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This chapter is from a copyright book, 100 Prophecies, by Ray Konig. It is reprinted here with permission from the author. The new and expanded version of this book, now called 100 Fulfilled Bible Prophecies, is available at Amazon.com.
Many Bible prophecies focus on the land and people of Israel. Collectively, the 10 prophecies selected for review in this chapter describe a series of events that include the establishment of Israel as a nation, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, the exile and dispersion of the people, as well as the preservation and restoration of the land and people.
Bible passage: Genesis 12:1-7
Written: As early as 1400 BC, about 3,400 years ago
Throughout the Bible we learn how God had chosen and shaped a people and a land as part of a plan involving salvation.
Much of that choosing and shaping began with a man named Abraham. In Genesis 12:1-7, God told Abraham to leave his country and to travel to the land of Canaan. He told Abraham that a great nation would come from him, that his offspring would inherit the land of Canaan, and that people throughout the world would be blessed through him.
The promises found fulfillment later in history. Abraham, who lived about 4,000 years ago, became the forefather of the nation of Israel. His descendants were chosen by God to receive the words of God and to record them in the Bible. And it was from this nation of people that the world's most influential person was born, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
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Here is Genesis 12:1-7 (KJV):
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of Haran.
5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.
7 And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
Bible passage: Genesis 28:10-15
Written: As early as 1400 BC, about 3,400 years ago
Some 4,000 years ago a young man hurried across an expanse of land, bringing a great distance between him and the threat of death that awaited him in the town of his home. Weary from his travel, he lowered himself to the ground and rested his head on a rock.
He slept and dreamt of a future far removed from the conflict that had haunted him that day. His name was Jacob and he was fleeing from his brother Esau, who had sworn to kill him. Jacob had reason to fear his brother. Esau was known for his skills as a hunter and for his acumen in the wild.
Jacob, in contrast, was known more for staying close to the tents of the family's settlement, within the land of Canaan.
For a fight to the death, Jacob might seem outclassed. But as the events of this conflict ran their course, the brothers reversed their roles. Whereas Jacob fled into the wilderness, to escape his brother's wrath, Esau stayed close to home, choosing not to pursue him.
Although they were twins, born only moments apart, Esau was born first. And it was the first-born son who was to be specially treated when it came to matters such as inheritance. But Jacob deceived their blind-and-ailing father, who then gave Jacob the blessings that traditionally would have gone to the first-born son.
Esau vowed to kill his brother. Jacob fled.
In time, Jacob would prevail. He would survive the anger of his brother. And the land from which he was fleeing would one day carry his name, and not that of his brother.
The night that Jacob rested his head on a rock and slept in the wilderness was the night that he dreamt a vision known as "Jacob's Ladder." In this vision, he was told, among other things, that his descendants - none of whom had been born yet - would inherit the land on which he slept.
Jacob's name was later changed to Israel, as was the land beneath him.
This was the land that God had promised to the descendants of Jacob's father, Isaac, and Jacob's grandfather, Abraham. And now, God was promising it to their descendants through Jacob/Israel. This is the land that became the homeland of the Israelites, the people who would record the words of the Bible. And this is the land that became the birthplace of the Messiah, a descendant of Jacob.
This is the land from which Christianity would spread throughout the world, to a vast array of people who look back upon Israel as the Holy Land, the land of the Bible, the land of the Messiah.
Jacob/Israel became the father of the 12 Tribes of Israel. His descendants later conquered the land, seizing control of it about 3,400 years ago from the various groups of people who resided there. The conquest is described in the Bible's Old Testament book of Joshua. Some of the other books of the Old Testament speak of the history that followed, the centuries during which the Israelites lived and prospered within the land of Israel, the land where Jacob dreamed.
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Here is Genesis 28:10-15 (KJV):
10And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
11And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
12And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
13And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
14And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
Bible passage: 1 Kings 11:29-33
Written: More than 2,500 years ago
After the 12 Tribes of Israel took control of the land of Canaan, about 3,400 years ago, the Israelites were governed by judges instead of kings. The reign of the judges lasted until about 3,000 years ago when a man named Saul became the first king of Israel. He was succeeded by King David, who in turn was succeeded by King Solomon. These kings ruled over a united kingdom that included all 12 Tribes of Israel.
