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Pentateuch

Abraham

Isaac

Jacob & Joseph

JOB

Moses

THE OLD TESTAMENT

The Jews, are a Semitic race of people known as Hebrews or Israelites, whose early history is identified with that of the Holy Land or Palestine. The main authority for the early history of this people is the Old Testament. This tiny nation's career began like wandering Bedouin tribesmen and they have influenced the course of human history more than any other people.

It is considered by many as beginning with the emigration of the patriarch Abraham, ancestor of the race, from Ur of the Chaldees, probably about 2000 B.C.E. Abraham removed to the south east of Palestine where we find his descendants flourishing when they emigrated to Goshen, in Egypt. The interval is filled up with the history of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Joseph, son of Jacob, became viceroy of Egypt, and his father and brothers were received with high favour by the Pharaoh who then ruled. But in the course of time the condition of the Israelites, under the rule of the Pharaohs, changed for the worse. They were treated as bondsmen, and forced labour exacted of them to an unreasonable degree. According to some authorities the Pharaoh who began to oppress the Israelites was Ramses II., and their deliverance took place under his son.

Archaeologists dispute, when the Jews actually arrived in their "Promised Land" though some hold that if Joseph was a favourite of the Hyksos dynasty, the Exodus probably took place under their imperial Successor, and Queen Hatshepsut herself may even have been the protector of the infant Moses.

By this time they had formed a community of several millions, and been divided into twelve tribes, named respectively after the

Sons of Jacob	Reuben	Simeon	Judah	Issachar	Issachar	Zebulun
	Benjamin	Dan	Naphtali	Gad	Asher
Sons of Joseph	Manasseh	Ephraim

It was about 1513 B.C.E. that Moses led the Israelites out of the land of bondage, where they had resided for 400 years (See Abrahamic covenant). Under his leadership they went forth into the wilderness; through him they received the law of the ten commandments on Mount Sinai, and the whole polity by which they were to be governed as a people. Ceremonial sacrifice was instituted, and Aaron, the elder brother of Moses, and his sons consecrated as a hereditary priesthood, the priestly functions thus falling to the tribe of Levi. The nation was established as a theocracy, and this principle, however often forgotten in times of repose, continued hence forward to be the inspiring idea of national unity throughout the frequent crises of, Jewish history. The emigrants first settled at Kadesh on the southern borders of Palestine, where they remained for many years, this being the period spoken of in the Scriptures as the forty years wandering in the wilderness. They now marched northward to find new settlements in Palestine, which they had to take by force from the Canaanites,

Moses died before the entry into Canaan, but his main task had been accomplished, he had seen the formation of the set of laws and the tenets of the Hebrew religion. We know from the biblical story that other tribes were already, in Palestine when they arrived, especially the Philistine in the principal coast towns; and that the newcomers had to fight strenuously for their inheritance under leaders who were at first prophets and later kings.

The military conquest was carried through by leaders such as Joshua and David, these heroic stories read like a saga. It was a desperate undertaking for ill-equipped nomadic tribes to invade these settled and well-developed regions, but they undertook it. The account of the early conquest can be read in the books of Samuel and Kings.

Joshua subdued the great Canaanite stronghold of Jericho in such a novel way that it was a miracle. We are told how the Israelites marched around the city, shouting and blowing trumpets instead of attacking, and the walls collapsed. (Hebrews 11:30). Archeologists have dug up the site of the original city of Jericho, and there can be no doubt that something very unusual happened to its walls.

Another hero whose exploits against the Philistines won him great renown, was Samson. He was a man of great strength, (Judges 15:) but finally he was captured and his eyes put out. But he maintained a defiant resistance to the end. Blind but still strong, he pulled down the supporting pillars of a temple and perished with his trapped captors.(Judges 16:28-31)

However the former inhabitants, of the lands, were not entirely subjugated, but retained possession of a number of cities, and the twelve tribes settled in districts which were more or less cut off from one another, and which formed an exceedingly loose union of small states under tribal chiefs. It was long after, and by a gradual process of absorption, that the Canaanite territories and their inhabitants became amalgamated with the Israelites.

