Bible passage: Deuteronomy 4:25-30
Prophet: Moses
Written: As early as 1400 BC
In Deuteronomy 4:25-30, and in other passages, the Bible said that the people of Israel would be scattered worldwide and persecuted, and that they would return to their homeland. The Bible said that these things would happen if Israel disobeyed God. And according to the Bible, there were times when the nation turned away from God and worshiped the false gods of other nations.
The severity of the punishment reflects the importance of the task for which the people of Israel were chosen - to teach the world about the one true God. Their teachings, through the spread of Christianity, have had a worldwide impact.
There are four major exiles of people from the land of Israel throughout history:
1. The conquest and deportations of Jews in the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians in about 722 BC. (About 2700 years ago). The Israelites were taken to countries in Asia Minor.
2. The deportations of Israelites in the southern kingdom of Judah (the Jewish people) by the Babylonians from about 605 BC to about 586 BC. (About 2600 years ago). Many Jews were taken as captives to Babylon. Others fled to Egypt and other Mediterranean countries.
3. The Romans suppressed a Jewish uprising for independence in 70 AD. They destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and forced many Jews into exile. Jews were scattered to many countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
4. The Romans suppressed another Jewish uprising in about 135 AD. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem, again. Jews were banned, temporarily, from living in Jerusalem. Jews again were scattered throughout north Africa, Europe and Asia Minor.
During the past few centuries, many Jews from around the world returned to the land and re-established a nation of Israel.
- Research and commentary is based on the book 100 Fulfilled Bible Prophecies. © Ray Konig and AboutBibleProphecy.com.
Here is Deuteronomy 4:25-30 (NIV):
25 After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, 26 I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. 29 But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him.