Thepfulhouvi Solo
Everyone in Asia expected the great Persian Emperor Darius of Queen Esther would easily defeat the Macedonian invader Alexander who in 333-334 BC crossed the Hellespont in the isthmus of Macedonia that separates the Caspian Sea from the Mediterranean Sea, and set his foot on the soil of Asia.
Darius had set Sanballat as the Satrap of Samaria and Sanballat expected Darius to defeat the Macedonian Intruder.
Samaritans were of Cuthian (Cuthah) Stock, originally living in the North of Babylon in mixture with exiled Jews and were settled in Samaria. They intermarried with the remnants of the Jews in Samaria and were known as Samaritans. Lions killed a lot of the Samaritans and they appealed to Darius to send Jewish Priest to show them the worship of the true God and the Priests taught them the true worship of God but many went the ways of the Samaritan worship. Sanballat was anxious to live in friendly terms with the Jews of Judah. At that time the High Priest in Jerusalem was one Jaddua who had a brother called Manasseh. Sanballat gave his daughter in marriage to Manasseh.
When Jaduah did Priestly duties in the Temple, Manasseh also participated in the duties with his brother. This worried the Jewish Elders of Jerusalem. They asked Manasseh to divorce his foreign wife or cease from the priestly works.
Manasseh reported this to his father-in-law Sanballat. He said he loved his wife but he is forced to divorce her. Sanballat answered him he could keep his wife and that Sanballat would make Manasseh not only the Chief Priest in Samaria but also the Governor of Samaria.
Sanballat expected Darius to win against Alexander and with the permission and help from Darius he would built a Temple in Mount Gerizim, the tallest mountain in Samaria and make Manasseh not only the Chief Priest there but also the Governor of Samaria.
Manasseh was happy at the prospect and stayed with Sanballat. Many other Jews also who had married foreign wives went over to him (Manasseh).
Darius placed himself on the crest of a hillock overlooking the great Plain at Issus in the Paul's district of Cilicia in now Turkey and his army of more than 200,000 of experienced soldiers waited for Alexander to battle.
One of Alexander's battle strategies was to make a frontal attack on the Enemy with a sizeable portion of his Army and the break the enemy formation into two and deal them separately during the enemy's confusion.
Many centuries after, Napoleon of France used the same tactic to make himself invincible in many battles in Europe.
Alexander had 10,000 Greek Soldiers and 16ft long lances. A strong body of his Army with long lances charged into the middle of the Persian formation and divided Darius forces into two. This disorganized the Persian side and to loose composure and begin to retreat which soon turned into a complete rout.
Alexander occupied Syria, Damascus; the Philistine cities of Sidon, Tyre, and Gaza, after 7 month's siege.
After Dariu's defeat, Sanballat soon transferred his allegiance to Alexander and supplied 8000 Samaritan Soldiers and got the permission to build a Temple at Mout Girizim but before the Temple was finished, Sanballat died.
The Jews had no King then and the Chief Priest at Jerusalem held all the reigns of Power under the Emperor. Alexander sent letter to the Chief Priest to transfer his allegiance and tribute from the Persian King to Alexander. The Chief Priest replied he had promised to bear no arms against Darius and that the Priest would keep his promise till Darius is alive.
Alexander was very angry and hurried towards Jerusalem and when Jaduah the Chief Priest heard of `it, he asked all his people to join him in sacrifice and prayer to God. He told his people that God had told him to decorate the city with wreaths.
Then when Alexander was near Jerusalem, the people, led by the Jewish Priests clothed in robes of blue linen and of gold and the Chief Priest leading with a golden Miter on his head and a golden Plate with the name of their God engraved on it, proceeded to meet Alexander.
The Jews welcomed Alexander with one voice and when they circled round him in the welcome, Alexander's Officers wondered whether their King had gone insane. He prostrated in front of the Golden Plate with God's name written on it.
It is interesting to note it was the Macedonian Call that Paul heard and turned West with the Gospel than to the East!
One of his prominent Officers named Parmanio went up to Alexander and ask why.
Alexander explained:
"When I was in Dium, Macedonia, thinking of how I could become Master of Asia, I saw this very person in my sleep, dressed as he is now. He urged me not to delay, but to cross over confidently and take dominion over the Persians".
"Alexander was escorted into Jerusalem City, he sacrificed to God according to the direction of the High Priest, and he was shown the Book of Daniel which predicted that one of the Greeks would destroy the Persian Empire, he thought himself to be the chosen one".
The Jews were taken into the Alexander's Army and given many concessions and privileges to live in conformity with their Religious requirements.
People in those days, thought the earth was flat and has an end. Alexander proceeded to conquer the whole world up to the end of the world.
For 10 continuous years of successful battles and conquests, his initial 10000 Greek soldiers got injured, killed, decreased and wearied forcing Alexander to enlist non-Greeks into the Army. This decreased discipline and efficiency of his Army, and the Greek Soldiers adamantly refused to go any further despite the promise of huge sums of gold in booty. Moreover Alexander was told that the flat land extended endlessly to the East beyond the horizon in the Ganges Valley.
Alexander realized he will never be able to conquer the land to the End of the World. Sadly he had to turn back and on his journey back he died of fever and was buried in Babylon.
