God's Unique Blue Print For Israel!
By Abraham Israel
The Word of God takes on new life of illuminated thinking when we come to understand the major events in Israel's history between the years of Abraham and the birth of Christ and beyond. Old and New Testament prophecies regarding Israel and her relationship to various world powers are seen in a new dimension. Those people who misunderstand that Israel has been replaced by the Church in the New Testament will finally come to understand that Israel cannot be replaced by the Church but rather the Church only has come in as a interlude of worldwide symphony to make music, and through it reveal God's glory to draw the nation of Israel back again to its God (1 Kings 13:4; 18:37; 2 Chron 19:4; Jer 3:12). So one of the main Purpose of The Church is to Provoke Israel To Jealousy (Envy). God has a purpose in Israel’s fall: to bring salvation to the Gentiles. God has a purpose in bringing salvation to the Gentiles: to provoke Israel to jealousy, to make Israel envious (see Romans 10:19 and also Romans 11:14; Deut.32:21).
When Christ came to his own the first time, they rejected Him totally (John 1:10-12). The "offense" committed by the nation of Israel was unbelief in Christ who had come in as their Messiah (Rom. 5:20). When the Jews rejected their Messiah, God had the good of the Gentiles in mind and salvation was brought to them (Rom. 11:11). Once the nation of Israel will see the glorious Church, it will be jealous of it and thus will be drawn to Christ more and more. When Christ shall come the second time the nation will bless their Messiah just prior to His return (Matt. 23:39). Now in the present time God is still visiting the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His Name which is the Church prepared to reveal God's glory for the ages to come (Acts 15:14). God, in dealing graciously with the Gentiles during this present age and getting them in to the Church eternal, has the good of the Jews in mind. In seeking a separated people with in the Gentiles and believing Jews together as one within the Church of Jesus Christ, God has planned to provoke the nation of Israel to jealousy.
When a person is jealous or envious he is saying, "You have something that I want. You have something very good which I don’t have!" Once the Church gets filled in Christ to the fullness of Christ as mature man, it will be Raptured to the Father's House in heaven prepared for it (Eph 4:11-16; Col 1:24-29; Eph 1:23; 3:19; John 14:1-3). And thereafter thus by the Church working with God as his sons from the New Jerusalem after the Rapture (Rom 8:18-19; Eph 1:17-23; Php 3:20-21), it is God's plan for the glorious Church to work together with the nation of Israel to reveal God's glory back again to all nations (Isa 42:6; 49:1, 6; 60:3). God's plan of the ages was to unite the Spiritual Church from New Jerusalem which is above in heaven to work with the physical nation of Israel from the present earthly Jerusalem having the same King of kings Jesus over them, uniting them and ruling over them, He working along with them in His Glory to spread the light of God to the whole world in righteousness (Isa 42:1; Heb 12:18-24, 25-29; Eph 2:11-13, 14-18; Matt 5:35). Hence the present blindness of the nation of Israel which God has given them through "a spirit of slumber (stupor)" is not permanent (Rom. 11:8), in the very near future God will pour upon His people "the spirit of grace and supplications" (Zec 12:10), to turn the present blindness of Christ rejection in to future healing of the blindness to make them all recognize, see and receive their Messiah Jesus in a single day by accepting Him in to the hearts and minds of everyone in the nation of Israel (Rom 11:25-27). Thus God, in dealing with the Gentiles during this present age, has the good of the Jews in mind, in seeking through the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy.
So knowing this great mystery already let us first get acquainted with the religious, cultural, and political setting of Bible times, then we will better understand God's plan for mankind and we will have a greater appreciation of the times in which Christ lived and gave birth to His Church in whom we are members and have thus become citizens of heaven.
FROM ADAM TO ABRAHAM — (The Beginning to About 2000 B.C.)
In the beginning there was no sin in the earth and humans were so blessed in every way with His Presence hovering personally and manifesting Himself to everyone in a unique personal way (Rom 5:12). Adam and Eve lived in unbroken fellowship with their Creator until they believed a lie and chose to disobey the one clear implicit command of God (Gen 3:8; 2:16-17). From that time onwards death spread to all humans who are Adams descendants : sin stung so hard on all so that the final result of the disobedience and fall from glory of God was that sin spread to all humans through the transgression of one man Adam their forefather, so that from that time onwards all humans were born in sin and had to bear its consequence which is eternal death which is separation from God and his goodness (Rom 5:18, 19, 21; 2 Thess 1:9).
Yet a merciful and loving God did not leave the humankind in despair; He promised a Redeemer, born of a woman's seed to come and forgive the sins and defang all humans by providing antivenom for sin, and through it crush Satan and his demons by His power to put them all again under the feet of humans who lost their authority of God and power over the entire earth (Gen 3:14-15; Rom 16:20).
Over a thousand year passed, with the passing of years the iniquity which is actual effect of the poison of sin which is in him began to increase until every intent of his heart was only evil (Gen 6:5). God was very grieved and was sorry that "He had made man" because He has made all the earth to become a living hell at that time through evil thoughts and acts of violence of demonic order (Gen 6:6, 11). God determined to "blot out man...from the face of the earth." But one man named Noah and his family found favor in the eyes of the Lord God, because he was a righteous man who believed God, and was blameless in his time (Gen 6:7-8).
