Encore Post: The Jewish people prospered under the rule of Ptolemy and his descendants in Egypt. For a while, they ruled Palestine and more or less allowed the Jews to govern themselves. However, the Ptolemies lost Palestine in a war with the Seleucids — descendants of the Greek ruler of Syria, Babylon, and Persia. At first, the Seleucids continued the policy of the Ptolemies. However, King Antiochus IV Epiphanes decided to unify his empire under Greek culture.
Antiochus intervened in a civil war between Hellenizing Jews (those who favored adopting Greek culture) and traditional Jews, who favored obedience to the law of God. He outlawed Judaism and enforced it with severe persecution. He executed women who allowed their sons to be circumcised, forced Jews to sacrifice to Greek gods and take part in their festivals, and forced the eating of unclean foods. The last straw for the Jews, however, was when he erected an altar to Zeus in the Holy of Holies in the temple, sacrificed pigs to it, and brought temple prostitution into it.
The Jews rebelled under the direction of the priest Matthias and his sons, Judas and Simon. They became known by the nickname Maccabees (“hammer”), and the story of the war of independence they fought is told in the apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Maccabees. The festival of Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the temple after it had been cleansed of the pagan altars and sacrifices by the Maccabees.
For one hundred years, more or less, the Jews ruled themselves under the descendants of Matthias, known as the Hasmoneans. They gained neighboring territories, including the Galilee. Jews from Judea, including towns like Bethlehem, resettled these areas. Likely, the great-grandparents and grandparents of Mary and Joseph were among them.
Note: This series of blog posts is available as a Kindle book and eventually as a print booklet at: Amazon.com: Preparation for the Gospel. Please note the author makes a small profit on the sale of this book.
Encore Post: Ptolemy I, one of Alexander the Great’s generals, claimed the throne of Egypt and painted a layer of Greek culture over the top of Pharaonic Egypt. He claimed he was a true pharaoh, which also his heirs did. He assumed the gods, trappings, and some customs of ancient Egypt. His dynasty lasted until the death of his descendant, Cleopatra, and the Roman conquest of Egypt.
His son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, enriched the capital of Alexandria, building the two great wonders of the world — the lighthouse of Pharos, which guided navigation on the Mediterranean Sea for nearly 100 miles until its destruction in the 14th Century, and the Ancient Library of Alexandria. He became an aggressive collector of books, including the searching of incoming ships. Copies of these books were made, and the copy was given to the owner. The originals ended up in the Library of Alexandria. According to tradition, Ptolemy II commissioned the translation of the Old Testament into Greek. Known as the Septuagint and abbreviated LXX, this translation was quoted by the writers of the New Testament when they mentioned the Old Testament.
The Ptolemies were defenders of the Jewish people. As a result, the largest Jewish population outside of Israel settled in Alexandria. One of these Jews, Philo of Alexandria, became the most prominent philosopher of Judaism in ancient times.
God prepared the way for His Son when He installed the Ptolemies. They provided a home for his people where they could be safe, learn Greek culture, and be introduced to the Scriptures. With the translation of the Septuagint, he provided the Apostles with a tool accessible to the pagan world around them, where the church grew and thrived.
Note: This series of blog posts is available as a Kindle book and eventually as a print booklet at: Amazon.com: Preparation for the Gospel. Please note the author makes a small profit on the sale of this book.
Encore Post: Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia, one of the greatest generals in history, reigned in Macedonia and Greece beginning in 336 B.C. and reigned until 323 B.C. He conquered Greece, Persia, Egypt, and Palestine. As a student of Aristotle, he had a vision of extending the Greek language and culture throughout his lands and merging the peoples of his empire into a unified nation. At his death, the vision of a single empire died, but three large kingdoms, ruled by his generals and their heirs, emerged and established Greek culture throughout the Western world.
In 277 B.C., after years of civil war, the empire was divided into three hereditary kingdoms: one under Ptolemy in Egypt, Macedonia and Greece under Antigonus II, and the Seleucid Empire in Syria, Palestine, and Asia. These kingdoms shared the same language, Koine (Common) Greek, the same culture, philosophy, love of learning, and a similar appreciation for sports. Even the up-and-coming Roman Republic, which came early to absorb Greek colonies in southern Italy, came to appreciate much of Greek culture and to use common Greek to communicate with other nations.
