Templates of History

TEMPLATES OF HISTORY

By:

Johannes Broos.

Dedication.

To the Jewish people, for what they have done for humanity. The apple of God’s eye (Zechariah 2:8). The people of Israel. Israel in Hebrew means God prevails.

Content:

Foreword.

Prologue.

History, an overview.

Western civilization.

The destruction of Jerusalem and the second Temple.

The Mishnah.

Early Christianity and Constantine.

Babylonia.

New rulers in Europe.

Pope Gregory I.

A dark shadow over Spain.

Emerging of Islam, conquest and transgression.

Destiny in the West.

Trade in the Far-East.

Under the successors of Charlemagne.

Prosperity in Spain.

Reconquista.

Spain in Christian hands.

The Crusades.

It’s getting darker.

Expulsion from Spain.

Settlement in the New World.

The return to the Promised Land.

Acknowledgments.

Foreword.

Ecclesiastes 1: 9 (NIV): What has been will be again, what has been done, will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

History is important. It is important because it gives us information, not only information from the past, but things happening today and in the future. The reason for that is that mankind does not change. The idea that we as people are evolving into better people compared with the past is a façade. History as a subject taught at schools lacks the attention it deserves and it would be good to read books about this subject. There is a lack of knowledge with many.

Hosea 4:6 (NIV): My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.

That is the reason for me to take on the task to write some excerpts of history and to try and mould something together which is of value to the reader of this book in the sense of information about mankind and its condition.

Prologue.

History repeats itself. Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NIV): What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Chapter one.

History, an overview.

Wikipedia explains: History from the Greek word historia, meaning inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation is an umbrella term that relates to past events, as well as discovery, collection, organisation and presentation of information about these events.

History is a difficult subject to write about since it is impossible to write objectively, there will always be an element of subjectivity in the way we describe events of the past. After Apartheid in South Africa, the history books for the children in the schools are re-written and that is very understandable since some content in the old books was insulting for different groups of people. Certainly, for a country like South Africa, it is a complicated task to write about history which reflects the truth but at the same time does not insult groups of people. Actually, the way we describe events is how we, from our perspective, interpret them, according to our value and judgement.

History is at the same time important as it can be confusing.

Here are a few quotes made about history:

History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten. George Santayana.

History is but a confused heap of facts. Lord Chesterfield.

God cannot alt the past but historians can. Samuel Butler.

Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it. Oscar Wilde.

Never forget the importance of history. To know nothing of what happened before you took your place on earth, is to remain a child forever and ever. Unknown.

The causes of events are even more interesting than the events themselves. Marcus Tulius Cicero.

Not to know what has been transacted in former times is always to be a child. If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge. Marcus Tulius Cicero."

We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience. George Washington.

In this chapter about history, we are exploring some of the important information broadly available to the public today. The effort is to lay a fundament of information from which to build further in our understanding of the past. If we understand the past better, we can expect to understand current events better and even obtain insight in the future.

One of the most important history writers, in my opinion, is Flavius Josephus (37-circa 100 AD).

Wikipedia gives us the following description about this remarkable person: Titus Flavius Josephus, originally named Joseph ben Matityahu, was a scholar who witnessed the sack of Jerusalem, a first century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer (biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders) who was born in Jerusalem – then part of Roman-Judea – to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry. He initially fought against the Romans during the First Jewish Roman War as the head of Jewish forces in Galilee, until surrendering in 67AD to Roman forces led by Vespasian after the six-week siege of Jotapata. Josephus claims the Jewish Messianic prophecies that initiated the First Jewish-Roman War made reference to Vespasian becoming Emperor of Rome. In response Vespasian decided to keep Josephus as a hostage and interpreter. After Vespasian did become Emperor in 69AD, he granted Josephus his freedom, at which time Josephus assumed the Emperor’s family name of Flavius. Flavius Josephus fully defected to the Roman side and was granted Roman citizenship. He became an advisor and friend of Vespasian’s son Titus, serving as his translator when Titus led the Siege of Jerusalem which resulted – when the Jewish revolt did not surrender – in the city’s destruction and the looting and destruction of Herod’s Temple (second Temple).

