History of Ancient Israel

The Birth of the Nation of Israel - The Exodus Out of Egypt
1446 B.C. Exodus 1 - Deuteronomy 34.

God had chosen the Israelites as his own people; a kingdom of priests he called them. God led the Israelites and other people (Ex. 12:37-38) out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land for he wanted them to be his kingdom. Before entering the Promised Land he brought them to Mount Sinai. (Ex 19:3-6) God was acting on unconditional promises (covenants) he made to their ancestor Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3, 13:14-17, 17:2-6, 22:18, Gal. 3:16) a man who looked forward to the Kingdom of God. (Jn. 8:56) God passed the promises he made to Abraham onto his son, Isaac and grandson, Jacob. God renamed Jacob to Israel. Jacob has twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob (aka Israel) moved from Palestine to Egypt where his descendants became slaves. When God led them out of slavery he was calling them to be a new kingdom, his kingdom, a kingdom of priests.

A LIST OF THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL.

A LIST OF OLD TESTAMENT BOOK TIMELINE.

The Youth of the Nation of Israel
1406 B.C. Joshua 1 - Ruth 4, and 1 Samuel 1-9.

Forty years after Mt. Sinai God led the Israelites into Palestine, the land he promised to their ancestors. (Jos. 1) This began the time of Judges for Israel, a form of goverment God established. The Israelites did not keep the covanant they promised God they would keep. They sinned against the Lord. Eventually they wanted a new form of government with a man as their king. This drew them farther from being the Kingdom of God. The new form of government did not make the Israelites the Kingdom of God for as God said, “They have rejected me as their king.” (1 Sam.)

A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF ISRAEL'S JUDGES.

The Split of the Nation of Israel
930 B.C. 1 Samuel 10:1 - 1 Kings 11

The kingdom ruled by their first king, Saul and established by their second king, David did not last as a single nation. After David's son, King Solomon died, the nation split into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom was called Israel (aka Ephraim and Sameria). The southern kingdom was called Judah. Because of both kingdoms continual sins God sent Israel, the northern kingdom into Assyrian captivity never to return and Judah was sent into Babylon captivity. Both Babylon and Assyria were concurred by the Medes. Israel, who God led out of slavery in Egypt, though it lasted 464 years never became the Kingdom of God. (Ps. 89) Eventually they slowly returned to the Promised Land as subjects of another kingdom. Israel was always ruled by other nations until 1948 A.D. In 1967 A.D. Jerusalem became Israel's capital for the first time in around 2,500 years.

A MAP OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF ISRAEL.
A MAP OF THE KINGDOMS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH.
A CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF ISRAEL'S KINGS AND PROPHETS.

Initial Assyrian Captivity of Israel (the Northern Tribes)
734 B.C. 2 Kings 15:29

Tiglath-pileser III, king of Assyria from 745-727 B.C., marched against King Pekah of Israel, and King Rezin of Syria because they made war against his vassal, King Ahaz of Judah. He punished Israel by carrying some of their people into exile (2 Kings 16:7-9)

Final Assyrian captivity of Israel
722 B.C. 2 Kings 17:1-6

Israel was destroyed and taken after a three year siege by Shalmaneser V, king of Assyria from 727-722 B.C. Assyrian inscriptions say that 27,290 people were taken captive and deported,. some to Gozan in Mesopotamia and others to Media.

A MAP OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE IN 721 B.C.

Egypt Conquers Judah
609 B.C. 2 Kings 23:29-37, 2 Chron. 35:20-27

490 years are between the Israelites Exodus out of Egypt till the first year of the captivity that Daniel took part in. Before that, in 609 B.C. Judah, the southern kingdom was taken over by the Egyptians. Egypt, which is south west of Judah, was marching past Judah to assist Assyria in a war. However, Judah's king foolishly refused to let them by and attacked them. Judah lost and Egypt make them a colonial state and killed Judah's foolish king. The Jews then anointed Jehoahaz king, but Egypt exercised her sovereignty over Judah; in three months they replaced Jehoahaz with Jehoiakim.

A MAP OF THE BABYLON EMPIRE FROM 626 TO 539 B.C.
A LIST OF MAJOR EVENTS FROM 612 TO 63 B.C.

Initial Babylonian Captivity of Judah (the Southern Tribes)
605 B.C. Daniel 1:1-7

In 605 B.C. the Babylonians, led by Nebuchadnezzar the crown prince came from the north, attacked, and defeated Egypt at the battle of Carchemish. (2 Ki. 24:1-7) The same year Nebuchadnezzar was made king of Babylon. He reigned from 605-562 B.C. When Egpyt fell Judah became a colonial state of the Babylon Empire but was aloud to keep its own national, spiritual, and cultural identity.

