The History and Persecution of the Jews

The Persecution of the Jews

Introduction

I believe if you want to know the truth, go to the earliest source. Not the info of some latter-day professor who has to feed his ego. Not the Darwinian who wants to change history. The books of the old testament are some of the oldest historic writings available. They tell the story of a nation through their generations. These writers didn’t want fortune or fame from their writings. They weren’t after producing a best seller, although that’s what they achieved. They aimed to document events as they happened about their nation’s existence. The pain and suffering as a nation. The trials and tribulations of their lives and relationship with God. Their times in exile. Punishment for turning away from God. Glory and fruitfulness when living with God, their rewards for obeying God’s law. It is all written as a document for preservation. Not for financial gain, but for knowledge for future generations. It’s a testament to all the nations. To those who will listen. If you want to know the unbiased truth, read the holy scriptures, read them as a history book. Learn the truth. Many lies are written in literature, but there can only be one truth. Seek it. The writers of the holy bible were documenting events. The old testament isn’t about religion but more about events that happened to a nation, and other nations around them. About the people, their relationships, their wars, their travels and migration. It’s about history first hand.

PART 1

The Jews` persecution is a phenomenon, a mystery why the Jewish race has suffered persecution throughout history. They have endured harsh times by their oppressors, even to the brink of extermination. Yet they survived against all the odds. Here is an overview.

The patriarchs

1967–1606 BC

This story takes us back in history over 4000 years. The nation of Israel was formed at the times of the patriarchs (the heads of the Hebrew people). The leaders here referred to are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, three of the patriarchs. Abraham, (Abram) known as the father of all the nations, the first patriarch was born in 1967 BC. Abraham had a wife, Sarah (Sarai). They and several family members moved out of their country. They migrated to Canaan, under God’s command, and during this time, God gave them their former names. The year was 1892 BC. God made a covenant with Abraham and his descendants to inherit the entire land of Canaan forever. Abraham was born in 1967 BC and moved to Canaan when he was 75 years old. He had a son when he and his wife, Sarah, were old. They both assumed that Sarah would never carry a child, but God blessed her. In 1868 BC, they had a son and named him Isaac. Years later, Isaac married Rebekah and in 1807 BC they had twins, Esau and Jacob.

The leaders’ wives are known as the matriarchs. Sarah (wife of Abraham), Rebekah (wife of Isaac) and Leah (a wife of Jacob). These three father figures and their wives rest at the Hebron holy site. The Cave of Machpelah, sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.

Jacob had another wife named Rachel. Leah and Rachel were sisters. Rachel couldn’t conceive at first, and Leah gave Jacob six sons and a daughter. Rachel gave him two sons at a later date.

12 sons and 12 tribes

Jacob

Jacob, also named Israel by God, was Abraham’s grandson. He had twelve sons (all patriarchs). Born between 1723 and 1710 BC. They each ruled over a part of the nation of the twelve Hebrew tribes. These became known as the twelve tribes of Israel. (The Israelites).

Judah

Judah was the prominent of the twelve tribes and covered the city of Jerusalem. King Solomon and David were from this tribe, the bloodline passed down to Mary and Jesus. Jerusalem became the capital of Israel. King Solomon built the holy temple in the city of Jerusalem.

The twelve tribes comprised ten of the Northern Kingdom and two of the Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom was Simeon; Reuben; Gad; Ephraim; Issachar; Naphtali; Manasseh; Asher; Zebulen; and Dan. The Southern Kingdom was Benjamin and Judah.

Egypt is World Power

C1600–1200BC

Israel came out of Canaan into Egypt because of a famine in 1677 BC. Jacob was 130 years old. After dwelling in Egypt for 135 years, the tribes of Israel prospered, they multiplied and grew strong. Pharaoh saw they were growing and becoming a large nation. He feared that someday they would become a threat to him and Egypt. So, in 1382 BC, he took them into slavery. They remained so for another 80 years. They built cities and monuments while in captivity, and life was cruel. In the scriptures, it mentions that they also built the city of Ramses. Later, the king of Egypt ordered all the male babies born to the Hebrews cast into the river. Moses survived and brought up by Pharaoh’s daughter. The adult Moses had to flee Egypt after killing a guard. While in a foreign land, God called upon Moses to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of slavery…

