Israel’sstorybeginswithonemanandhisobediencetoafaithfulGod:Abraham.Genesis12describesGod’scall to Abraham to leave his family and country, Ur, and travel to a landwhichGodwould show him. Inreturn,GodpromisesAbrahamblessings,innumerabledescendants,andland.AsAbraham’sstorydevelops,God reveals the boundaries of this promised land, Israel (Genesis 13:14-18).Miraculously, Abraham andSarahhave a son, Isaac, and their line conInues throughhis son, Jacob. From Jacobemerge twelve sonswhichbecometheTwelveTribesofIsrael.

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1800BCE

Abrahammigrates to Israel, which is then called Canaan. His family thrives andgrows in this Promised Land, not yet enjoying possession of it, for severalgeneraIons. Genesis 37-50 describes the family’s migraIon to Egypt during afamineunderPharaohRamsesII.

Asthetribesof IsraelgrowinEgypt,andGod’spromiseofblessing Abraham with numerous descendants is beingfulfilled, a new Pharaoh arises who does not trust theHebrewpeople.Forthefirst,andnotthelast,Ime,arulerorders the execuIon of Jews, in this case, male Jewishbabies. Through a series of events known as the Exodus,GodusesMoses,aHebrewraisedbythePharaoh’sdaughter,tobringHispeopleoutofEgypt.WheredoesGodtellMosestogo?

1300-1200BCE

The land of Israel. The Jewish people conquer the peoples of Canaan at thecommand of God and begin to se^le in the land that God has bequeathed them.Soon, Israeldevelops fromagroupof tribes toanaIon ledbyaKing.The secondkingappointedbyGod,David,makesJerusalemthecapitaloftheKingdomofIsrael,arealitythathasremainedunchangedthroughouthistory.

960BCE

Solomon,David’sson, leads Israel intoaGoldenAgeofsuccess, prosperity, and might. The Kingdom of Israel flourishes under hisleadership for many years. In fulfillment of David’s dream of building apermanentplacefortheLordtodwell,KingSolomonbuildstheFirstTempleinJerusalemaccordingtoGod’sinstrucIonsanddesign.Eventually,however,theKingdom is split into two—the Northern Kingdom, called Israel, and theSouthernKingdomofJudah.

722-721BCE

TheAssyriankingdomhadbeengainingdominancethroughouttheancientworldduringthe reign of Solomon. In 721 BCE, the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom ofIsrael, and many Israelites were taken into capIvity. But a number of Jews from thesouthernkingdomofJudahremainedintheland(see2Kings17:6-18).

ContinuousJewishPresenceintheLandofIsrael:FromAbrahamto1948

CH R I S T I A N S U N I T E D F O R I S R A E L

ACUFIPRIMER:

586B.C.—515BCE

Anewempire,Babylon,arose,andconqueredthesouthernkingdomofJudah,destroyingtheFirstTempleanddraggingmany Jews intoexile inBabylon (today’s Iraq).During thisperiod,someJewsremainedinthelandofIsrael(seeDaniel9:7).

537-332BCE

AgerPersia conqueredBabylon, some Jewswerepermi^ed to return to Jerusalem torebuilditswallsandtheTemple(seeNehemiahandEzra).DuringthisIme,synagoguesemergedascentersforJewishlifeandworship.

332-166BCE

Alexander the Great conquered the Holy Land, which came underGreekcontrol,but the landpasses into thehandsofnumerous rulersoverashortperiodofIme,includingthePtolemiesandtheSeleucids.Under AnIochus IV Epiphanes during the Seleucid period, Jews areviciouslypersecuted.

166-163BCE

In167BCE,JudahMaccabeusleadsaJewishrevoltagainstthe Greek empire which had arisen in place of Persia,obtainingJewishsovereigntyandindependenceinthelandofIsraelforthefirstImesinceKingSolomon.Thisvictoryiscommemorated by the Jews every year in the holiday ofChanukah. The Jewish state, ruled by the HasmoneanDynasty,laststhreeyearsunIlitisdefeatedbyRome.

