Podcast 3: Between the Testaments (Sean Finnegan)

by Sean Finnegan

Have you ever wondered what happened between the Old Testament and the New Testament?  When the Old Testament closes the people have returned to their land after the 70 year captivity and are living under the Persian empire, though they have significant freedoms, including the right to worship God in the rebuilt temple.  However, when we begin reading the New Testament, the whole scene is different.  Now the Romans are in power and we encounter these new religious groups likes Sadducees and Pharisees.  Where did they come from?  What happened in between?  Though you might assume the Romans just took over from the Persians, the story in ancient Israel is more complicated than that.  The people fought and won their independence from their Greek overlords and established a kingdom that lasted over a century–called the Hasmonean dynasty.  Often times historians refer to this time as the Maccabean period, named after the revolutionary freedom fighter, Judah the Maccabee.  Understanding this interim is crucial for New Testament studies and explains why so many Judeans in Jesus’ day were naming their kids John, Judah (or Judas), and Simon.

This lecture was part of a class called “Exploring Scripture.”  To access more of this class, go to Exploring Scripture.

If you can’t see the slides to this lecture, click here.

Overview from Abraham to the Return from Exile

1. Abrahamic Covenant
2. Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Egypt as a good place to sojourn
3. Egyptian oppression, Moses, the 10 plagues, Red Sea
4. Law given (10 commandments)
5. Disobedience to enter the land (40 years wandering in the wilderness)
6. Entering the land (Joshua and the Judges)
7. First three Kings
8. Kingdom Divides
9. Israel taken into captivity
10. Judah taken into captivity
11. Judah returns

Age of Empires

1. Assyrian Empire
2. Babylonian Empire
3. Persian Empire
4. Greek Empire

Alexander the Great

1. At 20 years old Alexander (son of Philip of Macedon) became king in 336 bc.
2. military commander (undefeated in battle)
3. defeated Darius III at the Battle of Issus in 333 bc
4. conquered most of the world known to the ancient Greeks pressing east into India (map slide)
5. Judah became a Greek province
6. he founded Alexandria in Egypt
7. In 331 bc, Alexander was welcomed as a liberator in Egypt and was pronounced the son of Zeus by Egyptian priests of the god Amun. From then on, Alexander referred to the god Zeus-Ammon as his true father.
8. Alexander was a brilliant and fearless military strategist
9. Aristotle was his personal tutor

Hellenization: Alexander’s idea to make the world Greece

1. Greece is “Hellas” or the “Hellenic” Republic in Greek
2. he wanted to make the world like Greece, civilizing it.
3. wanted people in his domain to speak Greek, act Greek, be Greek.
4. Hellenizing: civilizing people to the Greek way of thinking and acting
5. all conquered provinces were to be Hellenized
6. method of indoctrination was simple & effective
7. ordered his officers and men to intermarry with the native populations and to beget many children.
8. in 10 years he founded 25 Greek cities in the Middle East
   1. most notably Alexandria

He spread:

1. Greek language,
2. religion
3. philosophy
4. city structure
5. recreation
6. educational structures
7. sports
8. attitude towards the body (i.e. circumcision)
9. by the time of Jesus Greek was the international language</