Alexander III of Macedon, is according to Co-Co, The Schoolmaster of the Chimpanzees, the greatest military commander of all time – except for The Coming Messiah.

Not only did Alexander (356 B.C.E. – 323 B.C.E.) conquer The Persian Empire in a series of campaigns that lasted for ten years, but he led his Macedonians and many other auxiliaries almost to the end of the known world. He never lost a battle and he founded more than twenty cities – a characteristic of great kings – ; but what impressed Co-Co the most was that he held his commanders together – these same generals and their descendants who fought against each other, essentially, from Alexander’s death in 323 B.C.E. until the next great imperial power of Rome – the two legs of iron in Nebuchadnezzar’s image – took their various kingdoms in Macedonia and Greece, The Seleucid Empire and finally, Egypt, at The Battle of Actium in 31 B.C.E. Co-Co argued that Alexander’s desire to Hellenize the known world, despite his early tragic death, was achieved. The Greek language became the principal language of the world even spoken by the conquerors of Alexander’s empire, The Romans. Ironically, only Alexander conquered The Greeks – except for the city of Sparta – and united them in his quest to attain the Persian Empire – a quest which was the vision of his father, Philip II.

The foremost trait of mighty kings, however, according to Co-Co, is that when they ‘hear THE WORDS OF THE LORD, they praise THE LORD’.(Psalm 138:4)

Alexander The Great, Cyrus The Great and Nebuchadnezzar praised THE LORD when they heard THE WORDS OF THE LORD (Psalm 138:4)

Co-Co’s favourite non-biblical historian, Flavius Josephus, describes how Alexander The Great and Cyrus The Great were informed of THE WORD OF THE LORD and their place in HIS PURPOSES for THE REDEMPTION OF SINFUL MAN. Of course, Co-Co is aware that many historians dismiss Josephus but he saves his biggest coconuts for such pseudo-scholars:

According to Co-Co, The Chimpanzee Schoolmaster, knowledge can be obtained from diverse sources. It should always be checked against The only infallible Truth, THE WORD OF GOD.

“Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, made haste to go up to Jerusalem; and Jaddua the high priest, when he heard that, was in an agony, and under terror, as not knowing how he should meet the Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his foregoing disobedience. He therefore ordained that the people should make supplications, and should join with him in offering sacrifice to God, whom he besought to protect that nation, and to deliver them from the perils that were coming upon them; whereupon God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, and adorn the city, and open the gates; that the rest should appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God would prevent. Upon which, when he rose from his sleep, he greatly rejoiced, and declared to all the warning he had received from God. According to which dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the coming of the king.

5. And when he understood that he was not far from the city, he went out in procession, with the priests and the multitude of the citizens. The procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that of other nations. It reached to a place called Sapha, which name, translated into Greek, signifies a prospect, for you have thence a prospect both of Jerusalem and of the temple. And when the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans that followed him thought they should have liberty to plunder the city, and torment the high priest to death, which the king’s displeasure fairly promised them, the very reverse of it happened; for Alexander, when he saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his mitre on his head, having the golden plate whereon the name of God was engraved, he approached by himself, and adored that name, and first saluted the high priest. The Jews also did all together, with one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about; whereupon the kings of Syria and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him disordered in his mind. However, Parmenio alone went up to him, and asked him how it came to pass that, when all others adored him, he should adore the high priest of the Jews? To whom he replied, “I did not adore him, but that God who hath honored him with his high priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is that, having seen no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the Divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind.” And when he had said this to Parmenio, and had given the high priest his right hand, the priests ran along by him, and he came into the city. And when he went up into the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest’s direction, and magnificently treated both the high priest and the priests. And when the Book of Daniel was showed him³⁶³ wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended. And as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present; but the next day he called them to him, and bid them ask what favors they pleased of him; whereupon the high priest desired that they might enjoy the laws of their forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the seventh year. He granted all they desired. And when they entreated him that he would permit the Jews in Babylon and Media to enjoy their own laws also, he willingly promised to do hereafter what they desired. And when he said to the multitude, that if any of them would enlist themselves in his army, on this condition, that they should continue under the laws of their forefathers, and live according to them, he was willing to take them with him, many were ready to accompany him in his wars. “(‘The Antiquities of The Jews’, Chapter VIII, Flavius Josephus)

“In the first year of the reign of Cyrus; which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon;  (2) God commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people: according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the Prophet, before the destruction of the city; that after they had served Nebuchadnezzar, and his posterity; and after they had undergone that servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of their fathers; and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity. And these things God did afford them. For he stirred up the mind of Cyrus, and made him write thus throughout all Asia: “Thus saith Cyrus the King: since God Almighty hath appointed me to be King of the habitable earth, I believe that He is that God, which the nation of the Israelites worship. For indeed he foretold my name by the Prophets, and that I should build him an house at Jerusalem, in the countrey of Judea.”

2. This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left behind him of his Prophecies. For this Prophet said, that God had spoken thus to him in a secret vision: “My will is, that Cyrus, whom I have appointed to be King over many and great nations, send back my people to their own land, and build my temple.” This was foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple was demolished. Accordingly when Cyrus read this, and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and an ambition seized upon him, to fulfil what was so written. So he called for the most eminent Jews that were in Babylon, and said to them, that “He gave them leave to go back to their own country, and to rebuild their city Jerusalem, (3) and the temple of God; for that he would be their assistant; and that he would write to the rulers and governors that were in the neighbourhood of their country of Judea, that they should contribute to them gold and silver, for the building of the temple; and besides that, beasts for their sacrifices.” (Flavius Josephus ‘Antiquities of The Jews’ Book XI)

Nebuchadnezzar’s ultimate praising of THE LORD occurs after his abasement.

Next Week: In the over five hundred years from Cyrus (536 B.C.E. ) unto The Messiah and unto The Messiah’s Cutting Off – the death of Alexander The Great and what happened to his mighty empire: 323 B.C.E – 301 B.C.E. (Daniel 11:4 & Daniel 8:8b). N.B. Sha- Sha, The Shakespearean Scholar renowned amongst the Chimpanzees, wonders if Alexander was informed by Jaddua, The High Priest, that Alexander’s great empire would not ‘Go to his posterity’ (Daniel 11:4b). Shakespeare’s tragic hero, Macbeth, was similarly informed that his fellow general, Banquo, ‘s descendants would inherit the throne of Scotland: Macbeth’s descendants would not; and great was Macbeth’s despair:

“Upon my head they [the witches who prophesied that Macbeth would be king] place’d a fruitless crown,

And put a barren sceptre in my gripe,

Thence to be wrencht with an unlineal hand,

No son of mine succeeding.” (‘Macbeth’ Act III, Scene I Lines 62 -65)