-century archaeologists found evidence of Israel's military expansion and its relative prosperity, they felt immediately able to date the evidence to the tenth century.

However, anomalies began to emerge, as more and more archaeological evidence was unearthed, both in Palestine and neighbouring areas. Some archaeologists began to realise that the evidence really belonged more than a hundred years later, during the ninth-century-BCE reigns of Kings Omri and Ahab. There is no evidence to support a great and prosperous United Monarchy during the tenth century BCE. Israel thrived and was at its most prosperous during the ninth century BCE.

Answer 2

Israel's greatest times were 1) under King Solomon, which according to tradition was 836 to 796 BCE

2) under Queen Shomtzion (Salome), 76 to 67 BCE.

There were many other periods of prosperity as well, such as every time that the Book of Judges says "and the land was quiet" (3:11, 3:30, 5:31, 8:28).

See also:

http://judaism.answers.com/jewish-history/timeline-of-jewish-history