The home life of the Jews was strongly religious and children were
held in high esteem.

For Study and Discussion. (1) The career of Alexander the Great. (2)
The reign of Ptolemy Soter and Ptolemy Philadelphus in Egypt. (3) The
acts of Antiochus Epiphanes. (4) The story of Judas Maccabeus. (5) The
story of the subjection of Judea to Rome. (6) The persecution of the
Jews under the several rulers of the different countries to which they
were subject during this period. (7) The religious parties of the
period, especially the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Literature. The information necessary to understand these topics may
be found in any one of the better Bible dictionaries, in Josephus and
more or less in text books on Biblical history such as Blakie.




Chapter XVIII.

From the Birth to The Ascension of Jesus.

The Four Gospels.

The Story of this Period. It is common to designate this period as the
"Life of Christ," meaning the time he spent on earth. There is,
however, no scripture life of Jesus. The gospels do not claim to
present such a life. They do, however, give us a vast amount of
material and though different in purpose and consequently in content,
they do present the same general picture of Jesus. The matter of