To comprehend the Christian religion in more than a general way, one needs to know a good deal about the Jewish religion as it existed at the beginning of the Christian era. To grasp the ideas which Jesus taught, one ought to have a considerable knowledge of the thought-world in which he did his teaching. He adopted parts of an existing religion, and he spoke so as to be understood by the people of his time. Therefore, a student of Christianity or Christian Science is aided by an acquaintance with the above-described background, even though he is looking for only what is permanent and universal in the Master's teaching. Fortunately, the Old and New Testaments are the best sources of information on the above-stated subjects; but between them there is a long interval, reckoned by most writers as four hundred years, concerning which the Old Testament is almost silent and on which the New Testament throws light only incidentally or by implication.
The exile of the Jews deported from Palestine to Babylonia ended when Persia conquered Babylonia in 538 B.C. They began returning to Palestine the next year. The second temple in Jerusalem was dedicated in 516. Then followed slowly the return of other exiles, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the restoration of the temple worship with a reorganized priesthood. Persia held Palestine from 538 until Alexander of Macedon overran it in 331. In the division of his empire after he had held it less than a decade, Palestine became subject to Egypt. The Egyptian rule lasted for more than a century, that is, until Syria took Palestine in 198. After a decade or so, Syria attempted to force the Jews in Palestine to renounce their religion for the worship of Zeus. Many of them refusing steadfastly, in 167 they revolted, and in 142 they gained their independence. Then, Palestine (as including Judea, Samaria, and Galilee) kept its independence (though not always unrestricted) for almost eighty years, that is, until Rome conquered Palestine in 63 B. C. Thereafter, as everybody knows, it was subject to Rome until after the period covered by the New Testament.
Although experts differ as to when certain parts of the Old Testament were written, there is a consensus of opinion that the common version, as it is now published, contains but little which refers to anything that occurred after 400 B.C. As the King James Version was originally published, it included the writings which are now printed separately as Old Testament Apocrypha. Of these writings, I and II Maccabees contain Jewish history from about 175 to about 135, a period including the Maccabean revolt. Other information concerning events between the Old and the New Testament is furnished by other historical writings, ancient and modern.
