Alexander the Great & the Bible
The goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn between his eyes is the first king.
Key Words
- Epic: a story or event of great significance, often involving heroic deeds or memorable adventures
The novel is an epic tale of love and betrayal set in ancient Rome.
- Homage: a show of respect or honor, often through a tribute or gesture
The artist's latest painting pays homage to the works of the Renaissance masters.
- Immerse: to involve deeply in a particular activity or subject
She decided to immerse herself in learning a new language over the summer.
- Renowned: well-known and highly respected, famous for a particular quality or achievement
The chef is renowned for her innovative culinary creations.
- Idiomatically: in a way that contains or consists of an idiom
I'll tell you tomorrow could be translated idiomatically as "I'll sleep on it".
Read the article to find the answers
- Where does the word 'Pharma' come from?
- Where did the numerical system based on the number 60 (dividing hours into 60 minutes and minutes into 60 seconds) come from?
- How many prophetic visions are there in the Book of Daniel?
- Who were the Diadochi?
Ancient Greece
The country we know today as Greece didn't come into being until 1830. The vast majority of people are now Greek Orthodox Christians, but the ancient Greeks had a very different religion. Ancient Greece was a collection of nearly 1,500 independent city-states spread around the Mediterranean coast from Naples in Italy to Marseille in France and Izmir in Turkey. They did not have a single, unified religion. They worshipped and sometimes sacrificed humans to a variety of gods and goddesses associated with each city-state or region.
The ancient Greek gods influenced everything, from art and literature to the way people conducted politics and went to war. They can be traced back to the epic poems of Homer, particularly the Iliad and the Odyssey.
According to historical accounts, Alexander visited the legendary city of Troy, the setting of Homer's Iliad, before launching his war against the Persian Empire. He is said to have paid homage to the tomb of Achilles, seeing himself as the great warrior's successor.
In Greek mythology, Achilles' mother was Thetis, a goddess who tried to make her son immortal. She held Achilles by the heel and immersed him in a magical river, but because he was not fully submerged, his heel remained vulnerable. He died when an arrow struck him there during the Trojan War, but he became a legendary hero nevertheless, renowned for his extraordinary strength, courage and skill in battle.
The term "Achilles' heel" is now used idiomatically to refer to a weakness or vulnerability that a person or thing has despite its overall strength or power. For example: "The company's innovative technology was its strength, but its Achilles' heel was its dependence on a single supplier".
Goddesses such as Thetis, Athena and Artemis were worshipped by both men and women. In ancient Greek society, women played an important role in religion, often as priestesses and participants in religious rituals, but women and children were often enslaved after their homelands were invaded and their men killed in war. In Athens in particular, it is estimated that the city had as many as 80,000 slaves - half the total population - with many households owning an average of 3-4 slaves.
The famous fable writer Aesop was one of Greece's most famous slaves, granted his freedom by his second master as a reward for his wit and intelligence. Slaves were either born into slavery or acquired through war, kidnapping, and debt. They could be bought, sold and leased like property and were used in a variety of occupations, including agriculture, mining, construction, domestic service and prostitution. If they earned enough money, slaves could buy their freedom by selling themselves to a god, such as Apollo, with the money going to the temple.
Sexual violence against slaves was normal and even depicted in mythology and literature. A prominent example of rape in classical Greek mythology is the story of Zeus and Europa. In this myth, Zeus, the king of the gods, falls in love with Europa, a mortal woman, and kidnaps and rapes her. Europa bore Zeus three sons. This myth, like many others in Greek mythology, reflects a cultural context in which rape was often portrayed as an acceptable, even admirable, expression of male power and virility. Male rape was seen as a form of feminisation that robbed men of their masculine roles. In classical Athens, blaming the victim and excusing the perpetrator was widespread.
