Intertestamental period
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The intertestamental period is a term used to refer to a period of time between the writings of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament texts. Traditionally, it is considered to be a roughly four hundred year period, spanning the ministry of Malachi (c. 420 BC), the last of the Old Testament prophets, and the appearance of John the Baptist in the early 1st century AD, almost the same period as the Second Temple period.
Several of the deuterocanonical books, accepted as Scripture by Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, were written during this time, so it is sometimes also referred to as the deuterocanonical period. In addition, many Biblical scholars believe that several Hebrew Bible books were in fact composed much later than 400 BC including Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles.
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[edit] Political history of Levant
[edit] Persian rule
400-330 BC, Persian rule under Artaxerxes I, Darius II, Artaxerxes II, Artaxerxes III, Arses and Darius III.
[edit] Hellenistic Period
330-328 BC, Greek Conquest of Alexander the Great; spread of the Greek language.
The conquest of Alexander the Great in 330 BC not only brought the Jews under Grecian domination, see also Hellenistic Judaism, but also introduced the Greek language and ideas throughout the ancient world.
Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties, 323-166 BC.
After the death of Alexander, his kingdom was divided, and a struggle between the Ptolemies of Egypt and the monarchs of Syria ensued, resulting first in Egyptian, then in Syrian, rule over Judea.
The latter was a dark period in Jewish history, especially during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syrian king, who committed many outrages against the Jews, sought to establish idolatry in Jerusalem (abomination of desolation), and defiled the Second Temple.
[edit] Jewish Independence
Under Maccabees and Hasmonean dynasty 166 BC - 63 BC, spreading teaching of unity of God, messianic hope and Scriptures.
Antiochus' activity led to the Maccabean revolt, 166 BC in which the priest Matthias and his sons defeated the Syrians in a series of battles, which secured the independence of the providence of Judea.
This was the foundation of the Hasmonean dynasty, which reigned from 166 - 63 BC.
[edit] Roman Rule
Around 63 BC, Pompey of Rome conquered Palestine, putting all of Judea under Roman control. This eventually led to Herod being made king of Judea by the senate. This would be the nation that taxed and controlled the Jews, and eventually executed Jesus on a Roman cross, see Responsibility for the death of Jesus for details. Roman, Greek, and Hebrew cultures (and others) were now mixed together in Judea. The Roman Empire is commonly associated with the establishment of stable government, uniform laws, and Roman roads, water and sewerage systems. Nevertheless, there were several Roman-Jewish Wars before the region was finally fully subjugated.
[edit] Significant events
- Translation of the Jewish scriptures into Koine Greek, known as the Septuagint
- Establishment of the synagogue
- Greek and Aramaic becomes the common language of the Jewish people
- Dynasty of Herod the Great begins
- Production of copies of the Hebrew scripture and other related writings, known as Dead Sea Scrolls when unearthed in mid 20th century.
- Production of the 14 books of the Apocrypha. (ISBE, vol 1, p. 457)
- Production of the Pseudepigrapha. (ISBE, vol 1, p. 457)
[edit] Development of Jewish sects
[edit] References
- What happened in the intertestamental period? at gotquestions.org
- The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol 1, Page 457 "Literary Activity"
