The Intertestamental Period

The Intertestamental Period

Key Word-Silence

• There were 400 years between the end of the OT (Esther) and the opening of the NT.

• During this time there were no prophetic or inspired writings God saw fit to include in the Bible.

• The OT ends with the Persians being the main world power (539 BC-331 BC)

  • 1st, the Assyrians who was the world power.

  • 2nd, The Babylon conqueror them.

  • 3rd, the Persian.

  • 4th, The Greeks

• The Persians were then destroyed by the Greeks (Alexander the Great who ruled from (331 BC- 168 BC).

• Then, the Greeks introduced the Greek culture and the Greek language as the common language hence the reason why the NT was written in Greek.

  • For this reason, the first translation of the Hebrew OT was the Septuagint, or the Greek version of the OT.

• Following the death of Alexander the Great, the Romans reigned from (168 BC to 476 AD) hence why the Jewish people were under the Roman rule at the time of the birth of Christ.

  • During this time other religious groups such as the Pharisees and the Sadducees began to emerge within the Jewish culture.

• The Pharisees added their own interpretation to the Jewish OT law thus becoming an externally religious group that was often in conflict with Jesus’ message of love and grace.

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