According to Greek mythology, the god of medicine and healing, Asclepius, saw snakes as sacred animals that could heal people and learned his healing powers from them. In one story, he watched a snake use herbs to revive another snake that Asclepius had killed. It then taught him how to revive the dead. The ancient Greeks sometimes let snakes roam freely in some of their temples. Patients would sleep in these temples in the hope that the snakes would cure them. This is the origin of the snake and staff symbol used today to represent the medical profession.
The word 'pharma' comes from the Greek word 'pharmakeia', which referred to the practice of using a plant or herb that could be used for both healing and poisoning. The term evolved over time to describe the art of preparing and dispensing medicines, leading to the modern concept of pharmacy.
The word pharmakos refers to a ritual that was believed to purify the whole city. An unfortunate person, chosen from among the poor and ugly members of society, became a human scapegoat and was ritually sacrificed or banished from the community in times of crisis, such as famine or plague.
Not all of Greeks culture was horrific. Greek thinkers such as Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle made important contributions to the sciences, including mathematics, astronomy, physics and biology. Their ideas and observations contributed to the development of modern scientific thought and helped to lay the foundations of Western science and philosophy.
Ancient Greece and the Persian Empire
Babylon was one of the first great empires, predating the Greek city-states by hundreds of years. Babylon had the largest city in the world and was a marvel of architecture and engineering. Its unique numerical system, based on the number 60, explains why we divide hours into 60 minutes and minutes into 60 seconds. It's also infamous for fulfilling biblical prophecy by destroying Jerusalem and taking the Judeans into captivity. The prophet Jeremiah said,
The Lord says: "The king of Judah will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and they will die there. No descendant of his will ever again sit on the throne of David or rule in Judah."
The Lord says he will send the families of the north, including Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the servant of the Lord. He will bring them against this land, its inhabitants and the surrounding nations. The Lord will destroy them completely. The land will be desolate and will serve Babylon for 70 years. Then Babylon will be punished and her land will be left in ruins.
As prophesied, the Babylonian Exile lasted 70 years until Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon and left it in ruins. He allowed the Jewish exiles to return home and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, but they did not have a king.
The Medes were an important power in the Ancient Near East, but they were not as dominant or influential as the Babylonian Empire. Both the Median and Babylonian empires eventually fell, and the Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great emerged, incorporating their lands and rapidly expanding to become the largest ancient empire in the world before clashing with the Greek city-states.
The conflict began with the Ionian Revolt, when the Greek city-states of Ionia revolted against Persian rule. The first Persian invasion of mainland Greece was defeated by the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon. The second Persian invasion reached Athens and destroyed the Acropolis, a sacred site dedicated to the goddess Athena.
The Athenians sent officials to Delphi, the main religious centre of the Greeks. They asked their god Apollo how they should protect themselves from Persian attack and were told that they would be safe behind a wooden wall, which they interpreted to mean a fleet of ships.
The Greeks narrowly escaped becoming part of the Persian Empire after the Athenian navy defeated the Persians at sea, and the armies of the Greek city-states fought side by side to defeat the Persians on land, forcing them to return to Asia.
The Rise of Alexander
Macedonia was ruled by a royal family who believed they were related to the king of the gods, Zeus, and wanted to be even more Greek. Alexander's father Philip became king and took over the lands to the east of Macedonia, which were rich in gold. With this gold he was able to pay for a full-time professional army, giving him a huge advantage over the part-time armies of the Greek city-states to his south. It was a well-trained, well-organised army, and it soon defeated all of Macedonia's neighbours.
It was common practice to sacrifice animals to the gods. But when Alexander's mother, Olympias, known for her wild behaviour, organised religious festivals, thousands of animals were killed as offerings to Dionysus, the god of wine, feasting, ecstasy, insanity and ritual madness. Olympias and her friends would then drink the blood of the animals and play with poisonous snakes. It was rumoured that Olympias even slept with one in her bed.
As Philip grew richer and more powerful, he hired artists, musicians and engineers from all over the Greek world. He even brought in philosophers, including Aristotle, a student of the great philosopher Plato. Macedonia was now well connected to the wider world, and Alexander gained an invaluable education.
