No life did not stop, and several significant events did transpire. Eventually the Medo-Persian Empire, dominant when the Old Testament record ended, fell to the Greeks under Alexander the Great. Alexander died at an early age, and the empire he had built, which reached from Greece to the Indus River of India, was divided among his generals. The two parts of main interest to Bible students are Syria and Egypt.

Unfortunately for the Jews, their land lay directly between the two kingdoms, a land bridge. As the two kings vied for power with each other, the territory of the Jews was tugged back and forth. At one point when the Syrians were in control, the king made life so intolerable for pious Jews that they decided to fight back. With Judas Maccabeus and his brothers taking the lead, the Jews were able to win their independence in 163 BC.

Meanwhile, in the west the Romans were gaining power. They began an eastward conquest that eventually encompassed the remnants of the former Greek Empire. In the process they absorbed Judah in 63 BC. They appointed a man named Herod, later known as "Herod the Great," to be the king of the Jews.