Syria, a province of Persia The period was mild and uneventful, for the most part, as far as the Jews were concerned ( ) Alexandrian Period 334-324 B.C Alexander the Great revolutionized the world, showed much favor to the Jews, and exposed them to the process of Hellenization The brief period of rule came to an end with Alexander’s sudden death By Jesus’ day many Hellenized Jews had adopted the Greek ways, customs, and speech and had been freed from an exclusive spirit of Hebrew tradition and ancestry (3) Egyptian Period 324-204 B.C This was the post-Alexandrian reign of the world by four Egyptian generals who were successors to Alexander For part of the time Judea was allowed self-rule Often the land was the battleground for wars between Syria and Egypt During this period the rst copies of the Greek Septuagint were distributed (Pentateuch, 280 B.C.) Some Bible students hold that the seventymember Sanhedrin council of New Testament times originated around 250 B.C That council performed the judicial functions of the Great Synagogue council of Ezra’s day (450-400 B.C.) Exercise: Refer to an exhaustive concordance and note the various appearances of the word council (Greek: sunedrion, hence “Sanhedrin”) in the gospels and Acts (4) Syrian Period 204-165 B.C “Israel now entered into the valley of the shadow of death.”13 Uninterrupted martyrdom was the experience of the people during most of the period The major internal struggle of these years was between Hellenistic Jews and Hasidim Jews The latter resisted all forms of diluting their Hebrew heritage The Pharisees were successors to that group Many noncanonical writings were beginning to appear during this period.14 The two main kinds were: apocryphal (e.g., and Maccabees) — books recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as canonical, but rejected by Protestants; pseudepigraphal (e.g., Enoch) — spurious writings excluded from the canon by all It is interesting to observe that during this period, by 180 B.C., all the books of the Old Testament were translated into Greek by the Alexandrian translators (5) Maccabean Period 165-63 B.C This has been called the Period of Independence Politically, it was a time of revolt by Jewish leaders against Syrian forces Religiously, it was a time of restoring worship of the Lord to the re-dedicated Temple During this period Palestine was geographically divided into the three familiar divisions of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee Also, it was during this time that the rival religious sects (Pharisees and Sadducees) became rival political enemies (6 ) Roman Period 63-4 B.C In 63 B.C the Roman general Pompey brought Palestine under Roman control He organized the Decapolis league of ten cities southeast of the Sea of Galilee to balance the power of Judea Antipater was appointed governor of Judea, and Herod the Great was king of Judea by Roman senatorial grant from 37 to B.C For the most part there was little interference by Rome in the religious life of Palestine The Jews paid taxes to Rome and ... in the gospels and Acts (4) Syrian Period 204-165 B.C “Israel now entered into the valley of the shadow of death.”13 Uninterrupted martyrdom was the experience of the people during most of the. .. B.C In 63 B.C the Roman general Pompey brought Palestine under Roman control He organized the Decapolis league of ten cities southeast of the Sea of Galilee to balance the power of Judea Antipater... governor of Judea, and Herod the Great was king of Judea by Roman senatorial grant from 37 to B.C For the most part there was little interference by Rome in the religious life of Palestine The Jews