After Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C., his empire was divided among his generals, including Ptolemy and Seleucus. Initially the land of Israel came under the rule of Ptolemy, but by 200 B.C. it had fallen under Seleucid control. The Seleucid Empire originally controlled all of Alexander’s domain east of the Mediterranean coast except […]
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The Journey to Abel-Shittim
Numbers 20:14-21:20; 33:37-49; Deuteronomy 2:1-23; Judges 11:14-27 Four separate passages of Scripture recount the Israelites’ journey from Kadesh-barnea to Abel-shittim, yet precisely tracing this route on a map is surprisingly difficult. Most of the specific locations mentioned are either unidentified or uncertain, and some comments about the journey can seem difficult to reconcile with other […]
Gedaliah Is Assassinated
2 Kings 25; Jeremiah 40-44 Sometime after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and exiled the upper echelons of Judean society to Babylon, they appointed a Judean named Gedaliah as governor over those who remained in the land. At Mizpah Gedaliah encouraged those who remained to embrace Babylonian rule and reestablish their lives in the land, cultivating […]
Border Conflict between Israel and Judah
1 Kings 15:9-22; 2 Chronicles 16:1-6 Around 895 B.C., a few decades after Israel divided into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, a border dispute erupted between the two nations. King Baasha of Israel seized the strategic Judean border town of Ramah and fortified it to gain control over all […]
Jephthah’s Exploits
Judges 10-12 The story of Jephthah is set in the time of the judges, when Israel was settling into the land they had taken possession of many years early under Joshua’s leadership. Continuing their repeated pattern of sin, oppression, repentance, and deliverance, the people of Israel were suffering attacks by the Ammonites, who normally occupied […]