332 B.C. - Greece Meets God - Alexander the Great Discovers His Mentor - the God of Israel!!
A Sculpture of Alexander
An artist's depiction of the ceremonial garb of the High Priest of Israel
In about 332 BC a man that Hannibal regarded as the greatest general of all time, a man who was young and seemingly unstoppable, commander of the most explosive army that had then been known, was laying siege to the tough city of Tyre on the Mediterranean's east coast near Israel. His name was Alexander, and he was a Macedonian Greek. He was also polytheistic, always happy to have the good will of any of the gods among the people he conquered.
His major goal was to defeat the dominant Persian Empire and to found a Greek empire in its place (which he soon managed to accomplish as it turned out.) The Persian vessal city of Tyre on the Mediterranean coast of what today is Lebanon just north of Israel was a tough foe but eventually it fell, losing around 8000 of its citizens to Alexander's 400 or so losses. And so yet another 'nearly unconquerable city' was conquered on this man's route to fame.
Alexander then began to march his army deeper into the Persian empire, sending an 'Oh, by the way' message to the people of a nearby city of the Jews in Israel called Jerusalem. He told them to just start sending him what ever tribute and taxes they had previously been sending the Persians. He had bigger fish to fry than them, so he felt a mesage should suffice.
Traveling onward, he received their reply: They had given their word to send their tribute to Persia, so until Persia told them differently, to Persia it would have to go. Angry at this perceived disrespect, Alexander changed course to Jerusalem, intent on teaching them a lesson.
At Jerusalem the word arrived that Alexander was coming. There was some panic, for his prowess as a general and the might of his army were well known. The High Priest at that time - Jaddua - prayed intently to God for help. They had no real means of defending against such an army, and he was very worried for the people of his city. There was no Jewish king at this time in Jerusalem's history; there had not really been one since Babylon had deposed king Zedekiah around 600 B.C.
God answered the prayer of His people's High Priest's and sent him word that he should be calm and dress with the full dignity of his priestly office. He should open the gates of Jerusalem to Alexander, and have the people ready to greet Alexander when he came. But most importantly, he and the other priests should line the sides of the road coming out of the city on both sides, and he, Jaddua, should stand in front of them all. God said that Jaddua should expect no harm to come to himself or God's people from Alexander.
Greatly relieved, Jaddua readied everything as he had been told, and when Alexander's army began to be near, the long line of priests set themselves along the road in their holy priest's garb and Jaddua himself stood in the middle of the road upon a prominence where an arriving person would see him, the lines of priests, and behind them the city of Jerusalem.
Alexander came over a hill at the head of his great army, his soldiers eager for the easy plunder that the foreign auxilliaries among them, from this vicinity, had told them they could expect to find stored up in the Jewish temple. They were ready to take on this storied city of the Jews. But when they crested the hill and saw the city, Alexander, seeing the assembled line of priests and Jaddua in the front in the magnificent garb of the Holy High Priest of God (its design long ago specified in detail to Moses by God himself) pulled up and halted his army. To his men his demeanor seemed very strange.
He signalled that they would wait, and he would go on alone. The generals started to protest this unwise move, but he silenced them and rode forward unprotected. Dismounting, he approached the High Priest of God on foot and then, to the disbelief of his men, he fell to the ground in front of Jaddua and appeared to worship him. Then, after a time he was raised up and greeted, and the city acclaimed him loudly, and brought him in. He was even brought into the area of the Holy Temple of God by Jaddua and he gave offerings to this God that the Jews worshiped.
He did not rush to leave, but later, when leaving, Alexander asked the Jewish leaders what they would like him to do for them, and they asked if they might be excused from certain taxes, and might worship their God in all the ways that He required. Alexander granted them all of this, and added a few things more, and then departed with his army.
