The Eagle That Ruled Over Eretz Yisrael

 Nadene Goldfoot                                              

This map illustrates the Roman Empire at its greatest height.   During the reign of the Five Good Emperors, the Roman Empire was at the height of its power.  The map  shows us that the Romans ruled most of the known world in the 2nd century, when they were at their peak. The most important cities of the ancient world were within the borders of the Roman Empire.                                                                                                               

The eagle was the symbol of the powerful Roman empire, which grew to include Britain, most of Europe, all of North Africa, and the Middle East. 

The governors who were stationed in Judea had other aims.  they were hardened soldiers whose goal was to steal as much as they could from a country before they were transferred to other posts.  One of them even took gold from the Temple treasury for his personal use.  When the Jews protested, thousands were massacred--hung on the crosses. 

                                                 

 Judea went into a rebellion.  The Jewish forces gave the Roman army one of its most difficult challenges.  It was 4 years before the Romans could reach the gates of Jerusalem.  They surrounded the city, and still the Jews held them back for 5 months.                                                                                 

But the Roman army was too powerful to be stopped.  On the 9th day of the month of Av in 70 CE, the Roman battering rams smashed through the walls of Jerusalem.  The 2nd Temple was on fire. 

The rebellion continued. A group of about 1,000 Jews escaped from Jerusalem to a mountain in the desert called Masada.  Its steep sides and flat top made it a natural fortress, and it was built for King Herod.  These Jews, mostly ones called Jewish zealots or Sicarii, Jews that carried knives for defense, remained there for 3 years before the Romans reached the top.  The Sicarii took their own lives rather than have their wives and children face the angry Romans.  The Sicarii (Modern Hebrew: סיקריים siqariyim) were a splinter group of the Jewish Zealots who, in the decades preceding Jerusalem's destruction in 70 CE, strongly opposed the Roman occupation of Judea and attempted to expel them and their sympathizers from the area. 

                             Bar Kokhba/Ben Kosiba, SIMEON.  

The emperors in Rome intended to rule  Judea fairly, but they had to fight the Jewish General Bar Kokhba for 3 years to gain back Jerusalem from 132 to 135, so I really don't think "fair" if the word, even though they were said to be sensitive to the Jewish religion.  Since Judaism forbids sculptures that might be used as idols, the Romans told their soldiers not to bring carvings of the Roman eagle into the holy city of Jerusalem. The revolt may have been from knowing that the Romans were turning Jerusalem into a Roman Colony, plus the prohibition of circumcision. 

   thousands of  Jews hung on crosses on Apian Way

Romans believed in revenge.  More than half a million Jews were killed or sold as slaves.  Anyone who taught Judaism was executed-on the cross.  Jewish villages were destroyed.  Romans changed the name of the state from Judaea to Palaestine, named for the Philistines who were the worst enemy of the Jews before the Romans came along. 

                       

They couldn't win the battle against Judaism, though.  Rabbis risked death to teach the Torah.  Other Jews risked death to study, and to practice their religion. Eventually, Romans had to let them alone.  Jewish schools were built; synagogues were built, leading to the Talmud.                  

At the same time, another group of Jews believed that a rabbi who had been executed on the cross in Jerusalem was in reality the son of G-d.  They called their religion, Christianity.  About 350 years after the death of Jesus Christ, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire. Christians had won over the emperor's mother, Helena.  Constantine, her son, also converted, but rather unwillingly.  Helena had gone to Palestine.   

Now, the rulers of Palestine carried the Christian cross instead of the Roman eagle.  The land of Israel was governed by people whose religion was based on Judaism and whose prophet was a Jew.  This didn't help Jews living in Eretz Yisrael, though. The Christian rulers were still fiercely anti-Jewish.  Life was extremely grim.  The center of Jewish life and learning shifted to Babylonia, where Jews had remained long ago and where all enjoyed great freedom than in Palestine.                      

In about 580 CE, an Arab boy named Muhammad visited Palestine.  His fellow Arabs believed in many gods, and at their religious events, drunkenness and gambling were common, but in Palestine, one-God was worshipped in a quiet way.  Arabs with unwanted infant daughters could bury them alive.  The people of Israel taught, "You shall not murder." Roman Emperors Constantine the Great and Valentinian I decided to ban infanticide across the Roman Empire in the 4th century. The practice ceased in Arabia in the 7th century after the founding of Islam, since the Quran prohibits infanticide.

Years later, Muhammad had visions which guided him to create a religion of Islam, intended to perfect the teachings of Judaism and Christianity.  It taught of one all-powerful G-d who demanded a high moral life, outlawing wine, gambling, and the killing of baby girls.  Arabs became Muslims and followers of Islam. 

                                    

  "Holy War" over Vienna against the Ottoman Empire

A proselytizing movement on behalf of Islam was called a "holy war."  His followers created armies and fought fierce wars.  For 100 years, they moved from victory to victory.  

A century after Muhammad's death, the crescent moon---the symbol of Islam---flew from Spain on the west to India on the east.  Eretz Yisrael was the 1st stop on the Muslim march.  Except for a brief interruption, Muslims ruled the land for nearly 1,300 years.                   

                                   

That brief interruption was caused by the Crusades, launched by the Christians of Europe to try to recapture the land of Jesus from the Muslims. Several Crusader armies never even reached the Holy Land!  As they marched across Europe, they murdered innocent Jewish men, women and children.  After conquering Jerusalem, the Crusaders slaughtered almost every Jew and Muslim in the city.  In time they were driven away.    

Resource:

 A Young Person's History of Israel 2nd edition by David Bamberger

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Masada

The Source by James Michener