By the time he was eighteen, Alexander had already demonstrated his abilities as a military leader by suppressing rebellions and persuading Greek cities to accept his father as their ruler. After his father's death, Alexander became king of Macedonia and made a pilgrimage to the ruins of Troy, where he made offerings to the gods at the Temple of Athene and exchanged his own armour for a shield that, according to legend, had been used in the Trojan War. He then went to war against Persia.
Alexander the Great & the Prophet Daniel
Hundreds of years before the rise of Alexander, a man whose name translates as 'God is my judge' had visions and prophesied about a future king of Greece. Daniel was a well-educated, highly respected, pious Jew who was one of the people taken into captivity from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.
The king of Babylon had a dream in which a huge statue of gold, silver, bronze and iron was crushed by a stone from heaven. Daniel interpreted the dream as a vision of a series of empires, each rising and falling in power until God finally established His eternal kingdom.
Today, Christians look back and identify the gold head as representing the Babylonian Empire, the silver chest and arms as representing the Median Empire, the bronze stomach and thighs as representing the Persian Empire, and the iron legs as representing the Greek Empire under Alexander the Great, which fragmented and finally collapsed just before the first appearance of Jesus Christ.
Soon after, Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered the city of Babylon and established the Persian Empire. Cyrus allowed the Jewish exiles in Babylon to return home and rebuild their temple, but Daniel stayed on and was appointed to a high position in the government.
In one of Daniel's own visions, he saw a ram with two horns that went everywhere and ruled everything in its path. No one could stand against it, and it grew strong and did what it wanted. Then a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, moving swiftly without touching the ground. The goat rushed at the ram, struck him and broke his horns. Daniel didn't understand the vision, so an angel explained it to him and said,
"The ram you saw with two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia. The goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn between his eyes is the first king".
War with Persia
It is said that Alexander's Greeks defeated the Persians, but there were tens of thousands of Greeks in the Persian army. Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, described a diverse, multinational Persian army, including Greek mercenaries. The use of Greek mercenaries by the Persians was not uncommon. Greek landowners and businessmen were reluctant to employ paid labour because slaves were so plentiful. For many Greeks, life in the well-paid Persian army was the only option.
The first month in the Macedonian calendar was called Dios, which was considered a sacred month when the Macedonians celebrated the great god Zeus. In ancient lunar calendars, including the Macedonian, months were sometimes added to match the solar year, so when Alexander was advised not to start the war in a sacred month, he simply created a new one and went to war without delay.
Thousands were killed in the first battle, and the rest were sent to Macedonia as slaves. After this victory, the Greek cities ruled by the Persians quickly opened their gates to Alexander. He told them to become democracies and to stop paying taxes to the Persian king. The tax to the Persian king was not actually stopped; it was renamed and paid as a 'gift' to the Macedonian army instead. The strategy worked, the cities became democratic and the Persian-backed local rulers lost power. Alexander became so popular that many people in the area began to think of him as a god.
The Persians used their navy to retake the Greek islands of Chios and Lesbos. They planned to continue by sea towards central Greece, hoping that Sparta would soon lead a Greek independence movement against the Macedonians. If the Persians caused enough trouble in Greece, Alexander would have to go home, but the Persians lost much more than their ships. The Macedonians looted as much silver and gold coins as Alexander would have received in taxes from his empire in a year.
Tyre
Prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Joel prophesied the destruction of Tyre. An important ancient port city in Phoenicia, known for its wickedness. Most Phoenicians were happy to welcome Alexander and bid farewell to Persian rule, but the city of Tyre was different. Tyre stood on an island about a kilometre out to sea and was surrounded by a wall fifty metres high.
Alexander received help from other Phoenician cities and from Greeks living in Cyprus and Rhodes in the war against Tyre. After a siege that lasted more than six months, the Macedonians and their allies attacked the island from all sides and managed to fight their way over the walls, leading to the fall of the city. Some 10,000 Tyrians were killed and 30,000 were sold into slavery.
