Continue of Core of Jewish People Part II

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

      Judah then included Benjamin and Simeon from north and south

I left off with the separation of the tribe of Judah's land from the other 10 northern tribes due to King Solomon's taxation that his son didn't want to follow which included an enforced labor program in order to build the Temple, which was his main goal left over from his father, David, who had to continue being a fighter and not a builder.  

                                                       Israel 

Jeroboam had led the separation and now was king from 933-912 BCE of Israel.  18 more kings followed him until King Hoshea who ruled from 730 or 732 -724 or 721 BCE when captured by Assyria.    

 Hoshea had conspired against King Pekah (735-730 BCE), had assassinated him and seized the throne.  Assyrian sources relate that Hoshea ascended the throne with Assyrian help, his kingdom being confined to the surroundings of Mt. Ephraim.  Eventually he rebelled against Assyria and was imprisoned by Shalmaneser who then besieged and captured Samaria (11 Kings 12:1-6)

In 721 BCE, Assyria's Sargon annexed the country and deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.                                              

Judah was led by King Rehoboam, son of Solomon from 933-917 BCE.  11more kings followed until King Ahaz who ruled from 735-720 BCE., son of Jotham (740-735 BCE);  his kingdom was attacked by Israel and Syria, while the Edomites and Philistines harried his southern territory. 

 The prophet, Isaiah was in opposition to him seeking the aid of Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria who of course invaded Syria and Israel in 733 BCE.  Judah became an Assyrian vassal and was subjected by Ahaz to Assyrian idolatry.  

It was in 721 BCE that Assyria's King Sargon, son of Tiglath-Pileser, attacked the 10 northern tribes, now states and took away 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media and replaced them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.                

King Hezekiah ruled from 720-692 BCE.  He had supported the revolt of Ashdod in 715 , but on the accession of Sennacherib in 705, when Sargon died,  an uprising broke out throughout the Assyrian Empire, and Hezekiah reasserted his independence. Judah was soon ravaged, Hezekiah held out, bartered and was able to pay tribute and cede some territory.  He freed religious worship from Assyrian influence, purged the palace and Temple of images and pagan altars, and renewed the pure monotheistic religion.  Prophets supported him, especially Isaiah who wielded great influence in affairs of state.  

Manasseh was then king from 697-638 BCE.  He was exiled to Assyria in 652 as a result of complicity in a plot against Ashurbanipal (669-26).  After this time, Assyria declined rapidly and was succeeded by BABYLON.  

                         Nebuchadnezzar admonishing Zedekiah

King Amon ruled from 638-637 BCE, and after him were 5 other kings of Judah, ending with King Zedekiah  who ruled  from 597 to 586 BCE., son of Josiah, originally named Mattaniah but adopted Zedekiah when appointed king by Nebuchadnezzar to succeed the exiled Jehoiachin (598-597 BCE). 
Solomon's Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE

In 598 was the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.   He ascended the throne at the age of 21 and swore allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar;  refused early on to join an anti-Babylonian coalition of neighboring kingdoms but in 594 visited Babylon.  In his 9th year he conspired with Egypt, so Babylonians invaded and captured Jerusalem.  Zedekiah was overtaken when running away, brought to trial;  his sons were killed in front of him and his eyes were then put out and he was imprisoned in Babylon until he died (Kings 25; Jer. 52).  

Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia(604-561 BCE) attacked Judah in 597 and again in 586 BCE. when he destroyed Solomon's Temple. 

He exiled 7,000 Jews to Babylon (Mesopotamia). This group of Jews joined the Jews from the 10 tribes, making a large Jewish population of which many remained here even after Cyrus II King of Persia , who overran the Babylonians gaining Eretz Yisrael;  permitted a return to Jerusalem.   Several cities were now entirely Jewish.  

The story of Queen Esther, married to King Ahasureros, comes along here with Mordecai, a Benjamite  being an official, had his niece, Hadassah, enter a beauty contest for the king who wanted a new wife.  He had banished his first.  Hadassah won the contest and changed her name to Esther.  Esther overheard of a plot to kill all Jews coming from Haman and told the king, so had to confess that she was also Jewish.  The king really loved Esther, and was angry at Haman.  He had him hung along with all his sons to put an end to such a thing, which, by the way, had already started in his empire in another section.  This event turned into the holiday of Purim.  Queen Esther of the Jews was given the name Hadassah at birth, which is a Hebrew name meaning "myrtle". Her name was later changed to Esther, which is believed to be of Persian origin, possibly meaning "star" or related to the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, when she became queen. The change in name was likely to conceal her Jewish identity, as Mordecai advised her not to reveal she was Jewish when she was chosen as a candidate for queen

It wasn't till 538 BCE when Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem from their capture with permission from Cyrus II and rebuild their Temple.  They regarded Cyrus as a Divine agent.  He was thought to also be the son or grandson of Esther.  

