The State of Israel
Israel’s story begins 367 years after the Flood of Noah.
God promised a homeland to the descendants of Abram the Hebrew (Abraham) in Genesis 12:7. But, the Bible tells us that the Canaanites, descendants of Ham, had already begun to live in the land. They maintained control until the Israelites entered the land 685 years after the promise under Joshua. This followed 400 years in Egypt and 40 years of wandering in the Sinai Peninsula with Moses.
The tribes of Israel lived with Philistines and Canaanites mixed among them in a confederate government until the establishment of Saul as the first King of Israel. His Kingdom then went to David; whose son Solomon completed the famed Temple of YHWH almost 450 years after Joshua conquered the Land. After Solomon died, the Kingdom was divided into two portions, which warred with neighbors and with each other for hundreds of years. The northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria in 721 B.C. The Southern Kingdom of Judah fell to Babylon 135 years later. The ‘Jews’ were permitted to return to their homeland by Cyrus, King of Persia, in 538 B.C.
As prophesied in the book of Daniel, Alexander the Great conquered the area in 332 B.C. When he died “Palestine” became the crossroads of conflict between two of his successors, Ptolemy and Seleucus. In the midst of the conflicts that followed, three brothers named Maccabee led the Jews to revolt, gaining 100 years of relative independence. However, in 63 B.C., weak Jewish leadership led Rome to take control of Palestine in order to protect its Eastern border. The Romans eventually granted lordship of the area to the half-Jew Herod the Great in 37 B.C. The Jews began looking for a deliverer.
He was born according to the promises of Scripture and entered Jerusalem after three years of ministry on the exact day foretold in the Book of Daniel. But, he was not recognized as the heir of David and Lord of Israel. After the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus, Israel fell into turmoil. The Incarnation was only one factor in an intense religious and political ferment, which marked the era. Under Roman mismanagement, the Jews revolted in 66 A.D. The Temple built by Herod was destroyed in 70 A.D. and the last of the Jewish resistance was wiped out in the wilderness of Masada 2 years later. A smaller final revolt was attempted in 132 A.D.
In 324, the Roman Empire moved its capital to the Greek city of Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople, and another era in Israel’s history began as pilgrims started visiting the “Holy Land” in response to Constantine’s official legalization of Christianity. In 636 A.D. Arabs entered Palestine as conquerors for the first time. After two years of war under Muhammad’s successor, Omar, the Muslims ruled Palestine until Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099. They ruled almost 200 years, being followed by the Egyptian Mamluks, the Ottoman Turks, and the British, who began to govern Palestine in the name of the League of Nations in 1918. They promised a homeland to both Arabs and Jews. Jordan became an independent state in 1946.
The modern History of Israel begins with the advent of Zionism in the late 19th century. This movement held that the Jewish people were worthy of equal recognition and needed a homeland. The prevailing idea over the proceeding centuries had been that of ‘The Wandering Jew,’ who was cursed to live without a homeland because of his role in rejecting Jesus Christ. This idea is groundless, of course, since both Gentiles and Jews participated in the death of Jesus. However, it was the basis for centuries of persecution, especially by Christians, and led to hardship for generations of Jews in Russia, Europe, and across the Middle East. The most familiar of these persecutions occurred in the years leading up to the Second World War. After the War, international sympathy for the Jewish people was at an all-time high, and the United Nations finally accepted their right to a homeland.
In May of 1948, the United States led the world in recognizing the establishment of the Modern State of Israel at the end of the British Mandate. The years since have largely been years of conflict. Immediately attacked by its Arab neighbors (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt) the fledgling nation of immigrants fought back and survived. In the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel went on the offensive against continual harassment and pre-empted a joint-Arab invasion, capturing the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai, and the Golan Heights. The 1978 Camp David Accords led to the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1979. Again moved by the antagonism of its neighbor-states, Israel invaded southern Lebanon in 1982, and maintained control there until the year 2000. Other important dates include the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada in 1987, the signing of The Oslo Accords in 1993, the initiation of Palestinian Autonomy in 1994, the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, and the first Palestinian elections in 1996.
Today, Israel is an established nation, with the longest continual national identity in the world and the same need to know their savior, Yeshua, the anointed Son of David.
