Posted on 05/13/2018 7:26:08 AM PDT by tired&retired
This summary of the history of Jerusalem is profound. It highlights the importance of tomorrows ceremony.
Please forgive me if there are any faults in what is written here. We are not attempting to present a complete history of Jerusalem; we merely wish to illustrate the futility of the constant warfare and bloodshed that has plagued the Holy City. All of us must join together and bring peace to Jerusalem. May God give good qualities, peace, and wisdom to all who trust in Him. May God give these to each heart. Amen.
1900 B.C. Abraham enters Jerusalem. Melchizedek, King of Salem, welcomes and blesses him.
1300- Moses leads the Israelites from Egypt; his followers, 1240 B.C. Led by Joshua, arrive in Canaan. Joshua defeats the King of Jerusalem, who is the head of the alliance of cities, but the city remains Jebusite.
1000 B.C. David wrests Jerusalem from the Jebusites and makes it the capital of his kingdom.
970 B.C. Solomon succeeds David as King of Israel.
950 B.C. Solomon's Temple is completed.
928 B.C. Shishak of Egypt sacks the city.
721 B.C. Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria conquers northern Israel, and tiny Judea is all that remains of the empire of David and Solomon.
701 B.C. Sennacherib, King of Assyria, lays siege to Jerusalem but is repelled.
587-86 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquers Jerusalem, destroys Solomon's Temple, exiles the Jews to Babylon, and for all intents and purposes, Judea ceases to exist.
539 B.C. Cyrus of Persia topples the Babylonian Empire. Jerusalem is freed, Nebuchadnezzar's victims are released, and the descendants of David are allowed to return to Jerusalem. Construction of the second temple is begun under Sheshbazzara, a descendant of the house of David and Governor of Judah, and is continued by his nephew, Zerubbabel.
515 B.C. The rebuilt temple of Solomon is inaugurated.
445 B.C. Nehemiah completes the fortification of Jerusalem.
332 B.C. Alexander the Great of Macedon conquers the Persian Empire but leaves Jerusalem untouched.
312 B.C. After a series of battles between Alexander's generals, Ptolemy wins control over Jerusalem and takes Jewish prisoners to Alexandria.
312-198 B.C. Rule of Ptolemaic dynasty.
198 B.C. Antiochus III drives the Egyptians from the city.
198-169 B.C. The Seleucids rule Jerusalem. Antiochus IV marches on Jerusalem to impose conformity of worship. The Jews are forced to conform to the Greek world and to give up circumcision and their codes of cleanliness and diet. They are also forced to worship Zeus. The temple is pillaged. Antiochus IV erects a pagan altar and sacrifices pigs before the idol of Zeus. The Scroll of the Law is torn up and burned.
164 B.C. The Maccabees rise in rebellion and drive the Seleucids from the city and temple. They cleanse purify, and rededicate the temple.
63 B.C. Pompey and his Roman legions conquer Jerusalem. They defile the temple and dedicate it to imperial Rome.
40 B.C. The Romans are driven out and the city is briefly ruled by Mattathias Antigonus, the Hasmonean King. The Romans reconquer the city.
39 B.C. Herod is chosen by the Romans to be King of the Jews. (Herod's father was an Arab who had been forcibly converted to Judaism, and so he was readily adapted for Roman uses. Mark Antony made him a Roman citizen, and thus his son, Herod, learned roman politics.)
20 B. C. Construction begins on Herod's temple.
4 B.C. Birth of Jesus. Death of Herod.
29 A.D. Trial of Jesus and his departure from the world.
66 A.D. Gessius Florus' troops loot the temple's treasury, slaughtering worshippers and rabbis. This touches off the revolt of the population of Jerusalem.
70 A.D. Titus captures, sacks, and destroys the second temple. Thousands upon thousands are killed, and again Jerusalem falls into the hands of the Romans. (Six hundred and fifty-seven years after the Babylonians plundered and razed the first temple, the second fell and none has risen since.)
