A condensed ancient history of Israel

9 November 2023 by Larry Johnson 

Check out his excellent geopolitical analysis site Sonar 21

Consider this a public service. I am not pretending to be a scholar of Middle East history by any stretch. Yet, I’m pretty sure that the majority of people of all races and religions do not understand the 3023 year history of the lands now called Israel and Palestine. Guess which nation/ethnic group that had the longest rule over the region? If you guessed the Arab Muslims (521 years), give yourself a gold star. Second longest was Rome (454 years) followed by the Ottoman Empire (401 years). If you combine the time the Arab Muslims with the Turkish Muslims ruled the region you get a total of 922 years.

It is true that the Jews arrived “first” after the tribes of Israel conquered the Canaanites and Philistines somewhere between 1100 BC and 1020 BC. If you add up the different times that Israel had independent control of the land you get roughly 626 years. I think that most people in America do not realize that Arabs, Turks and Jews define their modern claims on their respective lengthy histories. I am making no claim about who is right and who is wrong. I simply think it is important that the various ethnic group laying claim to Israel/Palestine are thinking in terms of centuries, which is part of what makes finding peace in the Middle East so intractable.

So, let’s jump into the timeline.

TIMELINE

1020 BC — Modern archeologists believe that the Israel described in the Bible came into being around 1020 BC (or BCE). Scholars are divided on the Exodus story — some believe it and some insist that Israel emerged from indigenous tribes.

According to the Hebrew Bible, a “United Monarchy” (consisting of Israel and Judah) existed as early as the 11th century BCE, under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon; the country later split into two kingdoms: Israel, containing the cities of Shechem and Samaria in the north, and Judah (containing Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple) in the south. The historicity of the United Monarchy is debated—as there are no archaeological remains of it that are accepted as consensus—but historians and archaeologists agree that Israel and Judah existed as separate kingdoms by c. 900 BCE[1]: 169–195 [2] and c. 850 BCE,[3] respectively.[

931 BC Kingdom of Israel

Kingdom of Israel — Lasted 211 years (931 to 722 BC). Last King, Hoshea, Reigned over Israel in Samaria for 9 years.[8] King Shalmaneser attacked and captured Samaria. He charged Hoshea with treason and he put him in prison, then, he deported the Israelites to Assyria.

913 BC Kingdom of Judah

Kingdom of Judah — lasted 327 years (913 to 586). Last King, Zedekiah, Reigned for 11 years. His reign saw the second rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar (588–586 BC). Jerusalem was captured after a lengthy siege, the temple burnt, Zedekiah blinded and taken into exile, and Judah reduced to a province.

720 BC Assyria destroys Kingdom of Israel

587 BC Babylon pillages Jerusalem, destroys First Temple

538 BC Jews return to Jerusalem from Babylon

Jewish Reign After Return from Babylon — 206 years

332 BC Alexander the Great conquers the area

Greek Rule — 132 years

200 BC Judea conquered by Seleucid Empire

Seleucid Rule — 33 years

167 BC Maccabean Revolt Restored Temple Worship (167 to 160 BC)

Rome ruled, in a variety of arrangements, from 64 BC until the Roman Empire split in 390 AD (aka CE).

Roman Rule — 454 years

64 BC Roman Pompey conquers Syria and restores Hyrcanus II as High Priest

6 AD Ceaser Augustus made Judea a Roman Province

L66 AD Start of Jewish Roman War

70 AD Second Temple destroyed

132 AD Bar Kochba Revolt

390 AD Split of the Roman Empire, Byzantine period begins

Byzantine Rule — 245 years

635 AD The Levant was conquered by an Arab army under the command of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb in 635, and became the province of Bilad al-Sham of the Rashidun Caliphate.

First Arab Muslim Rule — 464 years

1099 AD First Crusade captures Jerusalem

Crusade Rule — 188 years

1187 AD Saladin takes Jerusalem peacefully

Saladin Rule — 57 years

1244 AD Jerusalem was sacked by the Khwarezmian Tatars 

Khwarezmian Tatars Rule — 3 years

1247 AD Khwarezmians were driven out by the Ayyubids

1248 AD Mamluks rule

Ayyubids/Mamluks Rule — 269 years

1516 AD conquered by Turkish Sultan Selim I 

Ottoman Rule — 401 years

1917 AD Brits vanquish Turks and take control of Israel

British Rule — 31 years

Israel Rule — 1948 to present

I don’t dare call this Middle East history for dummies. I may be the dummy here and await comments and criticisms over this timeline. A couple of things are clear from this timeline — Israel/Palestine has been a very “popular” tourist stop for more than 2000 years. Regardless of who inhabited the land now known as Israel/Palestine over the last 3000 years, the inhabitants have witnessed war, murder and mayhem for centuries.

I am posting the following video to add more depth to the discussion. It is definitely out of the box thinking and challenges a lot of deeply held beliefs. I also think it adds some additional context to the timeline above. Please pay close attention to the narrators discussion of “anti-Semitism.” What he says about Shem, son of Noah, is true.

One observation relative to the term, “anti-Semite.” The term is wrongly used as a synonym for anti-Jewish. To be a “semite” originally meant a descendant of Shem, one of the sons of Noah.

The children of Shem were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram, in addition to unnamed daughters. Abraham, the patriarch of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, was one of the descendants of Arphaxad.

In other words, the war in the Middle East is essentially a battle between distant relatives. Family feuds can be very ugly.