A Time Between Testaments- The Wimpy Brother's Choice

By Mary Vee
Between the Old and New Testament
Around 64 BC

From the Historical records

The time in between time. 

Four hundred years are in the process of passing since God last spoke through a prophet to His people.

Remember we are counting backwards to year 0. The year is around 63 BC. (before Christ)

    400 BC                           300 BC                        200 BC                        100 BC                          Birth of Christ
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Two brothers, Hrycanus and Aristobulus did not get along. The younger, stronger brother wanted to rule the Jews, but his mother, Queen Salome gave the throne to his older brother on her death bed.

Their fighting knew no bounds. Aristobulus, the younger one, conquered his older brother's army and took the throne.

Hrycanus' advisor set up a counter attack months later, giving him the throne back for all the Jewish land except the mighty Temple fortress where Aristobulus hid.

In the meantime, two Roman generals set out to make Rome the leader of the world: Julius Caesar and Pompey. General Pompey conquered Spain and took his army east conquering what is now Turkey then he went farther east toward Iran in the name of Rome. He turned south and stopped for a time in Damascus.

While General Pompey stopped in Damascus, Hrycanus had a bright idea. He went to Damascus and asked to meet with the General. "You must understand, General. My mother, Queen Solome, decreed that I should have the throne and rule the Jews. My brother, though, has brought an army against me, and has fought since the day our mother died. If you would just back me on her decree, I'm sure we could live in peace."

The general agreed to think about it.

Days later, his brother, Aristobulus had the same idea. Aristobulus went to Damascus to visit the general. "Please believe me when I say my brother is weak. He is an incompetent leader. I am the stronger one with leadership skills. The country would be better off with me in charge. If I could get your support, I'm sure we could live in peace."

The general agreed to think about it.

A group of priests called Sanhedrin also went to visit general Pompey. "General, these brothers have been fighting since the day they were born. We know they have come to speak with you, each one wanting your support. We suggest you not listen to either one of them. We are happy to take over the leadership of the Jews."

The general agreed to think about it.

And the general did. For a whole year he thought about it. 

In 63 BC, General Pompey marched his army to Jerusalem. This was an important city. If he took control of this land, the Roman power would be strengthened. 

Amazingly enough, Aristobulus surrendered to the Roman troops. He and the fellow survivors were marched in shame to Rome. Hrycanus, though, pulled his army back and hid until they could regroup. Pompey continued to fight against Hrycanus until the Jewish king gave up.

General Pompey marched his troops into the temple. He walked back to the Holy of Holies and used his sword to slice the veil. Inside this inner room he looked around. No one really knows how he felt, only what he didn't do. Pompey left everything as it was. He took no booty even though there were valuable pieces in the temple. Pompey ordered his men to leave and not take or touch anything.

He allowed Hyrcanus to remain as high priest and even called him king, but Jerusalem and all Jews were placed under Roman rule at that point. Before he left the area, he ordered his army to knock down the city walls to take away the Jews defenses, and he ordered a heavy Roman tax on all Jews. 

Maybe Hyrcanus realized the Jews could lose their way of worshiping God so he refused to surrender like his brother. Maybe he thought they would lose the temple like they had when the Greeks came. Whatever the reason that made him fight instead of surrendering to Pompey, the Jews were allowed to continue worshiping God as the law of Moses instructed.

Pompey's work was done. The Roman empire now spread east and south to Jerusalem.


If these two brothers hadn'tt fought....if these Jewish men had gone to God for help instead of the Romans ... the history books would have a different story to tell.

So what happened next?


Come back next time.


This is the history, the events that happened to real people during the time between the Old and New Testaments. 

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sources: 
*New International Version, New King James Version. 
*My Bible College training.
*My notes and walk through classes I've taught in Children's church. Answers to student questions, etc.
*Pastoral sermons on this time
*Matthew Henry Commentary
*F. LaGard Smith Commentary
*The Hanukkah Book by Marilyn Burns, Four Winds Press, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1981
* Jewish History.org
*Jewish Virtual Library.org
*The Hasmonean Dynasty

A Time Between Time-Those Who Fought For Freedom to Worship

By Mary Vee
Between the Old and New Testament

From the Historical records

The time in between time. 

