God Was Never Silent

His Story from Malachi to Matthew – Part 3

This lesson begins with the Greek Empire as the new kingdom in control of the Jewish people and the Land of Promise. The prophet Daniel speaks of this when he interpreted the dream for King Nebuchadnezzar some 200+ years before Alexander the Great of Macedonia defeated Darius III of Persia. Daniel also has a vision of his own (Daniel 8) in which God reveals to him how this up-and-coming Greek Empire will both protect and persecute the Jewish people. This was all a part of God’s plan to mold and shape His people and prepare them for the birth of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

If there was a silver lining in the Greek rule it would have been the establishment of a common language known as “koine” and it will help to foster the spread of the Gospel in the New Testament. In addition, Alexander and his generals built several “Alexander” cities which became centers of Greek language, arts, and government.

Unfortunately, the religious persecution of later leaders in the Greek Empire became so severe that it caused the Jews to become discouraged, and many will lose their lives. God will raise up some strong leaders who became known as the Hasmoneans or Maccabees and they will revolt against Greek/Syrian Rule and win back their religious freedom and free themselves from persecution. Much of this information can be found in the Apocryphal writings of 1-4 Maccabees along with the Roman-Jewish historian named Josephus as Malachi was last Old Testament book which contains no information of this period of history.

It will be during this period that 3 significant Jewish groups will develop, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. They will be instrumental in providing spiritual guidance (though sometimes their own personal traditions/preferences) to the Jewish people and will also produce the Septuagint (The Greek translation of the Old Testament) which will serve as a “written” account of God as Creator of all things and how He blessed and guided His chosen people. This will lay the groundwork for an up-and-coming Roman Empire (Also spoken about by the prophet Daniel), who themselves will be instrumental in building roads and fostering a “sense of peace” (Pax Romana) allowing the world to witness the birth of the Savior of the world. Though an ungodly group of Gentiles who worshipped “multiple gods”, and far from “good”, they will be used by God Himself to accomplish His purposes and plans. But that will be a story for our next lesson.