FROM JUDGE'S TO A KING

Unlike the surrounding people, the Israelites had no king, a succession of judges or military leaders arose. Among the more remarkable of these judges were Barak, Deborah, the prophets Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, and Samuel.

The Philistines, who inhabited the coast and the low-lying plains west of the mountains of Judah, had defeated the Israelites and subjugated part of the country when Samuel, the 'last judge in Israel,' was inspired to declare to Saul, a Benjamite, who had descended from Jeiel the first king of Israel, his destiny to become king, and anointed him as such (1117 B.C.E.). (1 Samuel 8:)

Saul soon provided successful leadership for the Israelites, he organized the forces of Israel, and fought with varying success against their enemies, till his disastrous defeat and death at Mount Gilboa, after which the power of the Philistines again predominated on the west side of Jordan. On the other side of the river the military skill of Abner still preserved kingdom for Saul's son, Ishbosheth, and gradually reasserted with some success his authority in Ephraim and Benjamin, But in Judah David a native of Bethlehem, a warrior whom Saul's jealousy had driven into exile and alliance with the Philistines, and who had previously been anointed king in place of Saul, established a separate principality, the capital of which was at Hebron. For seven years a war was waged between the two Hebrew states, and ended only with the murder of Abner and Ishbosheth .

All the tribes acknowledged David (1077 - 1037 B.C. E.) who succeeded Saul as king, prophet, and author of many of the Psalms. During his reign, Israel became a military power in Palestine itself, he assailed and subdued the Philistines, (The Philistines, on the southern coast, were a warlike, non - Semitic race, who gave Palestine its name) Moabites, Edomites, Ammonities, and other surrounding nations, till all the country from the N.E. end of the Red Sea to Damascus acknowledged his authority. He transferred his residence from Hebron to Jebus, a fortified city which he rested from the Canaanites, and captured the hill fortress of Jerusalem which he made his capital.

To this prosperous kingdom succeeded his son Solomon (1037 B.C.E.). His reign, owing to the warlike reputation which the nation had acquired under David, was entirely peaceful. Solomon took great pains to arrange the administration of the kingdom in an orderly way. He preferred diplomacy to war, they even enjoyed a short period of commercial prosperity and peace, as allies of Pharaoh and Hiram, King of Tyre. He started the building of the great temple in Jerusalem (1034 B.C.E.) which was made the centre of Jewish worship. (Solomon completed the temple in seven years ) and extended and improved the city. The Jews had entered an era of peace and prosperity, which they had never enjoyed anything like before, and it is no wonder that subsequent chroniclers wrote so glowingly of Solomon as a ruler and judge who became fabulously rich and deep in wisdom. (1 Kings 10:) His harem contained 700 wives that were princesses, besides 300 concubines, But with these, and with the extended commerce of the kingdom, sadly it was, however inevitable that foreign elements would be introduced into Jewish national life. Thus Solomon erected altars for the deities and the worship of the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Sidonians, and other nations;

THE TWO KINGDOMS ISRAEL AND JUDAH

After the splendour of Solomon's reign, Rehoboam succeeded, his tyranny made the ten tribes revolt, they came with Jeroboam at their head and demanded that he should make their yoke lighter. Rehoboam answered scornfully, where upon ten tribes revolted and the unity which David had forged was broken.

The nation was split into two that of Israel, in the north with, Jeroboam (997-975 B.C.E.) as the first king of Israel whose kingdom lasted about two hundred and fifty years, which comprehended the ten revolted tribes, with its Capital first at Sichem, later at Samaria.

