In Egypt the Jews of Elephantine offered sacrifices in their temple until it was destroyed by the Egyptians. This may possibly be one of the reasons why Bagoas had put a fine of 50 drachmas on every lamb offered on the Temple altar in Jerusalem, although the quarrel with the Jewish high priest would seem a sufficient reason. The Persians did not interfere with the Jewish religion, although the Zoroastrians, to whom fire was sacred, felt it was a desecration to burn flesh in the flames. It is possible to harmonize the incidents connected with Nehemiah’s governorship, involving several men who later became high priests, and the statements of Josephus about Bagoas and Johanan, etc. This Bagoas, mentioned in the Elephantine papyri as the governor of Judea in the days of Sanballat (and therefore of Nehemiah), lived nearly a century earlier than the eunuch Bagoas who was a commander of Artaxerxes III against Egypt and who later became Persia’s kingmaker.
(Olmstead thinks he was Nehemiah’s successor). and a Persian by the name of Bagoas (Bagoses, Bagohi, Bigvai) was appointed governor of Judea at least by 407 B.C. According to the Elephantine papyri Johanan was high priest in 410 B.C. have been scanty, but extra-Biblical evidence is gradually coming to light. Nehemiah and After.-Historical records of the Jews during the 5th century B.C. The Jews Under the Persians During the 4th Century
More detailed consideration is given to developments growing out of attempts by Antiochus Epiphanes to Hellenize the Jews, to the extension of Roman power throughout the Mediterranean world, and to the political situation in Palestine under the Hasmonaeans and under the Herod the Great. This article summarizes briefly the experiences of the Jews under the waning power of Persia and during the protracted struggle for control of the Palestine between the Seleucids to the north and the Ptolemies to the south. An understanding of the vicissitudes through which the Jews passed during this time, with special emphasis on their history under the later Seleucid rulers and during the years that witnessed the rise of Roman power in the Mediterranean, is necessary to a proper appreciation of the New Testament, particularly the Gospels. Between the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the narrative of the New Testament stretches a period of approximately four centuries.
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