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Period: 1010 BCE to 970 BCE
King David's Reign
David, the youngest son of Jesse who was a member of the tribe of Judah, was chosen by the prophet Samuel to be anointed as the next king of Israel after Saul. When Saul and his son were killed in battle, David was crowned king in 1010 BCE, and after that he seized many lands and made many alliances to grow the Israelite empire into a prosperous and secure empire. He captured the city of Jerusalem and marked it as the capital of the empire and he brought the sacred Ark of the Covenant there. -
Period: 965 BCE to 931 BCE
King Solomon's Reign
King Solomon established a great temple in Jerusalem which would be the permanent home for the Ark of the Covenant. This temple is where sacrifices would be made to God and Solomon was granted much wisdom from God along with wealth. However this wealth went to his head and he built alters and idols for his wives' gods and this angered God. Following Solomon's death God split up the kingdom into 10 tribes as a punishment to the people. -
Period: 965 BCE to 931 BCE
Interesting Fact About king Solomon
King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 mistresses throughout his reign over Israel -
Period: 722 BCE to 605 BCE
Assyrian Empire
By the time King Hoshea had taken over Israel it had become so corrupt and idolatrous that God had permitted the Assyrian Empire to take over them. This empire conquered what was left of Israel and sent Israelites and Gentiles off into exile. God only allowed this because he was angry at the Israelites and did not want them to rise as a nation again. The Israelites became dispersed throughout Assyria and lost their identities, they then became known as "The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel." -
Period: 626 BCE to 539 BCE
Babylonia Empire
King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire conquered Assyria in 626 BCE and took control. It wasn't until 589 BCE that they captured the city of Jerusalem and completely ransacked it. The great walls were bashed down, buildings were burned, and the sacred temple was emptied of its treasures and destroyed. The Judaeans captured were taken to exile in Babylonia where they become known as "Jews" as they were from Judah originally. The prophets interpreted this as punishment for the (Next) -
Period: 626 BCE to 539 BCE
Babylonia Empire (Continued)
idolatry behavior of the people of Judah. A prophet named Isaiah and an anonymous prophet prophesied that God would usher a new era of peace soon. -
Period: 539 BCE to 330 BCE
Persian Empire and Ezra
The Persian Empire, lead by King Cyprus conquered the Babylonian Empire in 539 BCE. King Cyprus allowed for a group of 50,000 Jews from Babylonia to come to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple, which became a central symbol to the scattered Jewish nation. Temple rites began to develop lead by priest and scribe Ezra. Ezra and a group of other priests began to revise and redo the Pentateuch and the Torah became the spiritual foundation of the dispersed nation. Ezra set a precedent for (next) -
Period: 430 BCE to 430 BCE
Ezra (Continued)
reading hours of Torah scrolls and soon these "five books of Moses," were accepted as the sacred covenant. -
Period: 330 BCE to 146 BCE
The Greeks
Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire in 330 BCE and introduced a Hellenistic belief to the Middle East. Hellenism is the culture that the Greeks believed in. This caused many affluent Jews and Jewish priests to develop a Hellenistic attitude instead of a unquestioning belief in God, as polytheism was a part of the Hellenistic culture. -
Period: 175 BCE to 164 BCE
Antiochus IV
Antiochus IV, was a the Hellenistic ruler of Syria who also was in control of Israel. He tried to abolish the Jewish faith by forcing a single Hellenistic culture on the entire nation. He banned the Torah, ordered for all circumcised families to be killed and even built an alter for Zeus in the middle of the Jewish Temple. He then sacrificed a pig in the temple, which was strongly against Jewish belief as pigs were viewed as "unclean," in the Torah. This would not sit well with the Jews. -
Period: 164 BCE to 63 BCE
Maccabees and the Rise of the Hasmonean Family
A group that was lead by the Hasmon family of priests, called the Maccabees or "Hammer," revolted against the Greek Empire and gained independence for Judea. The area that was freed was renamed Israel once again and it was once again centered around Jerusalem. The Hasmonean Family ruled over the empire until its conquest in 63 BCE. -
Period: 63 BCE to 363
Romans
Roman leader Pompey was sent to name one sect of the Hasmonean Empire as the leader of it, but ultimately just conquered the nation when he arrived. This lead to four centuries of Roman oppression over the Jews -
Period: 63 BCE to 363
Messiah
Under Roman rule a belief erupted from the Jews, that a savior, prophesied by Daniel, would come to relieve the Jews from the suffering. They believed that God would gather the chosen people, free them from oppression, and restore Israel into their power once again. They felt that this would show everyone that their God is the God and that the end of the world would be coming known as the "Messianic end of the age." Some believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but many Jews did not. -
Period: 66 to 70
1st Rebellion Against the Romans
A group of anti-Romans, known as Zealots, rose up against the Roman Empire in 66 AD. Once this rebellion was suppressed in 70 AD, all the Jewish defenders were slaughtered in Jerusalem and the Roman destroyed the Jewish Temple. -
Period: 132 to 135
2nd Rebellion Against the Romans
Jews tried rebelling once again in 132 AD and this rebellion was much worse than the first. The Romans killed almost all of the Jews and destroyed Jerusalem, and the remaining Jews were forbidden from reading the Torah, honoring Sabbath Day and from circumcising their children. The Jews no longer had a geographical center and were ultimately sent into Diaspora.