Page 105 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Revised
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Chapter 12: Pre-Common Era Greek backgrounds to the Bible
Connect…
You probably have or remember one or two people who greatly influenced your life. Their direct or
indirect engagements with you have come to leave a lifelong impact on your life. Now, try to imagine
that on a large scale; think of a person whose exploits greatly influenced the course of world civilization.
This lesson will cover the Greek era as ushered in by Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C). Starting his
major military campaign at only twenty years of age, Alexander conquered the Persian empire, in effect
extending his rule from Greece to the Indus valley, including North Africa. As he conquered the lands,
Alexander introduced or at least paved the way for a culture that would heavily shape the politics,
education, religion, and other civilizations of the world of his time and beyond.
Let us find out how these numerous civilizations inform the Biblical backgrounds of this era and
subsequent ones.
Objectives…
1. The student should be able to identify how the Greek era is significantly important to the story of the
Bible.
2. The student should be able to describe the story and welfare of the Jews during the Greek era.
3. The student should be able to describe key people, places, and events that makeup backgrounds to
some Biblical narratives.
4. The student should be able to identify key civilizations of the Greek era and how their influence on
Christianity.
The Lesson ...
Location and History
The story of Alexander the Great begins in his birthplace of Pella, 24 miles northwest of Thessalonica
and the official capital of Macedonia. The ancestry of Macedonia can trace as far back as around 2000
BCE. There are different narratives concerning the origins and early developments of Macedonia.
However, there is wide agreement that along the way, it became a consolidated “kingdom” of tribes
under a monarch. This consolidation made it one of the “Greek City-states,” among them Sparta,
Athens, and Thebes.
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