The history of Israel originates approximately in the 17th century BC, documents that were found during excavations in Mesopotamia confirm this fact. These documents described the nomadic life of the patriarch Abraham, his son Isaac and the grandson of Jacob, and this story is also described in the Old Testament. According to legend, Abraham was called to Canaan to gather around him a people who believe in one God, but this place was overcome by hunger, and this venture was unsuccessful. In the name of saving a kind of Jacob, his 12 sons and their families went to Egypt in search of a better life, where in the future their descendants were enslaved. The history of ancient Israel is unusually complex and interesting.
Moses and the Torah
The Egyptian captivity lasted for four hundred years, and only Moses, who appeared in the history of Israel by the providence of God, led his people out of Egypt. For forty years they wandered around the Sinai desert, and during this time an entirely new generation of free people was formed, to whom the Torah, or the Pentateuch was granted. It contained the famous ten commandments.
For two hundred years, people not only reached the Promised Land, but also were able to increase it several times, which allowed the Israelis to settle on the territory and lead a community lifestyle. Of course, it was not without internecine wars, which especially pleased the inhabitants of the Mediterranean coast. It was very dangerous to confront them individually, so the tribes were forced to unite into a single whole. This stage is one of the most important in the history of the formation of the state and the creation of the kingdom of Israel.
Kings of Israel - Saul, David and Solomon
King Saul is famous for becoming the first king after the creation of the kingdom of Israel, around 1020 BC. However, Israel turned into the most powerful state in the region, significantly expanded the land and glorified them by King David, who lived in about 1004-965. BC. It was during the years of his reign that confrontations with the inhabitants of the Mediterranean ended, and the borders of Ancient Israel expanded from the shores of the Red Sea to the Euphrates, Jerusalem was recognized as the capital of the state, and all 12 tribes of Israel united.
Tsar David was replaced by his son Solomon, who lived and ruled around 965–930. BC. The main task of the reign of King Solomon was not only to preserve the wealth won by his father, but also to increase them. In his policy, Solomon relied on economic growth, the construction of new and the strengthening of old cities. In addition, the king took up the cultural life of the state. It was on his initiative that the Jerusalem Temple was built, which in the future became the center of not only the religious, but also the national life of the Israelites. The reign of King Solomon is one of the most striking stages in the development of Israeli history.
Babylon and the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem
But history would not be history if after dizzying successes devastating falls did not follow. The death of King Solomon led to a violent uprising, which divided the state into two kingdoms. The first part is northern, with the capital in Samaria, the second part is southern - Judea, with the capital in Jerusalem. Northern Israel existed for about 200 years, but in 722 BC, Assyria captured this part. In turn, the kingdom of Judah celebrated 350 years of independence, but in 586 BC it fell under the pressure of Babylon. Both parts were conquered, and the result was the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, which was built by King Solomon as a symbol of the unity of peoples. The people of Northern Israel were expelled, and the inhabitants of Ancient Judea were captured by King Nebuchadnezzar. In history, this event was called the Babylonian captivity. Despite the end of Jewish statehood, the Jewish diaspora took its beginning, and it was after these events that Judaism began to develop as a religion and way of life outside of ancient Israel. Thank you for this should be said only to the Jews, who, despite being scattered all over the world, have managed to preserve their history, traditions and identity.
The return of the earth and the restoration of the Jerusalem temple
The first return of the Jews occurred in 538 BC. At that time, about 50,000 Jews, led by Zerubbabel, on the orders of the Persian king Cyrus, who conquered Babylon, went back to Israel. The Second Return occurred almost immediately after the First, led by Ezra the scribe, the result of the resettlement was some self-government, which was received by Jews who settled in their native land. It was at this time that the Israelites rebuilt the Jerusalem Temple. But the happiness of the Jewish people did not last long: in 332 BC, troops of Alexander the Great entered the territory of the country, who subjugated Ancient Israel to Syria. The Jewish people retained only religious independence.
Roman rule, King of Judea and the destruction of Jerusalem
The Hasmonean revolts forced the Seleucids to recognize the independence of Judea, and after their fall, the Jewish state finally revived, but the calm did not last long. The formation of the Roman Empire entailed the transformation of the land of Israel into a province of the Empire, and Herod became the head of state in 37 BC.
The beginning of our era is the birth, preaching, condemnation, crucifixion and resurrection of the King of Judea Jesus Christ. And after the death of Herod, the territory of Israel was filled with fierce battles, as a result of which Jerusalem was completely destroyed. Rome began to completely control Judea, and in 73 the state was completely renamed Palestine.
Christianity
After Christianity was established in Europe, Ancient Israel became truly the Holy Land, because everything was connected with Jesus Christ there. The Jews were forbidden to step on the land of Jerusalem, an exception was only one day a year, when it was allowed to mourn the destruction of the temple.
Arabs, crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans
But for Israel, the hour of calm and peace did not come. Already in 636, Arabs invaded the territory of the state and conquered it. They ruled on the land of Israel for 500 years, and the Jews were offered religious freedom, for which they had to pay a tax on faith.
However, the Arabs also failed to maintain power and ensure security for the Jewish people. In 1099, the crusaders captured Jerusalem and destroyed a huge part of the population. All this was explained by the fact that the conquerors came to the Holy Land in order to free the Holy Sepulcher from the infidels. The power of the crusaders ended in 1291 with the Muslim military class, which ruled at that time in Egypt. The Mamluks brought the kingdom of Judah to a state of complete decline and without much resistance in 1517 they gave the land of the Ottoman Empire.
End of Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate
The situation of the Jews in those days was not the most depressing. Already in the middle of the 19th century, Jerusalem, on whose lands the Jewish population predominated, was overpopulated. That is why the Jews were forced to start building new neighborhoods outside the city walls, which was the beginning of the birth of the New City. The Israeli people revived Hebrew, developed Zionism. Already in 1914, the population approached the mark of 85 thousand. In 1917, when the British army entered the territory of the country, the reign of the Ottoman Empire, which lasted at least four centuries, came to an end. In 1922, Britain received a mandate to rule Palestine from the League of Nations. In it, at the interstate level, the Jewish connection with Palestine was recognized (the country was called at that time). Britain was faced with the task of creating a Jewish national center - Eretz-Israel. This entailed a wave of return of returnees to their homeland. On the one hand, such a movement was supposed to accelerate the restoration of Israel, on the other, the Arabs opposed this in every possible way, considering Palestine only their land.
That is why in 1937 the United Kingdom made a proposal to divide the country into two states. Jews were supposed to live on one part, and Arabs on the second. However, this proposal caused a storm of indignation among the Arabs, who began to defend their territory with the use of weapons. However, World War II soon began, which pushed all strife into the background. After a monstrous and brutal catastrophe, the question of creating an independent state for Jews arose especially sharply. Scattered around the world, they were to be placed on the territory of their state without fear of reprisal against themselves. So, on May 14, 1948, according to the plan for the division of Palestine, which was adopted by the United Nations, the creation of the State of Israel was officially proclaimed. The first president was David Ben-Gurion.