After many Judeans (now called Jews) had been living in exile in Babylonia for several decades, the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., and a year later he decreed that all exiled Jews in his kingdom could return to their homeland (Ezra 1:1-4; 2 Chronicles 36:22-23). A short time after this […]
Category Archives: Persian Period
Nehemiah’s Walls Are Dedicated
Nehemiah 12:27-47 In 445 B.C., about 13 years after the scribe Ezra led a small group of Jewish exiles back to Judea, Nehemiah received permission from Artaxerxes I of Persia to travel back to Jerusalem as well and rebuild the city (Nehemiah 1-2). Nehemiah began by rebuilding the walls, which remained in ruins after the […]
Elam and the City of Susa
Though the nation of Elam receives limited attention in Scripture, the history of this ancient civilization spans nearly the entire breadth of the Bible from Genesis to Acts. After being listed among the descendants of Shem (Genesis 10:22), Elam is noted as one of the four Mesopotamian nations whose kings traveled to Canaan during Abraham’s […]
The Shephelah
The Shephelah, meaning “lowlands,” was a band of gentle hills lying between the coastal plain and the hill country of Israel, and it was covered with sycamore fig trees and olive trees (1 Kings 10:27; 1 Chronicles 1:15; 9:27; 27:28). This pastoral description of the region paints a deceptively peaceful picture, however, for the various […]
Cyprus
While the island of Cyprus is often remembered as the home region of the apostle Barnabas during the time of the New Testament (Acts 11:19-20), its history intermingles with Israel’s at least as far back as the time of the Exodus, though mostly indirectly. Cyprus was located about 165 miles northwest of Israel, and in […]