The story of Israel's return from exile reads like a cascade of empires, each rising and falling at breathtaking speed. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle preserved by Moses Gaster in 1899, Cyrus attempted to rebuild the Temple in the first year of his reign, but Ahasuerus blocked the effort. After God destroyed both Ahasuerus and the wicked Haman, the new king allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem, rebuild the holy Temple, and repair the city without interference. This, the chronicle declares, was "a complete redemption."
The returning exiles rebuilt the Temple and its altar, but the second sanctuary lacked five things that the first had possessed: the Ark of the Covenant, the holy fire, the Shekhinah (divine presence), the spirit of prophecy, and the Urim and Thummim. The Second Temple stood, but it stood diminished.
The chronicle then leaps to the rise of Alexander of Macedon. Alexander waged war against Darius of Persia, defeating him and conquering his entire empire. He then swept through the nations—subjugating peoples across the known world. When Alexander reached Jerusalem, the high priest Shimon the Just went out to meet him in full priestly garments. Alexander dismounted and bowed before him. His stunned generals asked why the conqueror of nations would prostrate himself before a Jewish priest. Alexander replied that before every battle, he saw this man's likeness leading him to victory.
Alexander reigned twelve years and divided his kingdom among four chieftains before his death: Ptolemy received Egypt, Phillipos took Macedon, Seleucus and Nicanor received Syria and Babylon, and Antiochus—the great enemy of the Jews—was given Asia. The prophet Daniel had foreseen it all: the goat goring the ram, the kingdom shattered to the four winds of heaven.