A Blazing Pot
6 “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they shall devour to the right and to the left all the peoples round about, while Jerusalem shall still be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.
7 “And the LORD will give victory to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over that of Judah. 8 On that day the LORD will put a shield about the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, at their head. 9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. Zech. 12:6-9
Between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there were about 400 years of history that most people in the inherited churches are unaware of. The sources for this information are sparse. What we have comes from 1 Maccabees, which was written during the lifetime of those who were there. Josephus, which was written about 100 years after the events. And then there are the Rabbinic writings, which were written hundreds of years after the events.
The History
The exiles return from Babylon.
Alexander the Great conquers Judea, called (Palestine for the first time), and begins the Hellenization of the people.
FYI: Palestine is Greek for the people who struggle with God.
FYI: The Greeks do not call themselves Greeks; they call themselves Hellenes, who come from the region of Hellas.
FYI: Hellenization is the process through which non-Greeks adopt Greek culture, religion, language, and identity.
After Alexander’s death (326 BC), the empire was divided between his four generals. The four-way split in the Greek government.
General Ptolemy – Kingdom of Egypt
General Seleucus – Kingdom of Syria
General Cassander – Kingdom of Macedonia
General Lysimachus – Kingdoms of Thrayce and Bythnia
The Jewish people were caught between Egypt and Syria. For most of this time they were a vassal state of Syria. But they were always trying to play Egypt against Syria.
Salome Alexandra
The Maccabees and Hasmoneans
Antiochus IV, a Seleucid, desecrated Jerusalem, which brought about the Maccabean revolt, the end of which the Hasmoneans became the rulers of Judea.
The Hasmonean dynasty came to power. Queen Salome Alexandra (141-67BC.), being the longest-reigning and most famous of them. She left three sons who fought over the crown, making it easy for Rome, under Pompey, to take over in 63 BC.
According to rabbinic tradition her reign was a small golden age, as the Syrians overlords were in anarchy, as the Seleucid family was fighting over their throne.
FYI: Herod the Great, an Idumaean, married Mariamne I, a grand or great-granddaughter of Salome.
The Fire Brand
However, the queen also was concerned with the well-being of the kingdom, and got together a great body of mercenary soldiers, and increased her own army to such a degree that she became a terror to the neighboring tyrants and took hostages from among them. Josephus Antiquities 13.16.2 409
As Judea grew into an independent nation, like a “fire brand,” they expanded their territory into the regions around them: Perea, Samaria, Idumea, Galilee, and Iturea.
This all lasted till the Romans arrived 63 BC.
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