Study The Church

Between the Testaments

What happened in the 450 years after the OT and before Jesus?

You have covered the entire OT history and are familiar with the main events from Creation to the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem (around the time of Malachi, the last prophet, who lived in approximately 450 BC). But, before we leave the OT, there is one question left to answer: what happened to the Jews in Israel between 450 BC and Jesus? Because this time period of the Jews has many different parts, I will cover this in a timeline so that the parts make more sense as one long story. (Remember, when you go forward in time in the BC period, the numbers get smaller.)(Dates are approximate.)

500s BC

539: Persia defeated Babylonia; soon afterward, Jews began returning to Israel.

But the Jews did not own the land of Israel, Persia did.

519: The Second Temple is completed.

500-400 BC

Persia controlled the land of Israel during this century.
c.450: The wall around Jerusalem was complete and the last OT prophet (Malachi) is alive.

400-300 BC

Very little is known. Persia controlled Israel during most of this century.
For the most part, the Jews live in peace. Other kingdoms did not attack because Persia controlled the land and other kingdoms did not want to war against Persia.
333 BC: Having already defeated Persia, Alexander the Great conquered the entire region, including Israel.
Alexander died in 323 BC without leaving an heir. His empire was divided amongst his generals, with Egypt acquiring Israel.
As with the Persians, the Jews continued to live there in relative peace, but now Egypt owned the land.

300-200 BC

Egypt continued to control Israel.

200-100 BC

198 BC: The Seleucids (from present day Syria) gained control of Israel.
c. 169 B.C.: the Seleucid King, Antiochus IV, sought to destroy the Jewish faith and desecrated the Temple. The Jews revolted and re-established the Jewish kingdom with Jerusalem as its capital.
c. 169 BC to 100 BC: The Jews were in control of Israel.

100 BC to the birth of Jesus in 4 BC

To see why I say that Jesus was born in 4 BC, go here.

100 - 63 BC: The Jews were in control of Israel.
63 B.C.: The Roman General Pompey captured Jerusalem without fighting a battle: the Jews surrendered. The Jews were allowed to remain in Israel, but under Roman occupation.
Note: The Jews controlled their own land for a little over 100 years, from 169 to 63 BC.
40 BC: The Romans needed a strong pro-Roman king in Israel and elevated Herod as the "king of the Jew." Note: Herod was not a real king (his father was not a king) and he was not a real Jews. He was an Idumean convert. This is important because the Jews had conquered the Idumeans in 135 BC and forced them all to become Jews. Herod was a Jew in name only, it was not his choice. To learn more, go here.
4 BC: Jesus was born and Herod died. (Some scholars place the birth of Jesus as early as 6 or 7 BC to match up with the statement in Matthew 2:16.)

In brief, the ownership of the land of Israel looked like this (who controlled the land of Isral: years in control)(dates approximate):

Jews: Time of the Judges to 586 BC
Babylonia: 586 BC to 539 BC
Persia: 539 BC to 333 BC
Alexander the Great: 333 BC to 323 BC
Egyptians: 323 BC to 198 BC
Syria (Seleucids): 198 BC to 169 BC
Jews: 169 BC to 63 BC
Romans: 63 BC to Jesus (The Romans continued to control Israel for hundreds of years after Jesus)

Note: to see the complete history of Jerusalem from the first time it is mentioned in history to today, go here.