The Great Disaster of Babylonian Times
587 BCE - The destruction of Jerusalem
The greatest disaster in ancient Hebrew history was the Babylonian armies of King Nebuchadnezzaar lay siege, sack and burn Jerusalem and other Judean cities, after which the Babylonians took thousands of survivors to live in this or that Babylonian city, supporting the Babylonian economy.
This destruction and deportation of Hebrews spurred Hebrew writers to write legends, myths and tales about what had happened to them. They wrote of destruction, exile, captivity, evil kings, vengeful gods and internal divisions.
Writers from Babylonian Times
Baruch the Scribe
Shemaya the Nehelamite
Shemaya the Nehelamite
Shemaya the Nehelamite
Shemaya the Nehelamite
Shemaya the Nehelamite
Ezekiel
Shemaya the Nehelamite
Ezekiel
The Salvation and Liberation of Persian Times
538 BCE - The Return to Zion
The greatest miracle in ancient Hebrew history came exactly 49 years after doom. This miracle would reshape Hebrew theology, turn it into priestly and cement Yahweh as the only God the Hebrews were allowed to worship in the Hebrew land.
525 BCE - The Persian conquest of Egypt
Once the Persian empire took Egypt, the Hebrews in Egypt could communicate and travel to the Hebrew communities in Judea and Persia. They began sharing the texts they had been writing separately. The combination of these texts would push the Hebrews to rebuild the Jerusalem temple shortly after.
458 BCE - The Holy Canon travels to Judea
A delegation of wealthy Hebrew priests, led by Ezra the scribe, arrived in Judea from Persia with the first edition of the holy Hebrew canon. With the canon and a letter from the Persian king, they take over Judea from the locals and establish an oligarchy.
Writers from Persian Times
Yeshua the High Priest
Yeshua the High Priest
Yeshua the High Priest
The Poet Priest
Yeshua the High Priest
Yeshua the High Priest
Ezra the Priest-Scribe
Yeshua the High Priest
Ezra the Priest-Scribe
200s BCE - Hebrew writers in Alexandria
Egypt became part of the Hellenistic world in 322 BCE, when it was conquered by Alexander the Great. And when Alexander died, his general Ptolemy took control of Egypt and established the Ptolemaic dynasty, which would survive until Roman times.
Under the Ptolemies, the Hebrews in Egypt experienced unprecedented prosperity. Under Pharaonic and Persian Egypt, the Hebrews had been happily Pharaonized and Persianized, respectively, and under the Hellenists, they were happily Hellenized. The high social standing of the Hebrews under the Ptolemies can be attested by the fact that they were given a whole quarter of the imperial city of Alexandria at its height, and it was where they traded with the world and wrote Hebrew versions of Hellenistic comedies.
Their most famous work can be found in most of 1 Samuel (Samuel's origin story, the Ark of the Covenant stories, Saul's rise to power, David's rise to power, and more) as well as the story of Samson, the two-bit Hebrew version of Hercules.
140 BCE - Hebrew independence under Maccabean rule
Deep in Hellenistic time, a populist Hebrew revolution sweeps Judea. What began as a civil war against the oligarchic priests turned into a war of independence against the allies of the priests, the Hellenistic Seleucid empire.
The Maccabean leader was a populist named Shimon Thasi, and once he and the populists were in power, they edited the Bible, turning it from priestly and elitist to populist. In the ensuing decades, there would be more minor additions.
Different factions would have a hand in the many additions to the canon, including zealot clerics, judges, and poets.
110s BCE - The old priests are back in power
Around 110 BCE, the Maccabean leader John Hyrcanus expelled the populists from the temple and the government, reinstating the priests whom his father, Shimon, had toppled and persecuted.
105-85 BCE - Wars of conquest
John Hyrcanus and mostly his son, Alexander Yanay (Jannaeus), expanded the borders of Judea to the north and east. To the east of the Jordan River, outside Hebrew territory. Well, that problem was solved when Hyrcanus and Yanay had their scribe write new stories supposedly taking place in the ancient past that would give them a reason to take these lands from their neighbors. It would give them legitimacy. And so the scribes drafted up a series of mini stories and placed them in the Book of Numbers.
Writers from Hellenistic Times
Alexandrian Hebrew writers
Alexandrian Hebrew writers
Alexandrian Hebrew writers
Maccabean Editors
Alexandrian Hebrew writers
Alexandrian Hebrew writers
Zealot Levite Clerics
Alexandrian Hebrew writers
Judges of the Sanhedrin
Judges of the Sanhedrin
Judges of the Sanhedrin
Judges of the Sanhedrin
The Maccabean Poet
Judges of the Sanhedrin
The Maccabean Poet
Reinstated Priests
Judges of the Sanhedrin
The Maccabean Poet
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