Joel Kontinen
With only 47,000 men, Alexander III of Macedon (Greek: Αλέξανδρος Γ΄ ὁ Μακεδών; 356 BC –323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great (Ancient Greek: Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μέγα), he brought his army against the Persians.
The Macedonian ruler had conquered everything, retaking Alexandria after a 7-month siege. Then he sought to subdue the Persians.
His victory had ben seen by the biblical prophet Daniel:
“While I (Daniel) was observing, behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came up to the ram that had the two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal, and rushed at him in his mighty wrath.” saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power.” (Daniel 8: 5–7, NASB).
The angel Gabriel told Daniel that the ram represented the Medes and Persians and the goat Greece.
“The Persian numbers were so great that they came close to overwhelming the left and center of Alexander's line. But when the Persian cavalry massed against Alexander's right, leaving their own infantry uncovered in the center, Alexander led a charge that broke through. His men got behind the Persians and attacked them front and back. The Persians panicked and fled. At the loss of less than 500 of his own men, Alexander slaughtered over 40,000 Persians.”
“The victorious Greeks imposed their culture on the Middle East. Koine Greek became widely spoken and it was in this language that the gospel was preached and the New Testament written.”
When the Bible describes historical matters, it always gets the facts, including the tiny details, right. Secular ancient writers were unable to deny the historicity of Jesus.
The Bible tells us about real people and real events, such as the earthquake mentioned by the prophet Amos and the one that occurred during Jesus’ crucifixion.
We should not be surprised, as Jesus Himself says in John 17:17 that God’s Word (the Bible) is truth.
Source:
Graves, Dan. 2007. alexander changed the world a Arbela. Christian History
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