- (the) Dispersion – a reference to the Jews who were living throughout the world as opposed to those who lived in land of Israel (John 7:35); this dispersion of Jews (also called the Diaspora) was a result of conquerers exiling Jews from Israel – primarily in 722 BC for northern Israel and 586 BC for Judah (southern Israel). (Judah’s exile is called The Babylonian Exile.) Thus, while there were many Jews living in Israel during the time of Christ, there was also many of them scattered throughout the world.
- The Diaspora is a classic case of God using evil for good. That is, it was a bad thing for Israel that so much of its population was exiled places hither and yon. However, this set the stage perfectly for Messiah because 1) there were an abundance of Jews in the holy land to witness His life on earth, and 2) there were an abundance of Jews who, because they were expected to come to Jerusalem annually for certain feasts, would hear about Messiah and be able to take word of Him when they returned to the locations where they were living. Thus the scattering of the Jews was a phenomenon which made for a highly efficient transmission of the gospel around the world once the door of faith in Messiah was opened to the Gentiles in Acts 10.
- Of course, the number of Jews in the holy land decreased to practically nothing when Rome crushed Jerusalem in 70 AD. (Key Dates for Ancient Israel) But by then, every Jew had had his chance to hear the gospel of Messiah and make up his mind about it.
- This term Diaspora also came to be applied to believers in Christ since they came from the scattered Jews and then joined by Gentiles throughout the world. In this vein, James refers to “dispersed” believers in the first verse of his letter and Peter similarly refers to “scattered” believers in the first verse of his first letter.
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The Duty of a Man 