Nuggets from "Judgment Day: Islam, Israel, and the Nations" by Dave Hunt | thebereancall.org

Hunt, Dave

Nuggets from "Judgment Day: Islam, Israel, and the Nations" by Dave Hunt

Most of the world, and even most Israelis, call that land Palestine today. That has been its designation for centuries. If this was the land of Israel, when and how did it become known as "Palestine"?

Around AD 132, the Romans who had decimated Jerusalem in AD 70, began to rebuild it for Roman Emperor Hadrian as a pagan city dedicated to him and to Jupiter. They started construction of a temple to Jupiter on Temple Mount at the site of the ancient Jewish temples. Understandably, there was an uprising of the Jews to prevent such desecration. It was led by Simon Bar Kochba, whom many at that time considered to be the Messiah. At first the revolt was remarkably successful. But more legions were brought in, and the Romans eventually destroyed nearly one thousand villages, killed about five hundred thousand Jews, and sold thousands into slavery. When the revolt was finally crushed in AD 135, the Roman conquerors angrily renamed the land of Israel, "Provincia Syria-Palestina," after Israel's ancient enemies, the Philistines. From that time forward, all those living there were known as "Palestinians."