Old Testament

Week 29: Judah between the Old & New Testaments

arot29_notes.pdf

arot29_presentation.pdf

arot29_handout.pdf

Stephen E. Robinson, “Background for the Testaments,” Ensign (December 1982): 25–30. BYU professor Stephen Robinson describes some of the religious documents that were written between the Old and New Testament periods.
The history of the 167–164 ʙ.ᴄ. Jewish war of independence is told in the apocryphal books of 1 and 2 Maccabees. These books cover the same time period from slightly different perspectives. Their gripping accounts of Jewish rebellion against the Seleucids, and their eventual victory and cleansing of the Temple, are well worth reading. You can read these books online: 1 Maccabees (NRSV), 2 Maccabees (NRSV).
The Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of scriptural and religious texts written by a separatist Jewish group between 150 ʙ.ᴄ. and ᴀ.ᴅ. 70, have been digitized and can be viewed online, along with translations of the texts. Two prominent documents are The Temple Scrolla and The Great Isaiah Scroll.

#84 The Persian Empire

#87 Alexander the Great’s Empire

#88 The Division of Alexander’s Empire about 275 ʙ.ᴄ.

#89 Palestine under the Ptolemies

#90 The Seleucid Empire and Antiochus III

#92 Selected Events in the Maccabean Revolt (168–142 ʙ.ᴄ.)

#93 Jewish Expansion under the Hasmonean Dynasty

#104 Qumran Caves and the Dead Sea Scrolls

#94 Pompey’s Campaign against Jerusalem and the Resulting Roman Settlement 63 ʙ.ᴄ.