Persian Period

The Persian Period was the last period from 539 BC that we read about in Malachi. Our Biblical history is complete up to this point.

Alexandrian Period

The period of time between 323-301 BC is the Alexandrian Period, named after Alexander the Great. Alexander was not a Greek, though he was as educated (or better) than the Greeks of his day. Alexander studied under the noted philosopher Aristotle.

When Alexander built his great war machine and conquered Israel he followed the Persian system of government. Alexander knew that it would be easier to keep these people within his kingdom if he didn't impose religious restrictions on them. He had seen too many empires fall when religion was legislated. His major concern was that the Jews peacefully obey his rule. As long as they complied and avoided revolution, Alexander allowed them to prosper both financially as well as religiously.

Alexander also had a unique method of ruling borrowed from the Persians. After conquering Israel he placed Israel's same leaders back in power, and left them in power, as long as they supported his government. Alexander was a ruling polygamist: That is, he often married women of high ranking families in the nations that he conquered. He did the same in Israel. By doing this, the people felt that Alexander's wife was their "queen", and it further helped keep the people from revolting.

In 323 BC Alexander died. As when any great leader dies suddenly there was a struggle for power, and four of Alexander's Generals emerged triumphant. These Generals divided the kingdom into four parts. The two most significant were Salucius, who controlled Syria and the eastern part of the Kingdom. The other, Ptolomy, controlled Egypt and Palestine.

The Egyptian Period

The Egyptian Period was from 301-198 BC. The Egyptian Period was not started nor controlled by Egyptians, but by Ptolomy (see above), one of Alexander's Generals.

Ptolomy I was the first ruler over Palestine during this reign. He established Alexandria, and created a Great Library in the capital city.

Ptolomy II extended the Library, and encouraged (but did not force) the Jewish people to migrate into Egypt, a Greek speaking culture. The Jews obliged, as commerce was more brisk in Egypt, and they learned Greek well - a little too well. As they learned Greek the Jews forsake their native Hebrew tongue. This caused religious problems, as the Bible was only written in Hebrew. Ptolomy II  started the Jewish Scholars to translate the Hebrew Bible into the Greek language. This translation was called the Septuagint, as it was allegedly translated by 70 scholars. In Ptolomy II's reign about 5 books of the Hebrew Bible were translated into Greek so the populace could read it. The remainder of the Septuagint was completed around 200 BC.

The Syrian Period

The Syrian Period was from 198-167 BC. Again, this period was controlled by one of the parts of Alexander's empire which came to be known as Syria. When Ptolomy II died his infant son was "placed on the throne". Antiocus Epiphanes (Antiocus IV) of Syria saw this as an opportunity for advancement, so he took over Palestine.

Antiocus Epiphanes was more forceful than other rulers, demanding that the Jews adopt both Greek culture and religion if they wanted peace. This ruler claimed to be "a god", and demanded worship. The coins of his kingdom bore the inscription. "God manifest, victory bearer". Antiocus Epiphanes did what Alexander avoided: caused two groups to rise up. One was the Hellenistic Jews, who felt that it was fine to "go with the flow" to keep peace in Israel. The Hellenists also wanted riches and fame, and felt that their obedience would guarantee this.

The conservative Orthodox Jews refused to follow Antiocus Epiphanes, for they felt that such a compromise would anger the true God.

Both the Hellenists and the Orthodox parties wanted their man as High Priest, and this dispute caused a local rebellion. Antiocus Epiphanes, on hearing of the rebellion, mistakenly thought that it was an uprising against his government. He sent troops in who quelled the rebellion after great bloodshed.

After this, Antiocus Epiphanes headed back to Egypt to overthrow it. But while he was settling the dispute in Palestine, Rome had already been there, conquering the whole region. In his anger he went back to Jerusalem, burned all Scriptures, and banned all form of worship other than his own. In 168 BC he confiscated the Temple treasury, set up an idolatrous altar, and sacrificed a pig on it.

The Maccabean Period

The Maccabean Period began with a priest called Maddithias. While Maddithias was practicing in the Temple, a Greek emissary came in and demanded that he lead in idolatrous worship. When Maddithias refused to do this, a Hellenistic Jew nearby offered to do so in his stead. This so angered Maddithias that he killed the Jew, a soldier and the emissary, and fled into the wilderness with his sons.

The son of Maddithias was Judas the Maccabean (Judas the Hammerer). From 167-63 BC Judas led guerillas against Antiocus Epiphanes armies. Their guerrilla warfare was successful, and they succeeded in gaining all of Palestine but a small part. Judas led his troops to Jerusalem and, entering the Temple, destroyed all of the Pagan artifacts. This famous day became a holiday to the Orthodox Jews, and was even celebrated in Jesus' day (John 10:22 "And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.")

Syria was plagued with internal problems at this time, and was unable to raise a large enough force to take over the region. So the Jews were allowed religious freedom, though they were still considered subjects of Syria. This wasn't enough for Judas, for he wanted both religious as well as political freedom. So he continued with his attacks, though he lost some of his earlier supporters. Judas sent an envoy to Rome to ask for assistance. Rome complied, but too late. Syria eventually dispatched a large enough army to destroy Judas and his guerrillas.

