Meaning of ALEXANDER

"man's helper." (a) Alexander the Great, king of Greece; is not mentioned by name in the Scriptures,
although it is in the apocryphal First Book of Maccabees (1 Maccabees 1:1-9; 6:2).

However, he is mentioned prophetically, mainly in the book of Daniel, about 200 years before he was born; the Greek Empire appears in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Dan. 2) as a belly and thighs of bronze, as the successor of the Medo-Persian Empire (the chest and arms of silver); the third animal in Daniel's vision (Dan. 7:6); the goat, in another vision (Dan. 8:5); "a mighty king" (Dan. 11:3).

In Zac. 6:2, 3, where the four great empires are alluded to, the third, the kingdom of Greece, is compared to a chariot with white horses. Alexander the Great, son of Philip II and Olympias, was born in Pella in 356 BC.

He became king of Macedonia when his father was murdered in 336; he subdued the Greeks in 335; to the Persians in 334; he conquered Tyre; conquered Syria and Egypt in 331; He conquered Parthia, Media, Bactria, and invaded India, 330-324, and attempted further conquests, but died in Babylon in 323 B.C.

These dates show the overwhelming speed of his campaigns, agreeing with the imagery given to us by the passages cited in the previous paragraph.

He was of extremely cruel character, as shown by his behavior in the conquest of Tyre; After a long and brave resistance, Alexander, enraged, massacred 8,000 inhabitants, crucifying 2,000 of them; Of the rest, those who could not flee by sea, 30,000 were sold as slaves.

We see, both in his speed and in his ferocity, the leopard. Flavius Josephus gives interesting details about his conquest of Palestine and his behavior in Jerusalem (Ant. 11:8).

(b) Son of Simon, the man of Cyrene who was forced to carry the cross of the Lord (Mark 15:21).

(c) One of the chief among the Jews at the arrest of Peter and John (Acts 4:6).

(d) A Jew from Ephesus who attempted to address the crowd in the theater (Acts 19:33).

(e) One of the church who, having been shipwrecked in the faith, was handed over by Paul to Satan, that he might learn not to blaspheme (1 Tim. 1:20).

(f) The tinker who caused harm to Paul, from whom Timothy had to beware (2 Tim. 4:14). It could be the same as the previous one.