Christ First Forum

by **Jeani** » 14 Feb 2010, 09:14

History of Israel
Israel is one of the newer countries in the world and one of the oldest. Back then (3,000 years ago) it was called Judea and then Judea split and became "Israel and Judea." and then it became some other things. Click the link for a timeline of the history of Israel under various names. Here are Maps of Israel that show the evolution of Israel through history.

The land called Israel, Palestine, and Canaan, has been settled continuously for tens of thousands of years.

Paleontologists have found fossils of Homo Erectus, Neanderthal and transitional types between Neanderthal and modern man. Archeologists have found hybrid Emer wheat at Jericho dating from before 8,000 B.C.E. That makes it one of the oldest sites of agricultural activity in the world.

The land formed a bridge between the powerful kingdom of ancient Egypt in the South, and the Hittites, Assyrians and others to the north. These peoples rivaled each other for control of this tiny strip of land, which was relatively unprotected. Amorites, Canaanites, and other Semitic peoples related to the Phoenicians of Tyre entered the area about 2000 B.C.

The area became known as the Land of Canaan, but their city states were variously subject to Egypt or to the Hittite Kingdom. The first and only national sovereignty in the land was that of the the Jewish people.

The archeological record seems to show that the Jewish people evolved out of native Cana'anite peoples and invading tribes. Some time between about 1800 and 1500 B.C., it is thought that a Semitic people called Hebrews (hapiru) left Mesopotamia and settled in Canaan. Another people who came about this time were the Philistines, peoples of the sea who are thought to have arrived from Mycenae, or to be part of the ancient Greek peoples that also settled Mycenae.

According to the Bible, Moses led the children of Israel ("Bnei Israel" in Hebrew) or a portion of them, out of Egypt. Under Joshua, they conquered the tribes and city states of Canaan. Based on biblical traditions, it is estimated that king David conquered Jerusalem about 1000 B.C.E. and established an Israelite kingdom over much of Canaan including parts of Transjordan.

The kingdom was divided into Judea in the south and Israel in the north following the death of David's son, Solomon. Jerusalem remained the center of Jewish sovereignty and of Jewish worship whenever the Jews exercised sovereignty over the country in the subsequent period, up to the Jewish revolt in 133 AD.

Archeological evidence that corroborates the biblical account goes back to at least 700 B.C.E. The Old Testament recounts that king Hezekiah built an aqueduct or tunnel to bring water to the city of Jerusalem, in order to prepare for an Assyrian siege on Jerusalem. Hezekiah's Tunnel was found by archeologists, and with it an inscription in ancient Hebrew, marking the spot where two teams of tunnel diggers met 2,700 years ago.

The Assyrians conquered Israel in 722 or 721 B.C. The Babylonians conquered Judea around 586 B.C. They destroyed Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, and exiled a large number of Jews. About 50 years later, the Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylonia.

He allowed a group of Jews to rebuild Jerusalem and settle in it. However, a large number of Jews remained in Babylon, forming the first Jewish Diaspora.

After the reestablishment of a Jewish state or Persian ruled Jewish protectorate, the exiles maintained contact with authorities there.

The Persians ruled the land from about 530 to 331 B.C. Alexander the Great then conquered the Persian Empire. After his death in 323 B.C., his generals divided the empire. One of the generals, Seleucus, founded a dynasty that gained control of much of the land about 200 B.C. At first, the new rulers, called Seleucids, allowed the practice of Judaism. But later, one of the kings, Antiochus IV, tried to prohibit it. In 167 B.C., the Jews revolted under the leadership of the Maccabees and either drove the Seleucids out of Palestine or at least established a large degree of autonomy, forming a kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem.

The kingdom received Roman "protection" when Judah Maccabee was made a "friend of the Roman senate and people" in 164 B.C. according to the records of Roman historians.
Israel: Roman and Ottoman Rule

About 61 B.C., Roman troops under Pompei invaded Judea and sacked Jerusalem in support of King Herod. Judea had become a client state of Rome. Initially it was ruled by the Herodian dynasty. The land was divided into districts of Judea, Galilee, Peraea and a small trans-Jordanian section, each of which eventually came under direct Roman control.

The Romans called the large central area of the land, which included Jerusalem, Judea. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judea, in the early years of Roman rule. Roman rulers put down Jewish revolts in about A.D. 70 and A.D. 132.

In A.D. 135, the Romans drove the Jews out of Jerusalem. The Romans named the area Palaestina, at about this time. The name Palaestina, which became "Palestine" in English, is derived from Herodotus, who used the term Palaistine Syria to refer to the entire southern part of Syria, meaning "Philistine Syria."

Most of the Jews who continued to practice their religion fled or were forcibly exiled from Palestine, eventually forming a second Jewish Diaspora. However, Jewish communities continued to exist in Galilee, the northernmost part of the land of Israel, and probably in Gaza in the south and Yavne along the coast. The land was governed by the Roman Empire until the fourth century A.D. (300's) and then by the Byzantine Empire.

In time, Christianity spread to most of the inhabitants. The population consisted of Jewish converts to Christianity and paganism, peoples imported by the Romans, and others who had probably inhabited the land of Israel continuously.
During the seventh century (A.D. 600's), Muslim Arab armies moved north from Arabia to conquer most of the Middle East, including the land of Israel.

Jerusalem was conquered about 638 by the Caliph Umar (Omar) who gave his protection to its inhabitants. Muslim powers controlled the region until the early 1900's.

The rulers allowed Christians and Jews to keep their religions. However, most of the local population gradually accepted Islam and the Arab-Islamic culture of their rulers.

