The death of Malachi ushered in the beginning of a great prophetic silence. And though, during this age, much of the vision shown to Daniel by the angel Gabriel came to pass, they are not counted among the holy writings inspired by God.
As was shown in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the golden kingdom of Babylon had already fallen to the Persian kingdom of silver. Because many Jews were still scattered among the nations, far from the rebuilt temple, they created many synagogues, places where they could pray, and study all of the writings through their history that God had commanded be written down, called the Tanakh, and be in community with one another so their culture would not be absorbed and erased as generations lived their lives away from Jerusalem.
A little more than 100 years after Artaxerxes sent Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, the king from Daniel’s vision, a Greek named Alexander the Great, defeated the Persian empire and ushered in the bronze kingdom, making Greek language and culture dominant throughout the land, though he never set his sites Westward towards the city of Rome, who had already begun conquering neighboring Italian city-states. The reign of Alexander was not long. Seven years after his defeat of Persia, Alexander died. As was foretold, he had no heir so on his deathbed those surrounding him asked who should rule after his death. “The strongest,” was his reply and with these words, control over his vast empire became contested by dynasties born from four of his generals.
Cassander’s line ruled in Macedonia, Alexander’s birthplace. Next to him was the house of Lysimachus in Thrace. But the greatest powers were the dynasty of Ptolomy in Egypt and Seleucus in Persia. As Gabriel had shown to Daniel, These kingdoms of the North and South often vied with each other for power, but it was the Ptolemies who laid claim to Jerusalem for the next 100 years. Though they allowed the Jews to maintain their culture and religion, which caused some among them to view the Greeks favorably, even going so far as to translate the Tanakh into Greek, others felt this influence tainted their culture and faith. During this age, Rome consolidated its control over the entire Italian peninsula.
After over 100 years under Ptolemaic rule, the Seleucid empire, which now comprised virtually all of the former Persian empire, wrested control of Judah away from the Ptolemies as their power diminished. Setting their sights westward, they battled the Romans, but lost, and were forced to abandon Asia Minor, the land to the Northwest of Judah.
A few decades later the pro-Grecian Jews bribed the Seleucid king, Antiochus Epiphanes, to allow them to install a high priest of their choosing. But the more traditional Jews did not approve and began to riot. Unlike the Ptolemies, Antiochus had little patience for the Jews and desired that only Greek culture would thrive. As was told in Daniel’s vision, Antiochus vented his fury against the Jews, causing some of them to abandon Yahweh. He imposed martial law and forbade the practice of the Jewish faith, going so far as to place an idol inside the rebuilt temple. Again, as was foreseen, those who remained loyal to God violently fought back against this invader in what became known as the Maccabean revolt. After more than 20 years of fighting, and for the first time in hundreds of years, Judah was once again autonomous. Over the next 30 years, They continued to expand their influence, regaining the central region of Samaria, as well as Galilee, the name of the region that once belonged to the tribe of Naphtali in the North. Though they quickly installed a ruling dynasty, none of them were kings from David’s line.
Then came the age of the iron empire as Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream. Around the same time that Judah gained independence from the Seleucids, Rome completed its conquest of Greece, absorbing many aspects of Greek culture into their empire . Over the next 100 years, Roman legions trampled across the world in all directions; all land that touched the Mediterannean Sea was under their control. The Jews lost the independence they had fought for with such zeal and Rome installed Herod as king of Judah, which the Romans called Judea, though he ultimately answered to Augustus Caesar, the Roman emperor.
Life under indirect Roman rule after nearly 100 years of self-governance reignited old divisions among the Jews. They bristled at the fact that under Roman rule there were now people living among them who did not follow the law of Moses, who the Jews called gentiles. There were zealots, who sought to violently overthrow the Roman occupiers, much as their ancestors had done in the Maccabean revolt. Sadducees, whose seat of power was centralized in the temple, thought it wise to protect their way of life by aligning themselves with Rome. The pharisees, who taught throughout the land from the synagogues, desired to keep Jewish culture distinct from outside influences. But beyond these political divisions these two groups also clashed on matters of faith, with the Sadducees limiting their teachings to only what was written in the Tanakh, and also denying the possibility of resurrection from death, while the Pharisees used both written and oral sources for their teachings and believed in resurrection. In spite of their disagreements both groups had members in the Sanhedrin, which met in the temple daily and was the highest court in Judea. And so, as the Jews pitted themselves against one another while living their lives under the oppressively watchful eye of a barely tolerant Roman government, the mouth of God opened and over 400 years of silence ended.
