Prepare Ye the Way

Individuals

• Abraham - the patriarchal ancestor of the Jewish people. He led his family from Mesopotamia into the Holy Land some time after 2000 BC.
• Akhnaton (ak-NAH-tuhn) - Pharaoh of Egypt around 1380 BC. Obsessed with establishing the religion of the sun god, he allowed the Holy Land to drift away from Egyptian control.
• Alexander the Great - conquerer of all the Bible Lands by 330 BC. His conquests brought the Hellenic (Greek) way of life to all the known civilized world.
• Antiochus III (an-TYE-uh-kus) - King of Seleucia whose greedy expansion brought on Roman intervention which had fatally weakened his kingdom by the middle of second the century BC.
• Antiochus IV - son of Antiochus III of Seleucia. His suppression of the Jewish faith triggered the Maccabean revolt of 168 BC.
• Antipater (an-TIP-at-er) - native of Idumea who became Procurator of Judea under Rome in 47 BC; father of Herod the Great.
• Asher (ASH-er) - Son of Israel
• Augustus Caesar - Roman emperor succeeding Julius Caesar, ruling until 14 AD
• Benjamin - son of Israel
• Cyrus (SYE-rus) - founder of the Persian Empire around 550 BC. He conquered Babylon in 550 BC. He conquered Babylon in 539 BC and allowed the Jews to return from exile to Jerusalem.
• Dan - Son of Israel
• Daniel - prophet of the Jews of the Exile of the sixth century BC; celebrator of the triumphant God fo the Jews.
• Darius (dar-EYE-us) - King of Persia. His expansion fo the Persian Empire was halted by Greece at the battle of Marathon in 490 BC
• David - King of Israel-Judah from 1000 BC to 970 BC. He forged the Israelite tribes into a nation, establishing its capital and center of worship in Jerusalem.
• Elijah - (ee-LYE-juh) - prophet of Israel in the time of Jezebel in the ninth century BC. He was instrumental in countering the influence of the Canaanite religion.
• Ephraim - (EE-fraym) - son of Joseph
• Esau - (Ee-saw) - brother of Jacob; ancestor of the tribes of Edom and Idumea
• Ezra - Jewish scribe of the fourth century BC. Instrumental in re-establishing and purifying the Jewish religion in Judah after the Exile.
• Gad - son of Israel
• Hammurabi - (ham-er-AH-bee) - founder and ruler of the Babylonian empire around 1700 BC. He established a single written law code for his empire.
• Hazael (HAY-zuh-el) - King of Aram (Syria). He very nearly conquered Israel before Assyrian attacks weakened Aram around 800 BC.
• Herod the Great - Son of Antipater. He was made king of Roman Judea in 37 A.D.
• Homer - Greek poet of the ninth or eighth century BC who told heoric tales of the Achaean Greeks.
• Isaac - Son of Abraham
• Isaiah (eye-ZAY-uh) - Prophet of Judah after about 600 BC. He taught that repentance and personal righteousness were paramount before God.
• Ishmael (ISH-male) - first son of Abraham; ancestor of later Arabs and Muslims.
• Israel - name taken by Jacob, son of Isaac
• Issachar (Iss-ak-er) - son of Israel
• Jacob - grandson of Abraham. He assumed the name of Israel and became the ancestor of the Israelite people.
• Jeremiah (jair-uh-MY-ah) - Jewish prophet who warned of the peril of forsaking God's law and of the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 BC.
• Jeroboam II (jair-uh-BO-am) - King of Israel in the mid-seventh century BC, After Hazael's Syria was weakened by Assyria, Jeroboam held Syria and Judah as tributaries, briefly resurrecting most of David's kingdom.
• Jezebel (JEZ-uh-bel) - Canaanite princess, queen and dowager queen of Israel in the mid-ninth century BC. Her influence nearly converted Israel and even Judah to the pagan Canaanite religion.
• John Hyrcanus (her-CAIN-us) - son of Simon. Ruler of Maccabean Judea after 134 BC. He re-conquered much of the area of the old Israelite kingdoms.
• Joseph - one of the 12 sons of Israel. He brought the Israelites into Egyptian Goshen after 1700 BC.
• Joshua - leader of the Israelite conquest of the Holy Land before 1200 BC
• Judah (JEW-duh) - son of Israel
• Judas the Maccabee (MAC-uh-bee) - warrior leader of the Jews in the rebellion of 168 BC
• Julius Caesar - Roman general who was dictator of Rome until his assassination in 44 BC
• Levi (LEEV-eye) - son of Israel
• Lot - nephew of Abraham, ancestor of the nations of Moab and Ammon
• Manasseh (man-ASS-uh) - son of Joseph
• Moses - leader of the Israelites in the Exodus from Egypt in the thirteenth century BC; the great prophet of the Mosaic Covenant and the 10 Commandments.
• Naphtali (NAF-tall-ee) - son of Israel
• Nebuchadnezzar (neb-uk-kad-NAZ-zer) - King of Babylon; conquerer of Assyria before 605 BC. He destroyed Jerusalem Judah in 586 BC and carried the Judeans into exile in Babylon.
• Nehemiah (nee-uh-MY-uh) - Jewish official in the Persian court who went to Jerusalem in 445 BC to direct the rebuilding of that city.
• Philip of Macedon (MASS-uh-don) - Macedonian king who united the Greek cities by conquering them in 338 BC; father of Alexander the Great.
• Pompey (POMP-ee) - Roman general who extended Rome's control in the Middle East and Mediterranean, and in the Holy Land after 65 BC.
• Ptolemy (TALL-uh-mee) - a general of Alexander left in control of Egypt at Alexander's death in 323 BC.
• Pul (pull)- Biblical name for Tiglath-Pileser
• Ramses the Great (RAM-zeez) - Pharaoh of Egypt from 1304 BC. He defended Egypt from the raids of the Sea People. In his reign, the Israelites fled Egypt in the Exodus.
• Ruben (ROO-ben) - son of Israel
• Samuel - Prophet and Judge of the Israelites from about 1005 BC. He held together the disunified and nearly defeated people, establishing first Saul and then David as king of the Israelites.
• Sargon II (SAR-gon) - Assyrian king; conquerer of Israel in 722 BC; deporter of the lost tribes of Israel.
• Saul - the first king of the Israelites. He united all the tribes against the Philistines around 1025 BC.
• Seleucus (sel-OO-kus) - a general of Alexander left in control of Persia and Mesopotamia at Alexander's death in 323 BC.
• Sennacherib (sen-AK-er-ib) - King of Assyria. He besieged Jerusalem unsuccessfully in 701 BC in the time of Isaiah.
• Simeon (SIM-ee-on) - son of Israel
• Simon - brother of Judas the Maccabee. He became ruler of the newly established Maccabean kingdom in the second century BC.
• Thutmose III (THOOT-mose) - Pharaoh of Egypt who made the Holy Land part of Egypt's empire around 1483 BC.
• Tiglath-Pileser (TIG-lath pil-ee-ser) - (called Pul in the Bible) King of Assyria; conquerer of Syria and Israel before 720 BC.
• Xerxes (ZERK-zeez) - King of Persia. He tried to conquer Greece but was defeated by Athens and Sparta in 479 BC.