Intertestamental period

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. Traditionally, it is considered to cover roughly four hundred years, spanning the ministry of Malachi (c. 420 BC) to the appearance of John the Baptist in the early 1st century AD, almost the same period as the Second Temple period (530 BC to 70 AD).

It is known by some members of the Protestant community as the "400 Silent Years" because some maintain that it was a span where God revealed nothing new to his people.[1] Many of the deuterocanonical or anagignoskomena books, accepted as scripture by Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy respectively, were written during this time. This is also the time when many pseudepigraphal works were produced. An understanding of the events of the intertestamental period provides context for the New Testament.

Significant events

• Translation of the Jewish scriptures into Koine Greek, known as the Septuagint[2]
• Establishment of the synagogue
• Greek and Aramaic become the common languages of the Jewish people
• Hasmonean dynasty
• Herodian dynasty
• Province of Roman Judea created in 6 AD
• Production of copies of the Hebrew scripture and other related writings, known as Dead Sea Scrolls when unearthed in mid 20th century[2]
• Production of the 14 books of the biblical apocrypha (ISBE, vol 1, p. 457)
• Production of the pseudepigrapha (ISBE, vol 1, p. 457)

See also

• Essenes
• History of ancient Israel and Judah
• Pharisees
• Sadducees
• Zealots

References

1. Lambert, Lance. "400 Silent Years: Anything but Silent". Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved 2012-09-21.
2. Brown, S. Kent; Holzapfel, Richard Neitzel (December 2014). "The Lost 500 Years: From Malachi to John the Baptist". Ensign: 56–60.

Further reading

• The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Vol 1, Page 457 "Literary Activity"
• Pfeiffer, Charles F. Between the Testaments. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1959. 132 p.
• Carroll, Benajah Harvey. Between the Testaments (PDF) (PDF). Woodstock, VA: Grace Baptist Church. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 7, 2015.