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Evidence
of God's Sovereignty: In our third study we wrap up our bird's eye view of the history of the Jewish nation - this time focusing on the nation of Israel from the time of the restoration from exile continuing on through the beginning of the New Testament era. As before, keep your eye out for the sovereign hand of God as we survey the history of his chosen people - the Jews. The Restoration: 538 - 432 B.C.This period of Israel's history is recorded in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. (The book of Esther, set during the historical period covered by the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, tells the incredible story of how God inserted a young Jewish woman into the royal family of Persia in order to save the Jewish people from genocide during the period of the exile.) At the close of our last lesson we left the Jewish people in exile in the land of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, the powerful Babylonian king who destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and exiled her people, died in 562 B.C. After his death, Babylon's strength faltered under subsequent rulers until eventually, in 539 B.C., the once-invincible nation of Babylon met its demise at the hands of the Medo-Persian Empire. This empire (a Persian-dominated federation of the former Median and Persian Empires) was ruled by Cyrus the Great who implemented a policy of benevolence towards the subjects of the empire. Rather than treating conquered peoples harshly, under Cyrus the Persians allowed their conquered subjects to own land and homes. Cyrus even allowed many groups (the Jews included) to return to their homelands. By so doing, he hoped to ensure their loyalty to the empire.
In the opening words of Ezra we are told:
And so, after 70 years of exile, with the decree of Cyrus the Jews began their long-awaited return to the land of Israel. They did not return all at once, however. (In fact, some never returned.) The repopulation of Israel occurred through a series of stages each led by a different leader of the Jews.
The Time Between the Testaments: 432 - 5 B.C.With the conclusion of the book of Nehemiah we reach the end of the historical account of the Jewish nation as recorded in Old Testament scripture. (The remainder of the Old Testament primarily consists of the various prophetic books written throughout the historical period we have been surveying.) In Biblical history, the approximately 400 years that separate Nehemiah from the birth of Jesus are referred to as "the intertestamental period". This period is sometimes referred to as "the silent years" because during this time there was no new revelation from God. What we know of this period comes primarily from non-Biblical sources. The section which follows summarizes in bullet form the major historical and social developments which occurred during this period and those events which led to the historical and cultural setting we find at the opening of the New Testament.
Notes
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reconstructed over many years.
Eventually, in 20 B.C. Herod the Great began a huge project to greatly
renovate and expand Zerubbabel's temple. This "third" temple, which
was not completely finished until 64 A.D., came to be known as Herod's Temple.
(This is the temple that was in existence during the life of Jesus.) From the
date of its final completion Herod's temple endured only six years. It was
destroyed by the Romans, along with Jerusalem, in 70 A.D. The Jewish Temple
has never been rebuilt since that time. References in both the Old and the New
Testament indicate that the temple will be rebuilt again, however,
sometime before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. (See, for example, Daniel
9:27 and 11:31, Matthew 24:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, and Revelation 11:1-2.)
Nehemiah was a Jew who had grown up in the Persian
Empire during the period of the exile and served as cupbearer to the Persian
king Artaxerxes. (A cupbearer was one who, among other duties, tasted wine
before the king drank it to ensure it had not been poisoned by someone
trying to kill the king.) When news reached Nehemiah that the walls of
Jerusalem still had not been rebuilt, it grieved him and he determined to
return to Jerusalem and honor God by rebuilding the walls and city of
Jerusalem.
When Alexander died in 323 B.C. the Greek
empire was divided and eventually evolved into two competing political
dynasties - the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. The Ptolemies controlled
Palestine from approximately 320 - 198 B.C. Under Ptolemaic rule (as
with Alexander before), the Jews were allowed to continue a form of
local Jewish government and religious activity. However, in 198 the
Ptolemies were defeated by the Seleucids and things gradually began to
change. In 175 B.C. Antiochus IV Epiphanes became ruler of the Seleucids
and began to vigorously enforce the Hellenization policy upon the Jews.
The Hasmonean family continued to rule Palestine
until 63 B.C. when, after a civil war had erupted between two fighting
factions of the Hasmonean family, the expanding empire of Rome stepped
in to intervene. Led by the general Pompey, the Romans captured
Jerusalem and established firm political and military control over all
of Palestine. In 40 B.C., after continuing power struggles within the
Hasmonean family, Rome appointed Herod the Great king of Judea. (As
noted above, one of Herod's most significant accomplishments was the
expansion and renovation of the Jewish temple.) As the New Testament
opens, Herod is the ruler over all of Palestine.
