The Intertestamental Period: From Babylon To The Birth Of Christ

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The Intertestamental Period From Babylon To The
Birth Of Christ

• Greek Period

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Announcements
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Intertestamental Period
Week Date Topic
1 05 Mar 14 Overview
2 12 Mar 14 Babylonian Period (605-539 BC)
3 19 Mar 14 Persian Period (539-332 BC)
4 26 Mar 14 Greek Period (332-323 BC)
5 02 Apr 14 Ptolemaic (323-198 BC)
6 09 Apr 14 Syrian (198-168 BC)
7 16 Apr 14 Maccabean Part 1 (168-153 BC)
8 23 Apr 14 Maccabean Part 2 (153-139 BC)
9 30 Apr 14 Independence (139-63 BC)
10 07 May 14 Rome Intervenes (63 37 BC)
11 14 May 14 Herod (37 BC 4 BC)
12 21 May 14 The IT Period and Christianity (4 BC 70 AD)
13 28 May 14 Review
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Todays Objectives

• Review last weeks lesson
• Review the transition of power between Persians
  and the Greeks
• Review key Biblical scriptures
• Learn about the political, social, economic,
  cultural, and religious issues during the Greek
  rule over Israel
• Learn about Alexander's impact on the
  Mediterranean and Asian regions
• Learn about the transition of the Greek empire

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Last weeks lesson

• Reviewed last weeks lesson
• Reviewed the transition of power between Babylon
  and the Persians
• Reviewed key Biblical scriptures
• Learned about the political, social, economic,
  cultural, and religious issues during the Persian
  rule over Israel
• Learned where and why all the Israelites did not
  return to Judah
• Learned about the fall of the Persian empire

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Reference Material

• KJV (w/ Apocrypha)
• 1st and 2nd Maccabbees
• Josephus The Complete Works
• Herodotus The History
• Intertestamental History Mark Moore
• Ancient Rome Simon Baker
• Harding University BNEW 112 Course Notes Dr.
  Thompson

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Persian Empire
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Greek Rule 1 of 3

• Alexander was the son of Philip of Macedon
• Alexander claimed paternal descent from Heracles
  and maternal descent from Achilles
• Philip was a very capable General and
  administrator
• Forced the independent and warring city-states of
  Macedonia and Greece proper into a national
  identity

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Greek Rule 2 of 3

• Philip obtained the best teachers for his young
  son Alexander foremost among them was Aristotle,
  reading Homer
• Philip was murdered in 336 B.C.
• Alexander was forced, for his own survival, to
  assume aggressive military leadership of the
  nation which his father had forged together
• Alexander excelled leading his army
• Solidified his hold on Greece

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Greek Rule 3 of 3

• Captured and burned the city of Thebes and sold
  its inhabitants into slavery
• Captured the ancient city of Troy
• Alexander refined the phalanx system of attack
  and defense
• Made superior use of his cavalry
• Unrestrained immorality led to his demise
• His kingdom was divided up among his generals
• Successful in spreading the Greek culture, or
  Hellenization

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1 Maccabees Chapter 11-10

• 1 And it happened, after that Alexander son of
  Philip, the Macedonian, who came out of the land
  of Chettiim, had smitten Darius king of the
  Persians and Medes, that he reigned in his stead,
  the first over Greece,
• 2 And made many wars, and won many strong holds,
  and slew the kings of the earth,
• 3 And went through to the ends of the earth, and
  took spoils of many nations, insomuch that the
  earth was quiet before him whereupon he was
  exalted and his heart was lifted up.
• 4 And he gathered a mighty strong host and ruled
  over countries, and nations, and kings, who
  became tributaries unto him.
• 5 And after these things he fell sick, and
  perceived that he should die.
• 6 Wherefore he called his servants, such as were
  honourable, and had been brought up with him from
  his youth, and parted his kingdom among them,
  while he was yet alive.
• 7 So Alexander reigned twelve years, and then
  died.
• 8 And his servants bare rule every one in his
  place.
• 9 And after his death they all put crowns upon
  themselves so did their sons after them many
  years and evils were multiplied in the earth.
• 10 And there came out of them a wicked root
  Antiochus surnamed Epiphanes, son of Antiochus
  the king, who had been an hostage at Rome, and he
  reigned in the hundred and thirty and seventh
  year of the kingdom of the Greeks.

