Deserted land
Hello, Your Honor.
In the verses, the Land of Israel is prophesied to be a wasteland until God, the Holy One, gathers His people.
Was that so? What about the Byzantine period in Israel, which is described as a prosperous period?
And regarding the prophecy, it is described that when the people of Israel return to God, the Holy One, then they will be gathered to Israel by God – and were the pioneers who made the wilderness flourish were secular?
As far as I know, that was indeed the case. I have no information about the Byzantine period, but it should be remembered that it was shortly after the destruction, and therefore there were still remnants of the Jewish period there (and quite a few Jews).
According to Chazal, there is redemption in time and there is a later time (before time). But in general, I think it is impossible to learn much from the prophecies, since almost everything there can be interpreted in various ways. Some will say that the desire to settle the land is itself a return to God. Others will say that this is only preparation and the complete redemption will be when we return. In short, I do not draw a conclusion from almost any verse in the prophet (and therefore I do not see much value in studying these verses).
Historically, during the Byzantine period there were around 600,000 Jewish residents in the Land of Israel (out of a million and a half inhabitants). There are different estimates, but it is a few hundred thousand.
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