We are continued to study the history of Israel.
Moses gave a farewell speech at the foothill of Mt. Nebo before he died.
His farewell speech contains blessings and curses from God.
His speech is recorded in Deuteronomy 28 & 29 chapters.
But God warned that the worst part of the Curses would come from others.
Much of the Old Testament is the record of the history of the Israelites.
We have records outside of the Old Testament, from Jewish historians Josephus, Greco-Roman historians Tacitus and from many archaeological monuments. 
All the sources agree and paint a consistent picture of the Israelite or Jewish history. 
Moses made his final pronouncement in Deut 30:1-5
After Moses, successive writers in the Old Testament built on this theme that there would be a restoration after the Curses.
586 - Babylonians conquered Jerusalem and destroyed 1st temple
536-142 PERSIAN AND HELLENISTIC PERIODS
332 - Land conquered by Alexander the Great begins the Hellenistic rule.
63 – Jerusalem was captured by Roman general, Pompey. 
63 BC – 313 AD ROMAN RULE 
20-23 Ministry of Lord Jesus
66 - Jewish revolt against the Romans
70 - Destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple
313- 636 - BYZANTINE RULE
The Byzantine Empire was predominantly Greek-speaking.
Under the Byzantine Empire, Israel had become a predominantly Christian country. 
636-1099 - ARAB RULE 
691 On site of the temple mount Dome of the Rock built by Caliph Abd el-Malik 1099-1291 CRUSADER DOMINATION
For the next 200 years, the country was dominated by the Crusaders under Pope Urban II who came from Europe to recover the Holy Land from the infidels (Arabs).
1517-1917:  OTTOMAN RULE
The Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman I. 
1917 - 400 years of Ottoman rule ended by British conquest
1918-1948 - BRITISH RULE
1939-1945 - World War II & Holocaust in Europe
1947 UN proposes the establishment of Arab and Jewish states in the Land.
1948 STATE OF ISRAEL
State of Israel proclaimed (1948 14 May).
Israel invaded by five Arab states (15 May)
War of Independence (May 1948-July 1949)
1948-1952 - Mass immigration from Europe and Arab countries
1956 Sinai Campaign
1967 Six-Day War, Jerusalem reunited.
1975 Israel becomes an associate member of the European Common Market.
1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty signed.
Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President Anwar Sadat awarded Nobel Peace Prize.
1981 Israel Air Force destroyed Iraqi nuclear reactor just before it is to become operative.
1992 Diplomatic relations established with China and India.
Prime Minister Rabin assassinated at peace rally.
Shimon Peres becomes prime minister.
(Most of the material was summarized from various websites and it is not my own)

For two weeks we will focus on history of Israel right from the Biblical beginnings.
I borrowed most of the material from the articles on the web and summarized for our study.
Israel’s history began with Genesis 12:1-3
Jewish history had three Patriarchs: 1st Patriarch was Abraham around 1800 BCE. 
2nd Patriarch was Isaac son of Abraham – 3rd Patriarch was Jacob son of Isaac.
Jacob was the father of the 12 tribes from whom all Jewish people descended. 
God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. (Gen 32:28)
All the Patriarchs and their children lived mostly in Canaan.
In Genesis 46 we read Jacob and his sons settled in Egypt due to acute famine.
As the time progressed, the families multiplied to a large group of people.
After the death of Jacob and his sons a new Pharaoh ruled Egypt who did not know Joseph who was the reason for all his brothers and father to migrate to Egypt.
He enslaved the Israelites for almost 400 before Moses came to lead them back to the Promised Land.
After 40 years of desert wandering the Israelites finally entered the Promised Land but only two men from the original group who left Egypt could make it – Joshua & Caleb.
Moses could not enter into the Promised Land because of disobeying God’s command.
Because of that Moses handed over the leadership to Joshua.
Before Exodus & after Exodus journey some notable miracles happened:
Ten plagues to manifest the power of God before Pharaoh
Passover night – this killed all first born Egyptians
Passover night – the blood of the lamb saved all Israelites in Goshen
Day & night Pillar of God – Firewall - stood with Israelites throughout the journey 
Manna – from the skies – Quails for meat provided
Moses received The Ten Commands – The Law – The Ordinances.
Under Joshua leadership Jericho walls fell, as an act of God.
Joshua felt God’s presence throughout his victories & settlement in Promise Land.
Period of Judges - 1200 BCE to 1100 BCE
God Raised Judges - Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar, Deborah and Barak – Gideon, and lastly Samson.
Samuel came into the picture as a judge & a prophet around 1075BCE.
