Israelite History

Thousands of Years of Development

Six Major Middle Eastern Empires

• In biblical history, the land of Israel/Palestine was ruled by six major empires:• Egyptians ??? – 911 BCE• Assyrians 911 BCE – 620 BCE

• Babylonians 620 BCE – 539 BCE• Persians 539 BCE – 333 BCE• Greeks 333 BCE – 164 BCE• Romans 63 BCE – 650 CE

Pre-Historic Period

• 3760 BCE - traditional date of creation of world

• Year 1 in Jewish calendar

• Is Gen 1-11 factual history?

• Or is it our foundational theological starting place?

HEBREW / ISRAELITE PERIOD (2nd Millennium to ca. 539 BCE)

• 3000 - 1000 BCE EGYPTIAN overlords control the area.

• 1800-1700 - Foundations of Israelite People under Patriarchs/ Ancestors; God promises to give the land to Abraham’s descendants.

HEBREW / ISRAELITE PERIOD

• On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,  the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,  the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,  the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.” (Genesis 15:18-21)

Patriarchs

• 1) ABRAHAM & Sarah (+ her handmaid Hagar)

• 2) Isaac & Rebekah (+ elder half-brother Ishmael, son of Hagar)

• 3) Jacob = Israel (two wives, Leah & Rachel, & two handmaids, Zilpah & Bilhah)

• 4) Twelve Sons of Jacob

= 12 Tribes of Israel (Judah = "Royal Tribe"; Levi = "Priestly Tribe"; Joseph; Benjamin; etc.)

Moses & the Exodus Generation

• 1700-1300 - Israelites (a.k.a. Hebrews) in Egypt (since time of Joseph, the "dreamer"); welcomed at first, but later in slavery

• 1250 - MOSES and the Exodus – • Plagues; Passover; Exodus from Egypt; • Torah/Covenant on Mount Sinai; • Wandering in the Desert for 40 years • (books of Exodus - Deuteronomy)

• What elements of Jewish faith are tied to the Exodus?

Joshua and the Judges

• 1200-1030 – after Moses dies there is a conquest of the Promised Land led by Joshua

• Loose confederation of 12 tribes of Israel

• Judges provide leadership• Events recorded in books of

Joshua, Judges, Ruth

United Kingdom of Israel: The Golden Age

• 1030 - 12 tribes are united in a single monarchy; first ruler King Saul; continual war with Philistines

• 1000 - Jerusalem conquered by King DAVID’s army; made capital of all Israel; David expands kingdom; God promises House of David will rule Israel forever (2 Sam 7)

• 970 - First Temple built in Jerusalem by David’s son, King Solomon; worship centralized

• 930 - Death of Solomon; throne succession struggles; kingdom divides into two parts: North vs. South

Divided Monarchies(922 BCE - 587 BCE)

North• 922-721 - "Kingdom of Israel";

ruled by several series of corrupt kings;

• 721 - fall of Northern Kingdom & capital Samaria to ASSYRIANS; deportation of most Israelites; importation of foreigners into areas of former Israel

South• 922-587 - "Kingdom of Judah";

ruled by David’s descendants: some bad, some good;

• 720's - religious reforms under King Hezekiah; resistance against Assyrian takeover

• 620's - religious reforms of King Josiah; Deuteronomy

Babylonian Conquest of Judah

• 605 - Babylon defeats Egypt; territory of Judah becomes part of Babylonian Empire

• 597 - First unsuccessful revolt of Judah vs. Babylon; ruling elite of Judah exiled to Babylon

• 587 - Another unsuccessful revolt of Judah vs. Babylon; total destruction of Jerusalem city & temple by Babylonians

Babylonian Exile

• 587-539 BCE - most upper-class Jews (officials, priests, artisans) deported to Babylon; others flee to Egypt, etc.;

• much of Hebrew Bible written or compiled, especially the major prophets; final compilation of Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy) & Deuteronomistic History (Joshua to 2 Kings) by Judean scribes living in exile in Babylon.

