of the Book of Daniel, which was added several centuries later). Not
surprisingly, the canonized Hebrew Bible ended with the narrative of the
Chronicler, which ends with the reforms of Ezra. Though little is known
about the period between the reforms of Ezra and the arrival of Alexander
the Great in the Land of Israel in 332, it can be said that much of what
Alexander found in 332 B.C.E. was similar to the Jewish society and reli-
gion forged by Ezra.
The world of the Hebrew Bible 25