The rebuilding of the Second Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem spanned from 538 BCE to 516 BCE, according to Wikipedia. The project was initiated after Cyrus the Great, the Persian king, allowed the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. While the basic structure was completed in 516 BCE, according to Wikipedia, construction and expansion may have continued until around 500 BCE. 

After 538 BCE, Judah was no longer ruled by its own kings. Following Cyrus the Great's conquest of Babylon, the region of Judah (also known as Yehud Medinata) became a province within the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire. The Persian rulers appointed governors, often Jewish, to administer the territory. Prominent figures during this period include Sheshbazzar who laid the Temple foundation and took care of Temple vessels, and Zerubbabel, who led the return of some exiles from Babylon and oversaw the rebuilding of the Second Temple. 

Following the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire, the territory of Judah came under the control of the Seleucid Empire as part of the broader Hellenistic period after Alexander the Great's conquests. The Seleucid Empire existed from 312/311 BCE to 63 BCE. It was founded by Seleucus I Nicator, one of Alexander the Great's generals, following Alexander's death and the subsequent fragmentation of his vast empire. The empire's territories initially encompassed a large swathe of the former Persian Empire, including Mesopotamia, parts of Anatolia, and Central Asia. It eventually declined due to internal conflicts, external pressures from rivals like the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Parthians, and ultimately ended when the Roman general Pompey conquered Syria in 63 BCE, turning it into a Roman province.  This period followed the Persian rule and preceded the Hasmonean dynasty, which gained independence through the Maccabean Revolt. 

The Hasmonean dynasty ruled Judea from 140 BCE to 37 BCE. This period follows the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire and includes a time of semi-autonomous rule within the Seleucid Empire, followed by expansion and increasing independence. 

Resource:

Edited: 8/11/25, 6:26am

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Tanakh (Bible) Stone Edition

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

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_captivity#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20book%20of,from%20521%20to%20516%20BCE.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Empire#:~:text=Alexander's%20death%20marks%20the%20beginning,of%20Triparadisus%20in%20321%20BC.

https://www.moon.com/travel/arts-culture/jerusalem-history-first-second-temples/#:~:text=During%20the%20First%20Temple%20period,Babylon%2C%20when%20he%20conquered%20Jerusalem.

Our DNA Jewish Bottleneck

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

                                                         Assyrian Logo

Haplogroup J1-M267, commonly found in Jewish populations, has a complex history and is associated with both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jewish lineages. While not exclusive to Jewish people, it is a significant haplogroup within the Jewish community, particularly among those with priestly (Cohen) ancestry. The haplogroup's origins are traced back to West Asia, with some branches migrating south to the Levant and Arabian Peninsula.  

       By the River of Babylon  the Biblical Psalm 137:1–4, a hymn expressing the lamentations of the Jewish people in exile following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BCE: Previously the Kingdom of Israel, after being united under Kings David and Solomon, had been split in two, with the Kingdom of Israel in the north, conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC which caused the dispersion of 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel.

Ashkenazis and Sephardis came from the same source before 70 CE when Jerusalem was not only occupied earlier by the Romans but attacked by them as well, taking slaves and burning down the Temple.  Jews were not allowed re-admittance later upon pain of death.  It was for the Romans, and then all the conquering people who came after them.  The remaining Jews scattered to Spain and became the Sephardis; while the others were either taken or perhaps had already been in Germany on trading expeditions, becoming the Ashkenazis.  I wondered since a few "Rabbis" had been fore-warned and left Jerusalem earlier if they didn't lead their followers to Spain. Again, some may have been there before, on trading trips and knew it was a place to find refuge.  Then again, some found refuge in nearby communities of land in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, etc.   

Assyrians were pretty close to the kingdom of Judah, formed after King Solomon died with his son, Rehoboam (933-917 BCE) as the next king.  Zedekiah was the last king (597-586 BCE)

 The Assyrians attacked the state of Judah and took the 10 northern tribes away in 721 BCE. Sargon had annexed the country and deported 27,290 Israelites to Assyria and Media, replacing them with Syrian and Babylonian prisoners.  That's the ancient kind of deal heads of state made in those days.

