In a later age Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians again contended for the mastery on the plains of Palestine; the possession of Jerusalem allowed the Assyrian king to march unopposed into Egypt, and the battle of Megiddo placed all Asia west of the Euphrates at the feet of the Egyptian Pharaoh.
Palestine is thus a centre of ancient Oriental history.

Its occupation by Babylonians or Egyptians marks the shifting of the balance of power between Asia and Africa.

The fortunes of the great empires of the eastern world are to a large extent reflected in its history.

The rise of the one meant the loss of Palestine to the other.
The people, too, were fitted by nature and circumstances for the part they were destined to play.

They were Semites with the inborn religious spirit which is characteristic of the Semite, and they were also a mixed race.