After the battle of Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar, as crown prince of Babylon, advanced to Jerusalem and then quickly left for Babylon to be crowned king when his father died. Then he returned to Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar spared King Jehoiakim, who had rebelled against him when he left to be made king. However, Nebuchadnezzar carried off several of the princes of Judah, among them was Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The captivity of Israel lasted 70 years. (This count starting from Nebuchadnezzar's initial defeat of Egypt and Judah in 605 B.C.)

Second Babylonian Captivity of Judah
597 B.C. 2 Kings 24:1-16

In 597 B.C. Jehoiakim, the king of Israel rebelled against Babylon a second time. Nebuchadnezzar returned to Jerusalem and miserably defeated Jehoiakim and Israel. Because of this rebellion Nebuchadnezzer ransacked Jerusalem and many other major cities as Jeremiah had prophesied. Nebuchadnezzar killed many Jews. He also took around 10,000 selected captives. Ezekiel, the prophet was among the captives.

Third Babylonian Captivity of Judah
586 B.C. 2 Kings 24:20-25:21 and Jer. 39:1-10

King Zedekiah took an oath of allegiance to the Babylonian monarch but soon became disloyal. So Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city from 10 January 587 to 9 July 586 B.C. Approximately eighty distinguished leaders of the community were executed. The royal palace and the city were set on fire, and the survivors (except the poorest of the land) were taken into captivity.

Final Babylonian Captivity of Judah
581 B.C. The books of 2 Kings 25:22-26, Jeremiah 40-44, and Esther 1-10.

This part of the captivity was caused by the rebellion of the remaining Hebrews of strong anti-Babylonian feeling. They fled to Egypt, forcing Jeremiah, who had been given special consideration by Nebuchadnezzar, to accompany them. It is thought that 70,000 Jews were taken into captivity.

Assyrian Captivity of the Two Kingdoms
circ. 539 B.C. Haggai & Zechariah

The book of Esther states that some Jewish captives in Assyria were living "in the citadel of Susa" an Assyrian capital. As far back as the fall of the northern kingdom in 722-721 B.C., Israelites had been exiled among the cities of the Medes (2 Kings 17:6). After the conquest of Babylon by King Cyrus of Persia in 539 B.C., some of the Jewish population taken there by the Babylonians (605-586) probably moved eastward into the cities of Medo-Persia. Only 50,000 returned to Israel in the restoration of 538 (Ezra 2:64-67). The presence of a large Jewish population in Medo-Persia is confirmed by the discovery of an archive of texts in Nippur (southern Mesopotamia) from the period of Artaxerxes I (465-424) and Darius II (424-405). This archive contains the names of about 100 Jews who lived in that city. Some had attained positions of importance and wealth. Similar Jewish populations are probable in many other Medo-Persian cities.

Judah's First Return From Exile to Jerusalem
538 B.C. Ezra 1-6

Cyrus, the Persian king, destroyed the Babylonian Empire and in the same year issued a decree permitting the Jews to return to their native land. As many as wished to could return, and the temple could be rebuilt partially financed by the royal treasury. The temple vessels also were returned. The number of those returning was 49,697, and were led by Zerubbabel.

A MAP OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE IN 500 B.C.

Judah's Second Return From Exile to Jerusalem
458 B.C. Ezra 7-10

This return took place under Artaxerxes 1, king of Persia from 464-424 B.C., and was led by Ezra. Finances for the journey were provided by the royal treasury and the people were allowed to have their own judges. The group numbered about 5500 men and women, besides 38 Levites and 220 servants of the temple.

Judah's Final Return From Exile
444 B.C. Nehemiah 1-2

This group was led by Nehemiah, cupbearer to Artaxerxes and later governor of Judea. Ezra and Nehemiah, furnished with royal power, were able in spite of difficulties to establish the Jewish community. They were allowed to rebuild the wall, and the wall was rebuilt in 52 days, despite opposition from Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem. Nehemiah 7:66 tells us the whole Jewish community numbered 42,360 men, or possibly 125,000 people.

Greece Takes Over Judea
334 B.C.

Alexander the Great defeated the Persian army and thus gained control of Palestine. Upon his death in 323 B.C. his four generals divided up his kingdom. Judea and Galilee were controled by Egypt. Damascus was controlled by Syria. Their hostility toward the people of God culminated in the "abomination that causes desolation" (Da 11 :31), identified historically with the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164).

A MAP OF GREECE DIVIDED AFTER ALEXANDER DIED.

Egypt & Syria Influence to Roman time in Palestine

The Maccabean revolt followed, leading eventually to the founding of the Hasmonean dynasty. Continued political rivalries in Judea brought the intervention of the Roman general Pompey in 63 B.C. This event signaled the end of Jewish political independence, except for periods of brief autonomy during the ill-fated revolts of the first and second Christian centuries. In 70 A.D. Rome completely destroyed Jerusalem, the Temple, and all the Jews scattered throughout the world.

A TIMELINE FROM BABYLON TO ROMAN CONTROL OVER ISRAEL.