The lasting impact of Alexander's conquest is evident today, as Tyre still exists, but it is no longer on an island. The coastline has been permanently altered by the causeway that Alexander's soldiers built across the sea, connecting Tyre to the mainland.
Jerusalem
The Fertile Crescent was the birthplace of the earliest and most influential ancient civilisations. This region, which includes modern-day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel-Palestine and Egypt, has seen the rise and fall of many powerful empires over the millennia. The Assyrian Empire, which destroyed Israel, was conquered by the invading Babylonian forces that destroyed Judah. The Babylonian Empire fell to Cyrus the Great of Persia, who returned the Jews to Jerusalem and allowed them to rebuild their Temple. The region then came under the control of Alexander the Great's Macedonian Empire.
Alexander's conquest of Jerusalem was part of his advance through Phoenicia on his way to Egypt. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus recorded that Alexander was warmly received by the Jewish high priest in Jerusalem. It's said that Alexander was shown a prophecy from the Book of Daniel that foretold his conquests. Alexander then made a deal with the Jews, allowing them to remain autonomous as long as they were loyal and paid taxes. The Jews agreed and collected taxes through the rebuilt Temple.
Under Alexander's rule, Greek culture and language spread throughout Jewish society. The word synagogue is a Greek word meaning "assembly" or "gathering" and refers to the place where Jewish religious services were held. And Christ is a Greek word meaning Messiah. The Jewish translation of the Old Testament into Greek, known as the Septuagint, spread Jewish religious ideas throughout the empire, while Greek mythology and philosophy influenced Jewish thought and religion.
The story of Israel can be traced back to Jacob, the grandson of Abraham. According to the Bible, Jacob wrestled with God himself, and as a result Jacob was given the name Israel, which can be translated as "the one who wrestles with God".
Jacob went to live in Canaan with his twelve sons. After the reign of King Solomon, the kingdom was split in two. The Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrian Empire. Jerusalem was the capital of the Kingdom of Judah. It was conquered by the Babylonians and the Temple was destroyed.
Many prophets in the Old Testament had prophesied that Jerusalem would be destroyed and the people taken into exile to Babylon. Jeremiah was one of them. He warned the people of Judah that the destruction of Jerusalem and their captivity in Babylon was imminent because they had broken their covenant with God.
After Cyrus the Great of Persia returned the Jews to Jerusalem and their Temple was rebuilt, several Jewish prophets prophesied even more destruction because the Jews were still breaking their covenant with God. The last of these prophets was Malachi. Malachi warned that God's judgement was imminent and foretold of a coming "messenger" who would prepare the way for God's judgement and the Messiah.
The Jews believed that after Malachi's death the divine spirit of prophetic revelation had departed from the Jewish people, marking the end of the era of Jewish prophecy. According to the Jewish Bible, the Messiah would be a descendant of King David and would establish an everlasting kingdom of peace, joy and prosperity.
The Jewish people at this time were influenced by Greek culture and ideas, but those who retained their own religious and cultural identity longed for the fulfilment of Messianic prophecy.
Egypt
Egypt fought regularly for independence from Persian rule and welcomed Alexander as their liberator and new ruler. They too were deeply religious, and seeing that Alexander had a better attitude towards the Egyptian gods than the Persian kings, they were happy to make him their Pharaoh, a living god, the son of the Egyptian creator god Amun.
Amun was often depicted as a man with a ram's head. He was considered the king of the gods and the Greeks associated Amun with their own god Zeus, often referring to him as Zeus Amun.
Alexander marched to the mouth of the Nile and built a new city, Alexandria, which became one of the most important centres of learning in the world. To the west of Alexandria was the Greek city of Paraitonion, and inland through the dessert was Siwah, the home of Amun. The religious men of Siwah welcomed Alexander as 'the son of Zeus' and, according to his soldiers, Alexander began to believe that he really was the son of the great god Zeus.