In 1 Kings 11:29-33, however, a prophet named Ahijah prophesied that the united kingdom of Israel would break into two. Ahijah lived about 2,900 years ago, when Solomon, the son of David, ruled over the land of Israel.
Solomon, during his reign, had turned away from God, as did many other people. Ahijah prophesied that because of this unfaithfulness, the united kingdom would break up.
After Solomon died, his son, Rehoboam, became king, and the northern part of the land of Israel broke away and formed a new kingdom. That kingdom retained the name of Israel and consisted of 10 of the 12 Tribes of Israel. Jeroboam served as their king.
The southern part of the land of Israel, which included the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, became known as the kingdom of Judah. This kingdom was dominated by Israelites from the tribe of Judah, although there also were Israelites from other tribes living there.
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Here is 1 Kings 11:29-33 (KJV):
29 And it came to pass at that time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way; and he had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field:
30 And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces:
31 And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces: for thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee:
32 (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:)
33 Because that they have forsaken me, and have worshipped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom the god of the children of Ammon, and have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in mine eyes, and to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David his father.
Bible passage: Isaiah 7:7,8
Written: About 2,700 years ago
After the land of Israel had been divided into two kingdoms, the two often were in conflict with one another.
About 2,700 years ago, the people of Judah were being threatened by an alliance involving the country of Aram (Syria) and the northern kingdom of Israel. That conflict is described in the seventh chapter of the Old Testament book of Isaiah.
In Isaiah 7:7, the prophet informed the people of Judah that the alliance would fail in its plans against Judah. And, in the next verse, Isaiah prophesied that the northern kingdom of Israel would come to an end, and that its inhabitants would become broken as a people.
The Assyrians later invaded and conquered the northern kingdom, in about 722 BC. Afterwards, they transplanted some of the northern Israelites and replaced them with foreigners plucked from other regions of the Assyrian empire. Some examples of this are referenced in Ezra 4:2 and 2 Kings 17:24.
Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived during the first century of this era, also wrote about the transplanting of people in the northern part of the land of Israel:
But the king of Assyria, whose name was Tiglath-Pileser, when he had made an expedition against the Israelites, and had overrun all the land of Gilead, and the region beyond Jordan, and the adjoining country, which is called Galilee, and Kadesh, and Hazor, he made the inhabitants prisoners, and transplanted them into his own kingdom.
- Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book IX, Chapter 11, as translated by William Whiston.
The northern kingdom of Israel, which the Bible sometimes refers to as Ephraim, never recovered from the destruction brought upon it by the Assyrians. And, the people of the northern kingdom were shattered as a people, losing their identity as distinct tribes of Israel.
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Here is Isaiah 7:7,8 (KJV):
7 Thus saith the Lord GOD, It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass.
8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.
Bible passage: Isaiah 39:5-7
Written: About 2,700 years ago
The southern kingdom of Judah, unlike the northern kingdom of Israel, survived the wrath and aspirations of the Assyrian Empire. But, a new empire would rise up from Babylon and conquer the Assyrians, as well as the people of Judah.
Isaiah, who had prophesied about the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel, also foretold the conquest of Judah. In Isaiah 39:5-7, the prophet informed King Hezekiah of Judah that there would come a time when the Babylonians would loot and subdue Judah.
After the time of Isaiah, the Babylonians fought and conquered the Assyrians, about 2,600 years ago, and assumed control over a large swath of land that included much of the Middle East. Afterwards, the Babylonians began subjugating Judah. In about the year 605 BC, the Babylonians began taking some of the Jews from Judah as captives to Babylon. And, in 586 BC, the Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the Temple.
Babylon dominated Judah until about 539 BC, when a coalition of Medes and Persians conquered Babylon. Afterwards, some Jews returned from exile and began a process of rebuilding and repopulating Jerusalem and the surrounding cities and towns.
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Here is Isaiah 39:5-7 (KJV):
5 Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:
6 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.
7 And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
Bible passage: Jeremiah 32:32-37
Written: About 2,600 years ago
Jeremiah, a Biblical prophet who lived about 2,600 years ago, warned the people of Judah about the cost of turning away from God and told them that they would be subjected to domination by Babylon.