Judas' brother, Jonathan, led guerrillas outside of Judea to kill Hellenistic Jews. These Syrian allies were stopped in their tracks. Judas' other brother, Simon, kept up the guerrilla attacks against Syria. Simon was supposed to be a High Priest, Civil Leader, as well as a Military Governor (1 Maccabees 14.41). His efforts were so successful that Israel was given political freedom around 143 BC.

Simon's son John followed in the footsteps of his father, and maintained Judah's freedom for several more years.

The Roman Period

Alexandria was the wife of two ruling sons who, after both sons died, took over the throne. She was a good ruling Queen who had two sons, Aristobules and Archanus. Both children wanted the throne, so they appealed to Rome to make the decision.

Pompei, the ruler in Rome, came to Palestine to overthrow it. Rome overthrew the area and placed Judah under their rule. Archanus was placed on the throne as both religious and governmental leader of Palestine. The people of Israel continued to rebel, so Rome removed their political powers entirely.

With this void, the political powers in Judah naturally started to gravitate toward the High Priest. Over time, the High Priests of Israel became less concerned with spiritual things and more concerned over the worldly political arena. This caused a group of laymen to rise up in Israel to seek and minister to the spiritual needs of the people.

The Idiomeans were a nation of people near Israel. Since Rome misunderstood the Jews, they felt that to place Israel under the Idiomean rule was to "get rid of a bad situation" Plus, they felt that the Israelites wouldn't seek to band together with another nation like Idiomea. Herod the Great came out of this nation. (Matthew 2)

Herod, though a bid mad, was a great builder and administrator, and probably helped Israel a great deal. He married a Jewish woman to better his bond with the people, though he later murdered her for infidelity.  Herod was responsible for remodeling and expanding the Temple of Israel. When Herod died (around 4 BC) his three sons ruled: Archalaus was given Judah and Samaria, though he was removed in 6 AD because of incompetence. Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Peria. This Herod had John the Baptist beheaded, and met Jesus just before His crucifixion. Philip ruled the districts north of Galilee.

The Scribes

The Scribes came into being early in the post-exile period. The Scribes initially started out as laymen to help minister to the spiritual needs of Israel, while the High Priest concerned himself with worldly political things. The Scribes were meant to be professional Teachers, guardians of the Law. They knew the Hebrew language that others forgot, and thus were able to interpret the Bible for the people. Eventually the Scribes became cold in their work, and were bound up in tradition rather than the application of Scripture. These Rabbis often, in Jesus' day, twisted the Scripture as necessary to meet their own needs.

The Synagogue

When Babylon destroyed the Temple, the Jews created the Synagogue. The Synagogue was a place where the Law was studied and prayer was made to God. If as few as ten Jews gathered together in one place, they established that place as a Synagogue.

When the Temple was rebuilt, the Jews continued to meet in the Synagogue. This is because the Priesthood was, to a large part, corrupted, and was too involved in the day's politics. The Synagogue was, to a degree, a parallel to the Local Church of our era.

The Pharisees

The Pharisees were the conservative orthodox Jews that sprang up during the Syrian period. The Pharisees refused to follow Antiocus Epiphanes, for they felt that such a compromise would anger the true God. They were straight laced, ultra conservative, Biblical literalists. The Pharisees were seperationists, unwilling to take on either Greek culture or influence. I guess you could call them the Jewish Resistance Party, and were the most popular religious group of that day. The Pharisees were greatly influenced by Jewish tradition, and this eventually became their stumbling block.

The Pharisees believed in a literal resurrection from the dead, just as Christians do today. They were very similar in belief to Calvinists, and emphasized the Sovereignty of God in daily life.

The Saducees

The Saducees were the liberal Hellenistic Jews that also sprang up during the Syrian period. They were "pro-Syria", and often sought the easiest path of least resistance insofar as the conquerors were concerned. The Saducees felt that it was fine to "go with the flow" to keep peace in Israel. They wanted riches and fame, and felt that their obedience would guarantee this. The Saducees were a minority party that was very unpopular in Israel, though they had great influence in the political Temple and in the Sanhedrin.

The Saducees did not believe in a literal resurrection from the dead. This is why they were "Sad, You See" (HA! A little way to remember their distinction from the Pharisees). The Saducees also refused to believe in demons or angels. They were the liberal Theologians of our day.

The Sanhedrin

The first reliable mention that we have of the Sanhedrin is during the reign of Antiocus The Great (223-187 BC). In Greek, the Sanhedrin was called the Senate. The High Priest headed the Sanhedrin, and the Aristocracy were it's members. There were a few Pharisees among it's members, but most were the Saducees. It was the Sanhedrin that accused and illegally tried Christ as a traitor to Israel.

The Apocrypha

This is the Pseudopigrapha, or False Scriptural Writings, that came out of the Four Hundred silent years. The Apocrypha holds some good historical data about this period, but have been rejected by the Protestant Church as heretical writings. Contrary to the Protestants, the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent (1546 AD) canonized these odd books as Scripture.