_I. Status of Israel Under Ezra's and Books I and II of the Nehemiah's Polity._ Maccabees.[1] Chronological _II. Palestine Under Persia._ Tables, Seventy's _III. Palestine Under Macedonia, i. e., Alexander. Bible Dictionary. Josephus' _IV. Palestine Under Egypt. Antiquities _V. Revolt of the Maccabees._ Books XI, XII, XIII, _VI. Palestine Under the Romans._ XIV, XV; Bible Treasury, _VII. Birth of Messiah._ pp. 189, 190. Oxford and other Bible Helps, generally give summary of this period. Note 1. _SPECIAL TEXT: "M. K. B. I." (Maccabees) "Mi-Kamoka Baelim, Ihovah"--"who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods?"_--MOSES. _NOTES._ 1. _History from Ezra to Messiah:_ "While the Historical Books of the Bible close with Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, it is thought proper to carry the historical period through to the birth of Messiah by this tenth lesson. This for completeness in the outlines of the history of Israel given in the historical books of the Bible, plus the Apocrypha. Also because of the importance of this too much neglected historical period, without a knowledge of which very much of the New Testament may not be understood. 'The New Testament,' says Prof. J. V. Bartlett, in the "Bible Treasure," "takes much for granted. Hence, in reading the Gospels, one is often forced to ask: What is the exact point of so and so? We want, in fact, to become as one of Christ's fellow-countrymen; and this means steeping our thought in the story of the long years which lie between the times of Ezra and those of Jesus the Christ. They must cease to be to us 'ages of silence,' if we are to see just what is meant by 'the tradition of the elders,' or to feel the full force of much that is found in the Sermon on the Mount. The whole period of more than four centuries falls into four epochs--the Persian, the Greek, the Maccabean and the Roman." (Bible Treasury, p. 189.) 2. _Historical Summary of Interval Between Old and New Testament:_ The following notes are abridged from Oxford Bible Helps, Summary of this Historical Period (p. 15), which summary itself is taken chiefly from Josephus' Antiquities and the Books of the Maccabees.