The centuries leading up to Jesus' birth were not politically stable in the area known as Palestine. The Jewish people who returned to Judah from exile in Babylon had been allowed to rebuild their cities and the temple in Jerusalem, but they were ruled by the Persians. (See the article called After the Exile: God's People Return to Judea). Then the Greeks, led by Alexander the Great, defeated the Persians and drove them out of Palestine. Alexander's generals and their descendants ruled the land for many years, bringing with them Greek (Hellenistic) culture. One Greek ruler from the Seleucid family (Antiochus IV Epiphanies) tried to force the Hellenistic way of life on the Jewish people in Palestine. When he put up a statue of a pagan god in the holy Jewish temple in 168 B.C., Jewish people were enraged and rebelled. Led by Judas Maccabeus, the people defeated the Seleucids, reclaimed the temple, and created their own government.

For nearly one hundred years the Jewish people were again in charge of the land, led by members of Judas Maccabeus' family (the Hasmoneans), who took over as kings and priests of Israel. Yet many thought that the Hasmonean rulers were as selfish and cruel as the foreign kings who had ruled before them, so Jews did not fight back when the Romans invaded the country in 63 B.C.