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The Birth of Messianic Expectation

(An Overview of Jewish History from 586 B.C. to the Time of Jesus)

        The year is 586 B.C. The Babylonian armies have surrounded the city of Jerusalem for the third time in twenty years. This time God has given the city completely into their hands. The siege works are laid against her walls. The battering rams have started their relentless pounding against her large wooden gates. The noise resounds loudly. Each thrust sends tremors of fear into the inhabitants of the city. The handwriting is on the wall. It is happening just as God's prophets had foretold. The false prophets who said Babylon would be defeated and in whom the Jews trusted, were sadly mistaken. The Israelite army, which had so valiantly defended the city during two previous attacks, now realizes all is lost. They flee through a breach in the wall, leaving the city of God defenseless. Jerusalem capitulates to the Babylonian empire. Her remaining inhabitants watch in horror as Solomon's temple, the center of Jewish life and worship, is set on fire. One of the most magnificent wonders of the ancient world goes up in flames, and with it the dreams and aspirations of the Jewish nation.

Her sacred religious artifacts gold and silver articles, cups and utensils are plundered. To add insult to the injury of the Jewish captives, the holy vessels are placed in the pagan temple of Marduk back in Babylon. The Jews are deported to Babylonian cities to be used as slaves. Only the poorest Jews of the land are left behind by King Nebuchadnezzar to tend the land. But this remnant too, would soon cast behind them God's merciful hand of kindness. After 30 years of warnings by the mouths of the prophets, God's judgment, like an iron fist, has fallen upon them. The Jews now languish and weep by the rivers of Babylon, longing to return to their homeland. The time of Gentile occupation has begun and, with it, the era of Messianic expectation.

70 Years and Forever

God sent His prophets to warn the Israelites before, during, and after their captivity. They spoke of God's fiery wrath and destruction awaiting them if they did not repent. In addition to warnings of judgment, God also commissioned the prophets to preach a message of hope, deliverance, and eventual reconciliation from their exile. Though greatly angered at the Israelites, God mercifully supplied some light at the end of the tunnel. These encouragements took the form of two distinct promises: First, though they would be banished from the land so that it could enjoy its Sabbath rest, God promised the Jews that within seventy years (the exact amount of time they had failed to observe the land's Sabbaths), He would punish their Babylonian conquerors and bring the Jews back to the land of Israel (Jer. 25:12; 29:10). Second, the prophets spoke of a glorious restoration. Under the leadership of King Messiah, the two-tribe kingdom of Judah (Benjamin and Judah) and the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel (destroyed and exiled for their rebellion by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.) would be reunited. This restoration would be so glorious that it would eclipse the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt under Moses (Jer. 23:5).1

From the moment they were dispersed into Babylonian captivity, the faithful of Israel anxiously awaited the promised restoration. They prayed continually for their return to the land. Many fasted every fourth and sixth month. "Next year in Jerusalem!" was the cry heard at each Passover. With great anticipation and eagerness they waited patiently for the appearing of the Messiah.

The Limited Restoration

True to His promise, God judged the decadent kingdom of Babylon by the hand of the Medo-Persian Empire. And things started to look better for the tiny displaced nation. The Jews found grace in the eyes of the Medo-Persians. Cyrus commissioned Zerubbabel to return to Jerusalem to begin rebuilding the temple. But the rebuilding went slowly at first. The people became more involved in building their own houses to the utter neglect of God's temple. After being rebuked by the prophet Haggai (Haggai 1-2), the remnant finally finished the temple. But the city walls were still broken down. Word of this got back to Nehemiah, who served as a cupbearer to the king of Persia. Nehemiah, grieved, fasted and prayed for a grand restoration like that promised by Moses in the Palestinian covenant (Neh. 1:8-9; Deut. 30:1-5). To his disappointment, he did not receive it, because only a small remnant 40,000 returned. The Jews, putting it in the words of Ezra, received only a  "little reviving" in their bondage (Ezra 9:8-9). Even the rebuilt temple paled in comparison to the glory and splendor of Solomon's temple. Those who were old enough to remember Solomon's temple wept in disillusionment (Haggai 2:3, Ezra 3:12-13). This was anything but the glorious restoration that King Messiah was to usher in. It did not encompass the 10 northern tribes carried away in the Assyrian captivity. Only the two-tribe kingdom of Judah was extended the opportunity to return, and most of them declined the invitation. The vast majority stayed in Babylon to enjoy a life of luxury, ease and delicate living. Only a small remnant returned. They were not a self-governing nation under the sole rule of God but were still under the domination of the Medes and Persians. Though there was cause for great rejoicing and celebration for the freedom to worship once again in Jerusalem, there was also cause for great disappointment.

