History and Geography (pre-Jesus)

Ok, so these are my worst two subjects by far!! I have never been good with dates, and can hardly ever even tell you what day it is today, much less what happened during what time period in the past! So this section of the coursework was PAINFUL for me, but it was so helpful in gaining a better knowledge of what led up to Christ's first coming.

(this might be a good time to remind you that it's OK to correct me...just please be nice about it)

This is a general outline of where the original 12 Tribes of Israel were. The history that I'm going to cover begins after the 12 tribes have divided into 2 kingdoms; the Northern Kingdom (which kept the name Israel and consisted of the 10 northern tribes), and the Southern Kingdom or Judah (the 2 southern tribes). The land area that included both areas is referred to as Palestine. There is SO much more history in regards to Israel, but that just might push me over the edge right now, so this is where we will start!

In the late 8th century (725-722 BC) God moved the Assyrians to invade the wayward Northern Kingdom. The Assyrian King deported many of the Israelites to other areas of the the Assyrian Kingdom to prevent an uprising. He also brought non-Jews into the area to live among the Jews that were allowed to stay. After a while the groups started to mingle...and well...there was a generation of children being born that were part Jew and part Assyrian. These people were called Samaritans (after Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom).

A little over 100 years later (around 595 BC), the Babylonians conquered Assyria (therefore taking over control of Israel) under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar. God also used the Babylonians as a tool of judgement on the Southern Kingdom (Judah), because they too were not following God's Law. So Babylon took control of it all! When the Babylonians invaded Judah, they destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, stealing the temple treasures. They also sent many of the Jews to exile in Babylon. This exile lasted for about 70 years.

Ok, now it's Persia's turn at bat! About 530 BC they conquer Babylon, so now they have control over Palestine and the Jews. King Cyrus is ruling in Persia, and he allows the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild to the temple. Many Jews chose to stay in Babylon (after all, they had been living there for 70 years!) but yet some returned to their homeland. The time in exile helped to cure these Jews of their nasty habit of idolatry. After they returned to Jerusalem they sincerely wanted to follow God's Law. But like so many times before they lost sight of what God's purpose, and they began to misuse the Law greatly during this time.

(A little side note - the last Old Testament prophet Malachi spoke during this time, around 450 BC)

Cuz I like visuals :)  This is a map of the area the Persian Empire covered. (impressive!) (Reminder that Palestine lay East of the Mediterranean Sea)

You still with me?  YAY for you!! If not, don't worry, we are almost to the end ;)

Persia ruled for about 200 years, and then in about 330BC the Greeks, led by Alexander the Great, conquered Persia. The Greeks had a long-lasting influence on the Jews. A good example of this is the Greek language, which became the common language used in trade and politics. This common language made the spreading of ideas and values much easier. This spreading of the Greek culture and influence is referred to as Hellenism.

After the death of Alexander the Great (who died at the young age of 33) his successors divided the empire into 4 different areas. {My text only names two of the empires, Egypt and Syria, if anyone knows the names of the other 2 I would love to know them. I tried to look them up on-line but kept getting lost :(}

Anyhow...For about 150 years these two areas battled it out over who would have Palestine. First Egypt had it, then Syria got it's hands on it...but not for long!

About 200 years after the Greeks conquered Persia and took control of Palestine, the Roman Empire rose to the top and conquered the remnants of the Grecian Empire. (That would put us at about 130 BC). The Roman Empire stood strong without serious challenge for nearly 600 years.

So yup, you guessed it!...The Roman Empire was in power at the time of Christ's birth.

So why did God choose this time to send his Son?

I'm sure God had a handful of very good reasons to pick this particular time, one of them might have been that Rome established widespread peace, making travel and communication everywhere in the Empire easier. This would make it the ideal time for Christ to come and preach the Good News!

YEAH!!! You did it! Now you know a bit about the history of the Jews :)

ahhhh, doesn't knowledge feel good!!