When the flood came, only those in the ark which Noah built under God's instruction were preserved and saved from flood: Noah and his family, eight people in all (1 Peter 3:20). However the internal sin nature of humankind had not changed through the flood, and it wasn't long before they who were saved and their descendants who filled the earth too were in rebellion against God (Rom 3:10, 11-12, 23). And God knew that because they were one society of people and had the same language, nothing which they purposed to do would be impossible for them which will again make the earth to become a living hell as before with evil thoughts filling their minds without God and will move them to instigate violence (Gen 6:5, 11, 12; 11:6). Once again God intervened, though this time not to destroy human from the face of the whole earth [i.e. as He had already put a rainbow in the heavens as a evidence that He will not destroy all humankind at once by flood like before (Gen 9:11, 14-15)], but to confuse their language and scatter them in to the face of the whole earth so that this degeneration of the heart of humans can be dealt by Him over a period of time to make them seek for the true God, grope for Him and find Him so that they can live and not die (Gen 11:6, 7-8, 9; Acts 17:26-27, 28, 30; Psa 118:17; Ezek 18:23). In other words, God scattered all people in all the earth and separated one people group with a language from the other, so that sin might not reign over them and spread in all the earth rapidly to move God to judge them all at a single point of time as in the days of Noah's time. O what a mercy!!! Praise the Lord!
Then around 2000 B.C. God called a man to heave Ur of the Chaldees and go to a land which He would show him (Gen 12:1-3). This God did so that He could separate a people for Himself who would love Him and live for Him to be a model nation to the whole world, and to bring the Messiah of the whole world to save humankind from sin and death (Rom 6:23; 5:19, 21; Deut 14:2; 7:6). As Abraham obeyed God's voice and by faith traveled to the place God has told him to move on to, God began to bless not only Abram and make a great nation out of Him, but through Him God wanted to bless all the families of the earth (Gen 12:3). Here is the fine difference between the Church and the nation of Israel. God multiplied the physical descendants of Abraham as the sand of the sea and called it the nation of Israel (Gen 13:14-15, 16; Deut 1:10-11; 22:16, 17-18; 24:1; Hos 1:10; Isa 10:22; Rom 9:27). God multiplied the spiritual descendants of Abraham like the stars of the sky and called it to be the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ (Gen 15:5-6; Gal 3:6-7, 8-9, 10, 26). Both were planned by God and neither the Church replaced Israel, nor Israel will replace the Church in the future. Both will work together in the future within the plans of God hand in hand to send the light of God to the nations around the world. While the Church will work spiritually from heavenly Jerusalem, Israel as a nation will work from earthly Jerusalem. There is not even one Scripture that points to Church replacing Israel as a physical and political nation both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.
Thus God made a covenant with Abram and his descendants forever, and with that covenant He changed Abram's name to Abraham, "Father of a Multitude." With that covenant also came the promise of the land of Canaan as the eternal possession of Abraham's descendants (Gen 17:8; 35:12; 48:4).
The seed that God promised Adam and Eve, the one who would redeem mankind, would not only come through the seed of the Woman (Gen 3:15), but also through the loins of Abraham and his descendants, Isaac and Jacob (Gal 3:16; Heb 11:17-21). To Isaac would be born Jacob, and to Jacob 12 sons. As God confirmed His covenant with Jacob, He changed Jacob's name to Israel, the one who fathered the 12 tribes of Israel (Gen 35:9-10, 11). Thus a covenant nation had been brought in to existence by God (Hos 2:19, 20). In the fullness of time the Redeemer, the messenger of the covenant, would come from the tribe of Judah (Gal 4:4, 5-7; Heb 1:1-2; Mal 3:1; Heb 7:14, 16).
But all was not well among Jacob's sons, for they were jealous of Joseph, Jacob's favorite, his firstborn by Rachel (Gen 37:4, 8, 10, 11). As they plotted to take Joseph's life, Reuben and Judah intervened, and Joseph was sold in to slavery and taken to Egypt (Gen 37:18-19, 20, 22, 26, 28).
While Joseph's brothers meant this for evil, God meant it for good (Gen 50:20). Joseph went from being a slave in Potiphar's house to being a vice-regent [i.e. that is a person who acts in the place of another ruler in the same authority] in Pharaoh's palace through a prison experience and training for reigning given by God's own school of hard knocks (Gen 39:1, 2, 19-20; 41:40-42; Psa 105:17-18, 19-20, 21-22).
In His sovereignty God used Joseph's position in Egypt to deliver Israel's family from famine in Canaan. They lived in Egypt a total of 430 years, the majority of these as slaves (Exodus 12:40-41; Genesis 15:13 and Acts 7:6). Then around 1525 B.C. a son by the name of Moses was born to two of these Hebrew slaves (Exo 2:1-3, 4, 9-10).
FROM THE EXODUS UNDER MOSES TO THE MONARCHY UNDER SAUL (1445 B.C. to 1051 or 1043 B.C.)
It was about 40 years after the birth of Moses that the sons of Israel cried out to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because of their great affliction. God heard their cry and appeared to Moses in a burning bush (Acts 7:23; Exodus 2:23-25; 7:7). The great I AM would deliver them from the house of bondage, from the land of Egypt, and take them to the land He promised to Abraham. Moses would serve as God's spokesman, as their human deliverer, and as the one to whom God would give the pattern for the tabernacle (Exo 4:12-17; Deut 34:7). In the tabernacle God would give the Israelites not only the means of worshiping Him, but a picture of the Redeemer who was yet to come (Exod 25:8-9, 22; Deut 18:15-22).
