Nadene Goldfoot
Saul, of the Tribe of Benjamin, was chosen to be the first king of Israel (about 1020-1004 BCE.. David, from the tribe of Judah, was the next king and founded a dynasty of 4 hundred years until the Babylonian conquest. He had created a kingdom and made Jerusalem its capital (abt 1,000 BCE). Solomon, his son, (965-928 BCE) caused the kingdom to become an important power in the Middle East. He built the First Temple (960 BCE). During his reign Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer were founded.
Solomon died and the kingdom split into two: Judah with the capital in Jerusalem under King David's descendants and Israel which continued with the original name and its half with a new capital in Samaria, ruled by a series of dynasties. Their first king was Jeroboam, from the tribe of Ephraim (933-912 BCE).
Israel came to an end in 722 BCE when Assyria conquered it and part of the population was exiled. Sargon II was the conqueror who resettled it with Cutheans (idolaters, possibly of Assyrian people) who intermingled with the remnants of the Israelites. They had converted but retained their idol worship and finally Jews were not allowed to marry them. The capital, Samaria, became a center in the Persian period and became a Macedonian colony in 331 BCE. It became a village in the Arab period.
The Samaritans are probably the descendants of the remnant of Ephraim or Manasseh tribes and the non-Israelite colonists brought in and live today as a small ethnic group and separate religious sect in Nablus and in Israel. Their religion is a primitive form of Judaism but their bible is only the Pentateuch with variations. To them, the sanctuary is Mt. Gerizim.
Judah was conquered in 586 BCE by the Babylonians who destroyed the First Temple. A large part of the population was exiled to Babylon (Iraq today) and others fled to Egypt. Large Jewish communities had existed since that time in both Israel and Judah until before 1917 when they dwindled.
The prophets existed during this 500 year period. Their message basically was the struggle for social justice.
_______________________________________________________________________________
The Babylonian Empire was finally overthrown by the Persians (Iran) so the land of Israel was also under Persian rule. King Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jews to return to the Land and rebuild the Temple (538 BCE). Jews then lived in their land autonomously for 400 years under the Persians.
After 332 BCE Jews were under Hellanistic rule. In 168 BCE the Hellenistic ruler of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes IV tried to limit Jewish autonomy and replace monotheistic belief with idolatry. The Jews revolted under the leadership of a Hasmonaean family and regained their independence. It's thought that the Hasmonaeans were of the tribe of Levi. They ruled Judah. Herodian then ruled after that.
By 63 BCE the kingdom was part of the Roman Empire. Herod ruled and he was responsible for the reconstruction of the Temple. Herod was the son of Antipater the Idumean and his wife, a Nabatean named Cypros. He had been appointed by his father to be the governor of Galilee. He was appointed king of Judea by the Roman senate and had captured Jerusalem in 37 CE with the help of the Romans. Idumean or Edom was a country in SE Eretz Israel, also called Mount Seir. It lay south of the Dead Sea and bordered the Red Sea at Elat. The people were of Semitic origin, descendants of Esau and lived by hunting. They were traditional enemies of Israelites. They fought Saul but were defeated by David. They were conquered by John Hyreanus who forcibly converted them to Judaism, and then they became a part of the Jewish people. Herod was one of their descendants. John Hyreanus was the son of Simon the Hasmonean (135-104 BCE) who beat Ptolemy in taking Jerusalem.
Jerusalem became an important metropolis with about 200,000 people. Herod died in 4 BCE. Romans tightened their rule. In 66 CE Jews revolted against the Romans until 70 CE when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the 2nd Temple. In 73 CE, Masada, the last Jewish fortress was taken by the Romans. At this time the Jewish population was about 3 million.
Bar Kokhba was a leader who revolted against the Roman Empire and died in 135 CE in the revolt against Hadrian. He was a descendant of King David. Letters written by him were discovered near the Dead Sea. The Romans had been rebuilding Jerusalem as a Roman colony and they were prohibiting circumcision. There were 580,000 Jewish casualties in this revolt. Many others died of hunger and disease. Judah fell into desolation. Jerusalem was then barred to Jews. The revolt lasted over 3 years involving the best of the Roman forces.
Then many Jews were driven into exile and large Jewish communities emerged in other Middle East countries and beyond. They wandered as far as Saudi Arabia where whole Jewish tribes were forced to convert to Islam or be killed. Jewish communities were founded all over the Middle East.and came to be known as the Sephardi Jews as contrasted by the Ashkenazi Jews who wandered farther into Europe.
