BIBLE PROPHECIES | THE PERSECUTION OF ISRAEL (1)

1. The persecution of Israel

a) Many people today are aware of the Holocaust in which Nazi persecution led to the deaths of 6 million Jews. But Jews have endured intense persecutions for centuries before that. During the first and second centuries of this era, the Romans killed as many as 1.8 million Jews. And, the ancient destruction of Israel by the Assyrians and Babylonians nearly destroyed the people and country of Israel.

b) Bible prophecies are listed below.

2. Bible Prophecies

a) God will never forget the children of Israel. 

Isaiah 49:13-17 New International Version (NIV) 

¹³ Shout for joy, you heavens;
    rejoice, you earth;
    burst into song, you mountains!
For the Lord comforts his people
    and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. 

¹⁴ But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
    the Lord has forgotten me.” 

¹⁵ “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast

    and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
    I will not forget you!
¹⁶ See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are ever before me.
¹⁷ Your children hasten back. 

3. Written: Between 701-681 BC 

a) In Isaiah 49:13-17, the Lord makes it clear that even though the people of Israel are to be exiled from their land, the Lord will never forget them, and the Lord would eventually bring the exiles back to their homeland. 

b) Isaiah lived about 2700 years ago. At about that time, the Assyrians invaded the northern part of the land of Israel and had forced many of the people into exile. More than a century later, the Babylonians conquered the southern part of the land of Israel, bringing an end to sovereignty, destroying Jerusalem and the Temple, and forcing people into exile. 

c) Despite the hardships, verses 15 and 16 remind us that the Lord will never forget the people of Israel. In fact, it says that even if a mother could forget her child, the Lord would not forget his children, for they are "engraved" on the palms of his hands. And, verses 17 and 18 show that the descendants of Israel would return, as they did after the fall of the Babylonian Empire.