Was christs birth preceded by 400 years of divine silence. During this time, he rearranged the scenes of history, much as a stage crew will. The bible doesnt record much of anything that happened for the first 2000 or more years of human history as well as the most recent 2000 years of human history. The intertestamental period is the protestant term and deuterocanonical period is the catholic and orthodox christian term for the gap of time between the period covered by the hebrew bible and the period covered by the christian new testament. It is a history of the time between the last book of the protestant old testamend and the new. The 400 years of silence began with the warning that closed the old testament. But it still colors the way that many protestants approach the canonicity of the deuterocanon and judeochristian history more broadly, so. Why are there 400 years of silence between the old and new. The events surrounding the birth of jesus were set up during this vital time in earths history. And no scripture has been written in the last 1,900 years, but god certainly has not been silent.
At that time, persia was the great world power and ruled over the returned exiles. Others have posted the passages from older prophets that are taken to predict such a time of divine silence. During the 400 years of silence also called the intertestimental period, god was active in world history causing major political and military events to occur as he had predicted in the book of daniel. These are called silent years because there were no inspired words from god during this time. With exceptions, each generation becomes a little more stiffnecked, hardhearted and cold. It is interesting, and you need to remember, the reason that historians and others have referred this as the 400 silent years is that because of the old testament with malachi and nehemiah being kind of equivalent books at the close, and the beginning of the new testament when you walk your way into matthew, you have this 400year period, which by jewish reckoning, there were no prophets who spoke in the land. In which the government was hunting down jews to kill them. The israelites did not have their own king, but they knew. The 400 years of silence is the name given to the period of time between the last of the old testament prophets and the arrival of jesus in the new testament. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. A party arose among the jews called the hellenists, who were very eager to. Find out where the pharisees and sadducees came from and they developed through this period of history and what their allegiances were, through comparison and contrast. Drums, banned in parts of america starting in 1740, ruled the day, just as they once did during sacred, healing, and celebratory occasions in africa.
The 400year time gap between malachi the last book of the old testament and new testament with matthew the first of the gospels. It states that there was great distress in israel, such as had not been since the time that prophets ceased to. And the longer god was silent the worse things got. God does not operate in a vacuum and this exciting period of history is proof of that fact. Dec 11, 2018 following this prophecy, there are 400 years of divine silence as the old testament concludes and awaits the fulfillment of this prophecy. Stedman at the close of the book of malachi in the old testament, the nation of israel is back again in the land of palestine after the babylonian captivity, but they are under the domination of the great world power of that day, persia and the mediopersian empire. The 400 years of africanamerican history commission held a nationwide eventlets talk. Have you ever wondered what happened between the old and new testaments. God promised to remove them from the land where israel would one day live. However, god had a certain time period in mind that included 400 years for israel in egypt.
The old testament traces the history of the jewish people from adam and eve to the downfall of israels theocracy and then to the reestablishment of the nation israel in their land. The university of texas at austin recommended for you 19. When the curtain rises 400 years later, we find ourselves in the time of the new testament. Behold, i am going to send you elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the lord. Home content index judaism judaism and new testament history 400 years of silence. Following this prophecy, there are 400 years of divine silence as the old testament concludes and awaits the fulfillment of this prophecy. Suddenly, the silence was shattered, and messiah came. Dec 12, 2018 following this prophecy, there are 400 years of divine silence as the old testament concludes and awaits the fulfillment of this prophecy.
The amorites worshiped other gods and participated in numerous other sins. We have just finished up the old testament sessions, two andahalf hours through the whole old testament. I the apocrypha the 14 additional books of the catholic bible originally, when applied to writings, the term denoted that their content was either not to be. The intertestamental period, 400 notsosilent years welcome to session six of our journey through the whole bible in five hours or less. Many jews had to hid in small towns and the mountains. What happened between the old and new zondervan academic. To support this theory, protestants often appeal to a particular passage in 1 maccabees. The 400 years between the old and new testaments page 3 ord of what actually occurred during that time. I flip the page after malachi, the prophets letter, marking the last of the old testament, and with ease. Brief history of these 400 years to help our understanding of the new testament 2. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The 400 years can be compared to a stage scene in which the curtain is drawn and the director the lord gets an opportunity to quickly rearrange the decor of history.
There were about 400 years between the prophecies of malachi and the opening of the new testament. The 400 silent years 420 6 bc where does the old testament end. God was fulfilling prophecy and counting down to the time for jesus to arrive on this earth. In this twopart introduction to the intertestamental period, dan cates guides the viewer in a study of the nations, individuals, events, locations, histories, and prophecies of this blank page. Its hard to imagine such a long time, but for the people who had seen gods miracles firsthand, 400 years must have felt like an eternity. Browse the amazon editors picks for the best books of 2019, featuring our favorite. Nov 11, 2016 there were about 400 years between the prophecies of malachi and the opening of the new testament. What happened between the last page of the book of malachi and the first page of the gospel of matthew. But it still colors the way that many protestants approach the canonicity of the deuterocanon and judeochristian history more broadly, so its worth pointing out its falsity.
