ESTHER

A. Persian Festival (1:1-2:23)

   B. Pogrom Planned (3:1-4:17)

     C. Plot to Kill Mordecai (5:1-14)

         D. Haman Seeks Honor (6:1-9)

         D. Mordecai is Honored (6:10-14)

      C. Plot to Kill Mordecai Foiled (7:1-10)

   B. Pogrom Foiled (8:1-9:19)

A. Jewish Festival (9:20-10:3)

DANIEL

Nebuchadnezzar- Babylonian (Dan 1-5)

Belshazzaar-later Babylonian  (Dan 6)

Darius-Persian (Dan 6)

Kingdom of God (Dan 7)

BETWEEN TESTAMENTS

(SHIFT IN THE WIND)

Eastern powers dominate OT world

  Assyria, Babylonia, Persia

Western powers now dominate

  Greece, Rome

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

              (356-323 BC)

Conquers Palestine in 332 BC

               (1 Macc 1:1)

  Language: Greek

  Urban Centers (e.g., Alexandria Egypt)

  Cosmopolitan ideal – one world city

Alexander’s kingdom divided (1 Macc 1:6)

MACCABEAN REVOLT

Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) rules Syria beginning in 175 BC

  Seeks to Hellenize the region

  Conflicting ideals

▪  Hellenistic ideal: one  world
   city

▪  Jewish identity: chosen people

  Some Jews accept Hellenism (1 Macc 11
  -15)

  Antiochus turns the Jerusalem Temple into
  a pagan shrine in 167 BC (1 Macc 1:54)

    Some Jews resist (1 Macc 1:62)

Matthias

  Slays a Jew who offers pagan sacrifice

  Initiates revolt (1 Macc 2)

Judas Maccabeus

  Continues revolt (1 Macc 3)

RECAPTURING TEMPLE (1 Macc 4)

  Battle of Beth-zur

  Victory in Jerusalem

  Temple rededicated in 164 BC

            (Hanukkah commemorates it)

MACCABEAN KINGDOM

  Judas killed (1 Macc 9:18)

  Jonathan becomes leader & priest

            (1 Macc 9:31; 10:21)

  Simon defeats Syrians in 142-141 BC

(1Macc 13:41-52)

ROMAN CONQUEST

63 BC

Roman General Pompey captures Jerusalem

Herod the Great is the local king who rules from 37-4 BC