Jerusalem In Bible Prophecy
Occupation An Overview of the History of Occupiers of Jerusalem
Kings of Israel & Judah An Overview of the History of Occupiers of Jerusalem
4000-3000 BC First Signs of Settlement by Nomadic Shepherds
2000 - 1800 BC Abram leaves UR of the Chaldees for Canaan
2000 - 1800 BC Book of Job Written
1450 - 1410 BC The 5 Books of Moses Written (Pentateuch/Torah)
1030 - 1010 BC The Reign of King Saul
1000 BC The Reign of King David
970 - 931 BC King Solomon Reigns over Israel and Judah
1000 - 600 BC King Solomon’s Temple Built on Mount Moriah
772 BC Assyrians Capture Israel
739-637 BC Hezekiah 13th King over Israel
733 BC Assyrian Exile of Israel
605 BC Neo-Babylonian Empire Nebuchadnezzar II Besieges Jerusalem
598/597 BC Nebuchadnezzar II Plunders Solomon’s Temple
Solomon’s Temple Destroyed
587-586 BC Neo-Babylonian Empire Nebuchadnezzar II conquers Jerusalem
Judah is exiled to Babylon
582 BC Jews are deported from Israel/Judah to Babylon
— 2 Chronicles 36:22–23;
550 BC Cyrus the Great conquered the Medes and founds The First Medo-Persian Empire “Achaemenid”
The Edict of Cyrus
539/8 BC Cyrus the Great of Medo-Persia invites the Jews of Babylon to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple
— Ezra 1:1–4; — Ezra 4:6–24; — Ezra 6:1–12
536 BC The foundation is laid for The Second Temple
Ezra 3:8, 12
Prophet Daniel
535 BC The Book of Daniel Written
535 BC Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream
516 BC The Second Temple finished under Darius the Great 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple
485 BC Jerusalem was besieged, conquered
Jerusalem was besieged, conquered and largely destroyed by a coalition of neighbouring states. Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Philistia. Its walls were torn down, its buildings razed, the Temple itself burned and destroyed, at least in part
450 BC Book of Ezra Written
445 BC King Artaxerxes I of Persia issued a decree allowing the city (including its walls) to be rebuilt
430 BC 1 & 2 Chronicles Written by Ezra
330 BC Alexander the Great I of Macedon, defeats Persia and Conquers/Controls Israel/Judah
The three centuries of Greek history between the death of the Macedonian king Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.E. and the rise of Augustus in Rome in 31 B.C.E. are collectively known as the “Hellenistic period”
323 BC - 30 AD The Hellenistic or “Greek Period” of Israel/Judah Greek Becomes the major language
323 BC Death of Alexander the Great
323 BC Division of Alexander’s Kingdom Into the four dynasties:
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Ptolemaic Antigonid Seleucid Greek States
305-382 BC Ptolemy I Soter “Savior” rules over Israel/Judea Disputed by his rival Seleucus I
198 BC Ptolemy V Epiphanes Loses Jerusalem to the Seleucid’s Under Antiochus III, The Great
175-164 BC Antiochus IV Ephiphanes of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire
Coin depicting Antiochus IV adorned with a radiate crown, Greek inscription reads ΘΕΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΝΙΚΗΦΟΡΟΥ / ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ (King Antiochus, God manifest, bearer of victory)
In 171 BC, Antiochus had deposed the High Priest Jason and replaced him with Menelaus, who had offered Antiochus a large bribe to secure the office.
171 BC Antiochus IV Ephiphanes Deposes The High Priest
In 168 BC, when Antiochus was campaigning in Egypt, a rumor spread in Judea that he had been killed. Jason gathered a force of 1,000 soldiers and made a surprise attack on the city of Jerusalem. Menelaus was forced to flee Jerusalem during the ensuing riot. When Antiochus returned from Egypt he was enraged. He attacked Jerusalem and restored Menelaus, then executed many Jews.
He outlawed Jewish religious rites and traditions and the Temple in Jerusalem was changed to a syncretic Greek-Jewish cult that included worship of Zeus. The Greek historian Diodorus wrote that Antiochus "sacrificed a great swine at the image of Moses, and at the altar of God that stood in the outward court, and sprinkled them with the blood of the sacrifice.