Josephus recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the first century AD and the First Jewish-Roman War, including the Siege of Masada, but the imperial patronage of his work has sometimes caused it to be characterized as pro-Roman propaganda. His most important works were The Jewish War and Antiquities of the Jews. The Jewish War recounts the Jewish revolt against Roman occupation (66-70AD). Antiquities of the Jews recounts the history of the world from a Jewish perspective for an ostensibly Roman audience. These works provide valuable insight into first century Judaism and the background of Early Christianity.

The unique contribution of Josephus is that he wrote about the Jewish history, as in the Hebrew Bible, (Old Testament) in Greek and he wrote about Early Christianity. His main reason for doing this may well be his fear that this major piece of history was in danger to disappear for mankind since Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed and the Jews went into Exile. In that time, there was already a Greek translation of the 5 books of Moses, the Septuagint, but Josephus has written Antiquities of the Jews mainly from a historical perspective and with much more background information as we read in the Bible. Another reason may be to make available this remarkable and unique piece of history to a wider public. It was the first time that somebody wrote about the Hebrew Bible in terms of historical truth. Josephus also wrote about Jesus and referred to Him as Christ (Messiah) and he confirmed that Jesus was resurrected from His grave. Josephus was very accurate in his books and after a group of archaeologists were searching for the grave of Herod to no attempt for more than 30 years, they eventually came to writings of Josephus in such detail that they successfully found it.

Antiquities of the Jews, a voluminous historical book, is an extensive report from Genesis all the way through the Hebrew Tenach (Old Testament), up till the end of the First Century AD. It is in concert with the information as we find in the Bible but more comprehensive. For example, it reveals more about Abraham, who he was, and in what spiritual environment he lived under the Chaldeans. Abraham was the tenth generation after Noah and he was the only one in his generation who recognized the Creator as God. By doing so, he achieved much wisdom and knowledge, among other things, about mathematics and astrology. His wisdom and fast knowledge were so astonishing that, according to Josephus, there was even a book written about Abraham by Hecataeus. Josephus also writes about Abraham and Sarah during their stay in Egypt caused by drought in Canaan. It is mentioned that Abraham taught the Egyptians mathematics and astrology. Part of this knowledge, especially astrology, later became corrupted by the Egyptians since they started to interpret the constellations of the stars in the zodiac as signs on a personal level, a corruption we now know as horoscopic astronomy. Abraham discovered that God has a message in His dealing with human kind right through history up till today and future in the constellations of the zodiac and other constellations just as the Bible tells us in Genesis 1:14. This of course, is very interesting also from a historical perspective. It confirms to us that God is sovereign and above history, current times and the future. It is also an important knowledge when we consider history from a human perspective, we have to add God’s hand in what happened and happens with the human family on this earth. Apparently, this is what Josephus very well understood and this may have been the main reason for his changed attitude towards the Roman Empire – without God allowing it, there would not have been a Roman Empire. Daniel had prophesied about the Greek- and Roman Empire very accurately and centuries in advance by God’s knowledge about man’s future. This also teaches us a lesson that we may very well consider the Bible and what the Bible tells us about history and the future, when reading about history and interpreting it in valuable knowledge. In doing so, reading history is not only very exciting but it enriches us.

In Antiquities of the Jews there are many interesting details to read, complementing to what we read in the Bible. It gives background information on a personal and cultural level. For example, in the time of the Exodus (1440-1480BC) God gave the Ten Commandments, written by God’s Finger on mount Sinai, on two stone tablets and through Moses it is given to the Israelites. Besides the Ten Commandments, God gave instructions to Moses how to organize the Israeli society (this showed to be of unmeasured value for humanity in its entirety). Instructions were given in terms of social structure of society, a constitution, and even rules for the environment. Josephus writes about trees and their value: "When you besiege a city and are in need of wood to manufacturing war machinery, you are not allowed to clear fell cultivated trees. These you must spare in knowing that they are grown to the benefit of man and that they, if they