The Old Testament history stops around 400BC with Nehemiah’s last reforms. The Jews lived under Persian rule, relatively peacefully for another 70 years. From 333BC the Persian Empire gave way to the Greek Empire as Alexander the Great conquered everything he saw during his short life. When Alexander died at the age of 33 his vast Empire was divided among four of his generals (as Daniel predicted in Daniel 8). The Jews lived peacefully under the Greeks until Antiochus IV Epiphanes came to power. He wanted to enforce Greek culture and religion in his Empire and to that end he outlawed Judaism outright! To make his point, in 167BC, Antiochus had sacrificed a pig in the Jerusalem temple. What followed is one of the most remarkable periods in Jewish history. Believing that God would help them, the Jews rose up against the might of the Greek Empire. They were led by the Hasmonean family, who came to be called the Maccabees (meaning ‘hammer’). And help them God did. In one battle after another, against staggering odds, the Jews prevailed. This tiny nation state faced the greatest war machine that the ancient world had seen, and they won! The Jews cleansed the temple and instituted an annual feast, Hanukkah, which is still celebrated by Jews today. So, for the first time in nearly 450 years the Jews gained independence over a territory even bigger than that of Solomon. This would last 100 years. It is an amazing story recorded in the apocryphal books of Maccabees. God is faithful to his people when they trust in him, you can depend on that!
Ask God to help you persevere in your faith against all opposition.
Read Daniel 8.
