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Sh'ma Yisrael Adonai Elohaynu Adonai Echad
Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

A Brief History of Eretz Israel

The Holy Land Historically Belongs to Israel

Following is a presentation on the history of Eretz Israel from the time when HaShem gave this land to His people to the present time.

It is obvious that since earliest times people have debated the rightful ownership of this land and I am under no illusion that I will solve this question here. As others are presenting their understandings of this, I will present mine.

Circa 2500 BCE The Global Flood

Circa 2000-1800 BCE Abraham and the Hebrews (“hapiru”) settled in Canaan after leaving “Ur of the Chaldees” (which was located in what is now modern Iraq, the same general region where the Garden of Eden is believed to have been.

Circa 1800 - 1500 BCE Canaan was settled by different tribes including various Semitic peoples, Hittites, and later Philistines and other ‘peoples of the sea’ who are thought to have arrived from Mycenae.

Circa 1500 BCE Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt and back into their land, Eretz Israel. The parting of the Red Sea, the giving of the Torah etc. happened here. All of the events recorded in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua occurred during this period, including the lifetimes Aaron,
Moses, Miriam, Joshua and so on and are fairly well documented.

Circa 1450 BCE Moses writes the Book of Genesis and rest of Torah.

Circa 1500-1000 BCE The Israelites lived in Eretz Israel and ‘they had no king over them’. This was the period of the Judges (described in the books of Judges and Ruth and dealing with people like Samson, Deborah, Ruth, and Gideon and the reign of Israels first king, King Saul.).

Circa 1000 BCE The Jewish conquest of Jerusalem takes place under King David (who replaced King Saul); After David's death, his son Solomon built the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and became King of the united kingdom of Israel. Following Solomon’s death the kingdom was split in two: Israel in the north, with its capitol in Samaria, and Judea with its capitol at Jerusalem in the south. David's experiences and stories such as David and Goliath, David and Bathsheba, David and the betrayal and death of his son Absalom etc., the building and dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem occurred during this period, as well as the famous visit between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The Books of Psalms(written largely by David) and Proverbs (written largely by Solomon), 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles were penned during this period as well and important prophets such as Isaiah, Elijah, and Jonah were alive.

721 BCE The Fall of Israel (the Northern Jewish Kingdom) to Assyria. Most of its citizens were taken as slaves to Assyria.

Circa 615 BCE The Fall of Judea (the Southern Jewish Kingdom) to Babylon and destruction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. Prophet Daniel taken prisoner to Babylon and pens one of the two most important prophetic books in the Bible (the most important in the Tanach). Such stories as Daniel and the lion's den; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace, and the incident of the "Handwriting on the wall" occurred during this time period.

Circa 606 BCE The Fall of Babylon to the Persian king Cyrus. Many Jews were allowed to return to Judea. The ‘minor’ biblical prophets Ezra and Nehemia led this return and began rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem (although they not compete the work). Israel was not allowed to resume their independence however. They remained an occupied nation. Many Jews choice to remain in Babylon and thus began “the first Jewish Diaspora”.

Circa 519-400 BCE The rebuilding of the (Second) Temple occurred under Persian rule. The Persian ruled Ruled the land but the Jews were allowed to live there.

Circa 400 BCE Prophet Malachi wrote his book warning the people of Israel to rededicate themselves to the God of Israel and to 'obey His Torah from the heart'. With Malachi the period of Tanach Prophets came to an end.

331 BCE Alexander the Great conquered Persia and Eretz Israel became subject to Egyptian rule after his death (323 BCE), under Alexander’s General Seleucus. Israel remained an occupied people living in their own land. Jews were allowed to worship HaShem until the abuses of Antiochus IV who outlawed Judaism and severely persecuted the Jews.

167 -160 BCE Judah Maccabee lead his famous revolt for Israeli independence against the Syrian Hellenic dynasty (recorded in the Books of Maccabees and various other sources). Judah ruled a semi-autonomous Roman protected Israel from 166-160 BCE

160 -143 BCE The liberation of Jerusalem. Judah Maccabee is named “Friend of the Roman Senate and People;” Jonathan rules the Israelites from 160- 143

143-61 BCE Roman authority over Israel gradually increases. Jews continue living in Eretz Israel under occupation forces.