God used Alexander and the Greeks, then, to prepare the way for the birth of his Son. Jesus may have taught in Greek and communicated in Greek. The New Testament was written in that language, and it used the Greek translation of the Old Testament when quoting Scripture. Paul also employed this language and its common culture to share the Good News of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Because of this common culture, the disciples of Jesus established the church throughout the entire Roman world within one generation.
Note: This series of blog posts is available as a Kindle book and eventually as a print booklet at: Amazon.com: Preparation for the Gospel. Please note the author makes a small profit on the sale of this book.
Encore Post: When the Babylonians conquered Judah, destroyed the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, and carried off most of her people into exile, the people had a crisis of faith. How could they worship God without a temple where they could sacrifice? How could they relate to him at all? God sent prophets to help them work all this out. The result was the birth of a brand new religion — Judaism. A religion is a series of customs, duties, practices and rites that people do to serve their god or gods. It is a culture, really. God used Judaism as a place where true faith in him could be planted, nurtured, and grow, even when there was no temple, sacrificial system, and functioning priesthood to support it.
Judaism — especially the party of the Pharisees — was built on a devotion to the Torah. They read it, taught it, and even vowed to practice traditions that kept them from ever violating the commandments it teaches. To prevent accidental violation of a particular commandment, the Rabbis taught that you should follow a tradition stricter than the Law requires. So, for example, to avoid taking the name of the Lord in vain, they did not pronounce the name of God at all, but said Adonai — my Lord — instead. This practice is called “building a hedge around the Torah.”
During the exile, wherever ten men were available to worship (called a minyan), Jews would gather to pray on the Sabbath. These congregations became known by the Greek word “Synagogue” (“coming together”). When they built houses of prayer, these buildings became known as synagogues. By New Testament times, the worship service had settled into a pattern of saying the Shema (“Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one”), prayer, readings from the Torah and the prophets, a sermon, and a benediction.
When Cyrus the Great ended the exile, not all Jews returned home. Some stayed in Babylon and Persia; others moved to Greece, Rome, and other parts of the world. The synagogue accompanied them, along with different aspects of Judaism. In these events, God prepared the world for the ministry of Jesus, the apostles, and especially the Apostle Paul.
Note: This series of blog posts is available as a Kindle book and will eventually be published as a print booklet on Amazon.com: Preparation for the Gospel. Please note that the author makes a small profit on the sale of this book.
[Forty-Fifth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: The people of Judah had returned from exile in Babylon. Through the Persian ruler Cyrus, the people had resettled in the promised land. They rebuilt the temple, although not nearly to the glory of Solomon’s Temple. They rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem — and their lives. And then the people felt forgotten and isolated, a small province of a vast and worldwide foreign empire. God sent the prophet Malachi. His name means Messenger, Angel.
Malachi assured Judah of God’s love, calling on them to repent, especially the priests. He then lifted their eyes to look towards the future. He would send another Malachi — a messenger — Elijah, to prepare the way of the Lord. He would turn their hearts to each other, so that the Lord would not need to destroy them completely. With that, the voices of the prophets fell silent. It would be at least four hundred years before God would speak through a prophet again.
The people would not forget this time. They would bring together all the prophecies and types of the Messiah and his Malachi — Messenger. They came to look for an earthly kingdom and the day of the Lord. And so they missed the return of the Prophets — a Son of Levi and David — a second Zechariah and his son, the last and greatest prophet. But that is another story!
While God was silent, he was not absent or idle. In the time between the testaments, God began to prepare the ground for his prophets — and for his Son. The next few posts will delve into the methods he employed.
[Forty-Fourth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: A prophet is someone who speaks for God. In the Old Testament, God called many individuals to serve as His voice among the people of Israel. While we think of a prophet as someone who predicts the future, a prophet mostly preached to God’s people, calling them to repentance and bringing a word of comfort to them. Occasionally, a few prophets would see into the future and tell God’s people what God was going to do.
Just as God raised up prophets to speak His Word to Israel, so He now calls pastors to proclaim that same Word to His Church. The pastoral office doesn’t deal in visions or predictions, but in the faithful preaching of Christ crucified, the administering of His sacraments, and the shepherding of souls through Law and Gospel. Like the prophets, the pastor is sent—not to offer his own insights, but to speak what God has already spoken in his word. His task is to call sinners to repentance, to comfort the weary with the promises of Christ, and to point always to the One who is both the message and the Messenger. In this way, the pulpit becomes a kind of prophetic post—not by new revelation, but by the Spirit’s ongoing work through the Word of God.