Jews had originally entered the land of Canaan with Moses (1391-1271 BCE) and consisted of the children of the 12 sons of Jacob, his 2 wives who were sisters (Leah and Rachel) and their 2 handmaids (Zilpah and Bilhah) who had founded their own tribes. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Gad, Asher, Dan and Naphtali. Judah was always the largest of the tribes. Jews think of themselves as being either Cohens, Levites or Israelites. Today with the development of DNA studies, the Cohen gene (haplogroup J1) has been found. The interesting factor is that most of these people are also functioning as the Cohen in their synagogue, showing why this is called the Cohen gene. This is an inherited position in the synagogue that comes with certain responsibilities, namely being called as the first reader from the Torah on Saturday (Shabbat). It shows that oral history has passed down correctly for 2,000 years. Another J1 line is the J1c3d which is is thought to come from Arabs and originating from Esau, Isaac's half brother. This branch does not reflect many Jews but is a Semitic line.
We must remember that Abraham and his father, Terah, left Ur (Iraq) to establish a monotheistic religion. If Abraham and his father were J1....they left ancestors and relatives in Ur who also went on to establish more individuals who would have spread J1... Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were the 3 who would have continued the Jewish or Cohen J1 Y haplogroup. Branches of families have been found, such as the Cohen J1c, J2a1b, J2a4 and the other Semitic J1 such as J1c3d who today are Muslims. Also, Jews have been scattered all over the earth, especially in the Middle East. No wonder we are finding similar Ydna among Jewish and non-Jews.
Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_of_Benjamin.
Facts About Israel from division of information ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeroboam
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/Bible/Origins_of_the_Bible/Other_Ancient_Texts/Books_of_Maccabees/First_Maccabees.shtml
http://www.schechter.edu/AskTheRabbi.aspx?ID=477 Cutheans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Victar/Haplogroup_J1c3d_(Y-DNA)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AHaplogroup_J1c3d_(Y-DNA)
http://kahana.hubpages.com/hub/More-on-the-Kohanim-DNA-Question
Saul, of the Tribe of Benjamin, was chosen to be the first king of Israel (about 1020-1004 BCE.. David, from the tribe of Judah, was the next king and founded a dynasty of 4 hundred years until the Babylonian conquest. He had created a kingdom and made Jerusalem its capital (abt 1,000 BCE). Solomon, his son, (965-928 BCE) caused the kingdom to become an important power in the Middle East. He built the First Temple (960 BCE). During his reign Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer were founded.
Solomon died and the kingdom split into two: Judah with the capital in Jerusalem under King David's descendants and Israel which continued with the original name and its half with a new capital in Samaria, ruled by a series of dynasties. Their first king was Jeroboam, from the tribe of Ephraim (933-912 BCE).
Israel came to an end in 722 BCE when Assyria conquered it and part of the population was exiled. Sargon II was the conqueror who resettled it with Cutheans (idolaters, possibly of Assyrian people) who intermingled with the remnants of the Israelites. They had converted but retained their idol worship and finally Jews were not allowed to marry them. The capital, Samaria, became a center in the Persian period and became a Macedonian colony in 331 BCE. It became a village in the Arab period.
The Samaritans are probably the descendants of the remnant of Ephraim or Manasseh tribes and the non-Israelite colonists brought in and live today as a small ethnic group and separate religious sect in Nablus and in Israel. Their religion is a primitive form of Judaism but their bible is only the Pentateuch with variations. To them, the sanctuary is Mt. Gerizim.
Judah was conquered in 586 BCE by the Babylonians who destroyed the First Temple. A large part of the population was exiled to Babylon (Iraq today) and others fled to Egypt. Large Jewish communities had existed since that time in both Israel and Judah until before 1917 when they dwindled.
The prophets existed during this 500 year period. Their message basically was the struggle for social justice.
_______________________________________________________________________________
The Babylonian Empire was finally overthrown by the Persians (Iran) so the land of Israel was also under Persian rule. King Cyrus of Persia allowed the Jews to return to the Land and rebuild the Temple (538 BCE). Jews then lived in their land autonomously for 400 years under the Persians.