As was shown in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, the golden kingdom of Babylon had already fallen to the Persian kingdom of silver. Because many Jews were still scattered among the nations, far from the rebuilt temple, they created many synagogues, places where they could pray, and study all of the writings through their history that God had commanded be written down, called the Tanakh, and be in community with one another so their culture would not be absorbed and erased as generations lived their lives away from Jerusalem.
A little more than 100 years after Artaxerxes sent Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, the king from Daniel’s vision, a Greek named Alexander the Great, defeated the Persian empire and ushered in the bronze kingdom, making Greek language and culture dominant throughout the land, though he never set his sites Westward towards the city of Rome, who had already begun conquering neighboring Italian city-states. The reign of Alexander was not long. Seven years after his defeat of Persia, Alexander died. As was foretold, he had no heir so on his deathbed those surrounding him asked who should rule after his death. “The strongest,” was his reply and with these words, control over his vast empire became contested by dynasties born from four of his generals.
Cassander’s line ruled in Macedonia, Alexander’s birthplace. Next to him was the house of Lysimachus in Thrace. But the greatest powers were the dynasty of Ptolomy in Egypt and Seleucus in Persia. As Gabriel had shown to Daniel, These kingdoms of the North and South often vied with each other for power, but it was the Ptolemies who laid claim to Jerusalem for the next 100 years. Though they allowed the Jews to maintain their culture and religion, which caused some among them to view the Greeks favorably, even going so far as to translate the Tanakh into Greek, others felt this influence tainted their culture and faith. During this age, Rome consolidated its control over the entire Italian peninsula.
After over 100 years under Ptolemaic rule, the Seleucid empire, which now comprised virtually all of the former Persian empire, wrested control of Judah away from the Ptolemies as their power diminished. Setting their sights westward, they battled the Romans, but lost, and were forced to abandon Asia Minor, the land to the Northwest of Judah.
A few decades later the pro-Grecian Jews bribed the Seleucid king, Antiochus Epiphanes, to allow them to install a high priest of their choosing. But the more traditional Jews did not approve and began to riot. Unlike the Ptolemies, Antiochus had little patience for the Jews and desired that only Greek culture would thrive. As was told in Daniel’s vision, Antiochus vented his fury against the Jews, causing some of them to abandon Yahweh. He imposed martial law and forbade the practice of the Jewish faith, going so far as to place an idol inside the rebuilt temple. Again, as was foreseen, those who remained loyal to God violently fought back against this invader in what became known as the Maccabean revolt. After more than 20 years of fighting, and for the first time in hundreds of years, Judah was once again autonomous. Over the next 30 years, They continued to expand their influence, regaining the central region of Samaria, as well as Galilee, the name of the region that once belonged to the tribe of Naphtali in the North. Though they quickly installed a ruling dynasty, none of them were kings from David’s line.
Then came the age of the iron empire as Nebuchadnezzar had seen in his dream. Around the same time that Judah gained independence from the Seleucids, Rome completed its conquest of Greece, absorbing many aspects of Greek culture into their empire . Over the next 100 years, Roman legions trampled across the world in all directions; all land that touched the Mediterannean Sea was under their control. The Jews lost the independence they had fought for with such zeal and Rome installed Herod as king of Judah, which the Romans called Judea, though he ultimately answered to Augustus Caesar, the Roman emperor.
Life under indirect Roman rule after nearly 100 years of self-governance reignited old divisions among the Jews. They bristled at the fact that under Roman rule there were now people living among them who did not follow the law of Moses, who the Jews called gentiles. There were zealots, who sought to violently overthrow the Roman occupiers, much as their ancestors had done in the Maccabean revolt. Sadducees, whose seat of power was centralized in the temple, thought it wise to protect their way of life by aligning themselves with Rome. The pharisees, who taught throughout the land from the synagogues, desired to keep Jewish culture distinct from outside influences. But beyond these political divisions these two groups also clashed on matters of faith, with the Sadducees limiting their teachings to only what was written in the Tanakh, and also denying the possibility of resurrection from death, while the Pharisees used both written and oral sources for their teachings and believed in resurrection. In spite of their disagreements both groups had members in the Sanhedrin, which met in the temple daily and was the highest court in Judea. And so, as the Jews pitted themselves against one another while living their lives under the oppressively watchful eye of a barely tolerant Roman government, the mouth of God opened and over 400 years of silence ended.
Comments
Post a Comment