A Concise History Between
MalakYah and YAHSHUA In MattithYah
The four hundred years between the prophecy of MalakYah (Malachi) and the advent of YAHSHUA MESSIYAH are frequently described as "silent," but they were in fact crowded with activity. Although no inspired prophet arose in Yisrael during those centuries, and the Tanakh (Old Covenant) was regarded as complete, events took place which gave to later Judaism its distinctive ideology and providentially prepared the way for the coming of MESSIYAH and the proclamation of HIS Message.
The following pages are concise and informative concerning each period and
sect that leads up to YAHSHUA MESSIYAH'S entrance into history. (Look
for our future pages concerning the Apocrypha.)
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The
Jews fared well under Persian rule and returned to Jerusalem |
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Alexander was not simply a power-mad despot, he was thoroughly convinced that Greek culture was the one force that could unify the world. |
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Under Ptolemy II ( Philadelphus ) the Alexandrian Jews translated their Law ( i.e., the Pentateuch) into Greek. |
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The Syrian rulers are termed Seleucids because their kingdom, one of the successor states to Alexander's Empire, was founded by Seleucus I (Nicator). |
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"Maccabee," a word usually interpreted to mean "the hammer." |
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The Pharisees felt that they had gained their point, they withdrew their alliance with Syria and hoped for a Jewish state that would be both free of foreign control and tolerant of their viewpoint. |
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Jerusalem was made tributary to the Romans and the last vestige of Jewish independence was removed. |
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The Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians and Zealots |
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The word Pharisee means "separated one", and the name probably meant, in the first instance, one who had separated himself from the corrupting influence of Hellenism in his zeal for the Biblical Law. |
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The Sadducees were the party of the Jerusalem aristocracy and the High Priesthood. |
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They seemed to have lived for the most part in monastic communities such as the one which maintained headquarters at Qumran, near the northwest corner of the Dead Sea. |
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YAHWEH has HIS chosen, a people separate and apart from all. |
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Herodians and Zealots groups of Jews at opposite ends of the political spectrum. |