What did these Syrian and Babylonians do to become prisoners, I wonder?  Were the trophies of war by Assyria, too?  Why weren't they kept by the Assyrians?  Why did the Assyrian Sargon want our Judeans?  All these thoughts run through my mind, as now, we have new people in the place of ours.  How did that ever work?  

Then, 124 years later,  Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians attacked in 597 BCE and again in 586 BCE.  He exiled 8,000 of the local aristocracy to Babylon in 597 BCE, captured Jerusalem,  and destroyed the Temple of Solomon.

These are the people we Jews came from;  those who remained in Judah including a few from Benjamin and Simeon and these prisoners brought in by Sargon and by Nebuchadnezzer.   Our state among a group of 12 others, all related to each other from the very origin had been a tribe of 12 brothers.  We Jews were from Judah, a few from Benjamin and a few from Simeon.  Mostly we were Judeans.  Jerusalem is in Judah.  We Jews are the indigenous Judeans remaining from quite a bottleneck of DNA. 

Some Jews were allowed back to Judah from Babylonia by the king, a possible grandson of Queen Esther.  Not all wanted to return, however.  They were the ones who were willing to repair the Temple and take their life back of what their grandparents had.  They would have been some of the spilled bottle of DNA returning.

 King Cyrus the Great of Persia was responsible for ending the Babylonian Captivity and allowing the Jewish exiles to return to their homeland in Judah. This occurred in 538 BCE, shortly after Cyrus conquered Babylon, after 48 years of captivity.   (Update 11:09am) and again at 4:16 pm.  

                                    

Many of us have already taken DNA testing proving our heritage.  Our Cohens are J1.  My father, a son of 2 Ashkenazi Jews, was not.  His Y line was Q1b1 that graduated to be QBZ67.  That line came originally from Siberia and Mongolia areas, then connected up with the Native Americans sometime back of North and South America, but our line veered into the Middle East and Judah at some point.  I'm not sure if we made it as becoming the "others" who remained with the family of Jacob in Egypt during their 400 years or not, but they became a Jewish line.  I am related to Rashi, as discovered on an ancient genealogy of a 3rd cousin as well as even matching up with Netanyahu's mother's Mtdna line and all my 1st cousins of 100% Jewish parentage.  

J1 and J2 are found in the Cohens who are a major large group of Jews today and come from Aaron, brother of Moses. It started in Western Asia. They are found towards the middle of this chart who showed up in our history with Aaron, who was a little older than Moses (1391-1271 BCE).  (see below), being a little more than 3,000 years ago.   It's been found that most Cohens, people with this title as a surname, or actual Cohens serving in this capacity in the synagogue which is divided into the Cohens, Levites and Israelites, are J1 or J2.  I just found out that a Hochfeld has been a Cohen in the synagogue all his life, and just recently had been tested.  Sure enough, he was a J1, also labeled as J-M267.  Fathers have been telling their sons that they are Cohens and what the duties are that are expected of them.  Evidently it's worked through this oral tradition, handed down from Aaron  well over 3,000 years ago.  J's actually started 48,000 years ago.  Aaron was a newbee on the J tree.  

The Torah has been proven true through the haplogroup, for Arabs also bear the J1 haplogroup as well, with a slightly different tag ending on this scientific label showing its unique history.  

An Arab friend of mine also smitten by DNA testing is J1c3d, I believe it was, same as many Jewish J1.   J1-M267 is the major haplogroup of the Arabs.  Beduins of Kuwait carry the highest amount. Then there are the  Arab Bedouins that carry a very high percent  of J.

J1 haplogroup is found to have arisen 10,000 to 15,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent, and Abraham was born only about 4,000 years ago. He is mentioned in Genesis, living in about the 2nd millennium BCE. His father was Terah and was unhappy with his life in Ur in about 2,000 BCE. and left Ur, which was part of the Sumerian civilization. Besides Jews, Arabs, Armenians and Kurds are found in this haplogroup. Interestingly, Kurds are still living in Iraq, even though Saddam Hussein gassed many of them. Kurds have the closest dna to most Jewish men.  The highest frequencies are in Iran and Iraq. It was carried by traders into Europe, Central Asia, India, and Pakistan. Most likely traders could have been Jews, who became involved in such endeavors.

Update: 4/29/14:  There is a J1c3 which seems to be the oldest found.  It used to be called J1e,   In the website-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Victar/Haplogroup_J1c3_(

Y-DNA), they said that 30% of Yemenite Jews have the

 haplogroup of J1c3 or P58, as it is also called. As I see it, J1c3

 was the original or oldest, going back 9,000 to 10,000

 years J1c3d is a subgroup of it.  The J1 SNP of L859 tells if you are an Arab Hashemite.