Asked by a close advisor what this had all been about, Alexander explained. Some years ago in a period of time when he was much concerned about what strategies and plans might one day allow him to defeat the terribly mighty Persian empire, he had an unusual dream while sleeping in a city called Dios (which happens to mean 'God'). I the dream a strangely dressed foreigner appeared to him and explained that to Alexander that he need not worry, for God would be with him in his campaigns, and ensure him victory where ever he went, and against the Persians. That powerful dream, Alexander explained, had encouraged him, and always remained with him.
When he saw the Jewish High Priest of the God of Israel he had immediately recognized both the man and the highly unusual garments - it was the mysterious man from his dream. He explained that he had been worshiping not the man, but the man's God, when he fell to the dirt in humility.
What God could ever be like the True God, our Creator, the Father of Jesus? Praise, Deserved Praise, to The Most High!! Here is a translation of Josephus' original writing:
Josephus, Antiquities, Loeb Classics (Boston, 1926 ), XI:317-19; 330-33
. . . Accordingly, he crossed the Euphrates river, passed over Taurus, the mountain in Cilicia, and awaited the enemy at Issus in Cilicia, intending to give battle there. Then Sanaballetes, who was glad that Darius had come down, told Manasses that he would fulfil his promises as soon as Darius should return from conquering the enemy. For not only he himself but all those in Asia were convinced that the Macedonians would not even come to grips with the Persians because of their great number. But the event proved other than they expected, for the king did engage the Macedonians and was beaten, and lost a great part of his army, his mother and wife and children being taken captive, while he fled to Persia. And Alexander, coming to Syria, took Damascus, became master of Sidon and besieged Tyre; from there he dispatched a letter to the high priest of the Jews, requesting him to send him assistance and supply his army with provisions and give him the gifts which they had formerly sent as tribute to Darius, thus choosing the friendship of the Macedonians, for, he said, they would not regret this course. But the high priest replied to the bearers of the letter that he had given his oath to Darius not to take up arms against him, and said that he would never violate this oath so long as Darius remained alive. When Alexander heard this, he was roused to anger, and while deciding not to leave Tyre, which was on the point of being taken, threatened that when he had brought it to terms he would march against the high priest of the Jews and through him teach all men what people it was to whom they must keep their oaths, and for this reason continuing the siege with greater effort, he took Tyre. After he had settled affairs there, he advanced against the city of Gaza and besieged it together with the commander of its garrison, named Babemesis.
(4) Now Sanaballetes, believing that he had a favourable opportunity for his design, abandoned the cause of Darius and came, along with eight thousand of the people under his rule, to Alexander, whom he found beginning the siege of Tyre, and said that he was giving up to him the places under his rule and gladly accepted him as his master in place of King Darius. As Alexander received him in friendly fashion, Sanaballetes now felt confident about his plan and addressed him on that subject, explaining that he had a son-in-law Manasses, who was the brother of Jaddus, the high priest of the Jews, and that there were many others of his countrymen with him who now wished to build a temple in the territory subject to him. It was also an advantage to the king, he said, that the power of the Jews should be divided in two, in order that the nation might not, in the event of revolution, be of one mind and stand together and so give trouble to the kings as it had formerly given to the Assyrian rulers. When, therefore, Alexander gave his consent, Sanaballetes brought all his energy to bear and built the temple and appointed Manasses high priest, considering this to be the greatest distinction which his daughter's descendants could have. But Sanaballetes died after seven months had been spent on the siege of Tyre and two on that of Gaza, and Alexander, after taking Gaza, was in haste to go up to the city of Jerusalem. When the high priest Jaddus heard this, he was in an agony of fear, not knowing how he could meet the Macedonians, whose king was angered by his former disobedience. He therefore ordered the people to make supplication, and, offering sacrifice to God together with them, besought Him to shield the nation and deliver them from the dangers that were hanging over them. But, when he had gone to sleep after the sacrifice, God spoke oracularly to him in his sleep, telling him to take courage and adorn the city with wreaths and open the gates and go out to meet them, and that the people should be in white garments, and he himself with the priests in the robes prescribed by law, and that they should not look to suffer any harm, for God was watching over them. Thereupon he rose from his sleep, greatly rejoicing to himself, and announced to all the revelation that had been made to him, and, after doing all the things that he had been told to do, awaited the coming of the king.
