- Between the Testaments.
From the death of Nehemiah to the fall of the Medo-Persian empire before the Macedonian little
is known of the Jews. The high priests were practically the rulers of the people. They were
assisted by a council of one hundred and twenty members, called the great synagogue. The
royal house of David sank into oblivion, prophecy was suspended, and the Jews gradually
became more and more exclusive and austere, both religiously and socially.
(1) The Hellenistic Domination.
B.C.
Alexander the Great defeated Darius
(Codo-mannus) and founded the
Macedonian empire-the Greek empire in
Asia
...............................................................331-167
Death of Alexander the Great at
Babylon.....................................................323
Alexander's four generals (the diadochi)
divide his empire between them. Palestine
becomes a part of Syra..............................323
Judea is annexed to Egypt when the
Graeco-Egyptian kingdom is founded, and
the Jews came under the dominion of the
Ptolemies. The Jews are scattered over the
heathen world....................................301-221
The Old Testament began to be translated
into Greek by learned Jews in Alexandria
for the use of the African Jews. The
translation was probably completed
during the next century. It is called the
Septuagint (q.v.) Version.........................291
Antiochus III., the Great, overruns
Palestine....................................................219
Ptolemy IV. of Egypt recovers
Palestine...................................................217
The Jews submit to Antiochus the Great 205
Antiochus the Great defeats the
Etgyptians, and Palestine becomes a part
of the Graeco-Syrian kingdom................197
Antichus IV. (Epiphanies) usurps the
Graeco-Syrian throne.............................175
Antiochus cruelly persecutes the Jews,
ordering all his subjects on pain of death
to adopt the Graeco-Syrian religion and
customs..............................................170-167
(2.) The Period of the Maccabees and the
Ashmonaean Kings. B.C.
A band of Patriotic Jews, headed by
Matthias the Ashmonaean, rebel against
the tyranny of Antiochus.......................166
Antiochus dies at Tabae in Persia, being
stricken with a loathsome disease (comp.
Acts 12:23), which he recognizes as a
judgment sent upon him for his treatment
of the Jews..............................................164
After a period of varying success, the
Maccabean commonwealth, introducing
the era of Jewish independence, is
established.............................................143
The Ashmonaean kings rule over Judea
Pompey annexes Syria to Rome, and Judea
becomes from this time a Roman
dependency................................................63
Julius Caesar appoints Anipater, son of
Antipas, an Idumaean chief, first
procurator of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee,
and henceforward the Herodian family
supplants the Ashmonaean........................47
Antipater makes his son Herod joint (with
his brother Phasael) tetrarch of Judea and
Galilee...........................................................41
(3.) The Herodian Kindom.
Herod the Great takes Jerusalem, and
becomes the founder of the Herodian
kingdom. End of the Ashmonaean line...37
Battle of Actium.....................................31
Egypt becomes a Roman province, and is
the chief seat of the Jewish Dispersion...30