After the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years because of their unbelief (Num 14:34; Deut 1:2-3, 21), Joshua took them across the Jordan river in to the promised land (Deut 31:7-8; Joshua 23:1-3, 14). The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua and the elders (Joshua 24:31; Judges 2:7), once Joshua died at the age of 110 years (Judges 2:8), then there arose a generation who did not know the Lord or what He had done through Moses and Joshua for Israel (Judges 2:10), and the children of Israel served the gods of the people of Canaan and did evil in the sight of the Lord (Judges 2:11-13). So the Lord delivered them in to the hands of their enemies (Judges 2:14-15). But when the people cried out to the Lord in their distress, God raised up judges from among the people (Judges 2:18-19; 3:9). And God was with each judge all the days of his life. But when the judge died, the cycle of sin and slavery repeated itself. There was no visible king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6; 21:25). It was to be a theocracy, with God as King, but the people did not obey their God.
Finally in the days of Samuel, the prophet and judge, the people insisted on having a king over them like the other nations. Although this request grieved Samuel, God gave them what they wanted, for they have rejected Him (1 Samuel 8:6-9, 19-22).
FROM UNITED KINGDOM TO DIVIDED KINGDOM (1051 or 1043 B.C. to 931 B.C.)
Saul, Israel's first king, gave God sacrifice rather than obedience, and so God raised up a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 15:19, 22, 28; 13:13-14). David, the son of Jesse from the tribe of Judah, was anointed by God to become king (1 Samuel 16:13-14).
David reigned from 1011 to 971 B.C. During that time his passion was to build a permanent dwelling for God in Jerusalem, the city of David. God saw the intent of David's heart, but because David had been a man of war, the building of the temple would be the task of David's son and successor, Solomon, born to Bathsheba.
On the day when the ark of the covenant was brought in to the temple and the temple was dedicated to the Lord, Solomon fell on his face before God and reminded Him of His covenant promises. Fire came from heaven and devoured the burnt offerings, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple (2 Chron 6, 7:1-22; 1 Kings 8:1-66).
But Solomon disobeyed God. He married foreign wives and set up their idols on high places in Jerusalem. When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods and his heart was not wholly devoted to serving God, as the heart of his father, David, had been (1 Kings 11:1-13).
After Solomon died, God tore the kingdom of Israel in two (1 Kings 11:26-40; 12:15-16).
FROM 931 B.C. UNTIL THE BIRTH OF CHRIST
In 931 B.C. the tribes of Judah and Benjamin formed the southern kingdom of Judah, with Jerusalem as their capital. The remaining ten tribes formed the northern kingdom of Israel and eventually made Samaria their capital. The northern kingdom immediately began to worship idols, so in 722 B.C. God allowed the Assyrians to take them captive (2 Kings 17:5-23, 24; 18:11).
Although the southern kingdom was warned by the prophets of God that they too would go in to captivity if they did not repent of their disobedience and idolatry, Judah did not listen. In 605 B.C., just before Nebuchadnezzar became king of Babylon, he attacked Jerusalem and took the king and some of his nobles captive to Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:6; 2 Kings 24:13). Among them was Daniel (Dan 1:1, 2). In 597 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar again attacked Judah, this time taking about 10,000 captives to Babylon, Ezekiel among them. Then in 586 B.C. Babylon, now the predominant world power, conquered Judah and destroyed not only the city of Jerusalem but the magnificent temple built by Solomon during his reign over Israel (2 Kings 25:1-30).
Separated from Jerusalem and their temple, the exiles established synagogues as a means of preserving their faith. The synagogues became centers of learning and worship where the Jews recited the Shema (Deut 6:4), read from the Law and the prophets, prayed and delivered messages.
Men trained in writing who recorded events and decisions were called scribes. They assumed the responsibility of copying, preserving, and even teaching the Word of God in the synagogues. By New Testament times the scribes were considered experts in interpreting and teaching the law and were referred to as lawyers.
Having experienced firsthand the cursings of disobedience as promised in the book of Deuteronomy, the exiled Jews seemed to gain a new respect and appreciation for the Word of God. They saw that God meant what He said and would not alter it even for His covenant people. It was sometime after the kingdom divided and Judah went in to captivity that the exiles became know as men of Judah or Jews.
THE PERSIAN PERIOD (539 to 331 B.C.)
When the Medes and the Persians conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., they became the predominant world power in Babylon's stead. Daniel 5 records this invasion. Approximately 175 years before Cyrus (the kind of Persia) was born, Isaiah prophesied that God would raise up Cyrus to perform His desire (Isa 44:28). 2 Chronicles 36:22, 23 records the fulfillment of God's plan: Cryrus issued a decree allowing the exiles of Judah to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. Just as Jeremiah had prophesied (Jer 29:10; Dan 9:2), exactly 70 years from the time of Babylon's first attack on Jerusalem, the Israelites were allowed to return to their land.
The group which returned is referred to in the Scripture as the remnant. Diaspora, the Greek word for scattering, became the term used to describe the Jews who remained in exile among the nations.
The book of Ezra records the return of the remnant and the building of the second temple during the time of Haggai and Zechariah. The book of Nehemiah records the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah and Ezra were contemporaries. Ezra is referred to as scribe.
The book of Malachi records the last Old Testament prophecy given by God. After this prophecy God did not inspire canonical Scripture again for 400 years.
This 400 years of silence which followed the book of Malachi is called the intertestament period. Although God was silent in that He did not speak through His prophets during this time, the events of these 400 years testify to the fulfillment of much that was written by Daniel the prophet.
These years could be divided into three periods: the Greek, the Maccabean, and the beginning of the Roman period.
THE GREEK PERIOD (331 to 63 B.C.)
The Greek period encompasses four different rulership over Jerusalem, which includes the Maccabean rule.
Under Alexander the Great (331 to 323 B.C.)