61 BCE Roman troops under Pompei invaded Judea and sacked Jerusalem in support of King Herod. Judea undeniably became a client state of Rome. There is ample evidence suggesting that King Herod was not really Jewish. Rome fully in control of Jerusalem and Eretz Israel. Eretz Israel was divided into Judea, Galilee, Peraea and a small trans-Jordanian section, each eventually placed under direct Roman control. According to Rome, Jerusalem (and Bethlehem) were considered part of Judea by the Roman occupation.

Circa 3-9 BCE – circa 24-30 CE Y’shua ben Miriam (Jesus son of Mary) was born, ministered and died (and resurrected according to millions) in occupied Judea. Despite the Roman occupation and the Babylonian Diaspora, Eretz Israel remained the home of the majority of the world’s Jews and Jerusalem remained it religious and political heart.

66-73 CE The First Jewish revolt. Fall of the Jewish (Second) Temple to Romans in 70 CE.

133-135 CE Second Jewish revolt under Bar Kochba was crushed as Jews desperately fought for the independence. Judea is renamed Palestina. Jews are banned from Jerusalem by Hadrianus Caesar and the moder Jewish Diaspora began.

This marks a critical point in our Israel time line. The Roman conquerors renamed Eretz Israel Palestina. That was not its name before this time. The name Palaestina, (Palestine in English) is derived from Herodotus, who used the term Palaistine Syria to refer to the entire southern part of Syria, meaning "Philistine Syria.” For the modern Arabs who have adopted this name in an attempt to imply their right to Israel’s homeland, it would be more powerful therefore to refer to themselves not as “Palestinians” but as “Philistines.” Those familiar with the Bible will recall when David killed the Philistine Goliath to save his people. In either case however, the land of Israel belonged to Jews long before Rome changed its name in an attempt to destroy the Jews. Israel is the rightful name of the country bearing that name and Eretz Israel is their land.

Not all Jews fled the region however. Jewish communities continued to exist in Galilee, the northernmost part of Palestine, and the descendants remain there until our day.

61 CE – circa 300’s Despite warfare and civil, a largely deserted Eretz Israel remained under Roman occupation during these years and a few people, Romans, Persians, Jews and others continued to live there.

Circa 300’s-570 The area was ruled by the Byzantine Empire. As Christians gained control of the areas they recorded that the population consisted of Jews, Jewish converts to Christianity and people they termed “pagan,” i.e. various peoples imported by the Romans, largely as slaves, and others who had probably inhabited Eretz Israel continuously. This would include “Philistines” and others. What they did find was any sort of structured Palestinian society. Such never existed until modern times.

570 CE Muhammad was born into Quraysh, the ruling pagan tribe of Mecca. As a young man he met with many traveling merchants and thinkers: with Jews, Hindus, Christians, Persians and others and eventually proclaimed himself the last Prophet of the Abrahamic tradition, linking his people with Ishmael, the son of Abraham. Based on his teachings he raised an army of followers and called on the Arab people and all others to embrace his new religion fully. Through word and sword the Islamic armies spread his movement far and wide and in time Islam became the world’s second largest religion. Islam will almost certainly pass Christianity as the largest religion soon. Prophet Muhammad claimed and his followers believe that the Angel Gabriel revealed to him that he had inherited the mantle of Abraham’s eldest son Ishmael. Like Judaism, which arose through Abraham and his wife Sarah’s son Isaac, Islam traces its origins through Abraham, but through Sara’s Egyptian servant Hagar (Islam maintains that Hagar was not a servant but a free woman). Islam also transfers many of the Biblical stories about Isaac to Ishmael: for instance Abraham intended to sacrifice not Isaac as the Bible says, but Ishmael and so on. Based on the messages Muhammad said he received from the angel, the Torah accounts were altered and a new religion was born. Islam is not demonstratively descended from Ishmael as Judaism is from Isaac. This is a matter of faith. What is certain is that Muhammad’s new vision altered the course of world history dramatically.

Circa 638 The Arab/Muslim conquest of Jerusalem. Caliph Omar provided the Christians of Jerusalem with a Covenant guaranteeing their protection. Eretz Israel was divided into the Jund of filastin, in the south (capital in Al-Lod and later in Ramlah), and the Jund of Urdunn in the north, with capital in Tiberias (Tabariyeh).