In Jeremiah 32:32-37, and elsewhere in the book of Jeremiah, the prophet described the widespread corruption and contempt for God that existed during his time. Among other offenses, some people had built places of worship to honor a false god named Baal, and others had sacrificed their children to a false god named Molech.
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Here is Jeremiah 32:32-37 (KJV):
32 Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
33 And they have turned unto me the back, and not the face: though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction.
34 But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it.
35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
36 And now therefore thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city, whereof ye say, It shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence;
37 Behold, I will gather them out of all countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely:
Bible passage: Micah 3:11,12
Written: About 2,700 years ago
Micah lived about 2,700 years ago, about a century before the time of Jeremiah. Like Jeremiah, Micah forewarned his people that turning away from God would result in punishment, and that this punishment would involve Jerusalem. Micah provided bleak details in his prophecy:
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest. (Micah 3:12, KJV)
The prophecy was fulfilled during ancient times. The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple about 2,600 years ago, during a military invasion.
And the city was destroyed again, by the Romans, during the first and second centuries of this era, after the time of Christ.
The destructions and their severity have been recorded in a variety of ways:
• The destruction caused by the Babylonians is described in 2 Kings 25:8–21. There, we are told that a Babylonian commander set fire to the Temple and the royal palace, and that he burned down every important building in the city. The Babylonian army also broke down the walls around the city.
• Josephus, who witnessed the Roman destruction of Jerusalem during the first century, wrote that even the foundations of the Temple were dug up. He described this in his book, The Wars of the Jews, Book VII, Chapter 8.
• Judaic literature records a literal plowing of all or part of Jerusalem, at the hands of the Romans. The Babylonian Talmud, which is a compilation of Judaism-related writings that was completed about 1,500 years ago, speaks of a plowing of Jerusalem, in Tract Taanith, Chapter 4. There, it mentions five calamities that are said to have happened on the ninth day of the Jewish month of Ab, with the fifth calamity being the plowing of Jerusalem.
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Here is Micah 3:11,12 (KJV):
11The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
12Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
Bible passage: Jeremiah 24:4-7
Written: About 2,600 years ago
In Jeremiah 24:4-7, Jeremiah received a prophecy from God about the future of the Jewish community that had been forced into exile in Babylon ("the land of the Chaldeans"). In this prophecy, God promised to protect the exiles, to preserve them, and to bring them back to their homeland.
Whereas the northern tribes of Israel lost their identity as distinct tribes after they were conquered by the Assyrians, the southern tribe of Judah would survive its time in exile, with its identity intact.
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Here is Jeremiah 24:4-7 (KJV):
4 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
5 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Bible passage: Jeremiah 29:10
Written: About 2,600 years ago
In Jeremiah 29:10, the people of Judah were told that their punishment at the hands of the Babylonians would be temporary, that it would come to an end, and that the exiles would be brought back to their homeland.
Seventy years after Babylon rose to power, its empire was stripped from its hands by Cyrus, in 539 BC, who led a coalition of Medes and Persians. Cyrus later issued a decree, releasing the exiles and giving them the freedom to leave Babylon to return to Judah.
Details about the return to Judah are recorded in the Bible's books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
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Here is Jeremiah 29:10 (KJV):
For Yahweh says, "After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
Bible passage: Daniel 9:24-25
Written: Daniel lived more than 2,500 years ago
Daniel, another prophet from the Old Testament era, was among a group of people from Judah taken to Babylon as captives, sometime around 605 BC. About 20 years later, in 586 BC, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, turning Daniel's homeland into a land of ruins.
In the later part of his life, after the fall of Babylon, Daniel prayed to God on behalf of his people.
The response that he received is recorded in the ninth chapter of the book of Daniel. There, among other things, Daniel is told that the city of Jerusalem would be rebuilt.
After the fall of Babylon, some of the exiled Jews returned to Jerusalem and began rebuilding the city. The process was not without difficulty. As explained in the book of Nehemiah, the returning Jews were met with hostility from other groups of people in the area. Even so, the Jews succeeded in rebuilding the walls around the city in a short amount of time. Afterwards, other parts of the city were restored.
Daniel's prophecy, however, went beyond the reconstruction of a fallen city. As indicated in Daniel 9:25, the Messiah would appear sometime after the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
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Here is Daniel 9:24-25 (KJV):
24Seventy 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.
25Know 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.