According to the prophets, the Messiah would be a descendant of Eve, whom Satan would kill, but who would defeat Satan. (Genesis 3:15) He would be born of a virgin. (Isaiah 7:14) In Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), the Messiah would be a descendant of David and would be called God (Isaiah 9:6). He would be crucified as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53:4-12)
As important as the prophets were, Jesus is greater than all of them. He was a prophet like Moses. (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) The writer of Hebrews tells us that “in many and various ways, God spoke in ancient times through the prophets, but now in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.” Prophets spoke the word of God, but Jesus was the Word of God. When we hear Jesus, we hear the Father; when we see Jesus, we see the Father. When we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus.
[Forty-Third in a series of posts on Bible Stories]Â In the years and generations following the initial return from exile, Jerusalem was still a shell of its former self. The city had few inhabitants. The evidence of Jerusalem’s destruction was everywhere. Jerusalem was still a dump of rubble. To make it worse, the city had no continuous wall around it.
Nehemiah was a descendant of the tribe of Judah, who still lived in Susa and worked for the Persians some generations after Cyrus decreed the Jews could return to Jerusalem. In the twentieth year of Artaxerxes’ reign, Nehemiah received his brother Hanani, along with other men who had returned from Judah.
Their message was stark: “Those who went back are in trouble and great shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” That news cut Nehemiah to the heart, and he broke down into prayer. Nehemiah took on the role of mediator. Like Moses many centuries before him, and Daniel of more recent memory, Nehemiah confessed the sins of the people of Israel to God. He acknowledges how horrible Israel had acted against God and asks Him for mercy (Nehemiah 1:7-11). After his prayer, Nehemiah writes, “Now I was cupbearer to the king.”
Serving as cupbearer gives Nehemiah unrivalled access to King Artaxerxes. The king could see Nehemiah’s feelings on his face. Nehemiah requested permission to inspect Jerusalem. He wanted to rebuild it. Similar to Cyrus, Artaxerxes not only allows him but also sends him with proper letters and orders to cut wood for the gates of the temple and the walls. In fact, Nehemiah became the governor of the region.
However, life was not easy for Nehemiah. He faced opposition from Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite from the very beginning. These men desired to see Jerusalem continually in a state of disrepair. However, Nehemiah trusted the Lord was with him in the work he desired to accomplish. Nehemiah says it this way: “The good hand of my God was upon me.” Under Nehemiah, the wall was rebuilt, but it was not easy. They faced opposition the entire time. In the fourth chapter of his book, Nehemiah describes how the workers carried a sword on their side and took shifts, working or holding spears in case of an attack.
Nehemiah’s book is not simply about the wall, though; Nehemiah also discusses the efforts he made to care for the poor in Jerusalem. The nobles were committing the same sins as their fathers, or worse. The poor were being sold as slaves. Nehemiah put an end to that. He did not exact the food allowance usually granted to a governor.
The book ends with Nehemiah’s last reforms, one of which probably sounds harsh to our modern ears: the Jews divorcing foreign wives. However, from a theological perspective, we might be able to understand this. Nehemiah feared the people might fall into the idolatrous past of their ancestors. This concern seems valid as the priesthood had become corrupted, for one priest was the son-in-law of Nehemiah’s opponent, Sanballat the Horonite.
Now you might wonder what is “Christian” about Nehemiah? There is plenty. We can and should see Nehemiah as a Christ-figure. He is zealous for Jerusalem. He wants the city to be secure. He also faced great opposition. He even faced false witnesses who said that Nehemiah had set himself up as king. Nehemiah was not a king, though he was from the tribe of Judah. He was also a very devout follower of the LORD. Nehemiah helped Jerusalem celebrate the Feast of Booths, and Nehemiah 9 is one of the most thorough “creeds” found in the Old Testament.
Finally, the wall itself needed to be built so that Jesus could die outside its gates. One of the charges against Jesus was that he was a rebellious son. Deuteronomy 21 tells what should happen to a rebellious son: he should be brought to the elders at the gate, and there they shall stone him. While Jesus was not stoned, he was hung on a tree. That tree was outside the gates of Jerusalem.
