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The Dispersion

This is the name of the Jews living outside of Palestine. Very many of them chose to remain in the lands of the Captivity. In the Inter-Testament period Jews outside Palestine came to be far more numerous than those in Palestine. There grew to be strong colonies of Jews in every land and in all the chief cities of the civilized world: Babylon, Assyria, Syria, Phoenicia, Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, North Africa and Rome. The three main divisions of the Dispersion were Babylonian, Syrian and Egyptian. In the time of Christ the number of Jews in Egypt was estimated at a million. And there were strong populations in Damascus and Antioch. So, in the Providence of God, captivities turned out to be for the benefit of the nations among whom they were scattered. They influenced the thought of the nations, and also were influenced by thought of the nations.