132 A.D. The Jews, led by Bar Kokhba, drive out the Romans and again make Jerusalem the Jewish capital.
135 A.D. The Roman Emperor Hadrian destroys Jerusalem and builds on its site a city with new walls called Aelia Capitolina, with a temple on Mount Moriah dedicated to Jupiter. Hadrian bans the Jews from Jerusalem, and all Jews who defy the ban are executed.
324 A.D. Constantine of Byzantium conquers Jerusalem.
326 A.D. Constantine the Great embraces the Christian faith, thereby inaugurating the first Christian rule over the city. He marches under the flag of Jesus, uniting the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. The city of Jerusalem is rededicated. His mother, Helena, makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and identifies the sites for the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Church of the Nativity.
336 A.D. Constantine builds the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. (This was the rebirth of Jerusalem, both as a spiritual center and as an objective of religious pilgrimage.)
570 A.D. Birth of Muhammad.
614 A.D. The Sassanid Persians led by Khosrau II push south through Palestine to the Sinai and Egypt, conquering Jerusalem, butchering 60,000 Christians, selling 35,000 into slavery, and demolishing the Christian shrines. 629 A.D. The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius returns to Jerusalem, massacres the Jews, expels the survivors, and restores the ruined city.
630 A.D. Mecca surrenders to Muhammad, and during the next seven years, the empire of Heraclius begins to fall to the rising Arab nation.
632 A.D. Death of Muhammad.
638 A.D. 'Umar Ibn al-Khattab, the second Muslim caliph, captures Jerusalem and builds the first mosque on the site where Solomon had erected the first temple. 'Umar is deeply conscious of Jerusalem's universal sacredness and, during his rule, there is justice and freedom of worship. As "people of the book," Christians are exempt from payment of a poll tax.
687 A.D. 'Abd al-Malik orders the erection of the Dome of the Rock (the oldest Muslim sanctuary still standing in Jerusalem) for the purpose of attracting pilgrims to the Holy City.
691 A.D. Dome of the Rock completed. Christians and Muslims coexist peacefully and their pilgrims share the Holy City.
1077 A.D. A fierce band of Turkish nomads called Seljuks swarm through Persia, Iraq, and Egypt, finally seizing Jerusalem. For over twenty years the Christians are prevented from worshiping in the Holy City.
1096 A.D. In retaliation, the first crusaders depart for the Holy Land. Their number is made up of Christians from England, France, and Germany. Over 100,000 foot soldiers pillage and battle their way across Asia, without order or discipline. Less than ten percent reach Jerusalem.
1098 A.D. By the time the crusaders reach the Holy City, the Egyptians of the Fatimids Empire have recaptured the city. Though the Fatimids had always given Christians the freedom of the city, in 1099, the crusaders, led by Godfrey de Bouillon, capture Jerusalem, butchering its defendants and inhabitants, men, women, and children alike, and defile the Mosque of al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock. De Bouillon becomes the Defender of the Holy Sepulcher.
1100- Reign of Baldwin I, first ruler of the Crusader 1118 A.D. Kingdom of Jerusalem. Plaster is applied over Arabic inscriptions, and the Dome of the Rock is transformed into a Christian church. Muslims and Jews are forbidden to reside in Jerusalem.
1187 A.D. Saladin, Vizier of Egypt, is determined to restore the Dome of the Rock to Arab rule. Through daring political and military maneuvers, he becomes King of Egypt and Syria. Finally, he achieves his objectives and captures Jerusalem. He restores Muslim and Jewish habitation of the city.
1192 A.D. Saladin and Richard the Lion-Hearted sign a five -year truce, ending the Third Crusade and giving Christians the right to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem. 1193 A.D. Saladin dies.
1229 A.D. The two succeeding monarchs, Sultan al-Kamil and Frederick II of Germany, briefly revert the Holy City to Christian rule. Warfare again sweeps the city and Jerusalem is again recaptured by the Arabs. Jerusalem would not again be governed by Christians for nearly seven centuries.