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Phalanx
18 foot pike
256 Men
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Thracian Maedi (339 B.C.)

• Alexander was 16 years old
• Philip departed to wage war against Byzantium
• Alexander was left in charge as regent of the
  kingdom
• The Thracian Maedi revolted
• Alexander responded quickly and crushed the Maedi
  insurgence driving them from their territory,
  colonized it with Greeks and founded a city
  called Alexandropolis

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Battle of Issus (333 B.C.)

• Darius III of Persia did not take Alexanders
  campaign seriously
• Alexander intended to liberate all of Asia
  Minor from Persian control
• Darius with a large army met Alexander at Issus,
  near the Cilician Gates
• Routed the Persians and captured the royal
  household
• Darius barely escaped with his life
• Battle marks the end of Persias dominance over
  the Near East

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Occupation of Jerusalem (332 B.C.)

• In order to protect his southern flank, Alexander
  marched south to take Palestine and Egypt
• Most cities surrendered to him, except Tyre and
  Gaza
• Alexander then spent the winter in Egypt and
  returned north in the spring of 331
• Ordered the building of Alexandria
• Jews gained favor under Alexanders rule
• Samaritans tried to share in this favor, but
  angered Alexander who destroyed Samaria

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The New Alexander

• Alexander declared himself basileus (king) and
  the son of Ammon (an Egyptian sun god)
• He adopted the clothing and behavior of an
  Oriental royal leader
• Strained the relation between him and his army
• He became increasingly cruel
• Merciless sack of Persepolis

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Alexanders Death

• Alexander continued to push his troops eastward
• Unrestrained expansion of the empire
• On the way to the Ganges Valley in India his army
  refused to go further
• Forced finally to start making his way back to
  Greece
• Alexander died in Babylon in 323 B.C. at the age
  of 32
• Died of a sickness possibly poison

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Division of the Greek Empire

• Diadochoi it is the title given to the Greek
  generals who carved up Alexanders empire among
  themselves after his death
• One of them, Cassander, murdered Alexanders
  widow and his infant son
• After seven years of fighting, four men emerged
  as the most powerful
• Antigonus (Mediterranean Sea to Asia)
• Ptolemy Lagi (Egypt and south Syria)
• Cassander (Macedonia)
• Lysimachus (Thrace)

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Further Division

• In 312 B.C. the other three Diadochoi contained
  the overambitious Antigonus
• In 311 B.C. Ptolemys General Seleucus split off
  on his own and established himself as ruler of
  Babylon and Syria
• Four rulers still remained (Dan 76 88 114)
• Of special importance to Jewish history
• Ptolemies in Egypt
• Seleucids in Syria
• Palestine became a political football between
  these competing powers

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Route of Alexanders March
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Alexanders Influence on Jews

• Ruled over a further degeneration of the
  relationship between Jews and Samaritans
• Does not destroy the Temple as requested by the
  Samaritans
• Jewish history states that Alexander gives Jews
  freedom to worship God
• Jews continue to flourish as a separate and
  distinct entity for 165 years
• Jews - with the exception of a small minority -
  reject Hellenism, Greeks grow intolerable and the
  Greek culture infects Judaism

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Review

• Reviewed last weeks lesson
• Reviewed the transition of power between Persians
  and the Greeks
• Reviewed key Biblical scriptures
• Learn about the political, social, economic,
  cultural, and religious issues during the Greek
  rule over Israel
• Learn about Alexander's impact on the
  Mediterranean and Asian regions
• Learn about the transition of the Greek empire
• Next week Ptolemaic Empire