3. From the Exile to the Birth of Jesus
The Exile and Restoration of Jerusalem 587BC - 445BC 587 BC Gedeliah is appointed Governor of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar 586 BC Gedeliah is assassinated. Jeremiah accompanies the rebels to Egypt 539 BC Babylon is captured by King Cyrus of Persia 537 BC The first group of exiles returns to Jerusalem under Sheshbazzar 536 BC Work begins on rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem Haggai & Zechariah spur on the returned exiles to rebuild the Temple in c.520BC.
516 BC The Second Temple is completed Malachi, writing after the completion of the Temple in 516BC, urges Israel to be faithful as God's people.
525 BC A second group of exiles returns under Zerubbabel and Joshua 522 BC Darius I becomes King of Persia 486 BC Xerxes I becomes King of Persia 483 BC Queen Vashti is deposed by Xerxes I 479 BC Esther becomes Queen of Persia 473 BC Haman’s plot to kill the Jews fails. The Festival of Purim established 465 BC Artaxerxes I becomes King of Persia 458 BC A third group of exiles returns to Jerusalem under Ezra 445 BC A fourth group of exiles returns under Nehemiah 445 BC The walls are completed and the Feast of Tabernacles is celebrated Joel, writing some time after the exile in the 5th or 4th century BC, promises hope after a plague of locusts.
Between the Old and New Testaments 445BC - 6BC 333 BC Alexander the Great of Macedonia, defeats the Persian King Darius III at the Battle of Issus 332 BC Judaea is conquered by Alexander the Great. 201 BC Judaea comes under the control of the Seleucid kings again 167 BC Antiochus Epiphanes, the Seleucid (Greek) King of Syria, bans Jewish religious practices 165 BC The Jewish rebels (the Maccabees) gain control and re-dedicate the Jewish Temple. 152 BC Jonathan Maccabaeus establishes the Hasmonaean dynasty as rulers of Judaea 67 BC The Roman Emperor Pompey invades Syria and creates the Roman province of 40 BC Herod defeats the Parthian (Persian) invaders with Roman assistance and is appointed 37 BC Herod the Great is appointed ‘King of the Jews’ by the Romans |
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