Persian Period

• 539 BCE – Babylonian empire conquered by Persians• King Cyrus allows all exiles to return to their homelands• Urges reconstruction of city & temple of Jerusalem• Book of Ezra & Nehemiah gives account

• Ca. 520 – rebuilding of Second Temple in Jerusalem• Not as nice or large as Solomon’s Temple

• Ca. 458-445 – more exiles return to Jerusalem• Led by priest Ezra & governor Nehemiah

• Some Jews stay in other parts of the Middle East, sometimes in conflict with other nations.• Book of Esther

Palestine as a regional term

• The term Peleset is found in numerous Egyptian documents referring to a neighboring people or land starting from about 1150 BCE. Neither the Egyptian nor the Assyrian sources provided clear regional boundaries for the term.

• The first clear use of the term Palestine to refer to the entire area between Phoenicia and Egypt was in 5th century BC Ancient Greece. Herodotus wrote of a 'district of Syria, called Palaistinê" in The Histories, the first historical work clearly defining the region, which included the Judean mountains and the Jordan Rift Valley.

• Approximately a century later, Aristotle used a similar definition in Meteorology, writing "Again if, as is fabled, there is a lake in Palestine, such that if you bind a man or beast and throw it in it floats and does not sink, this would bear out what we have said. They say that this lake is so bitter and salt that no fish live in it and that if you soak clothes in it and shake them it cleans them."

Hellenistic/Greek Era

• 334 – Alexander the Great begins conquest of Persian Empire (cf. Daniel 11:1-4)

• Hellenization = establishment of Greek language, religion, culture, government throughout East (2 Macc 4:13-15)

• 323 Alexander dies; empire divided among four generals (Daniel 7)

• Hellenistic Empire Divides (cf. 1 Maccabees 1-7)

• Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt controls Palestine 323-198 BCE• Seleucid dynasty from Syria rules Palestine 198-141 BCE

• Around 250 BCE – Septuagint (LXX)• Hebrew Bible translated into Greek in Alexandria, Egypt• More books added; categories rearranged

Maccabean Era• 167 BCE – Desecration of Jerusalem Temple

by Antiochus IV Epiphanes• Statues of Greek gods• Sparks revolt of Jews led by Judas “Maccabeus” (167-161)• Events recorded in First & Second Book of Maccabees

• 164 BCE – Maccabean Revolt’s first main success:rededication of the Jerusalem Temple (2 Macc 8)• Hannukah, the Feast of Lights

• 141-63 BCE – Short independence and expansion of Israel under Maccabean/Hasmonean rulers

Hasmonean Dynasty

• 134-67 BC – Hasmoneans rule Israel several generations• Rivalries among various Jewish Groups

• Pharisees:• Popular group, mostly laymen• Strict observance of laws and traditions

• Sadducees: • Smaller elite group, mostly priests• followed Torah, rejected new traditions.

• Essenes:• Small group, lived “monastic” lifestyle near Dead Sea • Associated with Dead Sea Scrolls

Roman Era

• 63 BCE – ca. 650 CE

• 63 – Roman army under General Pompey takes over Middle East

• 40-4 BCE – King Herod the Great• Named “King” by Roman Senate• Fights to gain control over Israel• Builds cities with Roman temples,

fortresses; • expands Jerusalem Temple.

• 4BCE – Herod dies;• Kingdom divided between three

sons and one sister

During & After King Herod• Herod (40-4 BCE)

• 6-4BCE Jesus born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth• Pharisees - (2nd cent. BCE – 1st cent. CE)

• Precursors of “rabbis” (founders of “rabbinic Judaism”)• Followed laws of Hebrew Bible; & “traditions of the elders”

• High Priests• Members of Tribe of Levi• Leaders of Jewish people; control Temple• Caiaphas: arrest & conviction of Jesus (Matt 26:3, John 11:49-53)