Continued in part 2…

PART 2

Exodus to Canaan

1462–1422

Moses led the Israelites out of bondage from the land of Egypt through the desert unto the land of Canaan. He sent 12 spies into Canaan, one out of every tribe. He instructed them to stay for 40 days and gather information about the inhabitants. They had to report anything of significance. After 40 days, they reported their findings to Moses. God told the Israelites that they will dwell in the desert for 40 years. A punishment for disobedience while passing through the desert. 1 year for each of the 40 days, the spies continued into the land of Canaan. The generation that disobeyed him will not see the promised land. Only their descendants will.

Joshua conquers Jericho.

The Israelite army prepares for war. Priests carry the Ark of the Covenant into battle as a mighty weapon empowered by God. After the seventh and last trumpet sounded, the walls of Jericho fell, making way for the mighty army of Israel. They destroyed the city and its inhabitants, and they took the spoils of gold and silver and all precious items back to the Israelite’s camp and into the treasury. In the following years, the Israelites fight many battles to take the land of Canaan.

Israel’s Fall from Grace

Israel appointed a series of Judges to rule over them. During this era, they turned away from God several times and worshipped idols. God punished them by delivering them up to their enemies. God favoured them again and restored their status after they repented.

1372–1332 BC 1st Apostasy

Israel suffered eight years of captivity under the rule of the king of Mesopotamia.

Judges 3:7 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served Baalim and the groves. 8 Therefore, the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushan-rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushan-rishathaim for eight years.

1332–1314 BC 2nd Apostasy

For eighteen years, Israel was held captive by the king of Moab, Eglon.

Judges 3:12 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord. 14 So the children of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

1252—1232 BC 3rd Apostasy

This time it was twenty years in captivity for their sins. Their oppressor was Ja`bin, the king of Canaan.

Judges 4:1 And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud was dead. 2 And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin King of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. 3 And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years, he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

1212–1205 BC 4th Apostasy

Seven years in captivity under the rule of the Midianites.

Judges 6:1 And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord: and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. 6 And Israel was impoverished because of the Midianites; and the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.

Israel is World Power

1200–750BC

1172 BC 5th Apostasy

With God’s favour, Israel conquers the Midianites under the leadership of Gideon. They become a world power. Gideon dies in 1172 BC, and Israel once again turns away from God and worships the false god Baalberith.

Judges 8:32 And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. 33 And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim and made Baalberith their god.

1145–1127 BC 6th Apostasy

Eighteen more years of oppression for disobeying God

Judges 10:6 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him, 7 And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon. 8 And that year the vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead.

Reign of Saul,

1065–1025 BC

The birth of Saul was around 1105 BC, and in 1065 BC, he became king. He ruled until 1025 BC. During his reign in 1036 BC; the Philistines slaughtered the Israelite army. They then carried off the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark became a curse unto the Philistine’s while in their possession. They moved it among their people and suffered much destruction. Turmoil fell on them wherever it went. They had possession of the Ark for seven months before returning it. They took it back to the Israelites for fear of further deaths.

Reign of David: 1025–985 BC

And Solomon: 985–945 BC

David was born in 1055 BC and becomes King of Israel in 1025 BC, the year that Saul dies. He ruled over Judah from 1030 BC. He remains king of Israel until 985 BC. He was thirty years old when he became king and reigned for forty years. Under David’s rule, the nation of Israel grew in power and prosperity. King David fought many wars and battles and defeated many enemies. He spilled much blood on the battlefields. In 1015 BC, King David and one of his wives, Bathsheba, had a son named Solomon.

Israel anointed Solomon as King in 985 BC, and he ruled for 40 years until 945 BC. They planned a temple for building in Jerusalem; it was God’s house and a place for the Ark of the Covenant. King David prepared the design. He gathered all the materials for the temple in readiness for his son, Solomon, to take charge. David wanted to build the temple, but God told him his son was to be the builder. David had soiled his hands with the blood of too many wars.

Chronicles 22: 7 And David said to Solomon, my son as for me it was in my mind to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God. 8 But the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build a house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight. 9 Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days.

