Antiochus IV, who is believed to have been the cruelest and the most wicked of the foreign rulers to have ruled over the Jews, had crossed all the limits of repression and atrocities. He had barred the Jews from observing their religious customs and traditions including the Shabbath, even at the personal level while vigorously […]
Read More »
Those were the times when under the rule of the Ptolemies, the Greek culture was stealthily creeping into the culture as well as the mindset of the Israelites, who were sadly reduced to mere helpless spectators to the changing scene and could do nothing more than swallow the bitter pill. Moreover, these were also times […]
Read More »
The untimely death of the Greek Emperor ‘Alexander the Great’ brought the issue of his successor to the fore as he had not selected any. The army generals, who had fought shoulder to shoulder with Alexander in all the battles, were now up against each other to gain control over the Greek Empire, especially over […]
Read More »
In the intervening period, the strong empire built by Cyrus II was further expanded by his son, Cambyses II. Egypt too was made part of the Persian Empire. Darius, the son of Cambyses II, expanded the boundaries of their empire even further. All the Persian emperors favoured the land of Judah. They had not only […]
Read More »
Though the Persian Emperor Cyrus II had permitted the Jews to return to the land of Judah, not all returned as neither was the journey back home going to be easy nor was the life after settling down, void of hardship. Also, it was only after battling tough conditions with perseverance and diligence to settle […]
Read More »
Having been made to bite the dust at the hands of the Babylonians, the ‘kingdom of Judah’ had now on, to lend itself to their sway. But that was in no way, the end of their misfortune…….. ……..which dealt a worse blow this time? The Babylonians did not stop at plundering ‘the Holy Temple’ unlike […]
Read More »
It is believed that it was due to the Assyrian invasions that the Israelites were uprooted from their own land, the land of Israel and had to emigrate across the world. These immigrants formed the Jewish diaspora. Restless, the rulers of the kingdom of Judah in the south watched on as these events unfolded in […]
Read More »
Two hundred years of political instability had thrown the ‘Kingdom of Israel’ into complete disarray. The Israelite kingdom in the north saw as many as nineteen kings during a period of just two hundred years. A few of these kings were cruel while a few were weak and had succeeded to the throne based merely […]
Read More »
Rehoboam, who succeeded Solomon to the throne of Israel, was a very strict authoritarian ruler. Immediately on taking over the reins of the kingdom, he not only doubled the existing taxes but also imposed a few new ones on the people. In addition, he also enforced some new stringent laws. In fact, there was no […]
Read More »
After the Israelites captured Jerusalem, David ceremoniously moved the ‘Tabernacle’ and the ‘Ark of the Covenant’ to the city. Though David was not permitted to undertake the construction of the ‘Holy Temple’, he gradually set about collecting material viz. gold, silver, copper, precious items, rocks and stones of various types that would be required to […]
Read More »