Babylon and Beyond
Having secured Egypt and the Levant, Alexander returned to the East. He was met by the governor of Babylon, who offered him the city without a fight. The reign of the Persian kings was over. The Babylonians, like the Egyptians, had suffered 200 years of unpopular Persian rule and welcomed change with enthusiasm.
Alexander led his army eastwards into India. They fought an important battle in the Punjab, but were still a long way from the Eastern Ocean, which to the Greeks was the edge of the world.
The monsoon had set in and they felt they could no longer face the mighty Nanda Empire. Alexander's army refused to march further east, exhausted and homesick. Alexander was furious at the mutiny, but in the end he had no choice but to turn back.
Alexander faced great challenges in maintaining the loyalty of both his appointed governors and the local populations throughout his vast empire. Disloyal behaviour and rebellions were common occurrences with which Alexander had to contend.
He controlled territory stretching from Greece to modern-day Pakistan, and sought to blend Greek and Asian traditions. He adopted elements of Persian court culture, such as royal robes and ceremonies, and placed Persian soldiers alongside Macedonians in his army to unify his diverse empire.
Greek language, art, architecture and philosophy spread throughout his empire. Many new cities were founded, often called Alexandria, which became centres of Hellenistic culture and shaped the cultural landscape of the ancient world. Their populations became more Greek in their customs. Each of these cities had a gymnasium where sports and other activities were held, as well as theatrical performances. In some areas, people chose to marry within their own family rather than with foreigners, as maintaining purity of descent and preserving family wealth and power were important cultural values. Marrying close relatives such as sisters, nieces or granddaughters was seen as a way of keeping property and influence within the family.
Alexander the Great planned a grand wedding celebration, choosing Persian wives for ninety of his officers. Although he was already married, he decided to follow Macedonian royal tradition and take two more wives: the eldest daughters of the last Persian kings. This strategic move further consolidated his control over Persian wealth and power.
Daniel's Vision of the Little Horn
Daniel's vision of the goat defeating the ram, which we heard about before the rise of Alexander, was explained in this way:
"The ram you saw with two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia. The goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn between his eyes is the first king".
But the vision did not end there. When the goat became strong, its great horn was broken off, and in its place four other horns came up. Out of one of the horns came another little horn, which became very strong and stretched out towards Jerusalem.
The little horn became extremely powerful and arrogant, attacking and trampling on God's people with great hostility and aggression. It sought to destroy the worship of God in Jerusalem by taking away the daily sacrifice and desecrating God's sanctuary in the Temple.
Daniel didn't understand the vision, so an angel explained it to him, saying:
"When the great horn is broken, four kingdoms shall arise out of the former kingdom. Then a wicked king will arise. This king will become very strong and do terrible things. He will destroy the holy people. He will cause deceit to flourish, and he will think that he is superior to God ... He will pollute the sanctuary, take away the daily sacrifice, and set up an abomination that makes the Temple desolate ... But he will be destroyed by divine intervention."
The angel then comforted Daniel, telling him that these events were far in the future. Today, Christian historians look back at Daniel's detailed prophecy of the events surrounding this vision in chapter 11 of his book and see a direct correlation with the history of the Diadochi kingdoms that were established after the death of Alexander the Great. The correlation is so obvious that critics say that the book of Daniel was actually written after the events.
The Diadochi
The exact cause of Alexander the Great's death in Babylon remains a subject of historical debate. One theory is that he was poisoned by ambitious political rivals.
He died without an heir. However, his first wife Roxane was pregnant at the time of his death, and if the child was a boy, he would be the next king. Alexander's second-in-command was appointed to rule until the child grew up. However, his authority was challenged by other powerful generals, known as the Diadochi, who sought to assert their own influence and control over the empire. Alexander's empire would suffer from almost constant warfare.
