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James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings (James 1:1, NASB1995, emphasis added).
Bible teachers and preachers say the word “diaspora,” and so, since it’s the avowed purpose of Interruptions to keep readers among the most “knowledgeable” of all believers and ready to graciously jump Biblical trivia hurdles with exegetical finesse, let’s talk about…
The Diaspora.
James writes to the 12 tribes scattered abroad, and Peter opens his epistle with, “To those who reside as strangers, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1 Peter 1:1, emphasis added).
In James 1, we find the word “dispersed” and the word “scattered” in 1 Peter 1, with both originating from the Greek word “diaspora.” After Jesus mentions in John 7 that He will soon leave, the Jews asked, “He is not intending to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks, is He?” (John 7:35b)
The dispersion or scattering of the Jews throughout the Roman Empire was well-known and established at the time of Jesus. When Paul traveled on his missionary journeys, he first visited the Jewish synagogues established by the dispersed Jews in the cities of Pisidia, Iconium, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome — lots of cities.
The first great scattering of the Jews occurred with the northern kingdom of Israel taken captive by Assyria in 722 B.C., and then Judea taken captive in successive stages from 607 to 586 B.C. by the Babylonians. The second great diaspora occurred in the first century after Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., followed by two successful campaigns against the remaining Jewish inhabitants of the Holy Land who had revolted against Emperor Trajan (115-117 A.D.), and finally against Emperor Hadrian (132-136 A.D.).
The Roman ruler Hadrian became so incensed with the Jews that he attempted to erase the Jewish population, forbid the Jews from entering Jerusalem, and renamed the area “Syria Palaestina,” imposing the word “Palestine” for the first time as an official regional name for Israel.
The Diaspora with the First and Second Comings
We read in Galatians 4:4, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman.” Note “fullness of time” and consider how difficult it would have been for the Great Commission to be taken to all the world without foreign synagogues in which Paul and other disciples could preach the gospel when they entered new territory. The Old Testament diaspora was used by God to prepare the world for the first coming of Jesus.
The diaspora with the first coming!
The prophet Amos prophecies, “I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them … and they shall never again be uprooted” (Amos 9:14-15). Zechariah predicts, “I am going to save my people from the land of the east and from the land of the west, and I will bring them back, and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem” (Zechariah 8:7-8a). And Isaiah with, “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back’” (Isaiah 43:6a)
One of the signs of the second coming of Jesus will be a return of the Jews to Israel and Jerusalem from all countries.
The diaspora caused by the rebellion of Jews against God and their rejection of Messiah Jesus has not stopped the mercies of God, as the Jewish scattering helped in preaching the gospel to the nations, and the return of those dispersed will indicate to all nations, right now, that Jesus is coming soon.
The diaspora with the second coming!
Amen!
