THE CONDITIONS OF THE JEWS BEFORE THE NEW TESTAMENT ERA

The experiences that the Jews passed through before the Messianic era can be divided into four events, namely;

1.                   The pre-exilic events: before been taken into exile:

a.       God called Abraham from the Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan

b.      The Israelites sojourned in Egypt for 430 hundred years

c.       Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt to the Promised Land. The Laws was given.

d.      The Levitical priesthood was instituted

e.      They possessed and shared the land under Joshua.

f.        The time of the judges in Israel.

g.       Israel asked for a king. One united kingdom from the rule of King Saul to King Solomon.

h.      The kingdom divided into two under the reign of King Rehoboam, the son of Solomon.

i.         The first fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 598 BC

j.        Jerusalem, the Southern Kingdom fell to the Babylonian in 586 BC. Both the city and the temple were destroyed. The inhabitants were exiled to Babylon.

k.       Samaria, the Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians 721 BC

2.                   The exilic events: that happened while in exile

a.       The talented Jews were taken away into exile.

b.      The Jews were greatly suffering under the persecution and oppression of a pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar

c.       Cyrus the Medo-Persian gave a decree of liberation in 538 BC

d.      The Jews to return during his reign. People returned to Jerusalem with Nehemiah and Ezra the scribe in 458 BC.  

e.      The synagogue developed during the exile.

3.                   The post-exilic events: after returning from exile

a.       The exiles returned

b.      The Jerusalem wall and the temple were rebuilt in 516 BC during the reign of King Darius.  

4.                   The inter-testamental (silent) era events: events that happened between Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament and Mathew, the first book of the New Testament

a.       The 12 apocryphal books were written. No inspired scriptures were received.

b.      The Persian period. (536 – 333 BC)

c.       The Greek period. (333 – 323 BC)

d.      The Ptolemies or Egyptian period. (335 – 205 BC)

e.      The Seleucids or Syrian period. (205 – 105 BC)

f.        Hasmonean or Maccabean period. (165 – 63 BC)

g.       The Roman period. (63 – to the time of Jesus)

                                                               i.      The Jews under the Romans: from Pompey to the death of Herod

                                                             ii.       The Jews under the Romans: from the death of Herod to the fall of Jerusalem