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2018/11/our-male-haplogroups-and-when-they-were.html

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_J_(Y-DNA

 https://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/2010/01/what-haplogroup-we-be.html   *****

Timeline of Jews From 4,000 Years Ago

 Nadene Goldfoot

                                          Judaean Desert

I've discovered that there are many people who have never known of our Jewish history.  They may even think of it as starting in Rome, around 70 AD (anno domini).  

 Horrified, I've made a copy of my own timeline I have done in my blog 'Israel."  Notice, we started back 4,000 years ago in known histories.  Here we go, and I ended at 100 CE-Common Era/AD.  

1391-1271 BCE  from 70 sons, grandsons of Jacob to 611,30 Jews with Moses       

  1010 BCE-970 BCE  King David  of Israel , census of David: c 5,000,000 population
961 BCE to 920 BCE  King Solomon 

721 BCE: Assyrian attack on 10 northern Tribes of Israel, stolen away
597-586 BCE Babylonian Invasion 
          Babylonian exiles returning: 42,360  
167 BCE Revolt of Maccabees against Antiochus the Greek
165 BCE Rededication of Temple by Judas Maccabee (Hanukkah)  From 163 B.C.E. there is evidence of Jews in Rome.  They were probably slaves, Traders?  
139 BCE Jewish community in Rome, expulsed.  Jewish slaves later lived here.  
73 BCE-4 BCE Herod I, the Great, king of Judea appointed by Rome.  When he died, there were uprisings by the people so Roman General Publius Quinctilius Varus crucified 2,000 Jews to quell the uprisings.   

69 BCE:  Cleopatra:  Cleopatra was of Macedonian descent and not a native Egyptian. She was the second daughter of King Ptolemy XII and the last sovereign of her dynasty, which had been founded by Alexander’s general, Ptolemy, in 326 BC. She came to power in 51 BC, at the age of seventeen, and was married to her eldest brother, Ptolemy XIII. 
30 BCE  Herod the Great by Julius Caesar, crucifixions; 25,000 Jews till 70 CE.  
 5 BCE, in Bethlehem, Judea, Roman soldiers stationed in Jerusalem from Greece, Gaul and Syria were following Roman appointed King  Herod's orders to kill all male children under age 2.                                

 1 CE 1st century Abba Sikra zealot in Jerusalem during the revolt against the Romans, alias Ben Batiah.  nephew of R Johanan ben Zakkai, helped to escape from Jerusalem.    In the year 6 CE. there were Jews at Vienne, France and Gallia Celtica which would be today's " Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and the west bank of the Rhine in Germany.".   "The first settlements of Jews in Europe are obscure;  in the year 39 at Lugdunum (i.e. Lyon) which is Lyon, France started in the year 43.  
19 CE Jews again expulsed from Rome. 
29 CE Jesus was crucified during Pontius Pilate's rule; starting the narration of Christianity., About 25,000 Jews crucified by Herod till 70 CE.     
49-50 CE Jews again expulsed from Rome. 
60 CE-Nero ruling: 700,000 Jews in Judea, 1,500,000 Jews scattered in other places.  4,200,00 Jews in the world, most likely less.  
61-63 CE  Jeshua Ben Damna, high priest, appointed by Herod Agrippa II, displaced by Gamla and ensued a struggle, toward end of the siege of Jerusalem of 70 CE fled to the Romans with other members of the priestly families.
c.65 CE  In town of Pekiin, Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai and son Eleazar hid from Romans in a cave for 13 years.

70 CE Jerusalem burned down, Temple destroyed, Jews starved to death before, taken prisoners.   1st Academy (university to educate rabbis) founded set up by Johanan ben Zakkai at Jabneh in Judah, south of Jaffa, reestablished the Great Sanhedrin in Jabneh until 132 of Bar Kokhba's Revolt.  
70 CE families of 24 Cohenim moved to outside of Jerusalem, each family to a different town, where their descendants lived until 1948. One place was near Kiryat Ata, now Shfar Am, an Arab town.  It has an ancient synagogue.  Survivor interviewed by Sandi Zigelman.
                                                                       

  Arch of General Titus, soon to become emperor,  Menorah Relief; Romans taking away Menorah, other things from Jerusalem Temple, taking 97,000 slaves from Judaea in 70 CE

