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.
It becomes part of the Hellenic (Greek) world ruled by the Seleucid (Greek) kings of Syria
and then by the Ptolemaic (Greek) kings of Egypt
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
and dedicates the Jewish Temple to the Greek god Zeus. He establishes the
‘abomination of desolation’ (a stutue of Zeus) in the Temple in Jerusalem.
This prompts a Jewish rebellion led by Mattathias and Judas Maccabaeus
165 BC The Jewish rebels (the Maccabees) gain control and re-dedicate the Jewish Temple.
The festival of Hannukah celebrates this re-dedication of the 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
Judaea. Hyrcanus is established as a ‘puppet’ king under Roman authority.
40 BC Herod defeats the Parthian (Persian) invaders with Roman assistance and is appointed
Roman Governor of Galilee
37 BC Herod the Great is appointed ‘King of the Jews’ by the Romans