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4-Babylon and Persia -
The Battle of Carchemish was fought about 605 BC between the armies of Egypt allied with the remnants of the army of the former Assyrian Empire against the armies of Babylonia, allied with the Medes, Persians, and Scythians. The Babylonian alliance under Nebuchadnezzar II, decisively defeated both the Egyptians, and the remnant of the Assyrians.
The prize is of course Egypt, but it would be difficult to control Egypt with the Israelite's having settled in Cannan. As they do today, the Israelite's will of course fearlessly fight for the land that God has given them.
It would be a simple matter to control the slaves of Egypt, for they know they are slaves, and a change of master would go unnoticed, but the Israelites believe they are free and will cause rebellions.
Solution: In 586 BC the Israelite priests and royal families were moved to Babylon where an eye could be kept on them.
539 BC, the Persians, conquer Babylon. Under the rule of Cyrus the Great, the Persians have a more tolerant policy toward the Isrealites, and return the Israelites to Canaan. The Persian religion of Zoroaster is also of the one God, Ahura Mazda. The Persians are from the lands and of the civilization of Mitanni, where the Semitic peoples of the Hyskos had come from. The land that is next to Mount Ararat where Noah's ark landed. Where Abraham’s people came through on their way to Egypt. Cyrus will rebuild the Jewish Temple, restart the Jewish faith, and is canonized as the first Meshia of Israel. The Persians become the beloved allies of the Israelites and the great Persian empire will now stretch from Africa to India.
The kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. (the Assyrians were the forerunners of the Persians). It was at this time that ten tribes of Israel were lost. Would it not be reasonable that these tribes were not lost but assimilated into the Assyrian Empire. Thus making the two remaining tribes loyal to Egypt, and the 10 lost tribes part of the Assyrian empire. Since the Assyrians were incorporated into the Persian empire the 10 lost tribes would also be incorporated into Persia, of course they would help the land of Judah, and rebuild the faith.
It is now 500 years before Christ. The Persians now rule over Babylon to the south, and Egypt to the west... and they permit the Israelites to return to their promised land.
In 457 BC according to the Bible, the Persian king sent Ezra to bring the Torah, the five books of the Laws of Moses, to the Jews. Modern scholars have claimed not only that Ezra brought the Torah to Jerusalem, but that he actually wrote it, and in so doing Ezra created Judaism. Without Ezra, they say, Judaism would not exist. Under the Persian rule and patronage of King Artaxerxes, Ezra redefines the Torah with more attention to law, and what appears to be a Zoroastrian bend, Ezra has been called the father of Judaism.
For the Persian King, the particular religion of the Jews is ideal for ruling this territory. The Bible is a war manual, with spiritual similarities to both the Egyptian and Persian belief. Even the name of Israel, Is, Ra, El, sounds like the conjunction of Isis, Ra, and Elohim, (Elohim is plural). This is the perfect religion to have for a people between the cultures of Persia and Egypt. One could say this is the first Catholic, rather Universal Religion, since what was done by the Persian King Artaxerxes in 457 BC with Judaism, is not dissimilar to what Emperor Constantine did in 325 AD with Christianity.
From a military or diplomatic perspective, with Judea as an ally, Persia could now rule Egypt. The Priests and Kings of the Israelites have lived in Babylonian captivity for over 50 years. In a sense the Kings and priests of the Jews have been liberated by the Persians, and would be grateful. The Israelites will call Cyrus the Great, Messiah, God's anointed one. (Isaiah 45:1)
Those who return to control the land of Israel would remain well connected to the peoples back in Persia, and to the former Babylon. For the Persians to control the new lands of both Egypt and Babylon the Jews are the perfect answer, they are back doing what they know best, the middlemen, administrators, and protectors between power and servitude.
The king of Persia, Cyrus, is now Israel's first messiah, he sets the stage to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1-6), and places the house of David back in control.
(535 to 516 rebuilding of the temple)
Of course the Greeks and Macedonians, who are the arch enemies of the Persians, hate this.
The Israelites that were taken to Babylon were not just any Israelites, they are the ones that knew the truth. They would have been in fact part of the Egyptian upper class since the wise and powerful ruling class always weds with each other. They are the ones that rule the servant class through ignorance, and the power of a "reality" only they can spin. The Israelites had been in Babylon for 50 years and are well established. About 10% return to take the kingdom, and to once again control the nation of Israel.
Pause for a moment and feel the times these were. It is around 500 B.C. that Rome was founded. Pythagoras is in Egypt learning their mysteries and mathematics. Greece is a people that comes in and out of Persian control. Macedonia, where Alexander the Great will come from, were barbarians, and would have been the troops on the front lines of the Greco-Persian wars. 150 years after Pythagoras, Socrates will come to Greece from Persia to teach, and the Jews have begun to write the Babylonian Talmud.