The Maccabees

The Jews experienced a relatively peaceful existence during their subjection to the Medo-Persian Empire. But this took a dramatic turn for the worse. Alexander the Great and his Grecian empire overthrew the Medo-Persians (B.C.371 to 167). After conquering the world, Alexander wept upon a rock in Babylon because there were no more worlds to conquer. He died from alcohol abuse at the age of 33. After Alexander's death, the Syrian rulers came to power and oppressed the Jewish people. The chief of them, Antiochus Epiphanes, came and severely persecuted the Jews. He forbade the temple sacrifices, the observance of the Sabbath, the feast days, and the practice of circumcision on the pain of death. Jews were forced to eat pigs' flesh at the many altars that had been erected throughout the country. Thousands of Jews who refused to be paganized were brutally slain. In December 167 B.C., Antiochus went into the temple and desecrated it. He set up an altar to Zeus in the sanctuary, sacrificed a pig upon it, and literally shoved its meat down the throats of the priests.

These atrocities provoked the peaceful Judean farmers into action. Overnight they were transformed into warriors. The priestly family of the Hasmoneans (the father Mattathias, and his five sons: Johanan, Simon, Judah, nicknamed Maccabee "the Hammer," Eliezer and Jonathan) from the town of Modin in Palestine arose to lead the fight against the godless Antiochus and his Syrian hordes. Though they were untrained and vastly outnumbered, the Maccabees, true to their name, hammered the Syrians into retreat repeatedly in the face of overwhelming odds. Three years later, to the day of the temple's desecration, December 25, 164 B.C., they marched into Jerusalem and rededicated the temple and offered sacrifices on the new altar. And thus began the annual festival called the Feast of Hanukkah (Dedication).

For many, these exploits were reminiscent of the glory days of Gideon, Samson and David. Indeed, it seemed that a new era had begun in which Israel would once again control her destiny. But the deliverance afforded by the Hasmonian dynasty did not stand the test of time. It lasted a scant 100 years. It was the "little help" prophesied by Daniel (Daniel 11:34), not the anticipated kingdom that would demolish all pagan kingdoms and endure "forever" (Dan. 2:44).

Herod's Temple

With the rise of the Roman Empire came the demise of the Hasmonian dynasty. In 63 B.C., Pompey besieged the city of Jerusalem and captured the Temple Mount putting to death thousands of her defenders. Though he did not destroy or despoil the temple, he did profane it by walking behind the curtain into the Most Holy Place, which, to his surprise, he found empty. Jerusalem once again found herself under Gentile domination. In 39 B.C., the Roman Senate appointed Herod the Idumean (a descendant of Esau) King of Judea. He severely oppressed all opposition, but was careful to give the Jews enough religious freedom to quell national rebellion. To appease the Jews, he rebuilt Zerubbabel's dilapidated temple. So magnificent was his finished work that the rabbis said, "He that has not seen the Temple of Herod, has never seen a beautiful building."2 The Jews loved their new temple but hated its architect! If they were enraptured by the gloriousness of their religious holidays, they were soon brought down to earth by the giant eagle, an emblem of pagan Rome, setting high upon the gate leading into the temple. (When some Jews hacked this "graven image" to pieces, Herod had them burned alive.) Moreover, as they left the temple grounds, they could not help but encounter the pagan theater which provoked the Jews to plots.3

The Nationalist Party

The anguish and distress of Israel’s subjection to Rome gave birth to the Nationalist Party. The "Zealots," as they were called, would not be appeased by a token religious freedom. They hated every vestige of Roman domination. More and more, the people sided and sympathized with their cause. They patiently waited for the time to cast off the yoke of Roman oppression. They looked for a Messiah to rally behind. Their sages were also expecting the Messiah to appear around the beginning of the first century. Daniel had made a very exacting prophecy about the coming of Messiah. Daniel said that from the going forth of the command to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of Messiah would be 483 years. The time for the coming of Messiah had nearly elapsed. (Dan. 9:24-27. See chapter 9 for a full exposition of this prophecy.)

Was the Lord whom they sought suddenly going to appear at His temple as Malachi promised (Mal.3:1)? Was the "Branch" of Jeremiah's prophecy going to burst upon the scene and once and for all dispose of all foreign powers, leaving not even a trace of their existence (Dan. 2, 7)?  Would the "Rod from the stem of Jesse" with one fell swoop smite the Romans "with the sword of his mouth” and put Israel at the head of the nations forever (Isaiah 11)? Prophecies like these no doubt piqued Messianic romanticism of the early first century Jews. All other deliverers who had come before did not bring lasting peace. Many had come to realize that none other than King Messiah could usher in the golden age.

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