63B.C.

The Roman Empire appointed governors for conqueredregions,includingJudeaandSamariawhichtheyhadannexedtotheirempire.KingHerodrebuilttheTempleinJerusalemtogainfavorwiththeJewishpeople,makingitoneofthewondersoftheancientworld.

4B.C.—30CE

A Jewish rabbi by the name of Yeshua—Jesus—began to preach a gospel ofrepentance and forgiveness of sins. Ager His crucifixion and resurrecIon, anewreligionemergesfromJudaismcalledChrisIanity.

70CE

DepictedintheArchofTitus,theRomanEmpiredestroystheSecondTempleinJerusalemanddecimatestheholycity.

132-135CE

AsecondJewishrevoltledbySimonbenKosiba,whoispopularlyknownasBarKokba,isrepressedbytheRomanEmpire.AgerthedefeatoftheBarKokbarebellion,noJewsarepermi^ed to enter Jerusalem. The Roman Emperor Hadrianmerges the province ofRoman Syriawith Judea and calls itSyria Pales+na, ager Israel’s ancient enemy thePhilisInes,andbuildsthecityAeliaCapitolinaontheruinsoftheJews’belovedcityJerusalem.Inthecenturiestofollow,theMishnahwillbecompletedandtheTalmudcompiled.JewishlifewillbecenteredinGalilee.ThisisthefirstImethetermPalesIna

–orPalesIne–isusedtoreferencetheHolyLand.

313-637CE

Ager Emperor ConstanIne declared ChrisIanity to be the official religion of the Empire, Jews lose therelaIveautonomytheyhadandaresubjecttoseveretaxesandpersecuIon.TheyareonlyallowedtoenterJerusalemonceayear,onTishaB'av,theninthofAv,tomourntheTemple’sdestrucIon.

637-1095CE

Four years ager Mohammed’s death, Muslim forces captureJerusalem and rule over what is now called PalesIne. UnderMuslimrule,Jewsare“dhimmis”(second-classciIzens)yettheyare permi^ed to worship freely and own property, providedtheypaidaddiIonaltaxes.

1095-1187CE

The Crusaders conquer Jerusalem and establish the LaInKingdomoftheCrusaders.Mobsmarchunderthesignofthecross,sweepingthroughJewishcommuniIeslooIng, raping, and massacring tens of thousands of Jews on the road to Jerusalem. However, JewishcommuniIesgrowinRafah,Gaza,Ashkelon,Jaffa,andCaesarea.

1290

JewsinEnglandandFrancearerobbedandexpelledfromtheircountries.

1348

Jews, blamed for the Black Plague which lasts unIl 1351, are persecuted andmassacredthroughoutEurope.

1481-1492

During the Spanish InquisiIon, Jews are persecuted, killed, and forced to convert.ManyJewsfleeSpaintothelandofIsrael.

1520-1625

JewsconInuetoarrive in Israel,althoughtheyareharshlytreatedbytheO^omanEmpire ruling at the Ime. Burgeoning Jewish communiIes in Safed and Jerusalemflourish.

1834

ApogrombyMuslimArabsagainsttheJewishcommuniIesinSafedandHebronresultsinthemassacreofJews.

1882-1903

WavesofJewsemigratetoIsraelintheFirstAaliyah.Hebrew,theancientlanguageoftheJewishpeople,isrevivedasaspokenlanguage.

1897

TheodorHerzl, considered bymany to be the founder of Zionism—a naIonalistand poliIcal movement of Jews and Jewish culture that supports the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland as a modern naIon-state in the historicalhomeland of the Jewish people—organizes the First Zionist Congress. He worksalongsideReverendWilliamHenryHechlertoadvocatefortheestablishmentofthestateofIsraelastheplacepromisedbyGodtobelongtotheJewishpeopleforeverastheirrighsulhomeland.