Four hundred years are in the process of passing since God last spoke through a prophet to His people.

Remember we are counting backwards to year 0. The year is around 143 BC. (before Christ)

    400 BC                           300 BC                        200 BC                        100 BC                          Birth of Christ
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The Greeks rule a large area including Judea and Egypt. To make their conquest complete, all persons not Greek were required to dress as Greeks, worship Greek gods, speak Greek, and completely forego their own cultural ways, language, and worship. No exceptions. 

Last time we talked about soldiers sent by Antiochus IV to Modi'in, a village northwest of Jerusalem. They ordered the most honored man of the village to kill a pig and eat its flesh. Scroll down to read this story.

Mattathias the priest and his five sons led Jews fleeing from the village to the mountains. They hid, afraid Antiochus IV's army would track them down and kill them. 

We don't know why Antiochus IV didn't hunt down these Jews. Maybe he didn't consider them a big threat. It ended up being a huge mistake on his part.

As time went by, Mattathias and his sons sneaked out from their caves and went to other villages surrounding Jerusalem to offer a hiding place for Jews who remained dedicated to the one true living God. He and his sons also went into every place of worship and home to remove all statues of Greek gods. They warned their fellow Jews of the danger they faced if they did not follow the Laws of Moses. God is, after all more powerful than any Greek army.

A group of Jews who had refused to follow the Greek way called themselves Hasideans. Some Hasideans joined Mattathias and his efforts to free Jews from the Greek influence. 

Mattathias and his followers hid in the mountains, organizing, formulating plans and going out to villages to undo what Antiochus IV had done. Even though Mattathias came to help, many Jews remained afraid of the Greeks.

Mattathias worked nonstop, training and adding new recruits to his force. His fighters struck out against Antiochus' army patrols and disrupt Greek ceremonies held in Jewish villages.

Mattathias died during this first year of rebellion. His dedication to freeing Jews to worship and remember their roots inspired the movement to grow. During this time of his leadership one important change took place. Previously, Jews refused to fight on the Sabbath. Foreign armies had planned their attacks to be on the Sabbath for this very reason. Mattathias declared that the Jews would not attack on the Sabbath as they always had, but they would defend themselves if an army attacked them.

Before Mattathias took his last breath he appointed two of his sons, Simon and Judah to take over. He chose Simon for his son's wise judgements and Judah for his strength and courage. Judah was given the nickname, Maccabee which means hammer. As time went on, all five brothers were referred to as Maccabeen because they fought for the Jews freedom to worship. 

Come back next time, because some really exciting events happen in Jerusalem in days to come.
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sources: 
*New International Version, New King James Version. 
*My Bible College training.
*My notes and walk through classes I've taught in Children's church. Answers to student questions, etc.
*Pastoral sermons on this time
*Matthew Henry Commentary
*F. LaGard Smith Commentary
*The Hanukkah Book by Marilyn Burns, Four Winds Press, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1981

A Time Between Time-Those Who Stood Strong

By Mary Vee
Between the Old and New Testament

From the Historical records

The time in between time. 

Four hundred years are in the process of passing since God last spoke through a prophet to His people.

Remember we are counting backwards to year 0. The year is near 168 BC.

    400 BC                           300 BC                        200 BC                        100 BC                          Birth of Christ
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The Greeks are in power spanning as far east as at least Iran, south of Judea, and west into Egypt. The las time we  learned a group of Jews who didn't want to give up their culture, language, or worship, grouped together and called themselves Hasideans. They patiently waited for the right moment to rise up and revolt against the Greeks. 

Antiochus the Greek in charge took his army and marched to Egypt. Romans had conquered the land and he wanted it back. While he was gone, the Hasideans revolted against the Greeks. Rumors came to the Hasideans that Antiochus died in the battle against the Romans.

The Jews felt empowered. They marched into the Temple, conquered the Greek supporters, and threw out all the Greek statues that had been placed in the Temple. They then went throughout the city searching and conquering Jews who chose to join the Greek style of life then replaced articles of worship to God back in the Temple.  

Unfortunately, the news of Antiochus' death was wrong. He had been conquered in the battle against the Romans, humiliated, but remained alive. He marched his army back to Jerusalem and discovered what had happened. His anger exploded. He slaughtered 10,000 Jews then went to the temple, removed the altar, the furniture, and the Jew's treasures.