After Alexander's death, the son of one of Alexander's generals, who had been left in charge of Macedonia during Alexander's time in the East, became king of Macedonia after a series of power struggles. But his rise to power was a complex process of alliances, betrayal and military conflict. He had Alexander's mother, wife, brother and son killed as he sought to eliminate potential rivals to his own claim to power in Macedonia. However, his rule was constantly threatened by other Diadochi and he was never able to create a stable, long-lasting dynasty.
The kingdom of Pergamon in western Anatolia was founded by one of Alexander the Great's trusted successors. Seizing the opportunity to establish his own power base, he asserted his independence and broke away from the rest of the empire.
After years of fighting, two of Alexander's commanders controlled most of his former empire. Ptolemy was king of Egypt and Seleucus was king of the Asian Empire. Egypt grew in power as its economy was very successful, with ships from Alexandria exporting goods throughout the known world, even providing food for the rapidly expanding Roman Empire.
Wars continued between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms, and Jerusalem, which lay between their territories, was often caught in the crossfire. During the reign of the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Jewish religious practices were banned and a pagan altar was erected in the Temple on which pigs were sacrificed. This act of desecration was referred to as the "abomination of desolation" in the explanation of the vision of the little horn given by the angel to Daniel. The abomination of desolation led to the Maccabean revolt in which the Jews fought against the Hellenisation of Judea. Hanukkah commemorates the retaking of Jerusalem by the Maccabees.
It is not entirely clear how Antiochus died, but according to the historical writings of 2 Maccabees, he fell ill and died in Persia.
Daniel's prophecies
The book of Daniel contains five prophecies in all. The first two are very similar. Both describe the rise of four great empires, with God eventually destroying the fourth empire and setting up His own kingdom.
The first dream is in chapter 2. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, sees a great image made of four different metals, but it is destroyed by a rock. The second dream is in chapter 7. Daniel sees four great beasts. The fourth beast has a little horn that fights against God, but is destroyed. The third vision in chapter 8 gives a detailed description of the little horn - Antiochus Epiphanes.
The fourth prophecy in chapter 9 is about the time when Christ would come and foretells the destruction of Jerusalem.
The fifth prophecy in chapters 11 and 12 is in two parts. The first is a detailed account of the rise and fall of the Greek Empire, including a detailed description of Antiochus Epiphanes. The second part foretells the intervention of Michael, the great prince, who will save all those whose names are written in the book of life.
Rome began its conquest of the Greek Empire at the predicted time, and Christ came into the world to complete the process of establishing His Kingdom almost immediately after the final destruction of the Greek Empire.
Jesus's mention of Daniel
Daniel chapter 12 starts by saying,
At that time Michael will stand up ... and there will be a time of trouble like never before ... and at that time your people will be delivered ... many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake to everlasting life ... And they that are wise and lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars for ever and ever.
And then it makes an important reference to understanding,
... seal the book, until the time of the end. Many will run to and fro, and knowledge will increase.
The phrase "many will run to and fro" is interpreted to mean that people will seek knowledge and understanding, especially as it relates to the prophetic visions and the end times described in the book of Daniel.
When Jesus mentioned Daniel's prophecy in the Olivet Discourse, he unsealed the book by giving his followers understanding. He did this with the word "ἴδητε" (idete),
When you (will) see the abomination of desolation described by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place (understand when you read), flee to the mountains.
The word "ἴδητε" (idete) means "to see" or "to perceive" and is often used metaphorically to indicate knowledge and understanding, as in "I see what you mean". Jesus also used the same word when he quoted from the prophecy of Isaiah, but this time the English translators of the Bible use the word 'perceive' instead of 'will see'.
You hear but never understand, and you see, but you never perceive.
After the book of Daniel describes the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, it continues in chapter 11,
He will corrupt with flattery those who do wickedly against the covenant, but the people who know their God will be strong and will do mighty deeds. The wise will teach many, but they will be imprisoned and killed for many days ... And some of the wise will suffer in order to be purified for the end.
And, in chapter 12,
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes the Temple desolate will be set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the 1,335 days.
