Solomon’s reign was the golden era of Israel. All the promises of God were fulfilled in the natural sense. The son of David built the glorious temple and God showed His acceptance by sending fire from heaven to consume the sacrifices. Solomon’s reign was a reign of peace over all the territory promised by God to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. News of the wisdom and wealth of Solomon spread everywhere.

Israel never again regained the glory it had known in Solomon’s time. The kingdom was divided, there followed good kings and bad kings, the people often tended to idolatry. Through it all there remained a belief that this land had been given them by God and the temple remained the spiritual focal point of the people of God.

Finally the accumulation of disobedience and sin was too much and God permitted the people to be taken into captivity and the temple to be destroyed. The prophets had foretold this devastation, but they also told of a time of restoration. Often these promises included the Gentiles in God’s plan.

The people returned from Babylon, rebuilt Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. According to the Babylonian Talmud, the new temple lacked five things found in Solomon’s temple: the Ark of the Covenant; the sacred fire sent from God to consume the sacrifices; the Shekinah or pillar of smoke and fire showing God’s presence; the spirit of holiness (or prophecy); the Urim and Thummin by which God had made known His will. Yet the temptation to worship the gods of the heathen was gone and the true worship of God was restored.

Zerubbabel was the first governor after the return from Babylon. He was of the lineage of David, but could not be king because Judah was now a vassal state of Persia. The lineage of David’s descendants was faithfully recorded in expectation of the day when a son of David would again sit on the throne. Shortly after the return, the canon of Old Testament Scripture was completed with the inclusion of the histories recorded by Ezra and the prophecies of the last prophets.

The destruction of the temple had left a void in the worship system of the Jewish people. Synagogues appeared during or shortly after the Babylonian exile and have continued ever since. There is no command in the OT for weekly worship, nor instruction on how to organize or conduct such meetings. Synagogue is a Greek word that does not appear in the Old Testament, except in Psalm 74:8 of the AV where it is used to translate a Hebrew word. The synagogue was a place for weekly meetings on the Sabbath day when the Scriptures were read and expounded.

Other events happened on the world stage that caused great distress to the Jewish people. Alexander the Great conquered a territory extending from Greece and Macedonia south to Egypt and eastward to northern India and Afghanistan. He established many new cities in the conquered territories, all named Alexandria. Kandahar, Afghanistan was one of those cities and appears to retain some trace of his name. Trade throughout the empire was stimulated and Greek became the common language of trade. Upon Alexander’s death, his empire was divided in three and ongoing wars between the competing empires often involved battles for control of Judah.

During this time, Jewish leaders saw the need for a Bible in the Greek language and 70 scholars gathered in Alexandria, Egypt to make this translation. This is called the translation of the seventy, or Septuagint, and is the Bible quoted by Jesus and the apostles in the New Testament.

The next great empire to rise was Rome. Julius Caesar conquered southern Europe, including Greece, and extended the empire as far south as Egypt. The Greek language remained the international language of commerce throughout the Roman Empire. Rome added something new that enhanced trade and travel — a well-developed road system connecting all parts of the empire and rigorous law enforcement that made trade and travel much safer than ever before.

Now the “fulness of time” had come. The stage was set for the appearance of the Messiah, the true Son of David who would establish an eternal spiritual kingdom that would never end. This was not the Messiah the Jewish leadership was looking for, yet the evidence was all there in the OT prophecies for those who could see. Now was the time for the fulfilment of the salvation of which the OT sacrifices had only been a symbol and for the blood of the spotless Lamb of God to sprinkle the heavenly mercy seat.

When this was done and the earthly temple and kingdom had again been taken out of the way, the good news of salvation could be carried to people throughout the Roman Empire. A common language existed, there was a translation of the Old Testament Scriptures in that language and a protected road system to facilitate travel. A system of weekly meetings for reading and expounding the Scriptures in the synagogues became the familiar model for worship services of the early church.

So many events, which had seemed to be meaningless tragedies at the time, are now seen as the hand of God preparing the way for the coming of His Son into the world, the spread of the gospel and the establishment of the church.

(First posted in November of 2013)