In the past few weeks, I had many, many questions via email about the Jewish people in Europe, America and in Africa and how they landed up in those countries. With the following, I will try to answer all your questions in short. If something is still unclear, email me that I can guide you through the Bible of the Israeli Diaspora.

The Diaspora refers to the spreading out of the Jewish people from Israel to foreign lands. This occurred as the Jews were forced to leave their homeland due to war, captivity or other persecution. It is also known as the Dispersion. The word means a “sowing” or “scattering.” It can also mean “exile.” The word occurs twice in the New Testament (James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1). Both times it refers to Christian Jews living outside Palestine as a result of the several dispersions in Israel’s history. Diaspora sometimes refers to the exiled people, sometimes to the place of exile.

MAJOR DIASPORAS
From the end of the eighth century BC onward, Jewish history was marked by several major dispersions.

DIASPORA OF THE NORTHERN KINGDOM
After Solomon’s death, his kingdom broke in two. The northern kingdom of Israel sunk deeper into idolatry and immorality (2 Kings 17:14-18). Jeroboam, the first king of the divided Israel, established a pattern of falling away from the faith. The Old Testament regularly records that succeeding kings “did not turn from the sins of Jeroboam” (10:31; 13:11; 14:24; 15:9, 18, 24, 28, RSV). Assyria conquered the northern kingdom in 722 BC. They took more than 27,000 Israelites into exile, as had been predicted (2 Kings 17:23). They were settled in cities near the Euphrates River and in Media, areas of ancient Asia. Assyrians from cities around Babylon, in turn, colonized Israel (17:6, 24).

DIASPORA OF THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM
The southern kingdom of Judah suffered exile to the east in Babylonia and to the south in Egypt. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar captured Judeans in several journeys from 605 BC to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The first expedition to Babylon took Jerusalem’s treasures from the temple and palace. That included “all the princes and all the mighty men of valour, ten thousand captives and all the craftsmen and the smiths; none remained, except the poorest people of the land” (2 Kings 24:12-14, RSV; compare 2 Chronicles 36:10; Jeremiah 52:29-30). A year later a second expedition focused on the rebellious Jewish king Zedekiah and his sons (2 Kings 25:1, 6-7; Jeremiah 52:4-11). In the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Babylonia struck Judah again. This time the temple and the king’s palace were destroyed, and the city’s walls were broken down. All but the very poorest people were carried away captive (2 Kings 25:8-21; Jeremiah 52:12-16). In the 6th century BC, Johanan, a Judean, thought he could escape from Nebuchadnezzar by fleeing to Egypt. Johanan forced Jeremiah and a group of other Jews to go with him. They settled at Migdol, Tahpanhes and Memphis. Nevertheless, the Babylonians pursued them and took control of Egypt. Many Jews were executed there (Jeremiah 43:5-44:30). Records of property ownership and an altar suggest that the few surviving exiles established permanent colonies in Egypt (Isaiah 19:18-19).

OTHER DIASPORAS
The Egyptian king Ptolemy I (323-285 BC) captured many Jews and carried them off to Egypt about 300 BC. Those exiles populated Alexandria. Thereafter, the city was noted as a centre of both Greek and Jewish learning. Large colonies of Jews were also sent out from Babylonia to Phrygia and Lydia by Antiochus III (the Great) of Syria (223-187 BC). The Romans sent a sizable group of Jews to Rome. The Roman general Pompey took many there as slaves in the first century BC. The Jews were widely scattered. In the New Testament book of Acts, Luke listed Jerusalem’s visitors: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia and Egypt. The list also included the areas of Libya toward Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans and Arabians (Acts 2:9-11). Those Jews of “the Diaspora” were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. Other Jewish communities were located in the Macedonian cities visited by the apostle Paul. On his missionary journeys he visited Jews in Thessalonica, Berea and Corinth (Acts 17:1, 10; 18:2-4). Around AD 50, the Roman emperor Claudius commanded all Jews to leave Rome (18:2). The Jewish population in Palestine at the time of Yeshua’s birth is estimated from about four to six million. The dispersion population numbered several times that of Palestine. Communities with more than a million each flourished in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia and Alexandria. Today, even with a national homeland, far more Jews still live outside Israel than inside. In spite of their scatterings, Jews of various diasporas retained a basic unity with Palestinian Jews through several practices.

1.) The great national feasts; Passover, Harvest and Tabernacles (Exodus 23:12-17; Deuteronomy 16:1-17); continued to be observed abroad.
2.) The temple tax used for the temple’s upkeep (Exodus 30:11-16) was collected in foreign Jewish communities even after the temple had been destroyed.
3.) All Jews everywhere recognized the authority of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish religious council) over them.

POSITIVE ASPECTS
In exile the Jews tended to give up the idol worship that had in part kept them from YAHVEH. Their exile led them to establish synagogues as places for prayer and education. Jews in Alexandria, Egypt, translated the Old Testament Scriptures into Greek, at that time the international language. From the Christian point of view, the network of dispersed Jewish communities had a special significance. They provided important bases for the spread of Christianity from these communities into the surrounding gentile world. Thus, YAHVEH used the dispersions to bring the gospel to the Gentiles (Romans 1:11-15; 1 Corinthians 10:11-12). Finally, the arts, sciences and humanities have been greatly enriched by the Jews scattered throughout Western culture. Few other peoples have endured so much ethnic prejudice as the Jews. Yet, they gave the world cultural gifts and excellence in many areas. The church of Yeshua HaMashiach has become a “new Israel” and a “chosen race” (1 Peter 2:9). But the testimony of history and of Scripture indicates that God still has a unique interest in the Jews.