1. The Times of the Gentiles
Intertestamental Period
Lesson 1.1

2. Today’s Place in the Story
God created the world to be ruled by mankind
Mankind messed up and turned away from Him. How?
God then promised the “seed of the woman” would crush the head of the serpent.
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Gen.3:15 KJV
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Gen. 3:15 ESV
Israel was the “seed” nation, but worshiped idols instead of God.

3. Today’s Place in the Story
God sent Israel into captivity.
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made Israel his prisoners and destroyed the temple.
Video Clip “Babylonian Captivity” is 12:03 min.

4. Today’s Place in the Story
After 70 years, they put their idols behind them, and returned to Israel.
“For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you My promise and bring you back to this place.” Jer. 29:10 ESV

5. Today’s Place in the Story
King Cyrus of Persia defeated Babylon and let the people of Judah return home.
The Jews were no longer independent; they were part of a Gentile nation now.
Video clip “Cyrus The Great in Bible Prophecy Part 1” is 10:06 min.

6. Alexander the Great – Greek Empire
After returning to Jerusalem, everything was not instantly peaceful for the Jews.
In Dan. 11:1-3 Daniel records a mighty Greek king would defeat the Persians. This king was Alexander the Great.
Video clip “Alexander the Great: Alexander vs King Darius” is 4:37 min.

7. Maccabean Revolt After Alexander the Great died his kingdom was split.
The king of the south was lead by Ptolemies (from Egypt), and the king of the north lead by Seleucids (from Syria).
During these times, Israel was forced into behaving like Greeks instead of Jews (or face penalty of death).
Eventually, the Jews got fed up with it and fought back. In 167 B.C., Judas Maccabeus led a revolt which resulted in the Seleucids defeat and Israel’s independence.
Antiochus, the ruler of the Seleucids, forced all Jews to abandon their own culture and take on the Greek culture. A priest named Mattathias refused to join in. He and his five sons fled to the mountains where Mattathias died. His son, Judah, called Maccabeus (which means “hammer”) took up his father call to battle.

8. Hasmonean Dynasty
The Maccabees became the ruling class in Israel from 140 BC until 63 AD (We call these rulers the Hasmoneans).
These priest-kings eventually turned into tyrants, however, and performed many evils in Israel
Alexander killed 6,000 Jews; crucified 800 rebels; killed children in front of their mothers.

9. Roman Empire Expands
Eventually, the Hasmonean Dynasty fell apart because of a civil war, and Rome took over in 63 AD.
Roman General Pompey conquered Jerusalem.
Video clip “Pompeus in Jerusalem” is 4:34 min.

10. Roman Control
The Roman empire was split up among different local rulers.
Antipater gained control of portions of Israel.
His son, Herod became Herod the Great.

11. Shining The Light
For centuries, Israel was called to be a separate nation that shined its light into the world. They were disobedient; so God placed them inside the Gentile world to shine from within.
3 groups resulted from this:
1.Essenes: moved into the Dead Sea wilderness to create a “pure” Jewish culture (separation).
2.Pharisees: encouraged obedience to the Law so much that they lost their witness to the Gentiles (separation).
3.Sadducees: openly accepted Greek customs and forgot their Jewish roots (accommodated).

12. Shining The Light
Video clip “The Four Jewish Groups | What's in the Bible?” is 2:02 min.

13. Application
Eventually, Jesus came into the world to shine a new kind of light. A light that was IN the world, but not overcome by the world.
Separation and Accommodation are not the way to relate to the world. We are called to be among non-Christians but different than them. We love them, but we point them back to Jesus.
We have the opportunity today to succeed where Israel failed!