Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ALEXANDER

(Gk. Aléxandros)

1. Alexander III of Macedon; son of Philip II of Macedon and Olympias. Alexander’s triumphant march across the ancient Near East was the catalyst which resulted in the cultural synthesis called Hellenism.

Alexander was born in 356 b.c.e. and died 32 years later in 323 of exhaustion, war wounds, disease, and drunkenness, after marching his troops from Greece across Asia Minor, Palestine, Egypt, the Near East, Mesopotamia, and all the way to the Indus River. In doing so he conquered a larger geographic area than had ever before been dominated by a single personality. Along the way he revolutionized warfare, founded cities, and planted pockets of Greek culture destined to forever change the shape and self-understanding of the ancient world. Such accomplishments led to the epithet “the Great.”

Alexander’s early life appears to have been dominated by his mother, a strong woman with an ambition for her son which rivaled that of her husband. Philip II succeeded in exerting domination over the mountainous reaches of northern Greece, and having consolidated his position, extended his influence over the southern regions of the peninsula. It is hardly surprising that young Alexander inherited ambition, energy, and determination from two such strong-willed progenitors. Under the tutorial influence of Aristotle, from 342 to 340, Alexander drank deeply from the well of Greek culture and never lost his love for Homer’s Iliad. He seems to have shared both with Aristotle and his father a vision of Greek domination of the world.

In 340 the 14-year-old Alexander served as his father’s regent and commanded the left wing of the Macedonian army at the battle of Chaeronea. Following his father’s assassination in 336, Alexander ascended the throne at age 20. After eliminating all potential rivals and consolidating his political alliances with his father’s most important generals, Antipater and Parmenion, Alexander proceeded to exert his dominance over the rest of Greece. He quickly became the titular leader of the League of Corinth, established by his father in 337, and launched an all-out attack on the declining Persian Empire.

In 334 Alexander led a combined force of approximately 40 thousand troops across the narrow strip of water separating Greece from Asia Minor. In the battles of Granicus (334) and Issus (333) he routed the Persian army, led by King Darius himself. Alexander quickly marched his troops into Syria, southward across Palestine, conquering Egypt in 331. The teetering Persian Empire sought one last time to impede his advance, but was shattered forever at Gaugamela in 331. Having overcome the last significant impediment to his progress, Alexander and his army advanced swiftly across Mesopotamia, the remains of the Persian Empire, and on to the Indus River. There his exhausted troops refused to go farther, having been on the march for eight years, leaving Alexander’s dream of conquering India unfulfilled. Upon his untimely death in 323, Alexander’s empire was divided among his most powerful generals, resulting in the emergence of the Seleucid Empire in Syria and the rule of the Ptolemies in Egypt. Both of these dynastic successors to Alexander exerted significant influence upon the life, culture, and religious consciousness of Judaism in the 3rd and 2nd centuries b.c.e.

Alexander is mentioned explicitly in 1 Macc. 1:1-8; 6:2. More ambiguous references seem to be indicated in Dan. 7; 11:3-4. There is some debate regarding whether Zech. 9:1-8 refers to Alexander’s conquest of Palestine. The Koran lists Alexander among the prophets who preceded Mohammed, and the Talmud refers to Alexander’s treatment of the Jews during the siege of Tyre.

It is difficult to overestimate the influence of Alexander’s career upon the ancient world. Among the more important contributions one might list: (1) The vision of a civilization dominating culture provided a model for the later western empire builders including Julius Caesar and the Roman emperors. It could be argued that Alexander was the first great conqueror produced by Europe; prior to his time the great military leaders were the product of the empires of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Iran-Iraq. (2) The revolutionizing of the art of warfare. Alexander streamlined his armies and eliminated excessive baggage trains and noncombatants. He made extensive use of cavalry and kept his army mobile by leaving the wounded behind. They were ordered to remain where they were to found Greek- style settlements (pólis) and intermarry with the local population. The result was the planting of pockets of Greek culture across Palestine-Syria, the Egyptian Delta, the Arabian Peninsula, and Mesopotamia. (3) The spread of Greek language and culture across the ancient Near East. This linguistic innovation resulted in the emergence of Koine Greek as the lingua franca of the ancient world enabling communication, commerce, and the exchange of ideas. Koine was destined to become the language of the NT and early Christianity. (4) The founding of cities which would become great intellectual centers such as Alexandria in Egypt. It was in Alexandria that the OT would be translated into Greek (the LXX) by Jewish scholars there. (5) The breaking down of barriers between eastern and western cultures, resulting in the rise of Hellenism. Following Alexander’s conquest the tendency toward syncretism in language, culture, religion, and political institutions greatly increased.

