Supporters of former king Saul & king David split the united kingdom into
Northern & Southern Kingdoms - 2 Samuel 2

Shisak of Egypt attacks Jerusalem (Judah) - 2 Chronicles 12.
Sennacherib of Assyria (Mesopotamia) attacked Judah, taunted God and was defeated by angelic forces - 2 Chronicles 32, 2 Kings 19.
Sennacherib killed by his sons, replaced by son Esarhaddon - Isaiah 37.

Pul & Tiglathpileser strike against Israel, Israelites taken to Assyria (modern-day Iraq) - 2 Kings 16.
Assyria extorts the region from Egypt to Mesopotamia for tribute.
Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, takes captive Samarians & Israelites - 2 Kings 17.
The prophet Isaiah mentions the Assyrian captivity - Isaiah 8, 10, 14, 52.

Assyria defeats Egypt basically eliminating Egypt as a world power - Jeremiah 46, 2 Kings 24:7
Babylonians (Chaldeans) allied with Medes deafeated Assyria, then began campaigns throughout the region.

Most Jews taken to Babylon, some flee to Egypt, few remain in Judah - Daniel 1.
Isaiah prophecies against Babylon - Isaiah 13, 14, 21, 47.

Persians

Cyrus the Persian allowed Jews to return to the Levant (modern-day Syria, Israel) - Ezra 1, 2, Isaiah 47, 48.

Greeks defeated the Persians, spreading as far as India & Egypt.
Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, leaving the Ptolymies in charge of Egypt.

Jews in Egypt develop the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Torah (5 books of Moses).
Due to the time in captivity, they had lost use of their own language (Hebrew) & used Greek as their new "first" language.


Despite attacks from the African Carthaginians under Hannibal and the Celts (Gauls), Romans spread through most of Europe and the Middle East including modern Turkey & northern Africa. The region in Asia Minor called Galatia was occupied by a sub-group of Celts known as the Gauls.

Jesus Christ was crucified by Romans after Jewish religious leaders recognized their authority was questioned.
Roman emperor Constantine declared Christianity the religion of the empire, trying assimilation rather than just conquest.

As a precursor to the modern country of Israel, the region called Yehud capitalized on the vacuum of foreign invaders after the Maccabean revolt from Roman occupation. Romans quelled the revolts ending with the seige at Masada.

Romans expanded & spread themselves too thin. Pagan warrior cultures like the Asian Huns, Germanics (Angles, Saxons, Franks, Lombards, Goths, Vandals and Visigoths) & Celtic Gauls led campaigns into Rome. The Roman Empire splintered into some of the countries we know today (England, France, Germany & Hungary).

Mongols & Huns took over portions of the Asian continent.
Islam rose & took over most of the Middle East & Africa, pushing into Europe from Spain & modern-day Portugal.
"Christian" nations took back all of Europe & a good portion of Africa during the Crusades.

Sadly, Europeans didn't understand Jesus' teachings. Catholicism became corrupted by politics and perverted Christianity claiming to do God's will when in fact it was using religion as an alternative way of assimilating people without needing the use of miltary might.

Modern nations developed after the demise of the Roman Empire, but turmoil continues in the African & Eurasian continents.

Sadly, the world we live in isn't what Jesus would wish for us. Pray for progress that people of all nations will open their eyes to see God's love and display it to each other as Jesus exemplified during his life here.

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