The Book and the Sword

Overview

A scribe named Ezra arrives in Jerusalem in 458 BC, and proceeds to read the Bible to the mostly illiterate Judeans. Study of the Bible then becomes an essential part of Jewish life but, in 330 BC, Alexander the Great's conquest of the Middle East brings Greek culture in its wake. With Jewish culture facing an existential threat, in 160 BC Judah the Maccabee leads the Jews in an epic fight to defend their religious freedom.