V. In the closing period of Old Testament history we find the tribe of
Ju'dah alone remaining, and during most of the time under foreign rule;
so we name this the =Period of the Jew'ish Province=.
1. It extends from the beginning of the =Captivity at Bab'y-lon=, B. C.
587, to the =Birth of Christ=, B. C. 4.[2]
2. During this period Ju-de'a was a subject land, except for a brief
epoch. This may be called, therefore, the =Foreign Administration=, as
the rule was through the great empires in succession.
3. This period may be subdivided into five epochs. For the first and a
part of the second we have the Old Testament as our source of history;
all the rest fall in the four centuries of silence between the Old and
the New Testament.
1.) =The Chal-de'an Supremacy.= Fifty years from the
captivity, B. C. 587, to the conquest of Bab'y-lon by
Cy'rus, B. C. 536, by which the Chal-de'an empire was
ended, and the Jews were permitted to return to their
land (Ezra 1. 1-3).
2.) =The Per'sian Supremacy.= About two hundred years
from the fall of Bab'y-lon, B. C. 536, to the battle
of Ar-be'la, B. C. 330, by which Al-ex-an'der the
Great won the Per'sian empire. During this epoch the
Jews were permitted to govern themselves under the
general control of the Per'sian kings.
3.) =The Greek Supremacy.= Al-ex-an'der's empire
lasted only ten years, but was succeeded by Greek
kingdoms, under whose rule the Jews lived in
Pal'es-tine for about one hundred and sixty years.
4.) =The Mac-ca-be'an Independence.= About B. C. 168
the tyranny of the Greek king of Syr'i-a drove the
Jews to revolt. Two years later they won their liberty
under Ju'das Mac-ca-be'us, and were ruled by a line of
princes called As-mo-ne'ans, or Mac-ca-be'ans, for one
hundred and twenty-six years.
5.) =The Ro'man Supremacy.= This came gradually, but
began officially in the year B. C. 40, when Her'od the
Great received the title of king from the Ro'man
senate. Thenceforth the Jew'ish province was reckoned
a part of the Ro'man empire.