Abraham through Modern Day Isreal

Three of the four major world religions claim that Abraham is the father of their nation. God promised abraham that his descendants would number the stars. However, Abraham was not willing to wait (his wife Sarah was too old to bear children) he took Sarah's maid slave, Hagar, and she bore Ishmael who is the father of the Arab world. Later, God was true to his promise, and Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to the promised son - Isaac - who is the father of the Jewish nation and, subsequently, the father of the Christian world since Jesus Christ comes from the lineage of Isaac.

http://www.theology.edu/abraham.html

Some claim the dates to be between 1553 BC - 1450 BC. Given that they wandered for 40 years their arrival in the promised land would be between 1513 BC and 1410 BC.
The Jewish Bible and Christian Old Testament book of Genesis states that Abraham's descendants will be sojourners in a land that is not their where they will be slaves and oppressed for 400 years. After Joseph's family reunites with him in Egypt, their people become so large that the Egyptians become fearful. They enslave the Israelites under harsh conditions, until Moses, and Israelite who grew up in the household of the Pharaoh, leads his people out of Egypt. However, because of their lack of faith and disobedience, they are forced to wander in the desert for 40 years before they can conquer and return to the promised land.

http://www.biblediscovered.com/biblical-characters/king-david-kingdom-of-israel/

David's first action as king was to capture what is now the City of David in Jerusalem, fortify it and build himself a palace. When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king and was threatening their hegemony over all of Canaan, they attacked, spread out over the Valley of Raphaim and captured Bethlehem. David retaliated and in three battles, forced the Philistines out of Israel. Once David had established his kingdom, he brought the Holy Ark, to Jerusalem. David wanted to build a temple to G-d and consulted Nathan the prophet. Nathan replied to David that God would always be with David, but it would be up to David’s son to build the Temple because David had been a warrior and shed blood.

David encountered wars with Israel’s neighbors on the east bank of the Jordan. These wars began as defensive wars, but ended with the establishment of a Davidic empire that extended over both sides of the Jordan River, as far as the Mediterranean Sea. King David defeated the Moabites, the Edomites, the Ammonites and the Arameans. David enforced justice in his empire and established civil and military administrations in Jerusalem, modeled after those of the Canaanites and Egyptians. He divided the country into twelve districts, each with its own civil, military and religious institutions. He established Jerusalem as the secular and religious center of the country. Each district paid taxes to Jerusalem and the people began to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem each year on the holidays of Passover, Shavout and Sukkot. David is often called a Man after God's own heart. Yet, David had many human flaws, he had an affair,he lied, he murdered, he was a lousy father, yet despite all his human flaws, God forgave David and created a great nation. And through his lineage, Jesus was born who became the savior of the World.

http://www.penfield.edu/webpages/jgiotto/onlinetextbook.cfm?subpage=1501694

Diaspora is a word used to describe the dispersal of Jews around the world. Some historians put the diaspora of the jews by neo Babylonian Empire at 931 BC. Most date the dispersal of the Jews around the time of King Nebuchadnezzar who ruled from 605 BC - 562 BC.

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/israeljudaea/a/BabylonianExile_2.htm

After the death of Kind Solomon, the nation of Israel Split into two – 10 northern tribes called Israel, and the two souther tribes called Judea. It was Judea that was captured by Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, spoiled Jerusalem and took treasures from Solomon’s Temple. Ten thousand of the leading men of Judah were taken into captivity to Babylon. The national leadership in Jerusalem continued to follow their wicked ways until Nebuchadnezzar laid siege of the city and a breach was made into the city wall. King Zedekiah (Mattaniah, 597-586 B.C.) attempted to escape, but was captured and taken to Babylon in chains. The Babylonians killed his sons in his sight and then blinded him. The walls of Jerusalem were destroyed and the temple burned to the ground. All of the city’s treasurers were taken to Babylon. The remaining leaders of Judah were killed and the rest of the people were carried into captivity to Babylon. Only the very poorest people remained in Judah in the hills who later fled to Egypt (2 Kings 25:23-30).n 538 BC. After the fall of Babylon to the Persian king Cyrus the Great, who gave the Jews permission to return home and rebuild the temple.

Important to all three major religions

http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/jewishtemple.htm

A Jewish uprising began in 66 AD. The Roman Government destroyed the temple in 70 AD and the uprising was squelched by 73 AD.

http://factsanddetails.com/world.php?itemid=1382&catid=55&subcatid=351

Diaspora is a word used to describe the dispersal of Jews around the world after the destruction of the Jewish temple in A.D. 70. During the Roman period Jews began moving out of Palestinian to places like Alexandria and Rome. Most Jews settled in North Africa and the Mediterranean area. Within a few decades between 3 and 6 million Jews lived outside of Palestine in the Roman Empire and only about half that number lived in Palestine. Jewish people continued to live outside of their "promised land" until the creation of the Nation of Israel in 1948.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/382119/Edict-of-Milan

The Edict of Milan was granted by Emperor Constantine the Great in the West and Licinius Augustus in the East in 313 granting religious freedom throughout the Roman Empire. In addition, the Edict of Milan ordered the restitution of property confiscated from Christians. Some believe that Constantine had a religious conversions, while most Historian's agree that his "conversion" was not spiritual, but for military gain.

Muhammed is the founder of the religion of Islam. He is accepted by Muslims throughout the world as the last of the prophets of God.
As a young man, Muhammed claimed to receive visions from God and the Angel Gabriel from which he wrote the Quran. He is considered to be the father of Islam