SHEPHERD TO
SHEEP
THE
INTERTESTAMENTAL PERIOD (400 silent years)
(1 Sam 3:1)…And the word of the Lord was rare
in those days; there was no widespread revelation.
In between the
Old Testament and the New Testaments (the Intertestamental Period) there is a period
of time called the 400 silent years.
That is, no Bible books were written and no true prophets existed that
spoke for God. But as we shall see this
time period was anything but quiet. So
what was going on during this pocket of time?
Alexander
the Great conquered the world and brought the Greek culture and language (Hellenization)
to the empire.
The
Ptolemies and Seleucids battle it out with Israel sandwiched in between
(predicted in detail by Daniel the prophet four centuries before these kings
existed (Dan 11:5-20).
Antiochus IV
Epiphanes erected an altar to Zeus on the altar of burnt offering outside the
temple, and had a pig offered on the altar.
A family of Jews (the Maccabees) fought back and eventually won
independence and restored the temple worship.
(Hanukkah holiday born)
The Jewish
people produced a sizable body of literature including the Septuagint (Greek
translation of the Old Testament), the Apocrypha, and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
The Jewish
parties of the Sadducees and Pharisees came into existence. Other groups include the Herodians, the
Essene community out by the Dead Sea, and the Jewish zealots (sicarii).
The
synagogue form of worship was developed and established amongst the diaspora
(Jews living outside of Israel).
In 63 B.C.,
Pompey of Rome conquered Palestine, putting all of Judea under control of the
Caesars.
In short, Roman
civilization had brought peace (Pax Romana) and a road system which aided
travel; the Grecian civilization provided a language which was accepted as the
lingua franca of the empire; the Jews had endorsed monotheism and held out the
messianic hope in the synagogues of the Mediterranean world. God was working behind the scenes so that one
day the silence would be broken and John the Baptist would look at Jesus and
say …Behold! The Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)
Take
courage, when God is silent He’s getting ready to do something special! (Hab 1:5)
Louie
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