As the Persian Empire grew and threatened the security of the city-states of Greece, Philip of Macedonia sought to consolidate Greece in an effort to resist attack from Persia.
In 336 B.C. Philip was murdered, and his son, Alexander, who was about 20 years old, became king over the Greek Empire. Within two years Alexander set out to conquer Persia, whose empire now extended westward as far as Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey).
Over the next two years Alexander conquered the territory from Asia Minor to Pakistan and to Egypt, which included the land of the Jews. Although the account is not universally accepted by other historians, Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived about A.D. 37-100, wrote that as Alexander marched into Jerusalem he was met by Jaddua and other Jewish priests dressed in their priestly garments and by the people of Jerusalem wearing white robes.
In a dream Jaddua has been told to put wreaths on the city walls in order to greet Alexander. Alexander also had a dream which coincided with this event. When Alexander was escorted into Jerusalem and shown the prophecy in Daniel 8, which described the destruction of the Medo-Persian Empire by a large horn on a goat (which represented Greece), Alexander felt the prophecy pertained to him and offered the Jews whatever they wanted. Alexander treated the Jews well and did not harm Jerusalem or their rebuilt temple.
When Alexander built the city of Alexandria in Egypt, he encouraged many Jews to settle there in order to help populate the city. When ever Alexander conquered an area he established Greek cities and colonies, bringing in his Greek culture, ideas, and language. His goal was to consolidate his empire through a common way of life and thinking which became know as Hellenization. Koine Greek became the common language in the countries ruled by Greece and continued to be the primary language of civilization through the time of Christ. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek.
Because Alexander the Great died without an appointed heir, his kingdom fell into chaos. After 22 years of struggle among his generals, it was divided among four of them: Lysimachus, Casander, Ptolemy I Soter, and Seleucus I Nicator (See chart above.)
Under the Ptolemies of Egypt (323 to 204 B.C.)
Ptolemy I Soter, who took Egypt, was given Jerusalem and Judea. The Jews fared well; they were allowed to govern themselves and practice their religion without interference. Under his leadership Jews were permitted to go to Egypt. Some Jews were invited to do to Alexandria and become Scholars. The Ptolemies moved Egypt's capital from Memphis to Alexandria and made it the center of learning and commerce. There the Jews were encouraged to use the Greek library, at that time the most extensive and best in the world. As a result many were caught up in philosophy and logic and drank deeply from the cup of Hellenism.
It is believed that Ptoleny II Philadelphus commissioned the translation of the Pentateuch into the Koine Greek. The Greek translation of the entire Old Testament, eventually completed about 100 B.C., was referred to as the Septuagint (Meaning 70), or abbreviated as the LXX. Many of the New Testament writers quoted from the Septuagint.
Other writings produced during this intertestament period are the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha, and the Qumran Scrolls (also called the Dead Sea Scrolls). The Apocrypha are composed of a variety of writings, including apocalyptic, wisdom, and historical literature. It is from the apocryphal book of First Maccabees that historians gained insight into the period from the Maccabean revolt through the time of John Hyrcanus. The Apocrypha were included in the Septuagint, although they were not part of the Hebrew Scriptures.
The Pseudepigrapha are a collection of writings even more extensive than the Apocrypha, but scholars cannot entirely agree on which writing comprise this group. These writing as attributed to noted people such as Adam, Abraham, Enoch, Exra, and Baruch-but scholars afree that these claims are not authentic.
The Qumran or Dead Sea Scrolls were manuscripts apparently written or copied between 200 B.C. and A.D. 70 by a Jewish religious sect called Essenes. The particular community of Essenes who lived close to the Dead Sea seen to have practiced celibacy and a strictly disciplined communal lifestyle, seperating themselves from others. The Dead Sea Scrolls describe the lives and beliefs of this group which lived in the last two centuries before Christ; they also include the oldest known manuscripts of the Old Testament. The scrolls are so named because they were hidden and preserved in some caves near an archaeological excavation called Khirbet Qumran on the western side of the Dead Sea.
Under the Seleucid Kings of Syria (204 to 165 B.C.)
Those ruling Syria, referred to as the kings of the north in Daniel 11, wanted the beautiful land of Israel. When Antichus III the Great conquered Ptolemy V Epiphanes of Egypt, Jerusalen and Judea were brought under Syrian dominance.
After gaining dominance over the Jews, Antiochus was defeated by the Romans and ended up having to pay Rome a large sum of money for a period of years. To make sure he complied, Rome held his son, Antiochus IV, hostage in Rome.
Antiochus III the Great was succeeded by his son Seleucus IV Philopator, who ruled from 187-175 B.C. In 175 B.C. Antiochus IV Epiphanes (the son who had been held hostage in Rome) usurped the throne by killing his brother. He ruled until 163 B.C. He was called Epiphanes, which means "manifest" or "splendid." Until this period in Israel's history, the priesthood has been a matter of birthright and the office was held for life. However, during his reign Antiochus IV Epiphanes sold the priesthood to Jason, the brother of the high priest. Jason also paid Antiochus a high price in order to build a Greek gymnasium near the temple. During this time many Jews were lured into a Hellenistic way of life. All this brought a great conflict among the orthodox Jews and the "Hellenistic" Jews.
The conflict was heightened when Antiochus IV Epiphanes sought to take the throne of Egypt but was rebuffed by Rome. Because of that and because of what he surmised as a revolt in the priesthood, Antiochus unleashed his anger on those Jews who wouldn't curry his favor or fully adopt Hellenism. He was determined to destroy Judaism. Circumcision was forbidden; those who disobeyed were put to death. Copies of the law were desecrated with heathen symbols or burned, while anyone found with a copy of the law was to be put to death. The Jews were also forbidden to celebrate the Sabbath. The Antiochus sacrificed a pig on the altar in the temple and erected a statue of Zeus, an abomination of desolation, in the holy place (Dan 11:31).