• Roman Procurators (esp. Pilate 26-36CE)• Governors of provinces (e.g. Judea) • Military, civil & criminal jurisdiction• Jews had much self-government, run by Sanhedrin • Death penalty had to be approved & executed

by Roman Procurator

First Jewish Revolt• 66-74 CE – Jewish war vs. Rome begins in Galilee & Jerusalem

• Recorded in Josephus’ Jewish War• 68 CE – Most of Judea recaptured by Romans • 70 CE – Jerusalem captured by Roman Army; city burned;

Second Temple destroyed

70 CE to 1900 CE • 70 CE The Destruction of the Temple and the Jewish Dispersion

The destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, becomes an event considered by the Romans to be a victory of such significance that they commemorated it by erecting the triumphal Arch of Titus, which still dominates the Roman Forum.

• The Roman historian Cassius Dio records that in a subsequent revolt in 135 CE some 580,000 Jewish soldiers were killed; and following that revolt the Emperor Hadrian decreed that the name "Judea" should be replaced by "Syria Palestina" - Philistine Syria or "Palestine".

70 CE to 1900 CE • In the ensuing years the greater part of the Jewish population went into

exile as captives, slaves and refugees, although Galilee remained a center of Jewish institutions and learning until the sixth century CE.

• 312 CE Constantine converts to Christianity

• 325 CE Council of Nicea (Christianity becomes the state religion for the Byzantine empire – successor to the eastern Roman Empire)

• 622 Birth of Islam (610 CE) and the "migration" of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina (Saudia Arabia), marked the establishment of the Islamic religion in Arabia.

• In 638 the Islamic Caliph Omar I completed the Arab conquest of Jerusalem. Omar built the Dome of the Rock (Mohammed’s night journey stopping spot) on the site of the Temple, and from then out, Jerusalem was proclaimed the third most holy site of Islam.

• 638 to 1099 Palestine was part of the empires successively ruled by the Arab dynasties centered in Damascus and Baghdad.

70 CE to 1900 CE • 1099   The Crusaders establish the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. 

1187   Saladin, the Kurdish ruler of Egypt defeats the Crusaders. 1516   Suleiman the Magnificent of Turkey takes Jerusalem

• Under Turkish Muslim rule Palestine was governed from Constantinople for the next four hundred years, ending with the defeat of Turkey as an ally of Germany in the First World War in 1917.   

By the 19th century the population of Turkish Palestine had been reduced to less than 500,000, including about 25,000 Jews. The only fertile areas were in the narrow central plain.

The Ottoman Empire, c. 1900

Sykes-Picot Agreement, 1916 a secret agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and France, with the assent of Russia, defining their proposed spheres of influence and control in the Middle East should the Triple Entente succeed in defeating the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

Mandates after World War I(1918)

Palestine under the British Mandate

In 1921 Britain gives Transjordan to Emir Abdullah

The Peel Partition Plan, 1937

Palestine Royal Commission, was a British Royal Commission of Inquiry, headed by Lord Peel, appointed in 1936 to investigate the causes of unrest in British Mandate for Palestine following the six-month-long Arab general strike in Mandatory Palestine.

On July 7, 1937, the commission published a report that, for the first time, stated that the Mandate had become unworkable and recommended partition.

British cabinet endorsed the Partition plan in principle, but requested more information. Following the publication in 1938 the Woodhead Commission was appointed to examine it in detail and recommend an actual partition plan.

The Jewish leadership accepted partition in principle as an opportunity for sovereignty, while "most of the Arabs" condemned the Plan considering it unjust.

Woodhead Partition Plan, 1938

ultimately rejected partition as being unfeasible on administrative and financial grounds. Britain called for a conference in London for all relevant parties to work out a compromise.

World War II1939 - 1945

• The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization established on 24 October 1945 to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was created following the Second World War to prevent another such conflict.

• At its founding, the UN had 51 member states; there are now 193.

• Holy See and Palestine currently have Permanent Observer Status

United Nations Partition Plan, 1947 (hypothetical boundaries)UN Resolution 181

The Plan was accepted by the Jewish public, except for its fringes, and by the Jewish Agency despite its perceived limitations. With a few exceptions, the Arab leaders and governments rejected the plan of partition in the resolution and indicated an unwillingness to accept any form of territorial division.

