Hello Bible Adventurists
Congratulations! Today marks the completion of the first leg of our journey, the Old Testament. This leaves us in about 400BC with Jerusalem and the Temple rebuilt performing the Mosaic daily sacrifices, but still under the political control of the Medes. About 330BC, Alexander the Great conquered most of Asia Minor and Persia, including Judea. Alexander died suddenly in 323BC, and his kingdom was divided among his military generals and regional governors. Jerusalem was on the border between the Egyptians and the Greek Syrians. Border wars between these two powers changed control of Jerusalem several times but ended with the Syrians, who’s king forcibly demanded Jewish culture be abandoned and Greek culture adopted. This grew into a genocidal effort to wipe out the Jews. Jewish resistance was led by five brothers, the most prominent being Judas Maccabeus. This “Maccabean rebellion” (174BC -135BC) had miraculous military victories and kept the Jewish culture, traditions, and scripture alive. Judea eventually signed a mutual support treaty with the young Roman republic which later took control of the region in 63BC. Herod was placed as governor over Judea by Julius Caesar in 47BC. That brings us to the start of the New Testament. Merry Christmas! Now it’s all Good News. Thanks for joining me on this adventure. I hope you are enjoying it.
Tom