THE INTER TESTATMENT PERIOD

The Old Testament closes with the book of Malachi, written about 400 BC. There are approximately 400 years between the days of Malachi and the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. There is no record of God having sent any word to be written down for future use. This period is also referred to as 400 Silent Years.

At this time there were two great divisions of Israelites. One group was scattered over the world known as dispersion. Another group was a small remnant who lived in Palestine. The prophets had foretold a future blessing which was to come to Israel, that is the coming of the Messiah. He was to be of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the line of David. He was to be born in Bethlehem of a virgin. The Jews during these 400 years kept alive this Messianic hope.

Political situation during these years with some important, approximate dates of major events that mark the transition.

The captivity began under Babylonian rule until the Persian came and rule BC 537-333. 480 B.C. Xerxes, the Persian, was victorious against the Greeks at Thermopylae, but he was defeated at the battle of Salamis. This was the last bid of the East for world dominion. 333 B.C. Alexander the Great led the united Greek forces to victory over the Persians at Issus.

323 B.C. Alexander died, and the world empire of both East and West was divided among his four generals. (1) Ptolemy Soter took Egypt 320 B.C (2) Selucius founded the kingdom of the Selucidae (Syria) 312 B.C (3) Antiochus the Great took Jerusalem, 203 B.C (4) Antiochus Epiphanes took Jerusalem and defiled the temple. He had been mentioned in Daniel as the little horn (Daniel 8:9). He has been called the Nero of Jewish history 170 B.C

166 B.C. Mattathias, an aged priest of Judea, raised a revolt against Syria. This is the beginning of the Maccabean period. They retook Jerusalem under Judas Maccabaeus and purified and restored the temple. Out of this period came the books known as The Apocrypha of the Old Testament. They are 1 and 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the rest of Esther, The Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch with Epistle of Jeremiah, The Song of the Three Holy Children, The History of Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, The Prayer of Manasseh and 1, 2, 3, and 4 Maccabees. The Apocrypha was written in this era. These are 14 books that bear no marks of inspiration. They are as follows: 1 and 2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 2 Esther, There are two books classified as the Pseudepigrapha because they bear the names of two characters of the Old Testament, but there is no evidence that these two were the writers. These two books are the Psalter of Solomon and the Book of Enoch.

63 B.C. Pompey, the Roman, took Jerusalem, and this people passed under the rulership of a new world power. 40 B.C. Roman Senate appointed Herod to be King of Judea. Herod took Jerusalem and slew Antigonus, the last of the Maccabean king-priests in 37 B,C. Caesar Augustus became emperor of Rome in 27 B.C. Herod built many magnificent buildings, many of which were pagan temples. He finally erected the Jewish temple which was standing in time of Christ. 19 B.C.

There was great literary activity during this period in spite of the fact that there was no revelation from God. The Old Testament was translated into Greek in Alexandria in Egypt during the period 285-247 B.C. It was made by six members from each of the 12 tribes; hence, the name given to this translation was Septuagint, meaning seventy. This translation was made during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus (BC 285-247) under the direction of Demetrius Phalereous, the librarian of Alexandria. This book greatly influenced the spread of Gospel because it made the Hebrew scriptures available to all who could read Greek

The Jews turned from idolatry to a frantic striving for legal holiness. The Law became an idol to them. The classic Hebrew gave way to the Aramaic in their everyday speech, but the Hebrew was retained for their synagogues.

Synagogues Many of the Jews could have no contact with the temple. Therefore wherever there were many Jews they banded together and erected buildings where they met for worship and a reading and exposition of the Law. Many parties appeared among them. In Judea there were several prominent ones. They were:

  1. Pharisees The Pharisees arose to defend the Jewish way of life against all foreign influences. They were strict legalists who believed in the Old Testament with emphasis upon observation of the Mosaic Law as well as upon the oral law or Talmud. They were very orthodox and kept alive during this period the expectation of the Messiah. They were not interested in the political situation except as it provided for them freedom of worship.

  2. Sadducees The Sadducees were made up of the wealthy and social minded who wanted to get rid of tradition. They rejected the supernatural and were opposed to the Pharisees who accepted it. They were vitally interested in politics. Compared to the Pharisees they were secular and were made up largely of the priestly aristocrats and scribes. They denied many of the orthodox beliefs of Jews, notably the bodily resurrection. The Sadducees were closely akin to the Greek Epicureans.

  3. Scribes The scribes were a group of professional expounders of the Law that stemmed from the days of Ezra. They became hair-splitters and were more concerned with the letter of the law than with the spirit of the law.

  4. Herodians The Herodians were a party in the days of Jesus who arose as political opportunists seeking to maintain the Herods on the throne.

  5. The Samaritans They consisted of a mixture of Jews and heathen who were imported by various rulers to denationalize the Jews. These peoples mixed their pagan worship with that of Jehovah and so had a synthetic religion. When the Jews under Nehemiah refused to allow this mixed race to have any part in the temple worship, they built their own temple on Mt. Gerizim (John 4). They occupied the territory north of Judea and south of Galilee. There was great enmity between the Samaritans and Jews.

Conclusion:

Although this is a period marked by the silence of God, it is, nevertheless, evident that God was preparing the world for the coming of Christ. The Jewish people, the Greek civilization, the Roman Empire, and the seething multitudes of the Orient were all being prepared for the coming of a Saviour, insomuch that these events produced the scene Paul labelled the fulness of time. It was into such a situation and under such conditions that Christ was born into the world 4 B.C. Anno Domini in the year of the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Matthew was once a tax collector. He became the disciple of Christ. Written about in A.D. 55 and 65, Quoting from the Old Testament, he focuses on Jewish perspective that Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the promised Messiah.

Christs teachings are arranged around discourses after a prologue and concluding in a climax. Each of the five divisions is composed of Jesus' activities and teachings ending, "When Jesus had finished saying these things" These discourses retell the entirety of the Old Testament, demonstrating that Christ is the fulfilment of all that was promised therein.

Chapter 1-2, Prologue: Jesus birth and its significance with the ancestry of Abraham and David foretelling of His messiahship.

Chapter 3-7 the Sermon on the Mount after Jesus triumphed over the temptation, he delivers the central tenets of Christian discipleship. The Beatitudes are expressed as a set of blessings focus on love.

Chapter 8-10 the Missionary Discourse - directed to the twelve apostles on their missions to the Israelite communities. Jesus works of miracles and taught what it means to be a disciple. Jesus sends his disciples.

Chapter 11-13 the Parabolic Discourse in two parts. In the first part he sits near the Lake to speak the parables of the sower, tares, mustard seed and the leaven. In the second part Jesus goes inside the house and addresses the disciples on the parables of , and

Chapter 14-18 the Discourse on the Church - Jesus is revealed as the son of God by faith and Peter confesses who Jesus is. How greatness works in the Kingdom in parables of and as the anticipation of a future community of followers, also . that Jesus is the "son of the living God". In addition to the powers of binding and loosing, He emphasizes the importance of humility and self-sacrifice as the high virtues within the anticipated community. It teaches that in the Kingdom of God, it is childlike humility that matters, not social prominence and clout

Chapters 19-25 the Olivet discourse: also referred to as the Discourse on the End Times. The seven woes on scribes and Pharisees, the second coming and judgment in the kingdom to come.

Chapters 26-27 Climax: Jesus sacrifice, victory, and commission to his disciples

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