66-73 CE Judaea which was a Roman Province had the first Jewish-Roman War.  The Sadducees and Pharisees fought against the Roman Empire.  The Jewish commanders and leaders were Ananus ben Ananus, Eliezar ben Hanania, Josef ben Matityahu, and Simon Bar Giora.  In the early stage the Roman guard had 3,000 against 10,000 under Ananus and 15,000 under Bar Giora.  The Romans Syrian Legion had 30,000 in Beth Horon while there were only 500 Adiabene warriors fighting for Judaea.  Eleazar had 20,000 Idumeans fighting.  6,000 were under John and 2,400 were under Eleazar, who were the radical factions.  Then the Romans brought out 5 Legions of 60,000 to 80,000 men at the Jerusalem siege.  Judaea had about 200 Sicarii fighting.  20,000 Roman soldiers were killed while 25,000 to 30,000 Judean rebels were killed and 10,000 radical factions.  In the end, 1.1 million Jewish militant and civilians were killed and 97,000 were enslaved and most likely taken to Rome. 

72 CE 12,000 Jews taken as slaves from Judah to Rome to build the Colosseum under Vespasian.  

Masada in 73 CE Herod's Palace, where 960 Jewish Sicarii (Jewish zealots armed with small daggers) had been living in refuge, committed suicide after 3 months of being sieged by Roman Legion led by Lucius Flavius Silva with 15,000 troops.  1 woman, 5 children escaped.  Story told by Josephus.

From 37  to 100 CE, the land of Judah had been occupied by the Romans as told by Flavius Josephus, a Jewish Historian who was captured by the Romans.  He was hired to write the history of their occupation in the Jewish land.  Individual Jews lived in France before 70 CE.   "The Romans destroyed the Jews' 2nd Temple in Jerusalem and took over the city in 70 CE.  They burned Jerusalem down and took away Jews as slaves for Rome while many others fled. Many  people of Judah had scattered to the 4 winds but  a number were able to remain in Judah.  Organized Jewish communities existed in France in the period of the Roman Empire.  Their position deteriorated with the growth of Christianity and its powers.

"As the siege of the capital, Jerusalem,  in the year 70 began on the day of the Passover sacrifice (V, 13, 7, VI, 9, 3), to which naturally many thousands of pilgrims had arrived from all parts of the country, the number of the besieged was very great. Among them were many from beyond the Euphrates and other foreign lands (Dio Cassius, 66. 4). 1,100,000 men perished during the siege, 97,000 were taken captive (VI, 9, 3); of these only 40,000 were preserved (8, 2), all citizens of Jerusalem (8, 2), the rest were sold for slaves, some sent into the mines in Egypt (9, 2), others distributed among the provinces for the circuses."and where did the 40,000 settle after having been allowed to go where they liked ?

Josephus mentions one of the four sons of the high priest Matthias , the high priests Joseph and Jesus, and three sons of the high priest Ishmael, four sons of a Matthias, and many other nobles who succeeded in escaping from the besieged capital to the Romans (VI, 2, 2). 

Many of the eminent citizens ran away to Titus (V, 13, 7) and told him the number of the poor who had died. Titus allowed these to retire to Gofna; there, he said, they should stay till his hands would be free from the war, when he would restore to them their property. Among the numerous deserters was the priest Jesus, son of Thebuthi , who surrendered many costly vessels of the Temple, as well as the curtains and the robe of the high priest. The treasurer of the Temple also fell into the hands of the Romans and was exceptionally pardoned in exchange for valuable stuff, priestly garments, and costly spices.

 Already, after Cestius's defeat in the year 66, many of the nobles had left Jerusalem as if it were a sinking ship; for instance, the two brothers Costobarus and Saul, along with Phillip, son of Jakimos, who had been a general of Agrippa's troops (II, 20, 1). 

After the entry of the Romans into Jerusalem,  Titus liberated all those Jews who had been thrown into prison by zealots (VI, 9.1); they also most probably belonged to the wealthy section of the population.   It may be assumed as almost certain that the members of both groups, of the priestly and of the lay nobility of Jerusalem, at the conclusion of the war received their landed property, and assisted the poor country of Judaea in recovering from its terrible downfall. 

Where they settled is nowhere indicated by Josephus; he lived in Rome and seemed to evince no interest in the state of his native country after the destruction. It is possible that, though owning land in Judaea, some of the nobles settled outside Judaea, as Josephus, who, in exchange for his fields near Jerusalem, received from Titus others in the plain, and was rewarded by Vespasian by additional property in Judaea