Diaspora is a Greek term that means “widely scattered.” It is a term used to describe the widespread settlement of Jews outside the promised land of Israel and Judah (later called Palestine). Scholars generally say that the Diaspora began in 586 B.C. with the exile to Babylon of Jews living in Judah and continued in the later periods of Persian, Greek, and Roman control. But even today, Jews living outside Israel are sometimes said to be Diaspora Jews.

Some early dispersion of the Israelite people began when kings David and Solomon ruled Israel. These rulers sent colonists as government officials and trade merchants to various parts of Asia and Africa (2 Sam 8; 1 Kgs 4; 20:34). Some of these colonists settled permanently in these areas.

Wars, more than anything else, forced the people of Israel and Judah to leave their homelands. Even before the Babylonian exile, the Assyrians captured the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C. and forced many Israelites to move to lands held by Assyria. Some settled in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh (Tob 1:10). Others settled farther north and east in Media (2 Kgs 18:11; Tob 3:7). During the Babylonian attacks on Judah in 598 and 586 B.C., many Jews were forced to live in Babylonia, while others fled southwest to Egypt (see Jer 42,43). Even after the Persians captured Babylon in 538 B.C. and allowed the Jewish people to return home to Judah, many remained behind in Babylonia and in other areas controlled by Persia. The book of Esther tells of Jewish exiles living in Persia. Many Jews also stayed on in Egypt. By the beginning of the first century A.D., the Jewish population in and around Alexandria, Egypt, was about one million. Mesopotamia and Asia Minor also had large Jewish populations.

Some Jews understood the exile to be God’s punishment of the Jewish people for their failure to live according to the Law of Moses, and for their turning to worship other gods. However, the exile produced some positive things as well. It is likely that many of the books of the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) were written down or edited during the time of the exile. Also it was during this period, many scholars believe, that synagogues were first formed to allow Jews to gather for the study the Scriptures and worship. In later eras, after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70, the synagogue would become both the reason for and emblem of Jewish survival during times of hardship or persecution.

Many of Israel’s neighbors worshiped local gods that could only be worshiped at specific locations. Israel’s God was said to “live” among his people at the temple in Jerusalem, but God was not limited to this location. Even though God’s people were scattered around the world, they could continue to worship God and practice their religion outside the boundaries of Palestine.

The Jewish minorities in lands outside Palestine often had difficulties practicing their religion. It was not always easy to keep the laws regarding eating acceptable foods and observing the Sabbath, or to avoid contact with the idolatrous practices of their neighbors. Marriage to foreigners (non-Jews) was considered dangerous, because the non-Jewish spouse might influence the Jewish spouse and their children to turn away from the Jewish way of life and worship practices. Finding suitable marriage partners must have been challenging for Diaspora Jews. The book of Daniel provides a glimpse into the problems faced by faithful Jews living in exile (see Dan 1–6).

The dispersion also allowed the Jewish people to attract new people to faith in their God. Eventually, many Jewish communities included Gentile converts called “God fearers.” The dispersion of Jewish communities certainly helped the early spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire (see Matt 4:23; Luke 6:6; Acts 14:1).