Rise Of Israel Form Abraham To Diaspora Essays Examples

The main and almost the only source on the history of Hebrew-speaking people (in addition to the inscriptions and archaeological evidence) is the Bible, and especially the historical books of the Old Testament. The Israelites in the Bible are presented in semi-mythical manner as the descendants of a legendary hero of Abraham, who is said that he came from Mesopotamia to Palestine around 2000 BC and lived there until 175 years. His grandson Jacob or Israel subsequently settled with his native Egypt, where after a period of great influence and prosperity of the Israelites were enslaved. Escape from slavery, sparked by a catastrophic natural phenomenon, and many wanderings through the Sinai desert to the north of Palestine under the leadership of Moses (probably c. 1225 BC, although some scholars prefer the biblical date of these events, ie, . believe that they occurred about 225 years earlier) are the real starting point of the history of Hebrew-speaking people.
The threat from the Philistines forced to create in the 11th century BC a strong central government under the leadership of a talented, but ill-tempered commander Saul from the tribe of Benjamin. After the death of Saul he was succeeded by David. During his reign the military threat from the Philistines was abolished and even more centralized government was created. The fruits of this activity took a brilliant son of David, Solomon, who built a grand temple in Jerusalem, to emphasize the primacy of the city. The magnificence of Solomon's court and its construction projects (the impressive remains of which were discovered during excavations at Megiddo and elsewhere) required heavy taxation and forced labor. Widespread discontent, and after his death, has long been obvious in Israelite monarchy separation tendencies have become a reality.
Meanwhile, the external threat from Assyria was replaced by the threat of the revived Babylonian Empire, which completely subjugate the country (597 BC), started the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and deported the population in the central region of Babylonia (586 BC. e.). The ancient Jews in Babylonia, inspired by prophets such as Jeremiah (pre foresaw this event) and Ezekiel (survivors all this evil), not only to maintain its unity, but also self-confidence. Therefore, when the army of Cyrus the Great defeated the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC, a large mass of Israelis with the permission of Cyrus returned to Palestine. On the ruins of the Temple of Jerusalem they recreated, although to a much smaller scale, some of his former national life, which has since become a meticulously organized in accordance with the law of Moses or Torah.
With the conquest of the Middle East by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC Persian suzerainty gave way to the Hellenistic one, first (after a break) came Ptolemy of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria then. Interior layout remained nevertheless virtually unchanged until 168 BC Then, in line with the policy of consolidation and Hellenization of their dominions, Seleucid monarch Antiochus IV had made efforts to suppress Judaism.
During the following centuries Rome ruled Palestine, sometimes directly and sometimes through puppet kings, such as the kings of the house of Herod the Great, who had Jewish roots, since he was the son of Antipater and his wife of influential Nabataean home. A brief period of triumph of the Maccabees and the turbulent years of Roman rule forced the Jewish people a deeper look into himself, accompanied by a surge of religious activity which has found expression in some of the eschatological writings of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. Began the rapid growth of sects. Very big political activity showed Zealots, Orthodox, on the other hand, believes that the main sin of the Jews was to maintain obedience by any earthly rulers and was implied that a rebellion against foreign oppressors is thus a religious duty.
After Herod's death in 4 BC the title of king was temporarily abolished and the country was divided like a private estate among his sons. But soon their rule replaced the board of a number of Roman procurators. The result of the severity of their rule and extortions of the population was the resumption of activities of the Zealots and periodically stunning country revolt. The most significant of these took place in 66-70, when for a short time was the newly created independent republic and the Romans were temporarily expelled. However, they are back again under Vespasian and Titus, when after a ruthless military campaign the country was again conquered Jerusalem with its temple destroyed and crushed the last remnants of independence.