This historical novel starts when the Roman Republic conquered Judea, and they turned it into a Roman province. But, the land of ancient Israel was predominantly Jewish until the Jewish–Roman wars. During the wars, the Roman Empire expelled most of the Jews from that land and formed the Roman province of Syria Palaestina, beginning a new period in Jewish history known as the diaspora. After this time, Jews became a minority in most regions of the land of Israel, except in Galilee. The area became increasingly Christianized after the 3rd century of the resurrection of Christ: Christians dominated in urban areas, and Jews remained in rural areas. Jewish settlements declined by the time of the Muslim conquest of the eastern Mediterranean region. Then the forces of the First Crusade conquered Jerusalem and nearby coastal areas, forming the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Over the following 200 years, Crusader forces lost and recaptured Jerusalem until their final ouster from Acre. Then the Holy Land was made part of the Ottoman Empire, and Turks ruled it until the British conquered it. The region was ruled under the British Mandate for Palestine; but the pivotal fulfillment of prophecy came when the Jewish State of Israel was proclaimed in part of the ancient land of Israel. This was made possible by the Zionist movement and its promotion of mass Jewish immigration - and Israel began to flourish again, to prepare God's people for the 21st century...all the while, waiting for the redemption of their transgressions.