Traditionally, it is considered to cover roughly four hundred years, spanning. The 400 years between the old and new testaments various. The bible is silent for 400 years, but it was far from uneventful. There were four hundred silent years between the old and new testaments. It began with malachis prediction of elijahs return malachi 4. But there were major political, cultural, and religious changes that. The 400 silent years goodreads meet your next favorite book. During about the first 100 years of the 400 years of silence, israel was at peace with the surrounding nations with persia in control. You see, at the end of the old testament, god spoke through the prophet malachi and then nothing. At this point israel was firmly established in the land of palestine and had their temple and city rebuilt. Traditionally, it is considered to cover roughly four hundred years, spanning the ministry of malachi. At least four hundred years passed between the prophecies of malachi 430420 bc and matthews written account of jesus life 5060 ad.
For these and similar reasons, most scholars who speak of the 400 silent years speak of them in terms of the speaking, writing, or uttering scripture. Jun 24, 2009 the idea is that the time of the prophets just kind of stops with malachi, and there is nothing else from god until the time of christ 400 years later. The 430 years the 400 years biblical calendar proof. They do not speak of them as a time of gods silence to individuals. During this time the nation of greece came to power and was conquered by rome. A short summary of the time between the old and new testaments. Jul 26, 2016 at least four hundred years passed between the prophecies of malachi 430420 bc and matthews written account of jesus life 5060 ad.
By the phrase 400 years of silence i am assuming you are referring to the 400 years between the old and new testaments since malachi was written about 432424 b. An animation we created for a christmas service, to explain the context of jesus birth show a little. The 400 years between the old and new testaments by ray c. Some, like 1 and 2 maccabees, can be read as moreorless accurate historical accounts, while. The 400 years of silence refers to the time between the old testament and new testament, during which god did not speak to the jewish people. The international day of drumming and healing on wednesday, on june 19, 2019.
Some begin to wonder if gods provision has left gods people. May 24, 2016 in this twopart introduction to the intertestamental period, dan cates guides the viewer in a study of the nations, individuals, events, locations, histories, and prophecies of this blank page. What was the 400 years of silence between the prophets and the arrival of jesus. Is there any biblical basis for 400 years of silence between. Those years were known as the biblical years of silence because of the lack of historical accounts in the bible that would have helped enlighten readers about the events during this significant gap in time. What happened during the approximately 400 years between malachi and matthew. What was god doing during the 400 years of silence. He is surely slow to anger, and abounding in mercy psalm 103.
After josephs death, the rulers of egypt forgot about who joseph was and began to fear the growing numbers of the israelites ex. The arrival of 20 and odd enslaved africans in 1619 has been called the beginning of u. Introduction to the intertestamental period part 1 youtube. Why did god send the israelites to egypt for 400 years. But there were major political, cultural, and religious changes that prepared the world for the arrival of jesus. Heartbreaking silence when the ears and hearts of israel were begging for him to speak, for hope amidst crushing roman rule. The idea is that the time of the prophets just kind of stops with malachi, and there is nothing else from god until the time of christ 400 years later. Then alexander the great came along and conquered lands for greece, including israel. The 400 years of silence refers to the time between the old testament and.
The 400 years between the old and new testaments the temple. They wanted to stomp judaism off the face of the earth. Given that the absence of the name of god is a major characteristic of the book of esther it is not unreasonable to assume that the 430 years of silence portrayed by ezekiel had its true origin right at the time of the first day of purim the turning point of the megilat esther story. The individual simply assumes that there were 400 years of silence, without really considering the warrants or coherence of that position. In that period, there was no word from god, until the cry of a baby broke the silence on that glorious night when the savior of the world was born. Is there a biblical prophecy about 400 years of silence. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading the 400 silent years. It started with a simple project, then as gods hand became manifest, the story unfolded. Ironsides little book, the 400 silent years, gathers that up in some detail. The old testament ends with the return of the lords people from exile in babylonia. The time between the testaments object lesson futureflyingsaucers. During this time grecian influence was beco ming strong in palestine. The following material is being presented here to give a more accurate understanding of the 430 years of exodus 12. This approximately 400 year period has all sorts of things happening including wars and ends with a birth of a very important person.
The book of genesis ends with jacobs family living in egypt, which, under the leadership of joseph, provided refuge from the famine in canaan. Nov 29, 2012 a short summary of the time between the old and new testaments. There were 400 years of silence between the last words of the prophets and the first coming of christ. If youve ever flipped from the last page of the old testament to the first page of the newyouve just skipped over 400 years of history with that single page turn. The first mcdonalds was started 69 years ago 1940 cell phones have only bee around 36 years 1973 our church is only 47 years old 1962 our city of madison is only 200 years old 1809 the united states of america is only 233 years old 1776 if people have kids at age 25 then in 400 years there will be 16 generations. The biblical years of silence amazing bible timeline with. No book of the bible is written, and no prophet speaks. God ordains everything that happens in his universe. During the 400 years of silence there was severe persecution in which many were put to death i maccabbees 1.
Though we are living in the days that might be termed the silence of god, when for almost 2,000 years there has been no inspired voice from god, we must look back even as they did during those 400 silent years upon the inspired record and realize that god has already said all that needs to be said, through the old and new testaments. Several apocryphal books were written during this time. We, too, live in a period of silence, but gods promises pertaining to christs second coming are just as certain as those in which the godly took comfort and found hope. Political shifts the three great powers during these.