The Nation of Israel

The history of Israel encompasses the entire spectrum of human life, from the heights of divine inspiration and self-sacrifice to the depths of sinful wickedness and treacherous disobedience. At times, it is a story of living faith, selfless piety, and noble precedents and examples; at others, it is marked by civil wars, factionalism, internal strife, corruption, blind prejudice, and narrow-mindedness. It knows the peaks of devotion to God's Word and will, as well as the depths of disaster in the rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah.

No other nation has been dealt with by God as uniquely as the Jewish people. Over its 4,000-year history, it has been exiled from its land twice, and both times it has returned. The first exile was the Babylonian captivity, which began under King Jehoiakim and lasted 70 years. In 607 BCE, the royal house and the noblest families were taken to Babylon, and by 587 BCE, the entire nation was exiled. The second exile began in 70 CE and was far greater in scale. At that time, the Romans massacred 600,000 people, enslaved 300,000, and scattered them across the empire.

Throughout human history, no other people has been twice uprooted entirely from its land, dispersed across the world, and yet returned to the same territory both times. Twice the state of Israel ceased to exist, twice it lost its national independence, twice its capital and religious center were destroyed, twice its cities and villages were leveled to the ground, twice its people were deported and scattered—and twice everything was rebuilt.

There is no other nation or ethnic group on earth that has been so widely dispersed across the world and yet has continued to exist as a distinctly identifiable and recognizable group. The nation of Israel encompasses approximately 87 different nationalities of Jews. There is scarcely a country where Jewish citizens have not lived. What is remarkable, however, is that the Jewish people have survived as a people, instead of disappearing into the masses of foreign nations. And this spans nearly 2,000 years. Over this long period, the Jewish people have remained the Jewish people.

"You have not disappeared like other nations that left no trace behind and no longer constitute a nation. You will not perish in the future either. You will always be a distinct people compared to the other nations of the earth. Even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, your name will endure everywhere. The sufferings you endure are punishments for your sins. But just as I (God) do not change, so you will never be consumed. In the last days, you will regain your dominion and be exalted above all the nations of the earth."
(David Kimchi, Rabbi, 12th century)

Lance Lambert "A páratlan Izrael", Evangéliumi kiadó, Budapest, 1994