Judah in the south along with a part of Benjamin and the tribe of the Levites, remained loyal to the dynasty of David. with Rehoboam as king (997- 980). Rehoboam the king of Judah feared that his subjects would return to Jerusalem for the solemn festivals to worship the Almighty God, and to offer sacrifices, so he set up false worship, to two adorned golden calves, under the name of the God of Israel. He also instituted solemn feasts and priests ;

After an unsuccessful attempt to re-conquer the kingdom of Israel, Rehoboam was forced by an invasion of Shishak of Egypt to give up the hope of uniting the two kingdoms.

In the next generation things had changed so much that Asa king of Judah, was obliged to seek the help of Benhadad of Syria against King Baasha of Israel. Baasha was succeeded by Elah, Elah by Zimri, and Zimri by Omri, under whom the kingdom of Israel seems to have grown powerful. Omri established the capital of the kingdom at Samaria (c. 906 B.C.), and subjugated the Moabites. The son of Omri, Ahab, married Jezebel, princess of Tyre, an event which led to the extension of Phoenician idolatry in Israel. As Solomon had done before, Ahab built a temple for the Syria Baal in his capital. In his reign and subsequently the great prophets Elijah and Elisha played an important part. Ahab was slain at Ramoth-Gilead in battle against the Syrians. He was succeeded by Ahaziah (906-898), and Joram . The latter was slain by Jehu, captain of the army, who had been anointed king by command of Elisha. Jehu (c. 905 - 876) now made clearance in Samaria of Syrian idolatry, destroying the temple of Baal and putting the priests to death. Under Jeroboam II., fourth in the line of Jehu, the kingdom reached a high point of prosperity (844).

THE ASSYRIANS

After Jeroboam's death there was a quick succession of kings, Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah; Under Pekah the kingdom of Israel became tributary to the Assyrians Hoses, Pekah's successor, made an ineffectual attempt to free the country from the Assyrian yoke;

Palestine was now at the mercy of the great warring empire that dominated the Middle East. All the succeeding kings of Israel had kept the idolatry which Jeroboam had established. God then sent several prophets to the ten tribes, to preserve the knowledge of himself among them. The most eminent of these was Elijah he prophesied in the time of Ahab, one of the wickedest of the kings of Israel.

but finally, in c.740, the military rulers of Assyria, Sargon II and Sennacherib, virtually destroyed the kingdom of Israel. The kingdom of the ten tribes was captured in the seventh year of Hoshea, the last king of Israel, by, Shalmaneser, who carried away captives into Assyria, 740 B.C.E. from where they were dispersed, and have never returned to their own land, other captives were them assimilated with those conquered and they became known as the Samaritans.

Generally while the kingdom of Israel had been flourishing, that of Judah had stood in the background:-.

Rehoboam was succeeded by Abijam, Asa, and Jehoshaphat, a powerful and fortunate king, who in the hope of putting an end to the war with the kingdom of Israel, married his son Jehoram, (913-905) to Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab of Israel & Jezebel . After the murder of her son Ahaziah by Jehu, Athaliah seized power in Jerusalem as queen for six years, and put to death her own grandchildren in order to destroy the line of David, Jehoash alone being miraculously rescued. Athaliah was overthrown and put to death and the young Jehoash raised to the throne. His successors were: Amaziah (858 - 829), Uzziah (829 -778), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (761 - 745). Under Ahaz and Hezekiah, Isaiah delivered his prophecies.Hezekiah was one of the greatest reforming kings; his influence extended widely over the kingdom of Israel, now in extreme decline.

The Jews had weakened themselves by division they may have fallen prey to the other petty states with whom they had formerly been so long at war, but for the fact that the whole of Palestine was threatened by the predatory power, of the Assyrians who were now plundering and burning cities and laying waste to every land they entered.

Jehoiakim, the King of Judah ( c. 628 ), led a revolt against the Chaldeans in 618 B.C.E., but the only result was that Jerusalem was besieged and a large number of Jews taken into slavery in 617 B.C.E. (2 Kings 24:1) The prophetic writings of Habakkuk (628 B.C.E.) and Jeremiah (580 B.C.E.) belong to this period. They are heavy with a sense of doom, but the sufferings of the Jews is seen as a judgment on their failure to keep faith in the Almighty God.

