Why were there Jews scattered all over the world instead of only in Israel?
The Jews were scattered because the Babylonian captivity under Nebuchadnezzar began in 606 B.C., and many captives never chose to return to the land of Israel. Instead they migrated throughout the then-known world, establishing synagogues in Asia Minor, Greece, and Rome, so Paul found Jews already living there.
Les explains that the scattering of Jews across the world goes back to the Babylonian captivity. When Nebuchadnezzar took them captive in 606 B.C., many Jews never returned to the land of Israel; they migrated into all the other areas of the then-known world. That is why, centuries later, wherever the Apostle Paul traveled—first Asia Minor, then Greece, and finally Rome—he found Jews and synagogues already there. Les ties 606 B.C. to the beginning of the times of the Gentiles, because from the destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar until the Second Coming, Jerusalem and the land of Israel have been under Gentile powers. Even today, Les says, Israel is not as free as people think, still under the influence of the U.N. and the United States.