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and rebuild Jerusalem under the Medes, then the Persians and then the Macedonians, until Antiochus the Macedonian, by prohibiting circumcision and other Jewish rites, provoked a revolt in Palestine led by the Maccabees. They sought the independence of Palestine through it and succeeded. They retained an independent kingdom in Palestine from 168 to 63 BCE.

In 63 BCE the Romans took Palestine and pledged to guarantee Jewish freedom. They even granted the Jewish governor of the city, Herodes, a royal title and allowed him to establish a ruling family that governed until 44 CE and maintained the best relations with Rome. In 70 CE Titus conquered Jerusalem, and a large number of Jews left Palestine and scattered throughout the world. The year 70 CE is therefore regarded as the beginning of the Jews' worldwide dispersion. From that time, Jews began to solicit the world's sympathy by demanding their national homeland and claiming that they had been expelled from it by force. They spread through the two worlds with their businesses and occupations. Even when the Persians permitted them to return to Palestine, only a few returned, including among those in Babylon; a great body remained there despite its proximity to the homeland they demanded.

There were extensive Jewish colonies in Arabia and Egypt. During his missionary journey through Asia Minor and the lands of the Greeks, the apostle Paul found