So it was that Solomon built a magnificent temple as the house of God. In 985 BC, work started on the temple and it finished in 962 BC. They placed the Arc of the Covenant in the temple in 974 BC. Solomon becomes a great and wise ruler. God granted him great wisdom from God and recognised as the wisest man on earth. Solomon dies in the year of 945 BC.

In Nazi Germany, an event known as “Kristallnacht” took place. The Nazis murdered 100 Jews, burnt down their synagogues and ransacked their homes. Around 30,000 Jewish men arrested and deported to the death camps. This set the seeds for the well-oiled killing machine. What resulted was the final solution and death toll of over 6,000,000 Jews.

945 BC–721 BC

After the death of Solomon, the nation split. Jeroboem ruled the ten tribes, the Northern Kingdom (Israel). And Rehoboem (Solomon’s son) ruled the southern Kingdom (Judah). The kingdoms battled each other. For many years, this carried on.

Assyria World Power

750—612 BC

In 721 BC, the Assyrian army took Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom. Israel had once again fallen from grace through idol worship of the heathen gods. God delivered The Northern Kingdom (Israel) into slavery by the hands of the Assyrians.

PART 3

Fall of Israel to Fall of Judah

721–586 BC

In 586 BC, the Babylonian army, under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar, captured Jerusalem. The capital of the Southern Kingdom of the tribes of Judah. The Babylonians destroyed the holy temple in Jerusalem and burnt it to the ground. The army knocked down the walls of the city and burnt the houses. They slaughtered men young and old, women and children all fell by the sword. They carried the treasures of the temple off to Babylon. Rich nobles of the tribes of Judah were and taken into slavery. They left the remaining poor in the city. Once again, God had punished his people for turning to worshipping false gods. And now the Babylonian Empire has destroyed their holiest place of worship.

Babylon is World Power

612–539 BC

After conquering Assyria, with the aid of the Medes and Persians, Babylon becomes a world power. The world’s first great empire. Also known as the Chaldean Empire. It had several leaders. During the time of Jerusalem’s destruction, King Nebuchadnezzar ruled. Babylon was a nation of idol worshippers. During his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had the Etemenanki Ziggurat rebuilt.

The Jews without a temple

586–516 BC

During this period, the Medes and the Persians were on the rise. An army of two nations joined to fight common enemies. Darius was the king of the Median empire, Cyrus the Great ruled the Persians. In 539 BC, Darius the Median took the Babylonian kingdom. The Medes slain Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Belshazzar, the king of Babylon, the night the empire fell.

Persia is World Power

539–333 BC

After the fall of Babylon to the Medes and Persians, in 538 BC, Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their land of Judah. To build their temple again. 50,000 Jews returned to their home, albeit under the rule of the Persian empire.

Restoration of the Temple

516–400 BC

Work started on the temple, under the reign of Darius the Mede. It took until 516 BC to complete. A celebration, the Passover, took place to mark the occasion. The Jews had returned home, to their God given land, but still under foreign rule.

Greece is World Power

333–63 BC

Greece became the next world power, the third of four great empires in the ancient world. They conquered the Persian empire under the leadership of Alexander the Great. They took control of Jerusalem, but let the Jews govern themselves. As did Cyrus the Great. They were still under the rule of the Greek Empire but allowed to practice their religion. In 168 BC, the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV, desecrated the temple. He erected a pagan altar inside the temple and sacrificed a pig to the Greek God Zeus. Referred to in the bible as “the abomination of desolation,” spoken of by Daniel. This led to a revolt. Judah became an independent state within an empire, but only for a short while. Again they were subdued, and Antiochus IV stopped all Jewish worship. He implemented worship of the Greek pagan God Zeus.

Rome is World Power

63 BC–AD 476

Rome was a republic from the 6th century BC until it became an empire in the 1st century BC and had its first emperor. In 63 BC, it became the fourth great empire of the ancient world, the mightiest of them all. The Jews came under Roman rule, but they still practiced their own laws and religion, controlled by the occupying Romans.

Rome had been fighting wars with Greece on many fronts and for centuries. Rome defeated them when in 168 BC at Pynda, at the battle of Cynoscephalae, Greece fell.