It seems clear that Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that Daniel was telling them that those who follow Christ will suffer, but will be strong, and that the suffering will only be for a limited time and those who make it to the end will be blessed.
Alexander the Great Today
Alexander's legacy is not limited to his military conquests. He spread the Greek language, art, architecture, philosophy and literature. The English language has been greatly influenced by Greek, and many English words, especially in the fields of science, philosophy and theology, have Greek roots. William Tyndale's translation of the Bible from Greek into English had an even greater impact on the development of modern English than Shakespeare.
The Alexander Romance, the Sefer Alexander and the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius are three ancient works of fiction that profoundly influenced the mythology surrounding Alexander the Great. They also profoundly shaped cultural and religious beliefs about the end of the world, some of which persist in various forms to this day.
The Alexander Romance is a collection of fictional stories about the life and adventures of Alexander the Great. Written in Greek in the 3rd century, it was later translated into many languages with various additions and modifications. It became one of the most widely read and influential works of literature throughout Europe and the Middle East.
The Sefer Alexander is a 3rd century Hebrew book that adapted stories from the Greek Alexander Romance for a Hebrew audience. It portrays Alexander as a wise and just ruler, a seeker of knowledge and an explorer who reached the edge of the known world and beyond. It combines historical accounts of Alexander the Great's life with fantastic tales of his encounters with mythical creatures and supernatural phenomena.
The Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius is based on earlier legends about Alexander, including the Alexander Romance and the Sefer Alexander. It was very popular and widely translated, but it presented the legend of Alexander the Great trapping the forces of Gog and Magog behind a wall as fact. As a result, the legend became deeply embedded in the apocalyptic expectations of the time, contributing to the belief in a future release of Gog and Magog that would signal the end times. These apocalyptic expectations continue to this day in some forms of Christianity and Islam.
In dispensational theology, Gog and Magog are often identified with Russia. According to this interpretation, Russia will invade Israel in the end times, but will ultimately be defeated by God. In Islamic eschatology, Gog and Magog are also often identified with Russia, but the Islamic version of the end times depicts Gog and Magog outnumbering the rest of humanity 99 to 1 when they finally escape from behind their wall just before the end of the world.
Alexander the Great and the Bible Today
There is a strong argument that the War of Gog is recorded in the Book of Esther, and that its end led to the celebration of Purim. There is also a strong argument that all biblical prophecies were fulfilled in 70 AD, based on Jesus' words:
After these tribulations ... they will see Me coming in the clouds with power and great glory. And then I will send the angels and gather My people together.
Learn the lesson of the fig tree: When its branches become tender and it puts out new leaves, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that I am near. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
This generation will not pass away until all these things have been fulfilled.
Jesus used parables to describe the Kingdom of God as something precious and worth seeking. He described it as being like a treasure buried underground, and like a merchant looking for fine pearls who, having found the most valuable pearl, sold everything he had to buy it.
When Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he replied that the Kingdom of God would not come in a visible way because it was within. He told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world, that his kingdom was from another place.
Unfortunately, most Christians understand:
When you (will) see the abomination of desolation described by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place (understand when you read), flee to the mountains.
to mean 'when you literally see the abomination of desolation thousands of years in the future.' They ignore Jesus's description of the Kingdom of God and are waiting for the Kingdom of God to appear visibly after the war of Armageddon.
Jesus said that all prophecy would be fulfilled within a generation of His crucifixion. This means that the resurrection prophesied by Daniel has already happened, that the Second Coming took place in 70 A.D., and that there is no future apocalypse.
According to the Bible, the Kingdom of God will continue to expand without end, but those who do not acknowledge their sins and do not trust Jesus to cleanse them of their sins will remain outside of it.
Discussion questions
- Do you have any questions about any of the vocabulary or grammar in this article?
- What other interpretations of the prophetic visions in Daniel have you heard?
- What do you know about the rise and fall of the Roman Empire?
- What do you know about the Maccabees?
- What do you think the Bible is referring to when it says 'the end'?
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