Did they return after the diaspora?
Interestingly, the "diaspora" is defined as (1)
exile from Jerusalem since it was their cultural and religious center and (2) the scattering of the people (i.e., there isn't a centralized community anymore). So as soon as Jews were banned from
Jerusalem they were considered in exile/dispersed, and as long as they are not all home they are still in their diaspora. Now, I would always read "
exiled from Jerusalem" and immediately interpret it to mean "
exiled from the total land of Judea" as a knee-jerk interpretation, as if the land was completely emptied out, however, the details of scripture and history are important (as I'm sure you've found).
Some Jews never left the land of
Judea, especially the poor who couldn't afford to travel (unlike the wealthy of
Jerusalem who fled in all directions). Judgment was passed on Jerusalem, a city in Judea. In 70AD, there was a total decimation of any Jew who stayed in Jerusalem followed by the banning of any Jews who fled from returning to the city of Jerusalem for a time...but many continued in the land of Judea (specifically, The Galilee, but all over Judea) which was eventually renamed
Syria-Palestine.
Other Jews who lived in Palestine migrated to Babylon and built a community there. Eventually, there were two prominent communities of Jews: Palestinians (as they were known) who remained in the land and Babylonians who considered the Palestinians "of lesser stock" (
sounds familiar...) and disagreed with them on many things. -
See excerpt
[By the way, The Pharisees - the same called "brood of vipers" by Messiah - migrated to Babylon and created The Babylonian Talmud, a collection of all the man-made religious traditions that the Messiah denounced because they negated the Laws of The Almighty. Babylonian missionaries then
migrated North from Babylon to spread "Talmudism" as it was originally known before they renamed it "Judaism". They also established that if a woman of any ethnic background converts to Judaism any children born to her would be ethnically Jewish, tracing their heritage through the woman instead of through the man as scripture teaches. But I digress...]
Fast-forward to the time of the Byzantine Empire conquering Palestine in the 600s AD, and the Jews fled Palestine into the mountains...but under the
ARAB ISLAMIC EMPIRE after 638AD many Jews were allowed to return and repopulate Palestine; some estimate 300k-400k Jews living in Palestine at the time. But regardless of the number, scholars agree that Jews were the majority in the land at the time. Yet under the rule of the Islamic Empire,
the majority "adopted Islam, the Arabic language, and added elements of Arab culture [to their culture]". -
Palestinian Identity and Cultural Heritage
During this time, the Islamic ruler in charge also allowed any remaining Jews to resettle in Jerusalem for the first time in 500 years...but out of those who retained their culture as Jews they weren't allowed to worship on the Temple Mount since the Dome of the Rock was built. Only those who followed Islam were allowed to worship.
Next, we skip ahead to...
The Crusades 1099-1500s (not exact timeframe): Roman Catholic Christians VS Muslims. The Christian crusaders who claimed the land would persecute Jews as enemies of God...and when Muslims would claim the land they welcomed the Jews back and encouraged them to resettle in Jerusalem. Back and forth this went on for centuries with the MUSLIMS purposely not harming the JEWS each time (I believe they are the "locust" of
Revelation 9 tasked with not harming those marked...).
So there were always Jews in Palestine eventually known as Palestinians after the land was renamed, who either converted to Christianity or Islam or retained their traditions as Jews.
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There's a lot more to this that I'm tempted to add but is getting pretty long, but I think what I've shared so far answers your initial question. Let me know if it doesn't.
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