On 14 May 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared "the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel," a state independent upon the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine, 15 May 1948. Neighboring Arab armies invaded Isael/Palestine on the next day and fought the Israeli forces.

Armistice Line, 1949“the Green Line”

Green Line refers to the demarcation lines set out in the 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and its neighbors (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

The Green Line is also used to mark the line between Israel and the territories captured in the Six-Day War, including the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and Sinai Peninsula (the last has since been returned to Egypt as part of the 1979 peace treaty). The name derives from the green ink used to draw the line on the map while the talks were going on.

The green line is commonly referred to as the "pre-1967 borders", the "1967 borders" or the "1967 lines" by President Obama, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and by the United Nations in informal texts and in the text of UN GA Resolutions.

• West Bank & East Jerusalem

• Gaza

• Sinai

• Golan Heights

Territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War:

Mulk: privately owned in the Western sense.

Miri: Land owned by the government (originally the Ottoman crown) and suitable for agricultural use. Individuals could purchase a deed to cultivate this land and pay a tithe to the government. Ownership could be transferred only with the approval of the state. Miri rights could be transferred to heirs, and the land could be sub-let to tenants. If the owner died without an heir or the land was not cultivated for three years, the land would revert to the state.

Mahlul: Uncultivated Miri lands that would revert to the state, in theory after three years.

Mawat (or Mewat): So-called “dead”, unreclaimed land. It belonged to the government. ...If the land had been cultivated with permission, it would be registered, at least under the Mandate, free of charge.

Zoned Land

• Zone A – land that is under full authority of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Both civilian and military.

• Zone B – PA controls civilian matters; Military authority controlled by Israel.

• Zone C – Full Israeli control.• 62% of the West Bank – 160,000

Palestinians

The Separation Wall• Construction began in

2002; when completed will be 708 km long (440 mi).

• 85% will run inside of the West Bank, rather than along the Green Line.

• Wall separates Palestinians from Israelis, Palestinians from Palestinians;

• “Temporary Security Solution”

Settlements

• 130 Israeli settlements built since 1948;

• Settlements are self-contained communities, aside from utilities.

Citizenship vs Residency

Jewish Nationals

Palestinians with Israeli Citizenship (includes IDPs)

Jerusalem Residents

West Bank ID Holders (includes refugees and IDPS in the West Bank)

Gaza ID Holders (includes refugees in Gaza)

Seam and Buffer Zone ID Holders

Refugees in exile

Right of Return• Issue where peace

negotiations have traditionally broken down.

• Very dear to the Palestinians, especially generations that lived through 1948.

A briefbrief history of PCUSA engagement• 2004 GA: Overture for phased, selective divestment from

multinational corporations doing business in Israel leads to MRTI being called to initiate usual process of corporate engagement, with divestment being one possible outcome.

• 2006 GA: Overture that PCUSA pursue positive investments that promote peace in Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem replaces overture to divest. MRTI to continue “customary corporate engagement process.”

• 2008 GA: GA instructs MRTI to report on its progress with Caterpillar, Motorola, and other corporations. Endorses the “Amman Call” of the WCC. Calls for complete study of the Middle East to be brought in 2010.

• 2010: GA approves Middle East Study Committee Report, “Breaking Down the Walls.” Included are calls for:

• Immediate cessation of all violence (regardless of source)• End of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and diversion of water• Freeze on settlements• Relocating wall of separation to 1967 boundaries• Withhold U.S. aid to Israel as long as it continues to create settlements in the West Bank• MRTI engagement with companies profiting from occupation• Shared status of Jerusalem• Equal rights for Palestinian citizens• Cessation of actions by any body that denies human rights• Resumption of talks toward two-state solution.

• 2012: GA approves positive investment and creation of a process for raising funds to invest in the West Bank by 2014. Also approves boycott of products made by Israel in Occupied Territories