Secret History #19: Dawn of the Jews

The future global order predicted to be led by Israel, replacing the American Empire as the dominant world power, analogous to historical periods like Pax Romana or Pax Americana.

A methodological framework developed by the lecturer to improve understanding of history and predict future developments, addressing the impossibility of complete objectivity in historical analysis.

The second component of the predictive history model, applied to all historical actors including empires, leaders, ethnic groups, and religious communities to understand their decision-making processes.

The third component of predictive history, examining how all cultures, civilizations, and individuals possess religious worldviews that shape their historical actions and goals, accessible through their sacred texts.

The Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great and his successors, who developed a sophisticated method of imperial control that differed fundamentally from previous conquest-based empires like Assyria and Babylon.

Ancient empires including Persians, Romans, and later powers who recognized that controlling trade routes, not just territory, was the key to sustainable imperial dominance and wealth extraction.

Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, who conquered Babylon in 539 BCE and revolutionized imperial governance through a policy of religious and cultural pluralism rather than forced assimilation.

The exiled Jewish community in Babylon, given permission by Cyrus the Great to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple, becoming a Persian client population in a strategically crucial location.

Ezra the scribe and Nehemiah the cupbearer-turned-governor, Persian-appointed Jewish leaders who led religious and social reforms in post-exilic Jerusalem, documented in the biblical books bearing their names.

The returning Jewish exiles, authorized and financially supported by Persian emperors including Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes to rebuild the temple that Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed decades earlier.

The Jewish people of the Kingdom of Judah, forcibly exiled to Babylon following the conquest and destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II around 586 BCE, leaving only a remnant behind.

The Jewish community emerging from Babylonian exile, undergoing a fundamental transformation in self-understanding from a territorial nation centered on temple worship to a portable identity based on Torah law, ethnic purity, and strict monotheism.