There also appears to have been a dark underside to the personality and character of Alexander. When Philip’s assassination in 336 followed so suddenly upon his divorce of Olympias, some suspected that the young Alexander and his mother played a role in Philip’s death. Ancient sources report that Olympias fostered Alexander’s consciousness of a special relationship with the gods. Later he would claim descent from Heracles and to be the son of Zeus-Ammon. His contact with the Persian culture led to a growing orientalism in his behavior. He seems to have been particularly attracted to the Persian practice of proskynēsis or prostration before the divine ruler. Some have suspected that only Alexander’s death kept him from declaring his own divinity. The last years saw him living a life of debauchery which contributed indirectly, if not directly, to his death.

D. Larry Gregg

2. Alexander Balas of Smyrna. Claiming to be the son of the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, he challenged the rule of Demetrius I, who himself had seized the throne from Antiochus V in 162 b.c.e. His claim is accepted by Maccabees (1 Macc. 10:1) and Josephus (Ant. 13.2.1 [35]), but doubted by other ancient authorities and most modern scholars. Balas was supported by powerful enemies of Demetrius I, including Ptolemy VI Philometor of Egypt; even the Roman senate approved his claim (Polybius Hist. 33.18).

Seeking allies against Balas’ threat, Demetrius sought to win over his former enemy Jonathan Maccabeus. Balas, however, outbid Demetrius by offering Jonathan the office of high priest of the Jews together with other royal honors. Balas eventually defeated and killed Demetrius (150) and married the daughter of Ptolemy. He proved to be an unpopular and weak ruler, however, and was soon challenged by Demetrius’ son (later Demetrius II). Although supported by Jonathan, Balas was decisively defeated outside Antioch in 145 by the combined forces of Demetrius and Ptolemy, who had turned against his former son-in-law. Balas fled to Arabia, only to be murdered by assassins there.

3. Alexander Janneus, Hasmonean king and high priest of Judea (103-76), successor to his brother Aristobulus. Janneus’ reign was marked by continuous warfare. He aggressively expanded his kingdom by attacking the Idumeans, the Greek coastal cities, and Transjordan.

Janneus’ internal enemies considered him unworthy of the high priesthood. When a crowd pelted him with citrons while he officiated at the Feast of Tabernacles, Janneus responded by massacring 6000 people. Open rebellion broke out in 94 b.c.e.; during the ensuing six-year civil war 50 thousand Jews were killed. Janneus’ opponents appealed to the Seleucid Demetrius III to intervene; he initially defeated Janneus, but was eventually driven out. In revenge, Janneus crucified 800 opponents, feasting with his concubines while the opponents’ wives and children were killed before their eyes (Josephus Ant. 13.13.5–14.2 [372-80]; BJ 1.4.4-6 [90-98]). The Qumran pesher on Nahum alludes to these events, calling Janneus “the angry lion” who “hanged living men from the tree.” Scholarly claims that the Pharisees led opposition to Janneus and theories that some opponents formed part of the Qumran community are controversial. Janneus’ excessive drinking helped lead to his death in 76 b.c.e.

4. A son of Simon of Cyrene and brother of Rufus (Mark 15:21). Mark apparently assumes that the two sons are known to his readers; the references are omitted in Matthew and Luke. A 1st-century c.e. ossuary inscription from a tomb in the Kidron Valley, possibly owned by a Cyrenian family, reads “Alexander, son of Simon”; though intriguing, it cannot be positively linked with Mark’s Alexander.

5. A member of the high priestly family who questioned Peter and John after their arrest (Acts 4:6).

6. A Jew of Ephesus who attempted unsuccessfully to speak to an unruly crowd gathered to protest Paul’s preaching (Acts 19:33-34).

7. One who, with Hymenaeus, “shipwrecked” his faith and was “turned over to Satan” (1 Tim. 1:19-20). Perhaps the same Hymenaeus claimed that the resurrection was already past (2 Tim. 2:17-18); Alexander may have taught this as well.

8. A coppersmith who “did great harm” to the author of 2 Timothy and opposed his teaching (2 Tim. 4:14-15). He may be the same Alexander mentioned in 1 Tim. 1:19-20.

See Herod (Family) 7.

Bibliography. N. Avigad, “A Depository of Inscribed Ossuaries in the Kidron Valley,” IEJ 12 (1962): 1-12; L. L. Grabbe, Judaism from Cyrus to Hadrian, 1: The Persian and Greek Periods (Minneapolis, 1992); E. Schürer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 b.c.–a.d. 135), rev. ed., 1 (Edinburgh, 1973).

Martin Albl