History of Palestine

Throughout history, Palestine has been ruled by numerous groups, including the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Fatimids, Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Egyptians, Mamelukes and Islamists. During its long history, Jerusalem has been attacked 52 times, captured and recaptured 44 times, besieged 23 times, and destroyed twice. 

The next two blog posts give a reader's digest version of the deep history here as background to what we are seeing on this trip.

Moses

The Jewish people of Israel trace their origin to Abraham. Abraham, his son Yitshak (Isaac), and Moses grandson Jacob (Israel) are referred to as the patriarchs of the Israelites. The name Israel derives from the name given to Jacob after he wrestled with an angel. His 12 sons formed the 12 tribes that later developed into the Jewish nation. The descendants of Abraham crystallized into a nation at about 1300 BC after their Exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses (Moshe in Hebrew). Soon after the Exodus, Moses transmitted to the people of this newly emerging nation, the Torah, and the Ten Commandments. After 40 years in the Sinai desert, Moses led them to the Land of Israel, the land promised by God to the descendants of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 


The rule of Israelites in the land of Israel starts with the conquests of Joshua (around 1250 BC). The period from 1000-587 BC is known as the "Period of the Kings". The most noteworthy kings were King David (1010-970 BC), who made Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and his son Solomon (Shlomo, 970-931 BC), who built the first Temple in Jerusalem as prescribed in the Tanach.

In 587 BC, Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar's army captured Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and exiled the Jews to Babylon (modern day Iraq). The year 587 BC marks a turning point in the history of the region. From this year onwards, the region was ruled or controlled by a succession of superpower empires of the time in the following order: Babylonian, Persian, Greek Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Empires, Islamic and Christian crusaders, Ottoman Empire, and the British Empire.
Upon the defeat of the Babylonian Empire by the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great (538 BC), the Jewish elite returned to Jerusalem, and the Second Temple was built. This is the temple that Jesus visited during his trips to Jerusalem.

In 332 BC the Macedonian Greeks under Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire, which included Yehud (Judea) starting a long religious struggle that split the Jewish population into traditional (orthodox) and Hellenized factions.

In 165 BC, after the religion-driven Maccabean Revolt, the independent orthodox Hasmonean Kingdom was established. In 64 BC the Romans conquered Judea, turning it into a Roman province so the Romans were in charge when Jesus was alive. Although coming under the sway of various empires and home to a variety of ethnicities, the area of ancient Israel was predominantly Jewish until the Jewish–Roman wars of 66–136 AD, during which the Romans expelled most of the Jews from the area and replaced it with the Roman province of Palestina. 

After this time, Jews became a minority in most regions, except Galilee, and the area became increasingly Christian after the 3rd century, although the exact percentages of Christians and Jews are unknown.

After the death of Muhammed in 632, Islam began to spread rapidly from Saudi Arabia and in a battle in 636, Islamic forces took over most of Palestine forming a caliphate in 661 in Jerusalem and building the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount where the Jewish temples had stood. Several different Muslim groups ruled it over the next several centuries and it really was predominantly a Muslim area from this point on with a resurgence of the Jewish population occurring after the establishment of modern Israel.

In 1099 the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and nearby coastal areas, losing and recapturing it for almost 200 years until their final ouster from Acre in 1291. 






In 1517 the Ottoman Empire conquered it, ruling it until the British conquered it in 1917. During this 400 year long period, the Muslim population of the area grew steadily. When World War I ended in 1918, the British took control of Palestine and controlled until 1948. We'll pick up the history from there in the next post.