He anointed the first King Saul & later anointed David when God rejected Saul.
The period from 1000-587 BCE is known as the "Period of the Kings". 
The prominent king was King David (1010-970 BCE) - Jerusalem as Capital city.
His Solomon ruled around (970-931 BCE) – He built the first temple at Jerusalem.
Solomon married too many foreign wives who brought idolatry into Israel and distracted the king to worship idols.
As a result idolatry spread throughout Israel after the death of Solomon. 
When Solomon died the kingdom was split in two.
Northern Kingdom called Israel with 10 tribes: Asher, Dan, Gad, Issachar, Joseph [2 tribes: Ephraim and Manasseh], Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, Zebulun.
The Southern Kingdom called Judah with two tribes Judah & Benjamin.
Levi was not included because they had no set territory but lived throughout the 12 tribes.
From this point onward almost every king was an idol worshiper. 
During this time Lord God raised the prophets to speak out against their sin and idolatry.
Elijah - Period of His Prophecy 874-852 B.C. 
Elisha- Period of His Prophecy 850-798 B.C.
In 722 BC the Assyrians - conquered Northern Kingdom of Israel and took the ten tribes away never to be seen again.  
In 586 BCE, Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar's army captured Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and exiled the Jews to Babylon (modern day Iraq).
King Cyrus of Persia encouraged them to return and also allowed to build 2nd temple.
God continued to send prophets (Daniel) to encourage the Hebrews that their captivity would only last 70 years.
The prophets also gave a message of hope that one day God would send His Messiah, who would not only save the Hebrews but the whole world. 
From this year onward, the region was ruled or controlled by a succession of superpower empires of the time.
In the following order: Babylonian, Persian, Greek Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Empires, Islamic and Christian crusaders, Ottoman Empire, and the British Empire.

1 John 1: 7-10
If we look at all religions of the world and their founders or teachers – Buddha, Mohammed or Confucius – they never claimed to be God – people just followed their teachings.
Only in Christianity we see Christ claiming Him to be God.
“The greatest miracle of Christianity is Christ, and if we don’t have Him we don’t have anything”.
All the four verses are conditional statements with the word ‘if’.
I. IF WE WALK IN THE LIGHT (7)
This verse refers to the believers in the Lord Jesus.
The condition here is that we have to choose to live a life under the light.
We have two advantages – we have fellowship with God – fellowship with each other.
God’s purifying process begins when we accept Lord Jesus as our Savior.
Unrepentant believer cannot or will not have any fellowship with a holy God.
A scholar once said that his Christianity does not interfere with his social life.
John says it does interfere as we purposely choose to walk under His light.
If it does not interfere with our personal and social life, that person is not saved at all.
“And the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin”
John was referring to the false teachers of his day.
DOCETISM was an early heretical belief that held that Christ’s body was not material or real, but only the appearance of a body.
John was disputing their claim and explains incarnation of Lord Jesus.
God sent His Son to die on the cross and shed His blood for the sins of the world.
Theologically it is known as PROPITIATION.
Mysteriously and miraculously the sacrifice of Lord Jesus on the cross is the source of our purification from all our sin.
II. IF WE CLAIM TO BE WITHOUT SIN (8)
Every person without exception sins - This verse refers to all people.
Those who claim they don’t have any sin in them are deceiving themselves.
John is speaking of the root of sin, that fallen Adamic nature that we all inherited.
John is saying: 'Yes, Christians do sin, because they are sinners by nature'. 
John is talking about that we are sinners by birth – we are born with DNA of sin.
III. IF WE CONFESS OUR SINS (9)
Verse 8 'sin' speaks of our nature that is what we are and have in our fallen nature. 
Whereas verse 9 speaks of 'sins' is what we do after receiving salvation.
Confession is naming the sin and being honest with God and ourselves.
Here Lord Jesus assumes the role of an ‘Advocate’.
He represents all believers before the throne of God.
His sacrifices satisfied the justice of God referred to “Propitiation”
Because He lives today He is our advocate to apply His sacrifice to daily sins.
John is telling us that we all will sin – so we should not claim that we are without sin that makes us a liar.
It is a daily process of sanctification that cleanses and purifies once again from the sins we commit on a day to day basis.
IV. IF WE CLAIM WE HAVE NOT SINNED (10)
Docetists of John’s time were implying not only they have no sin but also they do not sin.
Romans 3:23: 'For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God'. 
Those false teachers were making God a liar and denying the reason for the Cross.
John is saying that if we claim that we have not committed any sin it is absolutely invalid according to the Word of God.
Because God clearly teaches through His word that we do things that are sinful.