Introductions to Israel

As you may have seen, I changed the font on this blog which required reposting every single article: yes, all fifty of them. But it is now all said and done. I also removed the directory from my blog because it was becoming a hassle. There is still the archives and labels on the sidebar though.

There was a comment on the "Histories and Mysteries 2018 Site Directory" that was deleted along with the article when I made my changes. I will relay it below:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Histories and Mysteries 2018 Site Directory":

I'm amazed, I have to admit. Seldom do I come across a blog that's both equally educative and interesting, and without a doubt, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is something not enough men and women are speaking intelligently about. Now i'm very happy I came across this in my search for something regarding this.

Thank you for the comment if it is yours! We have finally reached a country in our study of world geography. Israel is basically at the center of attention for world news. It's existence raises one of the largest controversies in world politics. I spoke a little about the religious and economic conflicts in the Middle East in The Middle East ~ Part 1. I also mentioned the role that Israel plays in their conflicts. But before we get into political and historical concerns, I'll lay down some of the basics of Israel.

• Capital: This is another controversy. Most of the nations in the world recognize Tel Aviv as the capital of Israel because they view Jerusalem as disputed territory, but the United States and Israel recognize Jerusalem as the capital because it was Israel's capital before they went through the very long cycle of being captured, deported, and brought back to the land.
• Area: 8,019 square miles
• Population: 8.547 million people (2016)
• Location: The Mediterranean Sea is to the west, Lebanon is to the north, Jordan and Syria are to the east, and Egypt is to the south
• Language: Hebrew and Arabic
• Religions: 74.7% Jewish, 17.7% Muslim, 2.0% Christian, and 1.6% Druze (2016)

As you can see, to the right is the flag of Israel with the Star of David, the modern symbol of Jewish heritage. This symbol first appeared around AD 1000 in one of the Masoretic texts called the Tanakh. The Masoretic texts were copies of the Old Testament replicated by the Masoretes. The Masoretes were scribes who took the translation of God's Word very seriously. They went through cleansing before and after writing the name of God, and if a manuscript had even one error, they threw the manuscript away. Anyways, the Star of David became a symbol of the Zionist movement as early as the late 1800's. The Zionist movement is the move to restore the ancient borders of Israel, the ones they had before Israel was overtaken by the many empires in history. Although the Nazis forced Jews to wear the Star of David on their clothing for identification before the Holocaust began, the Jews still see the Star of David as their national symbol and something to be proud of.

And to end this article, I will make some minor mentions of the landforms around Israel including the Mediterranean Sea, the Sea of Galilea, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, etc. Many of the places in the Bible can be found in Israel and that is probably why it is a popular tourist spot for Christians and historians alike, not to mention the vast amounts of artifacts that archaeologists would love to collect. I would think that Israel and the Middle East produce some of the most artifacts.

Here's a quote by an American president and peacekeeper, President Woodrow Wilson: "I am sorry for men who do not read the Bible every day. I wonder why they deprive themselves of the strength and pleasure."

Don't forget that I will be updating two articles for the remainder of the month. You can see which ones over here.