Chapter 6: The World the Bible Entered: Between the Testaments

Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, closes about 400 BC. The first Gospel opens with the birth of Jesus. Between them lies a period often called the “silent years,” silent because no prophet’s voice was recognized, though the history was very much alive. God was preparing “the fulness of the time” (Galatians 4:4).

The Persian period. Under Persian rule the Jews had returned from exile, rebuilt the temple (Ezra 3–6), and the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 1–6). The Jewish community was increasingly organized around the Law and the synagogue.

The Greek period. Alexander the Great (336–323 BC) conquered the Near East, and Greek language and culture followed his armies. After his death, his generals divided the empire. Palestine passed first to the Ptolemies of Egypt, then to the Seleucids of Syria. The result was a shared language, koine Greek, across the Mediterranean world. The Old Testament was translated into Greek (the Septuagint) in this period, and that Greek would carry the New Testament.

The Maccabean revolt. When the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes defiled the temple in 167 BC and tried to suppress Jewish worship, the Maccabees led a revolt that brought a period of Jewish independence (Josephus, Ant. 12.5–7; 1 Macc. 1–4). Daniel had foreseen such an oppressor (Daniel 8:9-14; 11:21-35).

The Roman period. In 63 BC, Pompey took Jerusalem, and the land came under Rome. Roman roads and the Pax Romana, with their law and relative peace, opened the way for travel and the quick spread of the gospel. Paul, a Jew, a Greek-speaking scholar, and a Roman citizen, was shaped by all three worlds (Acts 21:39; 22:3, 25-28).

Jewish life in this age. The synagogue, a community for prayer and for reading and teaching the Scriptures, spread across the Jewish world. Paul went “as his manner was” first into the synagogue in each city (Acts 17:2). Several groups also arose: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes (probably the community at Qumran), and Zealots. Jesus’ ministry took place among them, and he denounced those who made “the word of God of none effect through your tradition” (Mark 7:13).

This was the world into which God sent his Son and into which the New Testament was written.