Destruction of the second temple

AD 70

Under Roman occupation, the Jews had several skirmishes with the Romans, but no threat to the might of the Roman Empire.

In AD 66, 33 years after Jesus’ crucifixion, the Jews once again revolted. The Emperor Nero sent Vespasian to restore order. In AD 68 this succeeded in the province. The Romans then concentrated their efforts on Jerusalem. Nero committed suicide. Vespasian was the new emperor and returned to Rome. His son, Titus, then leads the army in Jerusalem. By AD 70, they had penetrated the city and began the systematic slaughter. The Roman soldiers murdered everyone they came into contact with in a bloody frenzy. Men, women, children, all innocent bystanders, fell under the sword. They made their way to the temple and, in a fit of madness, they slaughtered the Jews, trying to save it. The Romans set fire to the temple, climbing over dead bodies in their attempt to loot for treasure. Destruction of the temple, for the second time in history, was imminent. The romans slaughtered thousands of Jews. Thousands that survived the onslaught traveled to Egypt to work as slaves. Others dispersed throughout the Roman empire. Persecuted, sometimes as entertainment in the arenas.

The romans carted the holy relics of the temple off to Rome. They put on celebratory display as a mark of their victory.

Again, the Jews part from their holy land into slavery and dispersed all over the Roman Empire.

PART 4

AD 70 to AD 1967

After Jerusalems` destruction, and through the centuries, the Jews wandered. They settled all over the globe. Anti-Semitism followed them wherever they moved, but very few remained in the holy land. For two centuries, many settled in Babylonia.

The age of the prophets went, God no longer spoke to the Jews. Christs` rejection was their major stumbling block. God chose not to speak to them anymore. But the Jewish prophets predicted their future up to the end of the modern world.

The Spanish Inquisition saw many Jews murdered. Led by the Catholic Christian movement. They opposed the Jews in disbelief of Christ and opposition to Christianity.

Nazi Germany, under the rule of Adolph Hitler, saw the worst atrocities on Jews in modern times, the worst time in the 4000-year history of the Jewish people. Over six million Jews murdered by the Nazis between 1939 and 1945.

Of course, there were many incidents of anti-Semitism in modern history.

AD 135

Jewish rebellion against Roman rule ended in what it described as a massacre. The romans slaughtering thousands of Jews at Betar. A Jewish settlement about six miles south of Jerusalem.

AD 1096

During the first crusade, the crusaders killed tens of thousands of European Jews. As they passed through Europe on their way to the holy land, they left a trail of dead in their wake. The crusaders were brutal and murdered all Jews, men, women, children, sick and old. Around 12,000 Jews slaughtered in the Rhyme Valley alone.

AD 1147

The second crusade struck Jews in Germany and France again. Many more Jews slaughtered.

AD 1190

During the third crusade, many Jews massacred in England. 150 Jews murdered at York Castle by a mob enticed by the start of the third crusade.

AD 1236

Around 3000 Jews massacred in France by the crusaders.

AD 1242

In Paris, by order of the pope and the French king, they burned all copies of the Talmud.

AD 1252

In May of this year, pope Innocent IV (now there’s an irony) authorised the use of torture by the inquisition, to make accused heretics confess. The Jews suffered under this order.

AD 1290

During this year, all Jews expelled from England.

AD 1336

Several thousand Jews in Germany murdered by the unofficial Armleder bands. The pope stopped the senseless killings.

AD 1391

Widespread anti-Semitism in Spain led to thousands of Jewish massacres. One of the worst attacks on the Jews in the middle ages.

AD 1421

Jews attacked in Vienna, and across Austria. 300 trapped in the Or-Santa synagogue in Vienna. Some committed suicide. The rest burned to death when they torched the synagogue from inside. They rounded up around 200 remaining Jews and burnt them at the stake.

AD 1553

The pope issued a decree condemning the Jewish religious writings. He ordered it all burnt. Authorities collected all books from the Jewish community and an enormous bonfire ensued.

AD 1648

The Cossacks, under the rule of Chmielniki, slaughtered thousands of Jews. This took place in the polish ruled eastern region. Hundreds of communities destroyed. About 100,000 Jews murdered in many forms of death, from the sword to drowning.