The surviving Jews became terrified of this ruler. Antiochus' said all Jewish culture and worship must end. He ordered any Jew who worshiped on the Sabbath, studied the Torah, or had their sons circumcised executed. His soldiers went house to house looking for any signs of Jewish culture or worship. No chances were given. The Jews were immediately execute. 

All the Jews were terrified. Some gave in to the demands and lived only the Greek culture. Others were so angry and full of sorrow they joined the Hasideans. Some families moved out of Jerusalem into the countryside to live in peace.

Antiochus sent his soldiers to all the villages. They took with them pigs and ordered the Jews to sacrifice the pigs like a Greek then eat the meat. Some Jews did as they were told thinking living was better than dying. Those who did not were tortured and killed.

These were sad days, but there were those who stood strong. God always promised there would be a remnant, a people who would keep a true witness of the one true living God.


Come back next time, because some really exciting events happen in Jerusalem in days to come.
*********************************************************************************************

sources: 
*New International Version, New King James Version. 
*My Bible College training.
*My notes and walk through classes I've taught in Children's church. Answers to student questions, etc.
*Pastoral sermons on this time
*Matthew Henry Commentary
*F. LaGard Smith Commentary
*The Hanukkah Book by Marilyn Burns, Four Winds Press, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1981

A Time Between Time-Conforming to Popular Trends

By Mary Vee
Between the Old and New Testament

From the Historical records

The time in between time. 

Four hundred years are in the process of passing since God last spoke through a prophet to His people.

The Persians have been conquered by the Greeks. Alexander the Great, the leader of the Greeks died. His two general fought over who would rule the empire. The two men, Ptolemy and Seleucus chose to divide the territory. Ptolemy ruled over Egypt and Seleucus ruled Syria and Asia minor. A problem rose when both wanted to rule Judea to have the key position. 

Many years later, kings took over the rule of these generals. The Seleucus king forced the Ptolemy king to give up control of Judea. Antiochus III became the new king of the Judea.

Antiochus III continued efforts to bring the Greek culture into every home. He ordered Greek statues to be placed in all Jewish synagogues and the temple in Jerusalem. When the Jews protested, he backed down, as long as efforts to make the Greek culture the main culture continued.

Antiochus IV wasn't as kind. The Jews called him a madman. In order to conquer Egypt as he wanted, everyone in his realm had to be 100% behind the Greeks in culture, language, fashion, everything.

Many Jews didn't have a problem changing. In order to run a good, successful business in the cities, the owner had to speak Greek, wear Greek clothing, celebrate Greek festivities or his business would fail. These Jews didn't even hide their own heritage. Instead they walked away from it in exchange for wealth and success.

Still there was a remnant of Jews who held to their heritage. To win these people over and want to live a Greek life, a high priest was put into power. Jason, a Jew, was a man who supported the Greek way. Over twelve months, he gently persuaded many Jews to conform. His lenient rule was frowned upon. The governing people forced Jason to flee the country. 

Menelaus, a Jew who didn't care at all about living the life of a Jew, asked to be appointed to the high priest position. He didn't have enough of his own money to pay those he bribed for the position. He sold precious Temple pieces to pay the price. 

While most of Judea lived a Grecian life, a group of Jews banded together to fight. These men called themselves Hasideans. They didn't like having the Jewish way squeezed out of Judea or seeing brothers and friends caught up in Greek fashions, speaking only Greek, or teaching their children only Greek ways. 

The Hasideans grew in number waiting for the right time to revolt.

Remember we are counting backwards to year 0. The year is near 200 BC.

    400 BC                           300 BC                        200 BC                        100 BC                          Birth of Christ
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|



Come back next time, because some really exciting events happen in Jerusalem in days to come.
*********************************************************************************************

sources: 
*New International Version, New King James Version. 
*My Bible College training.
*My notes and walk through classes I've taught in Children's church. Answers to student questions, etc.
*Pastoral sermons on this time
*Matthew Henry Commentary
*F. LaGard Smith Commentary
*The Hanukkah Book by Marilyn Burns, Four Winds Press, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1981