171 BC Antiochus IV Epiphanes Ends the Temple Sacrifice Commits Abomination of Desolation
He commanded likewise that the books, by which they were taught to hate all other nations, should be sprinkled with the broth made of the swine's flesh. And he put out the lamp (called by them immortal) which burns continually in the temple. Lastly he forced the high priest and the other Jews to eat swine's flesh."
Abomination of Desolation
171 BC Antiochus IV Epiphanes Sacks Jerusalem
When these happenings were reported to the king, he thought that Judea was in revolt. Raging like a wild animal, They set out from Egypt and took Jerusalem by storm. He ordered his soldiers to cut down without mercy those whom they met and to slay those who took refuge in their houses. There was a massacre of young and old, a killing of women and children, a slaughter of virgins and infants. In the space of three days, eighty thousand were lost, forty thousand meeting a violent death, and the same number being sold into slavery. — 2 Maccabees 5:11–14
168-167 BC Antiochus IV Epiphanes Sacks the City of Jerusalem AGAIN and erects the Acra
The city of Jerusalem was sacked a second time in the disorder. Antiochus established a military Greek citadel called the Acra in Jerusalem to serve as a stronghold for Hellenized Jews and a Greek military garrison. This happened from 168–167 BC.
Judas Maccabeus lays siege to the Acra
168 BC Mattathias leads the Maccabean Revolt against Seleucid Hellenization of Jerusalem
167-37 BC The Maccabees found the Hasmonean Dynasty which eventually establishes Herod the Great
152 BC Jerusalem Declared the Capital of the Hasmonean Dynasty
Bible Prophesy Daniel 8:14 He said to me, “It will take 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be reconsecrated.” The entire duration of 2300 days began on 9th September 171 BC with the death of the High Priest Onias until the rededication of the Temple on 25 December 165 BC.
165 BC The Second Temple Restored and Rededicated
63 BC Pompey the Great Captures Jerusalem for Rome
37-1 BC Judea is ruled by Hasmonean King Herod the Great
20-19 BC The Second Temple Refurbished and Expanded “Herod’s Temple”
4BC - 3AD The Birth of Jesus
7 BC- 2AD The Massacre of the Innocents
1 BC Herod the Great Dies and the region becomes the Roman province of Iudaea
4 BC Herod Antipas assumes control over Judea as a Roman Vassal King reigning from 4BC to 39AD
Bible Prophecy Daniel 9:24 24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
30 AD Jesus Begins His Ministry
33-34 AD Jesus is Crucified
66-73 AD First Jewish Roman War
Bible Prophecy 25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto
the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
33 AD Jesus prophesies about the End Time and the Temple
33/35 AD Jesus is Crucified, Dies, Rises, Ascends
66-73 AD First Jewish Roman War Won by Rome
70 AD Vespasian’s Destruction of Jerusalem and Herod’s Temple
The contemporary Jewish historian Josephus wrote that the city "was so thoroughly razed to the ground by those that demolished it to its foundations, that nothing was left that could ever persuade visitors that it had once been a place of habitation." Of the 600,000 (Tacitus) or 1,000,000 (Josephus) Jews of Jerusalem, all of them either died of starvation, were killed or were sold into slavery
Roman rule was again challenged during the Bar Kokhba revolt, beginning in 132 CE and suppressed by the Romans in 135 CE. More recent research indicates that the Romans had founded Aelia Capitolina before the outbreak of the revolt, and found no evidence for Bar Kokhba ever managing to hold the city.
132-135 AD The Jewish Bar-Kokhba Revolt Fails
Following the Bar Kokhba revolt, Emperor Hadrian combined Iudaea Province with neighbouring provinces under the new name of Syria Palaestina, replacing the name of Judea. The city was renamed Aelia Capitolina, and rebuilt it in the style of a typical Roman town. Jews were prohibited from entering the city on pain of death, except for one day each year, during the holiday of Tisha B'Av. Taken together, these measures, which also affected Jewish Christians,essentially "secularized" the city. Historical sources and archaeological evidence indicate that the rebuilt city was now inhabited by veterans of the Roman military and immigrants from the western parts of the empire. The ban against Jews was maintained until the 7th century,though Christians would be granted an exemption during the 4th century,
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614 AD Siege and take over by Byzantium
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638 AD Byzantine Jerusalem was besieged and taken by Muslim Umar ibn al-Khattab
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685-705 AD The Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque are built by Umayyad Muslim Caliph Abd al-Malik
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685-705 AD The Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa Mosque are built by Umayyad Muslim Caliph Abd al-Malik
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