Christian Publishing House Blog
Apologetic Defense of the faith, the Bible, and Christianity
Biblical scholars have been jubilant over the discovery of law tablets and other literature from the ancient Near East as well as the ruins of structures such as multichambered temples. Such discoveries have done much to help us understand the cultural and literary climate in which Israel and its Scripture arose and developed.
Land and people of southern Mesopotamia. Politically, Babylonia refers to the ancient kingdoms that flourished in southern Mesopotamia, especially in the 7th and 6th centuries BC, whose capital city was Babylon (or Bab-ilu, meaning “gate of god”).
Isaiah’s prophecy spoke of Cyrus as the Lord’s anointed (Is 45:1). Israel regarded him as called and empowered by their God to free them. Under Cyrus the Jews were allowed to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple (Is 44:28).
How does Alexander the Great play into the prophecies of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, as well as the mainland city of Tyre and island city of Tyre, as well as the Greek language of the New Testament?
Daniel 9:24-27 gives us a prophetic time period, wherein there would be a word to restore and build Jerusalem that would initiate a time that would run up unto the coming of an anointed one, the Messiah, who would then be cut off and closing out of the seventy weeks of years with the end of the Abrahamic covenant. What do the different aspects of the 70 weeks of Daniel's prophecy mean?
There were three basic classes of religious personnel in ancient Israel: prophets, wise men, and priests, and Levites. The priests and Levites fulfilled a variety of essentially religious duties and were equivalent approximately to the clergy in modern times. They were professional men and were supported for their full-time religious work.
BABYLONIANS bab-i-lo'-ni-anz: The inhabitants of BABYLONIA (which see). They were among the colonists planted in Samaria by the Assyrians (Ezra 4:9). "The likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea" (Eze 23:15) refers to the pictures which were common on the walls of Babylonian palaces, and the reports of them being heard in Jerusalem, or copies of... Continue Reading →
PERSIA pur'-sha, (parats; Persia; in Assyrian Parsu, Parsua; in Achemenian Persian Parsa, modern Fars): In the Bible (2Ch 36:20,22-23; Ezr 1:1,8; Es 1:3,14,18; 10:2; Eze 27:10; 38:5; Da 8:20; 10:1; 11:2) this name denotes properly the modern province of Fars, not the whole Persian empire. The latter was by its people called Airyaria, the present Iran (from the Sanskrit word arya, "noble"); and... Continue Reading →
Parentage and Early Life Alexander, of Macedon, commonly called "the Great" (born 356 BC), was the son of Philip, king of Macedon, and of Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemos, an Epeirote king. Although Alexander is not mentioned by name in the canonical Scriptures, in Dan he is designated by a transparent symbol (8:5,21). In 1 Macc... Continue Reading →