614 Persians conquer Judea and Jerusalem.

628 Emperor Heraclius defeats Sassanid Persians, conquers Jerusalem.

1071 The Seljuk Turks conquered Jerusalem and fought the Christians. They were soon replaced by the Fatimid rulers of Egypt

1098 The Fatimid rulers captured Jerusalem, Jaffa and other parts of Eretz Israel.

1099 Christian Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and slaughtered most of the Jews and Muslim inhabitants. Many Jews were expelled or fled the area. Still, some Jews remained in the area, some using mock conversion tactics, others by keeping low profiles.

1187 The Muslim ruler Salah-ed-din (Saladin) reconquered Jerusalem

1187-1291 Christian Crusaders struggled to regain the area but were finally defeated at Acre and evicted from Eretz Israel all together. In order to stop the Christian raids on the Middle East the Muslims pulled their people back from the coastal regions and destroyed towns and farms there. This depopulated and impoverished the coast of Palestine for hundreds of years.

Circa 1200's -1300’s The Mamelukes, originally Egypt-based Arab soldier-slaves, established an empire that in time included much of Eretz Israel. Arab-speaking Muslims made up most of the population. For our present purposes it is noteworthy that these were not “Palestinians” but Arabs.

Circa 1300’s By the 1300's Jews from Spain and other Mediterranean lands had resettled in their ancient homeland at Jerusalem. Other Jews had never left their ancestral homeland.

1517 The Ottoman Turks conquered the Mamelukes and absorbed the area into their Ottoman empire. The Turkish Sultan invited Jews fleeing the Spanish Catholic inquisition to settle in the Turkish empire, including several cities in Palestine. And so more Jews returned to Homeland.

1740 The Ottoman Sultan invited Rabbi Haim Abulafia (1660-1744), Kabbalist and Rabbi of Izmir, to come to rebuild the city of Tiberias; thousands more Jews immigrate to Eretz Israel in a wave of Messianic fervor, including Rabbi Moses Haim Luzzatto (1707-1746). Its worth noting here that historically Islam has treated its Jewish subjects MUCH better than Christian rulers treated conquered Jews or Muslims. In any case though, There were again thousands of Jews living in Eretz Israel during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

1799 Napoleon conquered Jaffa but retreated before Acco (Acre);

1799 Napoleon grants full rights to Jews and proclaims the creation of a Jewish State in Eretz Israel, but nothing came of it and it was mainly a political move.

1806 Napoleon’s declaration of equal rights for Jews was repealed.

1831 Mehmed Ali of Egypt recaptured much of Eretz Israel but was forced to withdraw in 840 under pressure from European rulers.

1843 Zionism was growing in popularity with the writings of people like Rabbi Alcalay and Rabbi Kalischer. As Jews had since 70 CE, many longed to return home to Eretz Israel and were seeking ways to accomplish it.

1844 The first census in Jerusalem shows 7120 Jews, 5760 Muslims, 3390 Christians.

May I repeat: 7120 Jews, 5760 Muslims, 3390 Christians. Far more Jews than Muslims were living in Jerusalem in 1844.

1860 First Jewish settlement (Mishkenot Sha'ananim) was built outside the walls of Jerusalem since the Diaspora. This was long before World War Two.

1878 First Zionist Settlement - Petah Tikwa.

1870s Formation of Hovevei Tzion in Russia. This was an extra-Zionist movement that looked at the feasibility of a large-scale return to the Jewish Homeland.

1882 Leon Pinsker writes Auto-Emancipation in 1882; the formation of BILU; the beginning of the First Aliya (wave of Jewish immigration to Israel).

1897 First Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland

Nov 2, 1917 British issued the Balfour Declaration, promising a “National Home” for the Jews in Palestine.

Following the Balfour Declaration the Jewish movement to return Home continued. The rise of Hiltler's Third Reich and the Shoah (Holocaust) of course had a major negative impact on Jews and others the world over, and by war’s end Jews from around the world announces their resolve to return Home to Israel and establish a nation of Jews and for Jews as HaShem had promised their people since at least 4000 BCE and:

1948 CE Israel was Reborn!


This long awaited return and the restoration of Israel had been foreseen by Isaiah, by Rebe Y’shua and other prophets well in advance. And of that return the God of Israel Proclaims:

Isaiah 65:16 That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.

17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.

21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.

22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

23 They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.

24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

How should those with wisdom view these events?

Zechariah 8:20 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities:

21 And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also.

22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD.

23 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

Why?

Genesis 12 :1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee:

2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

That time is now at hand. All blessings to Israel and the Jewish people!