Finally Antiochus sent his officers throughout the land to compel Jews to make sacrifices to Zeus.
The Maccabean Period (165 to 63 B.C.)
When Antiochus IV Epiphanes' officer arrived in the village of Modein (which lies halfway between Jerusalem and Joppa) and commanded the aged priest Mattathias to make a sacrifice to Zeus, the officer didn't know it was the last official duty he would perform in his life. Mattathias refused, a younger Jew stepped forward to take his place. When he did, a furious Mattathias plunged his knife not only into the Jewish volunteer but also into the Syrian officer. Mattathias fled with his five sons to the hills...and the Maccabean revolt, led by Mattathias's third son, nicknamed Maccabeus (the Hammerer), began.
Three years after Antiochus IV Epiphanes defiled the temple, the Jews recaptured Jerusalem. They removed the statue of Zeus and refurbished the temple and reinstituted Jewish sacrifices. On December 25 the Jews celebrated with a feast of dedication (John 10:22), which from them on became the annual feast of lights or Hannukkah.
Thus began what is referred to as the Hasmonean Dynasty as the descendants of Mattathias ruled Israel until Rome conquered Jerusalem in 63 B.C.
During the reign of John Hyrcanus, the Pharisees, a religious sect of the Jews, arose from the Hasidim. The Hasidim, a militant religious community dedicated to the obedience to the law and the worship of God, began around 168 B.C. and was active during the Maccabean revolt. The word Pharisee means "separated one" and was probably used to describe these men because they separated themselves from the strong influence of Hellenism. During the New Testament times the majority of the scribes were Pharisees.
Doctrinally the Pharisees viewed the entire Old Testament as authoritative; however, they also accepted the oral tradition as equally authoritative. To the Pharisee, to study the law was true worship. They believed in life after death, the resurrection, and the existence of angels and demons (Acts 23:8). Although the Pharisees taught that the way to God was through keeping the law, they were more liberal in their interpretation of the law than were the Sadducees. The Pharisees represented the largest religious sect, but their numbers declined when they fell into John Hyrcanus's disfavor.
The Sadducees, a smaller religious sect comprised mostly of the upper classes, were often of the priestly life and were usually more wealthy than the Pharisees. For the most part the Pharisees were of the middle-class merchants and tradesmen. The Sadducees accepted only the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) as authoritative. While they were rigid in the observance of the law and held to its literal interpretation, they denied divine providence, the resurrection, life after death, the existence of angels and demons, and any reward or punishment after death. They opposed the oral law as obligatory or binding and were materialistic.
The Sadducees controlled the temple and its services. However, because the Sadducees leaned towards Hellenism, they were unpopular with the majority of Jewish populace.
Atistobulus I, who succeeded his father, john Hyrcanus, married Salome Alexandra. However, when Aristobulus died, Salome married his brother Alexander Jannaeus, who became high priest and king in 103 B.C. This marriage created many enemies for Alexander Jannaeus because the high priest was to marry only as virgin.
When he died in 76 B.C., his wife, Salome Alexandra, took the throne, but as a woman she could not hold the office of high priest, so her oldest son, Hyrcanus II, assumed that position.
Civil war broke out when Salome died, because her younger son, Aristobulus II, who was supported by the Sadducees, sought to take the throne from Hyrcanus II. He was willing to give up that position, but Antipater (an Idumean and the father of Herod the Great) befriended Hyrcanus and persuaded him to seek outside help in order to regain his position as the rightful heir. Hyrcanus's forces came against Aristobulus and defeated him. He had to flee and made the temple in Jerusalem his fortress, but he was besieged by Hyrcanus's forces.
Early in this period the Hasmoneans had made a treaty with Rome in order to keep Syria, their northern neighbors, in Check. Now the Roman army under Scaurus was in Syria because Seleucid rule had collapsed. Scaurus heard about the civil war in Judea and went there. Both Aristobulus and Hyrcanus sought his help. Scaurus sided with Aristobulus and had the siege lifted from Jerusalem, but the fighting continued. An appeal was made to the Roman general Pompey, who said he would settle the dispute and urged them to keep peace until he arrived. However, Aristobulus went back to Jerusalem to prepare resistance, which caused Rome's support to turn to Hyrcanus. Pompey arrived and took Aristobulus and his family captive. Because Hyrcanus saw Rome as an ally, he opened Jerusalem's gates to Pompey, who then besieged the city for three months.
The Period of Roman Rule (63 B.C. to A.D. 70)
In 63 B.C. Pompey conquered Jerusalem and with some of his soldiers walked into the holy of holies. Although they didn't touch any of the furnishings, they alienated the Jews, who never forgave Pompey. About 12,000 Jews died during this Roman siege of Jerusalem, a supposed attempt to settle a civil war.
Rome broke up the Hasmonean dynasty and their territory. Judea was now reduced to smaller borders and its independence lost. It was now a territory of Rome. Hyrcanus II could be the rightful priest but not king. He was now under the governor of Syria, a Roman province. Scaurus was appointed governor. Aristobulus and many Jews were taken to Rome. Not much later Gabinius, a Roman governor to Syria, took control. He entrusted the temple to Hyrcanus and changed the goverment of Judea.
The Jewish state was divided into five districts governed by a council that remained under the jurisdiction of the governor of Syria; Hyrcanus, the high priest, was made ruler over Jerusalem. Antipater was his chief magistrate.
