Author : Keith Sharp
Bible Survey : Lesson Seventeen
The history related by the canonical books of the Old Testament closes in ca. 400 B.C.. There follows a four hundred year period in which there were no prophets in Israel and thus no inspired books to tell us about Israel. What we know about the Jews during this era is primarily from the apocryphal books, found in the Old Testament section of Catholic Bibles, and the books of the Jewish historian Josephus.
Persia (536 B.C. – 330 B.C.)
As the written record of the Old Testament comes to an end, tiny Israel, occupying a small area of Judah around Jerusalem, is an unimportant part of the great empire of Persia. The Jews were loyal subjects of Persia and enjoyed the mild rule of the early Persian kings, who were the first ancient rulers to treat their conquered subjects kindly.
Beginning with the rule of Artaxerxes II (B.C. 404 – 358), the Persian Empire declined in power and glory.
Across the Aegean Sea lay the Greeks in the Southeastern corner of Europe. At the height of its power, Persia had temporarily ruled some of Greece, but in a series of famous battles, the Greeks had expelled the Persians from Europe.
Greece (330 B.C. – 142 B.C.)
Philip of Macedon conquered the rest of Greece and united the Greeks under Macedonian rule. When he was assissinated in 336 B.C., his twenty year old son, Alexander, who had been educated by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, became king. Alexander believed Greek culture (Hellenism) to be the best in the world and determined to spread it everywhere.
Alexander crossed the Hellespont and invaded Persia. He met and defeated King Darius in a series of battles concluded by the decisive battle of Gaugamela in 331 B.C.. In 330 B.C. he sacked the Persian capital Persepolis and brought the Persian Empire to an end.
Alexander and his army marched with stunning rapidity across Southern Asia conquering as they went. They even crossed the Idus River into India. There his troops refused to go farther, and Alexander returned westward to Babylon, where he died in 323 B.C. at 33 years of age, having put together the largest empire the world had known to that time.
Alexander did not have an heir, so four of his generals, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, Cassander, and Seleucus, after ten years of struggle, divided up his empire among themselves. A period of constant warfare followed. Palestine, where the Jews lived, was between Syria, ruled by the Seleucids, and Egypt, ruled by the Ptolemies.
The Jews were nominally ruled by the Ptolemies from 323 – 198 B.C., but the Seleucids and the Ptolemies fought many wars for control of Palestine during this time, and ruled over the little country went back and forth.
Alexander had built in Egypt a city bearing his own name which remains to this day, Alexandria. There Ptolemy Philadelphus built a great library, which made Alexandria the center of learning for the world. A large Jewish colony grew up there which became Greek speaking. Here the Old Testament was translated into Greek. This translation was called the “Septuagint” (abbreviated LXX), because tradition held that seventy Jewish scholars made the translation. This translation enabled the Gentiles to read the Old Testament, it is often quoted in the New Testament, and it was the Old Testament used by Christians for the first three centuries the church existed.
The Greek rulers forced the Greek language and culture on their subjects, including the Jews. They emphasized enjoying life and being cultured. They built planned cities full of statues of Greek heroes, gods, and goddesses, gymnasiums for exercise (where people exercised naked), theaters for the arts, stadiums for athletic contests, and hippodromes for chariot races. They dressed in the latest styles. They openly engaged in immoral practices.
In 198 B.C. Antiochus III (“The Great”) finally defeated the Ptolemies and gained control of Palestine for the Seleucids.
Antiochus Epiphanes (“the brilliant one”), as he called himself, the son of Antiochus III, was determined to enforce Hellenism (Greek culture) on the Jews. Many Jews loyal to the Law of Moses were killed or sold into slavery. He plundered the Temple and put an end to observance of the Jewish feast days. He forbade the Jews to observe the Sabbath, read the Scriptures, or circumcise their sons. He outraged Israelites by sacrificing a hog on the altar and building an altar in the Temple court to the Greek god Zeus.
In 167 B.C. a Seleucid representative required that the aged priest Mattathias offer sacrifices to pagan gods in his home village. When he refused, another Jew stepped forward to do so. Mattathias was enraged and killed both the king’s emissary and the compromising Jew. Then he and his five sons fled to the hills.
Many other loyal Jews joined them, and the Maccabean revolt began. The family of Mattathias were called by the people the Maccabees (“hammerers”). Mattathias’ third son, Judas, was chosen to lead a guerilla army. Judas won a series of brilliant victories over the armies of Antiochus. Antiochus eventually died of a loathsome disease without reconquering the Jews.
On December 25th, 165 B.C. the family of Mattathias rededicated the Temple to the Lord. This was memorialized by the eight day Feast of Dedication (cf. John 10:22), which is today called “Hanukkah.”
Antiochus’ successor, Lysias, defeated Judas in battle but needed to return to Antioch to meet a crisis. So he granted the Jews religious freedom but not political freedom.
Macabees (142 B.C. – 63 B.C.)
In 142 B.C. Simon, Judas’ brother, was made high priest and the Jews were granted independence from Syria. Thus, under Maccabean rule the Jews became an independent nation for the first time since 606 B.C. and even enjoyed prosperity. During the rule of Simon’s son, John Hyrcanus, Israel expanded to almost the extent of its size under David and Solomon.
During this time religious-political parties grew up in Israel. The “Hasidim” (“pious”) believed in strict observance of the Law and no compromise with Hellenism. They became the Pharisees (separatists). This was the party popular with the people. Those who were willing to compromise with the Greeks in order to obtain power and prestige became the Sadducees. They were a small party of politically powerful aristocrats who controlled the high priesthood. Strife between these two parties led to the decline of the nation and eventual loss of freedom.
Romans (63 B.C. – A.D. 105)
Rome, which was still a republic but going through great turmoil, was the powerful nation expanding from the west. Romans had already conquered Egypt and Greece and were poised to take Syria. When civil war broke out in Palestine over who would be high priest, the Roman general Pompey used the opportunity to take control for Rome in 63 B.C.
In 48 B.C. Julius Caesar defeated Pompey in the Battle of Pharsalus and was made dictator of Rome. Antipater, an Idumean (Edomite), who had backed Pompey, convinced Caesar of his loyalty, and Caesar made him Procurator of Judea. The Jews hated Antipater, and he was poisoned after one year of rule. Three years later Caesar was assassinated.
Herod, the son of Antipater, and thus an Idumean, won favor with Mark Antony, who appointed him governor of Judea. When Octavius was victorious over Antony in the Battle of Actium (31 B.C.) and became the first Emperor of Rome under the title Caesar Augustus, Herod managed to retain power. Herod married Mariamne who was descended from the Maccabees.
Herod was unscrupulous and suspicious of everyone. He had Mariamne and his own sons murdered. He tried to curry favor with the Jews by building them a magnificent Temple, but they hated him. He carried on a reign of terror.
The Lord God had now accomplished His purpose through the Jewish nation and several Gentile nations. The time and conditions were right. All things were now ready for the Christ to come into the world and for the universal kingdom of God to be established on earth.