[Forty-Second in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore post: The Book of Esther is unique — it does not use the name of God, speak of prayer, worship, or other spiritual topics. Many have questioned its place in the Bible because of that. Both the church and the synagogue have seen God’s hand in the events of the book and so have accepted it as scripture. The book explains how the Feast of Purim was established.
Like Jews — and many others — in ancient times, Mordecai and Esther both have two names, “gentile” names, assigned by their captors and Hebrew names given by their parents. Mordecai means “servant of Marduk,” after the Babylonian god, and Esther is the Persian version of the name of the goddess Ishtar, the goddess of fertility and love. The Bible does not mention Mordecai’s Hebrew name. Esther’s Hebrew name, Hadassah, means “myrtle.”
Considering the fate of the queen before her, Esther showed great courage. When her political skills are put to the test, she saves the Jewish people from their enemies. More than that, her influence resulted in the king’s favor for the Jewish people. Not long after the events in the book, Ezra left for Jerusalem.
In the years that followed, Mordecai served as vice-king of the greatest empire up to that time. Many Jews were given positions of power and influence. The king was so pleased with their service that he allowed the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem and granted them the right to govern themselves as long as he reigned.
[Forty-First in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore post: Daniel lived a long and remarkable life. As a young man, he was carried off into exile by the Babylonians. Because he showed remarkable leadership skills, King Nebuchadnezzar brought him into the court. He lived a long life in the service of Babylon, living until the Persians conquered the empire. He continued to serve the Persians.
Daniel was an honorable official and fell victim to politics in the top ranks of the Persian Empire. His enemies got a law passed that Daniel could not keep. (Daniel 6) The law required that no one pray to any god other than the king for thirty days. Even though he knew the law, Daniel continued his custom of praying three times a day, facing Jerusalem, giving thanks to God. His enemies turned him in to King Darius, who, even though he was Daniel’s friend and didn’t want to condemn him, ordered him thrown to the lions.
Being above reproach, Daniel did not respond as many politicians in his day and those in government even to this day. He did not retaliate, but allowed his innocence to speak for him. Having been thrown to the lions, God rewarded Daniel’s trust and faithfulness by sending an angel to protect his servant. When the king saw Daniel was still alive, he restored Daniel and had his enemies thrown to the lions.
Daniel has become a model for civil service for Christians. His example of faith was praised by the writer of the book of Hebrews, along with his friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He shows us the way to love God and serve our nation as well.
[Fortieth in a series of posts on Bible Stories; First in a series of posts on Zechariah]Â The prophet Zechariah may not be as well-known as Isaiah or Jeremiah, but the authors of the Gospels in the New Testament frequently allude to Zechariah. In fact, scholars argue that Zechariah, after Psalms and Isaiah, is the next most alluded to book of the Old Testament.
Zechariah’s ministry is a full-throated proclamation of the coming Messiah, though you might not catch all the images that Zechariah draws upon to speak of Him and His coming. Let’s start at the beginning and work through the book and acknowledge some of the images that proclaim the work of Jesus.
The very name Zechariah bears great meaning: YHWH (The LORD) Remembers. Zechariah begins his book by telling us when the Word of the LORD came to him. It was in the days of King Darius, following Cyrus’s call for the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:2, 2 Chronicles 36:22-23). Ezra tells us that Joshua, the High Priest, and Zerubbabel, the appointed governor (and descendant of David), oversaw the rebuilding of the altar (Ezra 3). Yet, it appears that at the time of Zechariah’s ministry, the temple rebuilding was not yet complete.
The Lord God called two men to serve as His mouthpieces during those days: Haggai and Zechariah. They both speak about the rebuilding of the Temple. Zechariah’s book begins with the people acknowledging they were falling into the same temptations and sins of their fathers. Zechariah recalls the very words of 2 Kings 17:13 and exhorts the remnant to differ from their fathers and believe the Word being spoken in their hearing.
Zechariah served the Lord when much of the Old Testament was already written, meaning he had many of the books (save for Malachi, who follows his ministry) at his disposal. I will do my best to highlight when Zechariah alludes to or quotes other passages of the Old Testament. I will also mention when the NT authors dive into Zechariah.