God promised a homeland to the descendants of Abram the Hebrew (Abraham) in Genesis 12:7. But, the Bible tells us that the Canaanites, descendants of Ham, had already begun to live in the land. They maintained control until the Israelites entered the land 685 years after the promise under Joshua. This followed 400 years in Egypt and 40 years of wandering in the Sinai Peninsula with Moses.
The tribes of Israel lived with Philistines and Canaanites mixed among them in a confederate government until the establishment of Saul as the first King of Israel. His Kingdom then went to David; whose son Solomon completed the famed Temple of YHWH almost 450 years after Joshua conquered the Land. After Solomon died, the Kingdom was divided into two portions, which warred with neighbors and with each other for hundreds of years. The northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by Assyria in 721 B.C. The Southern Kingdom of Judah fell to Babylon 135 years later. The ‘Jews’ were permitted to return to their homeland by Cyrus, King of Persia, in 538 B.C.
As prophesied in the book of Daniel, Alexander the Great conquered the area in 332 B.C. When he died “Palestine” became the crossroads of conflict between two of his successors, Ptolemy and Seleucus. In the midst of the conflicts that followed, three brothers named Maccabee led the Jews to revolt, gaining 100 years of relative independence. However, in 63 B.C., weak Jewish leadership led Rome to take control of Palestine in order to protect its Eastern border. The Romans eventually granted lordship of the area to the half-Jew Herod the Great in 37 B.C. The Jews began looking for a deliverer.
He was born according to the promises of Scripture and entered Jerusalem after three years of ministry on the exact day foretold in the Book of Daniel. But, he was not recognized as the heir of David and Lord of Israel. After the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus, Israel fell into turmoil. The Incarnation was only one factor in an intense religious and political ferment, which marked the era. Under Roman mismanagement, the Jews revolted in 66 A.D. The Temple built by Herod was destroyed in 70 A.D. and the last of the Jewish resistance was wiped out in the wilderness of Masada 2 years later. A smaller final revolt was attempted in 132 A.D.
In 324, the Roman Empire moved its capital to the Greek city of Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople, and another era in Israel’s history began as pilgrims started visiting the “Holy Land” in response to Constantine’s official legalization of Christianity. In 636 A.D. Arabs entered Palestine as conquerors for the first time. After two years of war under Muhammad’s successor, Omar, the Muslims ruled Palestine until Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099. They ruled almost 200 years, being followed by the Egyptian Mamluks, the Ottoman Turks, and the British, who began to govern Palestine in the name of the League of Nations in 1918. They promised a homeland to both Arabs and Jews. Jordan became an independent state in 1946.
The modern History of Israel begins with the advent of Zionism in the late 19th century. This movement held that the Jewish people were worthy of equal recognition and needed a homeland. The prevailing idea over the proceeding centuries had been that of ‘The Wandering Jew,’ who was cursed to live without a homeland because of his role in rejecting Jesus Christ. This idea is groundless, of course, since both Gentiles and Jews participated in the death of Jesus. However, it was the basis for centuries of persecution, especially by Christians, and led to hardship for generations of Jews in Russia, Europe, and across the Middle East. The most familiar of these persecutions occurred in the years leading up to the Second World War. After the War, international sympathy for the Jewish people was at an all-time high, and the United Nations finally accepted their right to a homeland.
In May of 1948, the United States led the world in recognizing the establishment of the Modern State of Israel at the end of the British Mandate. The years since have largely been years of conflict. Immediately attacked by its Arab neighbors (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt) the fledgling nation of immigrants fought back and survived. In the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel went on the offensive against continual harassment and pre-empted a joint-Arab invasion, capturing the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai, and the Golan Heights. The 1978 Camp David Accords led to the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1979. Again moved by the antagonism of its neighbor-states, Israel invaded southern Lebanon in 1982, and maintained control there until the year 2000. Other important dates include the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada in 1987, the signing of The Oslo Accords in 1993, the initiation of Palestinian Autonomy in 1994, the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, and the first Palestinian elections in 1996.
Today, Israel is an established nation, with the longest continual national identity in the world and the same need to know their savior, Yeshua, the anointed Son of David.
Comments