(5) When he learned that Alexander was not far from the city, he went out with the priests and the body of citizens, and, making the reception sacred in character and different from that of other nations, met him at a certain place called Saphein. This name, translated into the Greek tongue, means "Lookout." For, as it happened, Jerusalem and the temple could be seen from there. Now the Phoenicians and the Chaldaeans who followed along thought to themselves that the king in his anger would naturally permit them to plunder the city and put the high priest to a shameful death, but the reverse of this happened. For when Alexander while still far off saw the multitude in white garments the priests at their head clothed in linen, and the high priest in a robe of hyacinth-blue and gold, wearing on his head the mitre with the golden plate on it on which was inscribed the name of God, he approached alone and prostrated himself before the Name and first greeted the high priest. Then all the Jews together greeted Alexander with one voice and surrounded him, but the kings of Syria and the others were struck with amazement at his action and supposed that the king's mind was deranged. And Parmenion alone went up to him and asked why indeed, when all men prostrated themselves before him, he had prostrated himself before the high priest of the Jews, whereupon he replied, " It was not before him that I prostrated myself but the God of whom he has the honour to be high priest, for it was he whom I saw in my sleep dressed as he is now, when I was at Dium in Macedonia, and, as I was considering with myself how I might become master of Asia, he urged me not to hesitate but to cross over confidently, for he himself would lead my army and give over to me the empire of the Persians. Since, therefore, I have beheld no one else in such robes, and on seeing him now I am reminded of the vision and the exhortation, I believe that I have made this expedition under divine guidance and that I shall defeat Darius and destroy the power of the Persians and succeed in carrying out all the things which I have in mind." After saying these things to Parmenion, he gave his hand to the high priest and, with the Jews running beside him, entered the city. Then he went up to the temple, where he sacrificed to God under the direction of the high priest, and showed due honour to the priests and to the high priest himself. And, when the book of Daniel was shown to him, in which he had declared that one of the Greeks would destroy the empire of the Persians, he believed himself to be the one indicated; and in his joy he dismissed the multitude for the time being, but on the following day he summoned them again and told them to ask for any gifts which they might desire. When the high priest asked that they might observe their country's laws and in the seventh year be exempt from tribute, he granted all this. Then they begged that he would permit the Jews in Babylon and Media also to have their own laws, and he gladly promised to do as they asked. And, when he said to the people that if any wished to join his army while still adhering to the customs of their country, he was ready to take them, many eagerly accepted service with him.
(6) And so, having regulated these matters at Jerusalem, Alexander marched off against the neighbouring cities. But all those peoples to whom he came received him in a friendly spirit, whereupon the Samaritans, whose chief city at that time was Shechem, which lay beside Mount Garizein and was inhabited by apostates from the Jewish nation, seeing that Alexander had so signally honoured the Jews, decided to profess themselves Jews. For such is the nature of the Samaritans, as we have already shown somewhere above. When the Jews are in difficulties, they deny that they have any kinship with them, thereby indeed admitting the truth, but whenever they see some splendid bit of good fortune come to them, they suddenly grasp at the connexion with them, saying that they are related to them and tracing their line back to Ephraim and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph. So, then, with splendour and a show of great eagerness on his behalf, they met the king when he was hardly out of Jerusalem.
Hello,
I personally believe that realizing how many great deeds of God have actually occurred through out history will lead some people to be saved giving their life to Christ. If you agree, then please, take the time to be a 'missionary', to love your neighbor enough to care about their soul. Please mention and recommend visiting the Deeds of God website on any social media sites that you belong to. Tell a favorite account to your friends or family, and tell them where you read it. To know God is to stand in awe of Him, but too few people know Him today. Accounts like these are yet another way to come to know Jesus and the Holy Father, and the Spirit of Truth that helps us understand. Thank you. Dan Curry