1800s–1900s

Pogroms,violenta^acksagainstJews,increaseinRussiaandEasternEurope.ManyJewsfleetheirhomecountriestoreturntothelandof Israel.Bythebeginningofthe 19th century, there are at least 10,000 Jews living in their ancient homelandunder the rule of theO^oman Turks. By themid-20th century, over 17,000 Jewslivedinthen-PalesIne.

1901–1909

Jewishimmigrantsbegantofloodintothen-PalesIne,andpurchaselandfromwealthyArablandholdersatexorbitantcoststhroughtheJewishNaIonalFund.ThelandhadbeenmostlybarrenandsparselypopulatedforcenturiesandtomostitseemedworthlessexcepttotheJewswhodreamtofcominghome.In1907,thefirstkibbutz,anagriculturalcommunityinwhichallpropertyisshared,isestablished.

In 1909, many Jews band together to purchase twelveacresofsanddunes,leavingthecrowdedcityofJaffaandfoundingTelAviv.

1917

ChrisIanZionistswithintheBriIshgovernment, includingthePrimeMinisterandhisForeignSecretary,ArthurBalfour,helprallysupportfortheZionistcause.Finally,in 1917, Lord Arthur Balfour sends a le^er to Jewish leaders pledging Britain’scommitment to establishing the Jewish state. The Balfour DeclaraIon becomesIsrael’sfirstmodernmiracleonthepathtoindependenceandrebirth.

1920

DuringWorldWarI,BritainandtheAlliedpowersdefeattheO^oman Turks and divide its Middle Eastern empire intoterritories set aside for future states. The BriIsh promisePalesIne to the Jewishpeopleandassume responsibility forguarding it through the process of Jewish statehood. Thistemporary stewardship isentrusted toBritainby the LeagueofNaIonsin1920attheSanRemoConferenceandiscalledtheMandate for PalesIne,making the Jewish people’s rightto a homeland of over 46,000 sq. mi. in PalesIne bindingunderinternaIonallaw.

1920–1939

Despite Jewish a^empts to build bridges ofdialogueandrespectwiththeArabs,focusingontheZionisthopeto live inpeacewiththeArabs,violencebreaksoutagainsttheJews.LocalArabsmassacre the Jews living in the world’s oldestJewishcommunity,Hebron.

This violence is encouraged by Haj El AminHusseini, the Mugi of Jerusalem, who tells theArabs of PalesIne that the Jews intended toconquerMuslimholysitesinJerusalem.Thefirstmajor Arab riots against the Jews of PalesIneoccur in1920,withviolenta^acksagainstJews inJerusalemandintheGalileeoccurringsporadicallyforyears.NaziGermanygivesaidtotheriotsbyprovidingweaponsandfunds.

1937

TheArabriotsofthe1920sand1930spromptBritainin1937toonceagainparIIonthelandintheBriIshPeelCommissionwith80%goingtoanArabstateand20%toa Jewishstate.ButPalesInianArab leadersrefusetoacceptthisparIIon,anditdoesn’tmaterialize.

1939–1945

DuringWorldWarII,sixmillionJewsareexterminatedbyNaziGermanyanditsallies.

1947

TheUnitedNaIons adopts a parIIon plan for PalesIne that divides the landwest of theJordanRiverintotwostatesroughlyequalinsizebutdisInctlyunequalinvalue.Arableadershad alreadymade clear theywould not accept any plan that included a Jewish state, andalmost immediately make good on their threat to launch large-scale a^acks on JewishcommuniIes.Hundredsof Jews,of650,000 livingunder thePalesIneMandate in Israelatthe Ime, are killed in riots and other terror a^acks betweenNovember 29, 1947 and thedateIsraelofficiallydeclaresitsindependenceonMay14,1948.

1948

TheJewishdesire foran independenthomeland in theirowncountry isfinally realized in 1948, ager nearly 2,000 years of exile and foreigndominaIon. As a naIon-state for the Jewish people, modern Israelbecomes a country specifically dedicated to preserving the Jewishculture,language,andreligionofJewsfromthroughouttheDiaspora.Asa unique ethnic group with strong Ies to the Land of Israel, the Jewsfinallyareabletocomehome.