The high priest presided over the Sanhedrin, a 71-member council comprised of both Saducees and Pharisees, which governed the Jews under the authority of Rome. Although the Sanhedrin seemed to have autonomy in the matters of the civil and criminal government of the Jews, apparently the Sanhedrin was not allowed to put people to death without the permission of the Roman procurator. The Sanhedrin is often referred to as "the council" in the Gospels and Acts.
In 55 B.C. three men - Pompey, Crassus (the governor of Syria), and Julius Caesar - controlled Rome. Crassus, considering himself another Alexander the Great, set out to conquer the world. However, just before this he stole the treasures from the temple in Jerusalem. Crassus and his army were later destroyed by the Parthians.
Parthia, southeast of the Caspian Sea and part of the Persian Empire, had been conquered by Alexander the Great. But Rome would not conquer them until A.D. 114.
After Crassus's death, Julius Caesar took Italy and then set out to destroy Pompey. Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was assassinated. During this time Antipater supported Caesar, so out of gratitude Caesar gave him the official title of Procurator of Judea.
Antipater made his son Phasael governor of Judea and his son Herod governor of Galilee. Hyrcanus II remained high priest, although Antipater and his two sons robbed him of his authority.
In 44 B.C. Caesar was murdered by Brutus and Cassius. Civil war broke out in Rome. Cassius took control of the east. Because of the instability of Tome, Hyrcanus's rivals made a bid for power.
Antipater was murdered in 43 B.C. Antigonus, Aristobulus's son (who was supported by the Parthians), invaded the country.
At that time Herod came to the aid of Hyrcanus, who out of gratitude gave Herod a beautiful woman named Miriam. They were not married until five years later.
After that Brutus and Cassius were defeated by Mark Anthony and Caesar's nephew Octavian (who would later become Caesar Augustus). Mark Antony became ruler of the east. In 40 B.C., when the Parthians invaded Palestine, Herod fled to Rome.
That year, at the urging of Anthony and Octavian, Herod was made king of the Jews. It took him three years to ride the area of the Parthians and establish his rule in Judea. Just before laying siege to Jerusalem, Herod married Miriam (also called Mariamne), hoping that his marriage into the Hasmonean family would make him more acceptable to the Jews.
In 20 B.C. Herod began rebuilding the temple. The one built by Zerubbabel after the Babylonian exile was so pitifully small in comparison to the first temple that Herod was determined to make it larger and more magnificent that Solomon's. Although the temple itself was completed in a year and a half, the construction and decoration of its outer courts continued for years, so in A. D. 26 the Jews would say, "it took forty-six years to build this temple." (John 2:20).
Herod, whose people (the Idumeans) had been forced to convert to Judaism under John Hyrcanus, was only a Jew in practice when he lived in Judea. Although Rome gave Herod the title "King of the Jews," he was never accepted by those he ruled over.
Then "in the days of Herod the kind, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?'" (Matt 2:1, 2).
The true king had come...the Ruler who would shepherd God's people Israel (Matt 2:6).
Herod died in 4 B.C. But those living in Judea and Galilee saw a great light and heard with their own ears the voice of God, the King of kings.
The 400 years of silence has been broken.
FROM CHRIST TO MODERN TIMES
Many Jewish leaders were religious, but they did not know God. When Jesus came to explain the Father, they rejected Him. They rejected God's precious cornerstone. Consequently, once again they would be banished from their land.
Jesus warned, "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand...for there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people, and they will fall by the edge of the Sword, and will be led captive into all nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke 21:20, 23, 24). God had spoken. Had the people listened, they wouldn't have been caught unawares - but they refused to hear.
The Destruction of Jerusalem (A.D. 70)
The conflict between the Jews and their Roman rulers intensified. Tacitus, the Roman historian, said the Jews put up with things until the procuratorship of Gessius Florus. When the Jews rose up against Florus's army, war became inevitable. Nero commanded T. Flavius Vespasian to subdue the Jews. Vespasian reduced northern Palestine and secured the rest of the country, except for Jerusalem, Masada, and two other fortresses.
During this time, Nero committed suicide and civil war broke out in Rome. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius succeeded one another as emperor. Then the eastern legions of Rome proclaimed Vespasian emperor, and Vitellius was murdered. Vespasian put his son Titus in charge of the war and sailed for Rome. In A.D. 70 Titus besieged Jerusalem. Over one million Jews died in five months. On August 6, Roman forces invaded the temple and, just as Jesus prophesied, not one stone was left upon the other. Jerusalem was burned. Titus went to Rome to celebrate his victory with his father.
Although some of the Jews fled to Masada, the Jewish state no longer existed. Sometime between A.D. 72-74 Masada fell to the Roman governor Flavius Silva.
Hadrian and Aelia Capitolina
In A.D 132 the Emperor Hadrian banned circumcision and the observance of the Sabbath. He also made plans to build a temple to Zeus. These actions spurred Simon bar Kochba revolt, Hadrian rebuilt Jerusalem in A.D 136, named it Aelia Capitolina, and forbade the Jews entrance to the city on pain of death. The edict was enforced for about 500 years.
The Byzantine Period (A.D. 324 to 638)
In A.D. 324 Constantine became sole emperor of Rome. In A.D. 330 the capital was moved from Rome to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey) in his honor. According to tradition, Constantine became a Christian after seeing a vision of a cross and hearing the words, "By this sign thou shalt conquer." He proclaimed Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Constantine's mother, the empress Helena, began restoring the city of David (Jerusalem), locating Christian sites and buildings shrines over the places associated with Christianity. Helena and the city's bishop, Macarius, built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the site where they believed Jesus had been buried. Byzantine churches could be seen across the land. By the fifth century the Roman Empire divided and the eastern half become the Byzantine Empire, with its capital in Constantinople. Rome became the capital of the western Roman Empire.