1250 A.D. The Mamelukes rise against the Ayyubid caliphs in Cairo, seize power in Egypt, and turn Palestine into an Egyptian province, beginning a 267 year reign of Egyptians, during which 47 sovereigns briefly sit upon the bloodstained throne.
1260 A.D. The city is pillaged by the Tartars.
1267 A.D. The Mamelukes take control of Jerusalem and inaugurate a period of architectural beautification of Muslim Jerusalem. They also rebuild the walls of the city. 1400 A.D. The city is sacked by Genghis Khan's Mongols.
1453 A.D. Muhammad II, a sultan of the Ottoman Turks, successfully besieges the city of Constantinople.
1517 A.D. Salim I (Muhammad II's grandson) captures Jerusalem from the Mameluke army. According to the original writs of `Umar, he gives the Christians jurisdiction over their holy shrines.
1537 A.D. Suleiman the Magnificent, successor of Salim, begins his campaign to rebuild, beautify, and fortify Jerusalem.
1816 A.D. A decree of the reigning sultan allows the Jews free entrance to Palestine. From this time on, the Jewish population increases rapidly.
1827 A.D. United States opens the first diplomatic mission in Jerusalem.
1839 A.D. British Consulate is established in Jerusalem, extending protection to the Jews.
1847 A.D. The Catholic Church is renewed in Jerusalem. 1854 A.D. The Crimean War is fought by Turkey, England, France, and Russia-ostensibly to settle the question of jurisdiction over Jerusalem's holy sites.
1860 A.D. The first Jewish suburbs are built outside the walls.
1896 A.D. Theodore Herzl publishes The Jewish State, a pamphlet which details a plan for the establishment of an autonomous Jewish state in Palestine under the authority of the sultan.
1897 A.D. First Zionist Congress in Basel. The creation of a homeland for Jews in Palestine is proclaimed as the goal of the Zionist movement. There is a tremendous upsurge of Jewish migration to the Holy Land.
1917 A.D. The British enter Jerusalem. The Ottoman army surrenders to the British. The Balfour Declaration puts Great Britain on record as favoring "a national home for the Jewish people." This declaration is then supported by France, the United States, and Italy.
1919 A.D. The awakening Arab nationalism is voiced, with the Syrian Congress declaring its opposition to further Zionist migration.
1929 A.D. Savage attacks on Jews in Jerusalem, Hebron, and Safad rekindle religious antagonism. The ancient Jewish communities of Safad and Hebron are almost wiped out.
1937 A.D. Publication of the Royal (Peel) Commission, recommending the partition of Palestine.
1939- World War II. Six million Jews are killed by the Germans. British government issues White Paper in 1939, limiting immigration of Jewish refugees.
1945 A.D. Germany surrenders and 30,000 Jews are released from Nazi concentration camps.
1946 A.D. Underground, illegal immigration to Israel of Jewish survivors of the German concentration camps commences.
1947 A.D. United Nations votes partition of Palestine and creates Israel as the new Jewish state.
1948 A.D. British withdraw from Palestine. The state of Israel is proclaimed with Jerusalem as its capital. War engulfs the area. Jerusalem is partitioned.
1951 A.D. King `Abdullah of Transjordan, early advocate of Arab confederation, assassinated in the Mosque al-Aqsa.
1956 A.D. War. The Sinai Campaign.
1967 A.D. Six-day War: Israelis seize Golan Heights, Sinai, Gaza, the West Bank, and Old Jerusalem from the Arabs. The city is under Israeli rule.
1973 A.D. Yom Kippur War.
1979 A.D. Israel and Egypt reach a peace agreement.
This list was prepared by a Sufi Mystic, Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen in February 1980 as part of a letter mailed to the world leaders, asking them to pray for peace.
Absolutely mindboggeling...
Thanks for the History.
Terrific summary. Post it often to related threads.
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