Between about 425 B.C. and the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus

As we have seen in previous chapters we cannot use the Bible to find out what happened in Israel in the four centuries prior to the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus. For these four centuries all we have got is history books, written by various historians, which were not “inspired” in the religious sense by JHWH.

The most important event in Israel itself and in the whole region was no doubt the tour of conquest of the Greek king Alexander the Great. This tour of conquest is unparalleled in the history of mankind.

The Bible does not mention Alexander by name. But the Bible does contain a number of clear prophecies with regard to a fifth world power which will destroy the fourth world power, the Medes and the Persians, and will take over from them world dominion.

Alexander the Great lived from 356 B.C. to 323 B.C. As a young man he already became the king of Greece and when he was in his early twenties he began a tour of conquest which in unparalleled in world history until today. He died at the age of 32. During his great tour of conquest, which took him fewer than 10 years, he beat the Medes and the Persians, conquered the entire world that was known in those days, and established an empire that has permanently given mankind’s history its direction. After his death his empire fell apart into four parts (see the prophecies which Daniel wrote down concerning this development).

About 330 B.C. Israel was conquered by him and after that the country was under Greek influence and Greek rule for many centuries.

As we have seen before: there can be no doubt about it that Alexander has changed the direction of world history dramatically. It is he who caused the centre of world dominion to shift from Asia to Europe. But the main result of Alexander’s tour of conquest is to be found in the fact that in the centuries that came after him the whole world was strongly influenced by the Greek language, the Greek culture, the Greek literature, the Greek philosophy and the Greek ideas in the fields of politics, religion, etcetera.

Thus, after Alexander’s tour of conquest, common Greek or koine Greek (not to be confused with the Greek of the great philosophers and poets like Homer) became the international language which for many centuries everybody in the then world could use and understand.

This fact explains why the writers of the second part of the Bible wrote their books in koine Greek. By doing this they made their writings readable for everybody. Paul and the other propagators of the Christian faith in the first century A.D. could make themselves understood in koine Greek in all countries. The fact that in the first century A.D. the world possessed an international language that everybody knew has contributed a lot to the fast spread of the Christian faith.

When in the last century B.C. Rome took over the position of world ruler and world dominator from Greece, koine Greek and not Latin remained the international language for many centuries to come. This explains why Paul wrote his well-known letter to the Romans not in Latin but in Greek.

Even before the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus, the fifth world power in history had had to hand over world dominion to the sixth world power: Rome. The city of Rome and the territory around it more and more expanded its power from about 200 B.C. In the course of the first century B.C. Rome conquered the entire world that was known then: from England and Holland in the north to the coastal area of Africa in the south. From Spain in the west to Syria in the east. In 63 B.C. Rome conquered Israel and Jerusalem.

In the days of Jesus and the apostles Israel was not an independent state. It was a country occupied by the Romans. From the judicial point of view the Roman occupying forces were responsible for the condemning to death of Jesus and not the Jews.

The Romans were also responsible for the division of Israel into two administrative areas or districts: in the south was Judea, the territory around Jerusalem, and in the north was Galilee.

For a clear understanding of the Greek Scriptures it is very important for people to know where Judea and Galilee were situated. Jesus Himself lived practically His entire life in Nazareth and that is in Galilee. But He was born in Bethlehem and that is in Judea. And He died in Jerusalem and that is also in Judea.

In those days Judea and Galilee each had their own separate heads of state, which were appointed by Rome. Sometimes these heads of state were called governors, sometimes kings.

A well-known family in this context is the Herod family. For many centuries they were the rulers of Judea whom Rome had appointed. They were Edomites. The Edomites were more closely related to the Jews than the Romans: about 125 B.C. they had adopted the Jewish religion. They also had themselves circumcised. Which does not take away the fact that in the days of Jesus, the Edomites were considered foreigners and only half-Jews. Herod the Great, who is mentioned in the Bible, was at first the governor of Galilee, but in 40 B.C. the Roman senate appointed him king of Judea. He was very loyal to the Roman authorities and in the course of the decades he supported all the great Roman names of those days: Julius Cesar, Mark Anthony, August, etcetera.

Though there is no doubt about it that this Herod was a tyrant, a nasty, extremely ambitious, suspicious, and completely immoral person, he did his best not to make the Jews his enemies. In this context he built for the Jews an almost new temple on the spot where the old temple (which had been completed in 515 B.C.) had fallen into decay. Herod was extremely rich and he spent a huge amount of money on the building of the temple in Jerusalem. As a result; it was a splendid building. It was the temple that Jesus visited when He was on earth, the temple in which he had discussions with the scribes when He was a boy of 12 and the temple from which He chased away the moneychangers when He was older.

The well-known historian Josephus writes that the building of the temple took 18 months. But when Jesus told the Jews that He could break down the temple and rebuild it in three days, they answered that the building of the temple had taken 46 years (see John, 2:13-20). It is probable that after the new temple had been finished all sorts of small buildings were added to it.

It is this Herod the Great who, probably in the year 1 B.C. , had all the boys in the surroundings of Bethlehem who were younger than two years old killed. It was also out of fear for this Herod that shortly after the birth of Herod Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt.

Shortly after the mentioned massacre and shortly after the well-known flight into Egypt Herod the Great died, in the year 1 B.C. or the year 1 A.D.

After the death of Herod the Great his son Archelaus became King of Judea and his other son, who was also called Herod, became King of Galilee. This is the Herod who put John the Baptist in prison and finally had him killed.

Archelaus was king of Judea only for a limited number of years and was then removed from office by the Roman authorities. After this Judea was ruled by governors who were appointed by the Roman emperor. In 26 A.D. the emperor Tiberius appointed Pilate governor of Judea.

It is this Pilate who sent Jesus, on the last day of His life on earth, to the aforementioned Herod, who happened to be in Jerusalem that day. As a matter of fact Jesus came from Galilee and Herod was the King of Galilee.

Herod mocked at Jesus, for the fun of it dressed Him in a royal robe, and sent Him back to Pilate. Who, being the highest judicial authority in the Jerusalem of those days, finally condemned Jesus to death.