Between the Testaments

Teacher

Charles White Teacher

Lesson Summary

In this Between the Testaments class, teacher Charles White provided a comprehensive overview of Alexander the Great's rise to power and his unprecedented military conquests. The class began with a review of the Persian period, including details about the Jewish colony at Elephantine in Egypt, which maintained syncretic religious practices. White then transitioned into the Greek period, explaining how Philip of Macedon unified Greece before his assassination in 336 BC, after which his twenty-year-old son Alexander assumed command of the Greek army. Alexander's background was thoroughly examined, including his military training under his father and his philosophical education under Aristotle. White emphasized how Alexander's dream was to bring the entire known world under one rule, one law, and one unified people. Over the course of ten years, Alexander achieved remarkable success, conquering the Eastern Mediterranean, Syria, Judea, Egypt, and Persia, defeating the Persian King Darius III at the Battle of Issus. The class traced Alexander's extensive empire, which at its peak stretched across territories previously held by the Persian Empire. The instruction highlighted that Alexander never lost a major battle and led his army across vast distances with no modern communication technology. However, his expansion was ultimately limited when his exhausted troops mutinied near India and the borders of China, which Aristotle had never taught him about. Alexander's ambitions extended beyond his actual conquests—he envisioned future campaigns into Britain, Spain, and Gaul. The class concluded by noting that Alexander died in Babylon at only thirty-two years old, cut short in his attempt to consolidate and expand his unprecedented empire.

Key Scriptures