The known world of this time is tyrannical, everyone is a subject or a slave, only in Greece will a few men have some rudimentary form of democracy. For the rest of the world - to not be a slave meant you were not part of civilization, and your children would starve from time to time. To be a slave meant you would worship your master, and participate in the benefits of the kingdom. People want to be good slaves, this is why Moses has a hard time keeping the Israelites from going back to Egypt.
Few could read, and even less studied anything. Scholars would study only within secret societies. Reading or writing was rare, even Socrates disapproved of writing because it made for poor memory. As today, most people simply believed what they were told, and that is how people were governed, through a belief enforced by hunger and ignorance.
Secret societies, and priesthoods would be careful who they educated, the truth was a guarded secret, the majority were given carefully constructed stories about reality and its gods. The Druids, the Magi, the Pythagoreans, the cult of Dionysus, Mithraism, and so on, these all were very exclusive secret societies.
With the Pharisees put in place in Israel, the Persians could now rule Egypt through the Israelites, and now have a military force to protect its economic interests. The slaves in Egypt would be ruled by the priesthood and their Pharaoh, and the Israelites would defend the borders, once again all as it should be.
Remember that all this came about because of climate change. Populations are still growing in the north, people are still migrating south.
At this point in our history, continued population increase will fuel migrations from the North, and the building of city states in Italy and Greece. These migrations will fuel the sociological clash between hunter-gatherers, and established river based civilizations. They would come and live on the fringes… They are Barbarians to the Greeks and the sea people to the Egyptians. The people from the colder North that had migrated south are now building states in the north, in places like Macedonia and Villanova. These areas would be the perfect place for them to settle and trade between the northern settlements and the well established Persian Empire. The climate has warmed, their populations culturally stabilized and began to grow and prosper.
Macedonia, the Barbarians
North of Greece is Macedonia, and these are the people that give us Alexander the Great. In 325 BC his armies would conquer first Egypt, and then Persia.
In Egypt, Alexander fights in Tyre but is welcomed by the Israelites in Jerusalem. He is told that Daniel's prophecy had told of a mighty Greek king that would subdue and conquer the Persian Empire.
Alexander then enters Egypt and is welcomed. He is called the new "master of the Universe" and son of the deity of Amun at the Oracle of Siwa Oasis.
Now why would that be? Why would he fight against Tyre but then be welcomed by the Israelites, and then made God by the Egyptians?
The Phoenician city of Tyre, was founded by and is an ally of Carthage. The Phoenicians were a loose confederation of sea people that traded throughout the Mediterranean. These were independent states, and would have been the commercial adversary of Egypt, Greece, and Persia.
At this point in history, the Israelites would have been the police or army that is governing Egypt for the Persians, they would now do the same for the Greeks.
The Persians were the people of the prophet Zarathustra, of the one God Ahura Mazda. The Israelites also believe in one God, but that is not to say that their Kings believe in the same God. If all this appears strange to you, think of America, we think ourselves a Christian nation, yet we know our better educated rulers belong to secret societies, who may already know this story I am telling, and not be very Christian or Jewish. Power is pragmatic, religion is for the masses, religion is a theology manipulated by a priest class in favor of a ruling class.
To the Egyptian and Greek Religion, there would be no greater sin than to ignore the many deities of Egypt and Greece.
Alexander the Great is polytheistic, he is of the cult of Dionysus. For the Greeks, the God's and religious traditions of the Egyptians are much more akin to them, than those of the Persians and Israelites. When Alexander enters Egypt he would be seen as a liberator, they would be free of Persian rule. The Egyptian priest class and religion is once again whole, for the Greeks have relatively the same Gods. Of course Alexander is the new hero, and he will be made a God for the occasion.
From 305/304 BC Egypt will be considered Ptolemaic Egypt, during which time Egypt became a thriving bastion of Hellenistic civilization. Until the time of Christ all the Egyptian Pharaohs will be Macedonian kings. For over 300 years, Egypt's ruling class will be predominantly Greek, culminating with the final Pharaoh, Cleopatra, or more precisely, her son Caesarian, whose fate will intertwine with the narrative of Jesus Christ later on.
Since all people in Egypt at this time are slaves and know only what they are told, things go back to normal. The Egyptian priesthood will support the new Greek/Macedonian rulers, the Kings of Judah will govern their people and profit from them under Greek Macedonian rule and the Pharisees will continue to reinforce belief to the Israelite's. The Priests of the Pharaoh continue to reinforce belief to their slaves in Egypt. The warrior class of the Hebrew once again live in peace with the slave class of the Egyptians, all under the World rule of the Greeks.
By the first century CE, the population of Jews in Egypt became significant, and it is believed to have been larger than the Jewish population in Israel at that time. Alexandria, the capital of Egypt and a major center of trade and culture in the ancient world, had a large Jewish community. The Jews had finally returned to Egypt.
The Macedonians, the once barbarians have done well for themselves. Greek culture and language will dominate the known world, up to the time of Christ.