In the fifth century the Jews were permitted to pray on the temple mount of Tisha B'Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the temple. By the middle of this century Jerusalem was recognized as a patriarchal territory equal in status to Constantinople, Alexandria, Rome and Antioch.
In A.D. 614 the Persians conquered the land, massacred the people, and destroyed the Churches. In A.D. 629 the Byzantine emperor Heraclius reconquered Jerusalem.
The Early Moslem Period (A.D. 638 to 1099)
Nine years later the Moslems were ruling. During this time Christians and Jews were permitted to worship freely. Jews returned to Jerusalem. The Umayyad dynasty reigned from 660-750. The prophet Mohammed's journey from Mecca to Jerusalem on his winged horse Al-buraq was linked to the temple mount, thus making it a holy site for Moslems. In the seventh century, Caliph Abd ed-Malik commissioned the building of the mosque, the Dome of the Rock, on the temple mount. Thus Jerusalem became the third-holiest city for Islam. The Arabs built only one new city, Ramle, which Suleiman made his capital in the eight century.
The Crusader Period (A.D. 1099 to 1244)
In 1099, at Pope Urban II's appeal, the Crusaders crossed Europe to liberate the Christian holy places from the Moslems. The city was theirs after a five-week siege. Jerusalem became the capital of the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem. European Christian noblemen and bourgeoisie came to settle in Jerusalem. Mosques were turned in to churches, and new churches and monastries were built. For the next 88 years, Jews and Moslems were not permitted to live in Jerusalem, but only visit it.
The Ayyubid Interlude (A.D. 1187 to 1192)
In 1187 Saladin, the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, took Jerusalem, destroyed the cross on the top of the Dome of the Rock, and turned churches into mosques. The Jews were now allowed to return to Jerusalem. They came from North Africa, France, and England to settle alongside the Jews of Jerusalem.
Then in 1192 Richard the Lion Hearted and Phillipe Auguste of France restored the Crusader kingdom which has been conquered by Saladin. Jerusalem was divided. The temple mount and its mosques remained in Moslem hands while other parts of the city came under Christian rule. In 1244 the Crusaders lost the city.
The Mamluk Period (A.D. 1260 to 1517)
In the 1260 Jerusalem was conquered by the Mamluks, military regiments from central Asia who were the new rulers of Egypt. The Mamluks establised madrasas (institutes of religious instruction) and hostels for Moslem scholars and pilgrims.
The Ottoman Period (A.D. 1517 to 1917)
The Ottoman Empire, comprised of Constantinople, Asia Minor, parts of Europe and the Balkans, Egypt, and Syria, added Palestine in 1517. Jerusalem was taken from the Mamluks by Ottoman Turks. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent had the walls which still surround Jerusalem built at this time. After his death the Jewish community became more firmly entrenched as they built the Jewish quarter along the Zion Gate. Jewish scholastic centers were established in Jerusalem and Safed. The Christians split in to various eastern communities.
In 1832 the Pasha of Egypt, Mohammed Ali, denuded the Holy Land of trees as he set out to build his ships. However, his approval of Christian missions and schools, foreign consulates, and archaeological expeditions opened up Jerusalem to Western influence. In the late 1800's a political movement called Zionism sprang up in Europe. Its goal was to create a homeland for Jewish people in Palestine. Jews fleeing eastern Europe and Russia and arriving in Abraham's land were quick to adopt. Theodor Herzi's vision for a free state for a free state for Jews. In 1897, the first Zionist Congress was held.
The British Mandate (A.D. 1917 t0 1948)
Four hundred years of Ottoman rule came to an end on December 9, 1917. Two days later British Field Marshal Allenby entered the Citadel and Jerusalem was pronounced the capital of the country. The Balfour Declaration promised the establishment of a national home for the Jews. In 1920 and 1929 Jews and Arabs had violent clashes. The Arabs rebelled in 1936-1939, and open war erupted as Arabs and Jews fought for control over Jerusalem.
From 1939 to 1945 six million Jews were systematically murdered under the direction of Adolf Hitler. After World War II, world opinion strongly favored the establishment of a Jewish homeland. By November 1947 the tension between Jews and Arabs was so great the United Nations decided to intervene, end the Mandate, and make Jerusalem an international city. The united nations voted 33 to 13 to partition Palestine west of the Jordan into two parts-one for Arabs, one for Jews. The Jews agreed, but the Arabs rejected the plan.
The State of Israel (May 14, 1948)
On May 14, 1948, when the British withdrew, the Jews proclaimed the independent State of Israel. The next day Israel was attacked by Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. By December Israel won its independence. Jordanian soldiers, however, remained in the West Bank (biblical Judea and Samaria). Egypt held the Gaza Strip. When a cease-fire was declared in January 1949, the city was divided. Jordan held all the shrines encompassed by Suleiman's walls; the old city of Jerusalem was out-of-bounds for the Jews.
Israel prepared for the influx of more than 800000 immigrants from 102 countries during the next seven years. Living conditions were austere, but the Jews were home! By 1957 the malarial swamps of the Hula caller were drained and the waters of the Sea of Galilee flowed south through pipelines, bringing life to the arid Negev.
The Sinai Campaign (1956)
In 1956 Israel executed a swift victory over Egypt in the Sinai Campaign. On the guarantee of freedom of navigation in the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Elath, Israel withdrew her troops from the Sinai. Then later, once again, Egyptian troops moved to Israel's borders.
