God also promised Abraham all the Land of Israel to him and his descendants. The children of Israel dwelt there for more than fifteen hundred years before the Roman general Titus destroyed the Second Temple and caused the Great Diaspora. But even before the First Temple was built, Israel worshipped for over 400 years at the Tabernacle in Shiloh (Samaria). (Joshua 18:1) Furthermore, under Jewish kings, Jerusalem was the capital for almost 500 years. Samaria and Judea are now misnamed the “West Bank.” This new name strips away the Land’s ancient Jewish identity.

During the periods of the Judges and the Kings, Israel was often invaded and temporarily occupied. During those captivities, many were plucked up and carried to other lands. Because of unfaithfulness, God permitted strangers to waste their cities, drink the wine of their vineyards and eat the fruit of their gardens. But not until the Chaldeans of Babylon destroyed and burned the Temple and Jerusalem and took most of Jewish people in captivity to Babylon was the Land totally desolated. That desolation was to last seventy years. (2 Chronicles 36:19-23) Right on time, seventy years later Cyrus, the Persian king, decreed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem. Many faithful Jews did return and rebuild the Temple and the City itself. Chastened, Israel’s returning exiles no longer worshiped idols—and Israel dwelt in the Land as a national polity for nearly six hundred years more until A.D. 70.

Cyrus restoring the Vessels of the Temple

Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv, Israel

Jesus, of course, was born in the Promised Land. His ministry was confined to the Children of Israel. Alas, only relatively few accepted Jesus. As a result of their rejection, Jesus pro- claimed to Israel, “Your house is left to you desolate.” But Jesus also said, “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Matthew 23:38, 39 NIV) Very soon, less than forty years later, Jerusalem and the Second Temple were laid waste and desolated by Rome. In A.D. 135 under the command of Hadrian, Rome again suppressed a rebellion led by a false Messiah by the name of Bar Kokhba. Rome destroyed 985 towns and villages, slew over 500,000 men, causing even more to die of starvation and sold many more into slavery. Thus began the Great Diaspora. Jewish people became exiles wandering from country to country the world over—only allowed to return to Jerusalem on the Ninth of Av to mourn the destruction of The Temple. In spite of that devastation, a very small remnant remained in the Land through the last two millennia right up to the present. Though trodden down by Christians and Muslims, they clung to their promises—living in the Land of Israel. _{[See Appendix C]}

Orthodox Jews going to the Western Wall for night time prayers