Jerusalem became holy to Muslims as the site where, according to tradition, Muhammed ascended to heaven after a miraculous overnight ride on his horse Al-Buraq. The al-Aqsa mosque was built on the site generally regarded as the area of the Jewish temples.

For a brief time, under Arab rule, the land was called "Filastin." However, the Arab empire soon fell apart. The land was divided among number of districts, an anonymous area within various Muslim Turkish empires at different times, with administrative borders redrawn to suit the convenience of different rulers.

The Seljuk Turks conquered Jerusalem in 1071, but their rule lasted less than 30 years. Initially they were replaced by the Fatimid rulers of Egypt.

The Fatimids took advantage of the Seljuk struggles with the Christian crusaders. They made an alliance with the crusaders in 1098 and captured Jerusalem, Jaffa and other parts of the land.

The Crusaders, however, broke the alliance and invaded the land of Israel about a year later. They captured Jaffa and Jerusalem in 1099, slaughtered many Jewish and Muslim defenders and forbade Jews to live in Jerusalem. Under the Crusaders, the land of Israel was called "The Kingdom of Jerusalem." They held the city until 1187. In that year, the Muslim ruler Saladin conquered Jerusalem. The Crusaders then held a smaller and smaller area along the coast, under treaty with Saladin. However, they broke the treaty with Saladin and later treaties. Crusade after crusade tried unsuccessfully to recapture Jerusalem. .

The crusaders left forever when the Muslims captured Acre in 1291. During the post-crusade period, crusaders often raided the coast. To deny the crusaders any gains from these raids, the Muslims pulled their people back from the coasts and destroyed coastal towns and farms.

This depopulated and impoverished the coastal regions for hundreds of years.
In the mid-1200's, Mamelukes, based in Egypt, established an empire that in time included the area of the land of Israel. Arab-speaking Muslims made up most of the population. Beginning in the late 1300's, Jews from Spain and other Mediterranean lands settled in Jerusalem and other parts of the land. The Ottoman Empire defeated the Mamelukes in 1517, and all of the land became part of the Ottoman Empire.

The Turkish Sultan invited Jews fleeing the Spanish Catholic inquisition to settle in the Turkish empire, including Tiberias, Jerusalem, Safed and Hebron in the land of Israel.

In 1798, Napoleon entered the land. The war with Napoleon and poor administration by Egyptian and Ottoman rulers, reduced the population. Arabs and Jews fled to safer and more prosperous lands.

Subsequent reorganization and opening of the Turkish Empire to foreigners restored some order. The Turks also allowed the beginnings of Jewish settlement under various Zionist and proto-Zionist movements. Both Arab and Jewish population increased.

By 1880, about 24,000 Jews were living in the land of Israel, out of a population of about 400,000. At about that time, the Ottoman government imposed severe restrictions on Jewish immigration and land purchase.

These were evaded in various ways by Jews seeking to return to our homeland. The Ottomans also invited Muslims from various parts of the empire to settle in the land, and groups from Bosnia and Cherkessia settled in Abu Ghosh and Acre.
In 1917, the British conquered the land from the Turks and were given a mandate to turn the land into a "national home for the Jewish people.

MODERN ISRAEL
Modern Israel came into being on May 14, 1948. Israel was immediately invaded by the armies of neighboring states. In the Israel War of Independence a population of about 650,000 Jews faced hundreds of millions of Arabs. The Jews had better organization and more determination and won the war.

Since the War of Independence, Israel has fought several wars in addition to dealing with constant terror attacks:
1956 - Sinai Campaign
1967- Six day war
1970-71 - War of Attrition
1973 - Yom Kippur War
1982 - Israel-Lebanon War
2000- "Inifadeh:" Israeli War with Palestinian Terrorists
2006 - Second Israel-Lebanon War
At one time, peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors seemed to be an impossible dream, but in 1979, Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan
TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM

The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple (Hebrew: בֵּית הַמִקְדָּשׁ, Beit HaMikdash ; "House of the Holy"), refers to one of a series of structures located on the Temple Mount in the old city of Jerusalem. Historically, two temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of ancient Jewish worship. According to classical Jewish belief, the Temple acted as the figurative "footstool" of God's presence and a Third Temple will be built there in the future.

According to the Hebrew Bible, the First Temple was built by King Solomon (reigned c.970-c.930 BCE). As the sole place of Jewish sacrifice, the Temple replaced the local sanctuaries and crude altars in the hills. The First Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE when they sacked the city.

Construction of the Second Temple begun in 538 BCE and was dedicated 23 years later in 515. According to the Book of Ezra, rebuilding of the Temple was authorized by Cyrus the Great and ratified by Darius the Great. Centuries later in around 20 BCE, the building was renovated by Herod the Great, and became known as Herod's Temple. It was subsequently destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE during the Siege of Jerusalem. It is believed that only part of the Western Wall of the complex remains standing. During the last revolt of the Jews against the Romans in 132-135 CE, Simon bar Kokhba and Rabbi Akiva wanted to rebuild the Temple, but bar Kokhba's revolt failed and the Jews were banned from Jerusalem by the Roman Empire.

An Islamic shrine, the Dome of the Rock, has stood on the site of the Temple since the late 7th Century CE, and the al-Aqsa Mosque, from roughly the same period, also stands on the Temple courtyard. The mount bears significance in Islam as it acted as a sanctuary for many Biblical prophets. Islamic tradition says that a Temple was first built on the Temple Mount by Jacob and later renovated by Solomon, son of David.

Christ First Forum

My Notes on 'History of Israel.'

My Notes on 'History of Israel.'

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