The Six-Day War (1967)
The Six-Day War broke out on June 5, 1967. During that war Israel occupied Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, took the Golan Heights, and reunited Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty for the first time since the Bar Kochba revolt, more than 1800 years earlier.The Jews could finally weep at the holy wall of Jerusalem, the wall of the sacred temple mount.
The Yom Kippur War (1973)
In 1973, on Yom Kippur, the highest of holy days, Israel was attacked on Syrian and Egyptian fronts. After three weeks the Israeli defense forces finally drove the attackers back. Disengagement agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and Syria.
The Peace Treaty Between Israel and Egypt (1979)
In March of 1979 Israel amd Egypt signed a historic peace treaty returning the Sinai to Egypt. On June 6, 1982, Israel launched Operation Peace for Galilee in order to remove from Lebanese territory the Palestine Liberation Organization's threat to its northern settlements.
The Middle East Gulf War (1991)
In January 1991, when war broke out between Iraq and a coalition of nations headed by the United States of America, Iraq responded with missile attacks on Israel - although Israel was not part of the conflict and remained out of the conflict at the United State's urging. The Middle East Gulf Crisis came to an end approximately six weeks later. Since then Israel has been in continuous war with terrorists, enemy nations around it and settlements who want to destroy its existence.
(i) South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000) - Nearly 20 years of warfare between the Israel Defense Forces and its Lebanese Christian proxy militias against Lebanese Muslim guerrilla, led by Iranian-backed Hezbollah, within what was defined by Israelis as the "Security Zone" in South Lebanon.
(ii) First Intifada (1987–1993) - First large-scale Palestinian uprising against Israel in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
(iii) Second Intifada (2000–2005) - Second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified violence, which began in late September 2000.
(iv) 2006 Lebanon War (summer 2006) - Began as a military operation in response to the abduction of two Israeli reserve soldiers by the Hezbollah. The operation gradually strengthened, to become a wider confrontation. The principal participants were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israeli military. The conflict started on 12 July 2006 and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect on 14 August 2006, though it formally ended on 8 September 2006, when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon. The war resulted in the pacification of southern Lebanon and in the weakness of the Hezbollah (which suffered serious casualties but managed to survive the Israeli onslaught).
(v) Gaza War (December 2008 - January 2009) - Three-week armed conflict between Israel and Hamas during the winter of 2008–2009. In an escalation of the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israel responded to ongoing rocket fire from the Gaza Strip with military force in an action titled "Operation Cast Lead". Israel opened the attack with a surprise air strike on December 27, 2008. Israel's stated aim was to stop such rocket fire from and the import of arms into Gaza. Israeli forces attacked military and civilian targets, police stations, and government buildings in the opening assault. Israel declared an end to the conflict on January 18 and completed its withdrawal on January 21, 2009.
(vi) Operation Pillar of Defense (November 2012) - Military offensive on the Gaza Strip.
(vii) Operation Protective Edge (July-August 2014) - Military offensive on the Gaza Strip as a response to the collapse of American-sponsored peace talks, attempts by rival Palestinian factions to form a coalition government, the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, the subsequent kidnapping and murder of a Palestinian teenager, and increased rocket attacks on Israel by Hamas militants.
Till today these tensions of war are all around the nation of Israel, and that which is perpetrated by those who are trying to sneak in to destroy the peace of Israel have been contained effectively by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).
Israel is the Fig Free sign for the world coming to an end which Jesus has given to all his followers saying (Luke 3:8-9), ""Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." (Matthew 24:32-34). In other words, Jesus is saying that when we see the focus of the world turn to middle eastern nations and the ever challenging existence of Israel in the midst of it, He is telling us to understand that there may be only a few years or some decades which are left before the world will come to an end and the Kingdom of God takes over the earth (Luke 21:29-32).
Also during this time the prophetic Scripture speaks about people saying the buzzword "Peace and Safety" to bring the world together against the nation of Israel deceitfully to take over the city of Jerusalem (1 Thess 5:3). The United States have tried to appease Israel and the nations of the world saying : "Peace and Safety" for nearly 70 years now. I do not know when this so called bubble is going to burst, but we know for sure, not much time is left for Satan to deceive the world as all nations are already lining up as one for the furtherance of "Peace and Safety" in this dangerous nuclear world which can bring a earth shaking, cataclysmic, apocalyptic destruction. This Antichrist and false prophet along with the help of the three demonic unclean spirit like a frog, will try to deceive the world to take the nations to do battle against Jerusalem and occupy it forever, before Jesus Christ will appear to save Israel from annihilation and establish God's kingdom forever and ever on this earth (Rev 16:12-13, 14-16).
These are the words of Zechariah the prophet which remains ready to be fulfilled in our lifetime, but because of the rapidity of the fulfillment, there comes new insights day after day, and great anticipation of the fulfillment of these prophetic Scripture in our lifetime: "1 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. 2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, but the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. 4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north and half of it toward the south...Then the LORD my God will come, and all the saints with You! And the LORD shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be—“ The LORD is the only one,”and His name the only one in all the glory of the earth." (Zec 14:1-4, 5, 9). Amen, come Lord Jesus (Rev 22:20)!!!
We can almost hear the Trumpet Sound of Jesus and His foot steps!
Much Blessings....
__________________________________________
Footnote:
1 The International Inductive Study Bible, NASB, (Copyright : 1992, 1993, Precept Ministries, Published by Harvest House Publishers, Oregon.)
2 The History of Israel from Adam to the Middle East Gulf War (1991) is taken from the above reference.
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