After 332 BCE Jews were under Hellanistic rule. In 168 BCE the Hellenistic ruler of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes IV tried to limit Jewish autonomy and replace monotheistic belief with idolatry. The Jews revolted under the leadership of a Hasmonaean family and regained their independence. It's thought that the Hasmonaeans were of the tribe of Levi. They ruled Judah. Herodian then ruled after that.
By 63 BCE the kingdom was part of the Roman Empire. Herod ruled and he was responsible for the reconstruction of the Temple. Herod was the son of Antipater the Idumean and his wife, a Nabatean named Cypros. He had been appointed by his father to be the governor of Galilee. He was appointed king of Judea by the Roman senate and had captured Jerusalem in 37 CE with the help of the Romans. Idumean or Edom was a country in SE Eretz Israel, also called Mount Seir. It lay south of the Dead Sea and bordered the Red Sea at Elat. The people were of Semitic origin, descendants of Esau and lived by hunting. They were traditional enemies of Israelites. They fought Saul but were defeated by David. They were conquered by John Hyreanus who forcibly converted them to Judaism, and then they became a part of the Jewish people. Herod was one of their descendants. John Hyreanus was the son of Simon the Hasmonean (135-104 BCE) who beat Ptolemy in taking Jerusalem.
Jerusalem became an important metropolis with about 200,000 people. Herod died in 4 BCE. Romans tightened their rule. In 66 CE Jews revolted against the Romans until 70 CE when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the 2nd Temple. In 73 CE, Masada, the last Jewish fortress was taken by the Romans. At this time the Jewish population was about 3 million.
Bar Kokhba was a leader who revolted against the Roman Empire and died in 135 CE in the revolt against Hadrian. He was a descendant of King David. Letters written by him were discovered near the Dead Sea. The Romans had been rebuilding Jerusalem as a Roman colony and they were prohibiting circumcision. There were 580,000 Jewish casualties in this revolt. Many others died of hunger and disease. Judah fell into desolation. Jerusalem was then barred to Jews. The revolt lasted over 3 years involving the best of the Roman forces.
Then many Jews were driven into exile and large Jewish communities emerged in other Middle East countries and beyond. They wandered as far as Saudi Arabia where whole Jewish tribes were forced to convert to Islam or be killed. Jewish communities were founded all over the Middle East.and came to be known as the Sephardi Jews as contrasted by the Ashkenazi Jews who wandered farther into Europe.
Jews had originally entered the land of Canaan with Moses (1391-1271 BCE) and consisted of the children of the 12 sons of Jacob, his 2 wives who were sisters (Leah and Rachel) and their 2 handmaids (Zilpah and Bilhah) who had founded their own tribes. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Gad, Asher, Dan and Naphtali. Judah was always the largest of the tribes. Jews think of themselves as being either Cohens, Levites or Israelites. Today with the development of DNA studies, the Cohen gene (haplogroup J1) has been found. The interesting factor is that most of these people are also functioning as the Cohen in their synagogue, showing why this is called the Cohen gene. This is an inherited position in the synagogue that comes with certain responsibilities, namely being called as the first reader from the Torah on Saturday (Shabbat). It shows that oral history has passed down correctly for 2,000 years. Another J1 line is the J1c3d which is is thought to come from Arabs and originating from Esau, Isaac's half brother. This branch does not reflect many Jews but is a Semitic line.
We must remember that Abraham and his father, Terah, left Ur (Iraq) to establish a monotheistic religion. If Abraham and his father were J1....they left ancestors and relatives in Ur who also went on to establish more individuals who would have spread J1... Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were the 3 who would have continued the Jewish or Cohen J1 Y haplogroup. Branches of families have been found, such as the Cohen J1c, J2a1b, J2a4 and the other Semitic J1 such as J1c3d who today are Muslims. Also, Jews have been scattered all over the earth, especially in the Middle East. No wonder we are finding similar Ydna among Jewish and non-Jews.
Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribe_of_Benjamin.
Facts About Israel from division of information ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeroboam
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/Bible/Origins_of_the_Bible/Other_Ancient_Texts/Books_of_Maccabees/First_Maccabees.shtml
http://www.schechter.edu/AskTheRabbi.aspx?ID=477 Cutheans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Victar/Haplogroup_J1c3d_(Y-DNA)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AHaplogroup_J1c3d_(Y-DNA)
http://kahana.hubpages.com/hub/More-on-the-Kohanim-DNA-Question