AD 1768

The Haidamacks, in the East polish region, slaughtered thousands of Jews. Men, woman, and children killed. They showed no mercy. It is said that in one city clearing of the bodies took priority. This took place to clear the streets for the soldier’s horses to pass.

AD 1819

Anti-Jewish riots took place throughout Germany.

AD 1905

2000 Jews killed in Russian attacks over several areas of Russia. Up to 2500 killed in Odessa by organised mobs.

AD 1918,

There was much anti-Semitism in Russia. after WW1. They organised many pogroms, resulting in around 150,000 Jews murdered.

AD 1938

In Nazi Germany, an event known as “Kristallnacht” took place. The Nazis murdered 100 Jews, burnt down their synagogues and ransacked their homes. Around 30,000 Jewish men were arrested and deported to the death camps. This set the seeds for the well-oiled killing machine. What resulted was “the final solution” and a death toll of over 6,000,000 Jews.

AD 1939

Germany starts WW2 by invading Poland. The roundup of the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto takes momentum. Mass executions of Jews follow.

AD 1941

The biggest single massacre of the Jews during the holocaust, to the said date, takes place in Kiev, Russia. In a place named Babi Yar. On 30 September 1941, the Nazis executed over 33,000 Jews.

In that same year, in October, known as the “Odessa massacre”, over 50,000 Jews slaughtered.

AD 1942

Around 400,000 Jews rounded up in the Warsaw ghettos and deported to the death camps.

AD 1944

Around 300,000 Hungarian Jews rounded up. Then transported by train to Auschwitz concentration camp for execution.

AD 1945

By the end of WW2, The Nazis had exterminated over 6,000,000 Jews.

AD 1947

The United Nations set out a plan that divided Palestine into two states, a Jewish and an Arab state. This was unacceptable by the Arabs and fighting broke out between Arabs and Jews.

AD 1948,

They declared Israel a state, the first time since 70 BC (1847 years), that the Jews had a recognised home again. The Arab / Israeli war started with Arab nations attacking Israel.

AD 1949

The war of independence for Israel ended. It saw over 6000 Israelis killed and around 1500 wounded.

AD 1950

Jews allowed to leave Iraq (modern day Babylon). But only provided they gave up Iraqi citizenship. Over 100,000 Jews evacuated from Iraq between the years of 1949 to 1951. The evacuations named Ezra and Nechemia, after the leaders of the Jews from 597 BC, who led the Jews back to Jerusalem from Babylonian exile. Israel brought home another 49,000 Jews from Yemen and surrounding area between 1949 and 1950. It ran under the name Operation Magic Carpet.

AD 1956

Israel invaded Egypt. Forcing other foreign nationals and Jews to leave Egypt. Around 25,000 Jews fled the harsh regime and their assets seized by the Egyptian government.

AD 1967

When the Jews advanced into Jerusalem, it seemed like suicide. All the surrounding Arab nations attacked them. The Arabs sustained heavy losses, but after six days, the war was over. Israel had won. They captured the holy part of the city, (the old city) up to the remains of Solomon’s temple, (the Wailing Wall). The Israeli general, Moshe Dayan, stated the Jews had come home, never to leave again.

AD 1973

Egypt made war again against Israel in the “Yom Kippur War.” In retaliation for the 1967 six-day war, Egypt was hoping to regain back lost territory. The Jews fought back and won the war at a cost of 2500 Jewish soldiers dead.

The Dome of the Rock

In the holiest part of Jerusalem is the Muslim holy mosque, “The Dome of the Rock.” One of the holiest places in the Muslim world. Built on the site of Solomon’s Temple.

Jesus was the last “live” messenger from God. From AD 33, after Jesus’ ascension, they document no more direct contact with God. Although the scriptures have many passages from the prophets about later events. Several of those revelations came from Jesus. These events refer to the times of Jews returning home to their holy land after almost 2000 years of exile.

One prophesy stated that the Jews will have their land back in the end times. This happened in 1948. In 1967, they retook the holy part of the city of Jerusalem.

Another prophecy states Solomon’s Temple will be built again for a 3rd time.

Watch this space.

D. Marsden © 2020