The King of Judah Hezekiah, rebelled against the Assyrian yoke on the advice of the prophet Isaiah, and refused to surrender to the encamped armies of Sennacherib, son of Sargon II. Who was miraculously delivered by an angel of the Almighty God, an epidemic struck down so many of the Assyrian army that the siege had to be raised . (2 Kings 19:35 -37) Nevertheless, Judah was politically a part of the Assyrian empire.

The prophet Jeremiah flourished from the reign of Josiah (659 - 629) who was the last of the pious kings of Judah who was killed in battle against Pharaoh Necho, of Egypt. (XXVVIth Dynasty:609-594 B.C.). His chariot, and horsemen rode swiftly up the Maritime Plain, to try conclusions with the upstart Chaldeans. In a moment of lunacy the Jewish forces under King Josiah tried to block his path and were brushed aside like flies. On he pushed until it seemed for a while as if the military glory that had belonged to the Kingdom of the Nile Valley might be about to return, but the decisive battle fought at Carchemish (604 B.C.) forced Necho to retreat, so soundly beaten that we are told "the King of Egypt came not any more out of his own land for the King of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the King of Egypt."

The kingdom of Judah lasted a hundred and thirty years longer than Israel, its capital was Jerusalem, where the true God was worshipped in Solomon's temple. Idolatry crept in, there were some good kings in Judah, who endeavored to abolish idolatry, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, for example, but the people persevered in sin, God, warned the kingdom of Judah, about their disobedience. Sending prophets from time to time, who threatened them with his judgments for their sins, and who foretold the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah was one of the most eminent of these.

Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, whose father, Nabopolassar, was ally of the Medes, had helped to take Nineveh, and then established another empire in the Land of the Two Rivers, with its capital at Babylon. Jerusalem was besieged, and battered, by Nebuchadnezzar, 607 B.C.E. it's walls broke down, its ruler Zedekiah blinded, and his sons killed, and many of the people were carried captive to Babylon, putting an end to the monarchy of Zedekiah king of Judah (618-607) .

BABYLON & THE EXILE

Those in captivity in Babylon included builders, carpenters, and artificers, for the Chaldean King was engaged in re-building Babylon with wide stone-paved streets, hanging-gardens, and magnificent temples and palaces. This catastrophe is called the Exile, and it marks the beginning of the dispersion of the Jews. The temple which had been built in Jerusalem by Solomon (c.1026.B.C.E.) was destroyed, their religious sacred sanctuary defield, and its sacred vessels carried away. But they did not lose faith in the God of their fathers, but emerged from circumstances that had spelt the extinction of other races, so imbued by the teaching of their prophets with patriotism and a belief in their own divine destiny, that they became one of the great forces of future history. It was after this disaster that the sacred writings were re-edited, the first five books of the Bible, attributed to Moses and known as the Torah (the Law), were firmly established as the supreme authority on religion and conduct. Although they took their present shape after the Exile, the originals of Genesis and Exodus go back thousands of years.The prophecies of Ezekiel are related to the building of a new temple in which God would be worshipped with a purified ritual.

REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE

" By the waters of Babylon" , the exiles languished until,the reign of Belshazzar, one of Nebuchadnezzar's successors until as was foretold by Gods prophet Isaiah (Isaiah Chapter 44 vs.. 26 - 45 Isaiah Chapter 45 vs.. 1 -7) [ See also the Nabonidus Chronicle British Museum ], in 539 B.C.E., Babylon fell to Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians . The Babylonish Captivity had lasted seventy years as according the prediction of Jeremiah.

Mr. H. G. Wells has seen in this the first great example of "the power of the written word": since it was during the exile in Babylon that the Jewish scriptures, continued to be written and have shaped the future of us all.

