Alexander the Great and the Jews.

Photo by Gunnar Bach Pedersen

I have read some of the writings of Josephus Flavius. He lived from AD 37 – 100 AD. Some scholars have not accepted his account of history, but many do. I believe God moved upon him to write about God, Jesus, the Scriptures and the history of the Jews. 

He wrote in both Aramaic and Greek and was writing for the Gentiles who had no knowledge of the Scriptures and Jewish history.

In Part 1, The Antiquities of the Jews, I came upon a chapter that dealt with Alexander the Great and his treatment of the Jews. It was fascinating, and I think many of you would like to know how God spared his people from being killed by Alexander. I will now quote from the book only:

“Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, made haste to go up to Jerusalem: and Jaddua the high priest, when he heard that, was in an agony, and under terror, as not knowing how he should meet the Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his foregoing disobedience.

He therefore ordained that the people should make supplications, and should join with him in offering sacrifices to God, whom he besought to protect that nation, and to deliver them from the perils that were coming upon them. Whereupon God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage and adorn the city, and open the gates; that the rest appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits (clothing) proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God would prevent.

Upon this, when he rose from his sleep, he greatly rejoiced and declared to all the warning he had received from God according to which dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the coming of the king.

And when he heard Alexander was not far from the city, he went out in procession, with the priests and the multitude of the citizens. The procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that of the other nations…The Phonecians and the Chaldeans that followed Alexander thought they would have liberty to plunder the city, and torment the high priest to death, which is the reverse of what happened.

Alexander, when he saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his mitre on his head having the golden plate on which the name of God was engraved, he approached them by himself and adored that name, and first saluted the high priest. The Jews also did all together, with one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about; whereupon the kings of Syria and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him disordered in his mind.

However, Parmenlo alone went up to him and asked how it came to pass that when all others adored him, he should adore the high priest of the Jews? He replied, “I did not adore him, but that God who hath honored him with that high priesthood. For I saw this very person in a dream, in this very clothing, when I was at Dios, in Macedonia, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia.

He exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly pass over the sea thither, for he would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians. So, having seen no other in that clothing and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind.

And when he had said this to Parmenlo, and had given the priest his right hand, the priests ran along beside him as he came into the city. He went into the temple and made a sacrifice to God, according to the hight priest’s directions and magnificently treated both the high priest and the priests. And when the book of Daniel was showed him, wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended. Then he was glad and dismissed the multitude…”

"I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Psalm 116:1

"It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding." Daniel 2:21

Part 6: Daniel Explains the King's Dream.

Now we must ask ourselves how history has played out and if Daniel’s interpretation of the dream was correct.  He told king Nebuchadnezzar that he was the head of gold, but Daniel did not name the other kingdoms by name.  Looking back we know what the kingdoms were.

PART			METAL			KINGDOM
Head			Gold			Babylon
Breast and Arms			Silver			Persia
Belly and Thighs			Bronze			Greece
Legs			Iron			Rome
Feet			Iron and Clay			Weak and Strong Nations

And the stone that pulverized the statue represents Jesus setting up his kingdom and ruling for eternity.

The Babylonian Empire was the largest reigning force in the world at the time Nebuchadnezzar had his dream.  It was well represented by gold, as it was a rich and lush empire.  In fact, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

 But in the year 539 BCE, 66 years after Daniel had been taken captive from his homeland of Judah, the Medo-Persian army conquered Babylon and the Persian Empire entered the world stage.  Eventually the Medes would fade and the Persians would strengthen, causing the Medo-Persian Empire to become simply the Persian Empire. 

The Greeks were a pain in the neck for the Persians.  First, the Greek cities of Ionia rebelled against Persia but they were defeated.  Then, as retribution for the rebellion, Xerxes decides to overtake Greece itself. 

You have probably seen movies or heard about the 300 Spartans and other Greek warriors fighting against the Persian king Xerxes at the pass of Thermopolae.  This battle took place in 480 BCE while the Persian Empire was extremely strong.  The Greeks lost the battle at Thermopolae but they eventually stopped the Persians at the navel battle of Salamis and forced Xerxes to withdraw from Greece.  This was not the end of the Greek/Persian story as Greece was to be the ruin of the Persian Empire.

Phillip of Macedonia would be the first to unite the City States of Greece under one ruler. After he Philip died, his son Alexander would solidify the allegiances of the lesser kings in Greece and in 334 BCE he took his armies into Asia Minor to fight against Darius and his Persian Empire.  In just three years Alexander the Great had defeated the Persians and Greece was now the world’s largest empire.  In 323 BCE at the age of 33, Alexander died and his empire was divided among his Generals.  

 Now we move on to the legs of iron portion of the prophecy:  Rome.  Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the fourth kingdom would be as strong as iron and would crush and shatter all that came before it.  This is a good description of the Roman Empire. 

There are debates as to the exact beginning of the Roman Empire.  This is due to the fact that the rise of Rome seems to be almost accidental.  Rome did not start out with a conscience plan to conquer other nations and begin its own empire; it actually started to expand through reactionary events.  When it perceived a threat of any kind by an outside force, Rome would rally the troops and march into battle.  In the middle of the second century BCE Rome squashed a threat from Macedonia and it became the first of the Greek provinces divided after Alexander’s death to come under the rule of the Roman Empire.

 

Part 5: The King has A Dream.

In Daniel Chapter 2, we are told of an important event that will show how accurate Bible prophecy is.  One night king Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that really upset him but he could not remember it.  He called all his wise men and asked them to tell him the dream and what it meant, but they could not.  Word got around the palace that the king was furious and had decreed that all the wise men should be killed.  When Daniel heard this he went to the king and asked for time to learn what the dream was and what it meant.  The king granted his request and Daniel got with his friends for an urgent prayer meeting. 

 That night God revealed to Daniel what the dream was and the next day he was taken to the king and told him everything.

“You, O king, were looking and behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.  The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.  You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.  Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found.  But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” Daniel 2:31-35

 Read'n Grow Picture Bible Illustrations (Biblical illustrations by Jim Padgett, courtesy of Sweet Publishing, Ft. Worth, TX, and Gospel Light, Ventura, CA. Copyright 1984.)

The king had dreamed of a statue made of different kinds of materials.  The head was gold, the breast and arms were silver, the belly and thighs were bronze, the legs were iron, and the feet were a mixture of iron and clay.  But in the dream a stone came flying at the statue’s feet and pulverized the entire statue.  Then the stone itself grew to be a huge mountain, so big that it filled the entire earth. 

 Daniel explained that each of the parts of the statue represented different kingdoms that would rule the world. 

“You are the head of gold.  After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you, then another third kingdom of bronze, which will rule over all the earth.  Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces.  In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay.  As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle.  And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.  In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.  Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future…” Daniel 2:38-45