It should also be noted that from this period of history onwards, the remainder of the Bible was written against the background of the more or less continued domination of the Jewish people by a succession of empire-building powers. Assyria was the first great power to dominate Palestine, then Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome in succession over eight centuries, right into New Testament times. This kind of back-ground might not seem at all encouraging to the development of great religious understanding and faith, but humanly speaking, an important factor was the great mental and spiritual struggle of the canonical prophets of Judah and other religious teachers, to combine the idea of the universality of their God's rule and moral claims, with the idea of the continuing political domination of God's people by other powers. The only religious influence from those times which was to survive and prove to be the foundation for something enduring and universal, was the understanding and faith of the small Jewish nation who, in terms of worldly power were insignificant before the might and power of the great ancient empires. God did not use these great powers for his self-revelation, but used a small and almost continually dominated people instead. "