Cyrus afterwards showed considerable clemency, in allowing a large number of Jews released from captivity, to return, and start the rebuilding of Jerusalem 538 B.C.E. (Ezra 1: 2-4 ) Cyrus also appointed Zerubbabel governor of Judah, as a Persian province. The great majority of the Jews remained in Persia, however, about 42,000 returned, and settled chiefly in the vicinity of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1:1-3; 2:.1-3). The neighbouring nations, and other accidents, interrupted the work up to the time of king Artaxerxes who commanded the temple to be rebuilt.

In the reign of the Persian King Artaxerxes about 468 B.C.E. a second return of exiles was led from Persia by Ezra, who promulgated the new law-book, practically identical with the Pentateuch. In c. 455 B.C.E.Nehemiah, who had been appointed Persian governor of Judah, caused the walls and gates of Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and restored order and civil government .The prophets Haggai and Zechariah lived at that time, and contributed to the building of the temple. From the time of Nehemiah to the fall of the Persian empire the Jews continued to live in peace as Persian subjects, but enjoying their own institutions.

So according to the prediction that Daniel received during the reign of Darius, king of Persia there were seventy weeks of years, which started c.455 B.C.E.:

When Alexander the Great overthrew the Persian empire the Jews readily submitted on being promised the free exercise of their religion (B.C.E. 331). By the year 301 B.C.E. Alexander's empire had been divided among four of his generals, later Palestine was a possession of the Ptolemies of Egypt, under whom it enjoyed a period of tranquility. It was under the patronage of Ptolemy (II.) Philadelphus (reigned B.C.E. 285 - 247), according to tradition, that the Septuagint or Greek version of the Old Testament Scriptures was made.

After the death of Ptolemy Philopator Antiochus the Great of Syria, came master of Palestine (B.C.E. 198). An Egyptian and a Syrian party now arose among the Jews, and gave occasion to civil dissension's, which led Antiochus IV. (Epiphanes) to invade Judaea (B.C.E.170), plundered the temple, slaughtered the inhabitants without distinction of age or sex, and made use of torment to force the Greek religion and culture upon the Jews.

The Bible is silent regarding Jewish history between the time of Nehemiah and John the Baptist and the New Testament.

It was during the latter part of this period, particularly between the years 168 B.C. and 40 B.C., that the Macabees or Asmonaean family resistance arose, and after a struggle of nearly fourteen years was successful. In spite of this cruel treatment Mattathias, and many Jews preserved their religion and liberty, through the courage and conduct of Judas Maccabeus, and through Jonathan, they restored the temple. The priests, who succeeded Judas and Jonathan, took the title of kings, and governed the Jews for a long time, they were called Asmoneans. In 135 B.C.E. John Hyrcanus, son of Simon, a brother of Judas Maccabaeus, completed the independence of Judaea, and extended his dominion over the ancient limits of the Holy Land. It was during his reign the rival sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees became established. Aristobulus I., the son of Hyrcanus, assumed the title of king, which was held by his successors.

Finally the Jews were conquered by the Romans, in B.C.E. 63 General Gnaeus Pompey, called in to help the Pharisees, took Jerusalem, and made the Jews tributary to the Romans. In 39 B.C.E. the Roman Senate appointed Herod the Great, as King of Judah who entirely threw off Jewish ways and cultivated the favour of the Romans; In 2 B.C.E. Augustus sent out "an exactor" ordering a registration, or census of the the population, due to this Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem and Jesus Christ was born, in Judaea.

The Jews still continue to dream of a Messiah, who will liberate them and restore to them the former glories of David and Solomon, they missed the significance of Isaiah's portrait written c.732 B.C.E. in Jerusalem of their saviour:

"He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." (Isaiah Chapter 53: 3-12;).

From these prophecies Jesus Christ appeared to found a new era in the history of the greater part of the civilized world.