"Inter" is a prefix signifying between, thus, between the Old Testament and the New Testament or between Malachi and Matthew. Malachi is believed to be written about 397 BC and could be rounded to 400 BC. Therefore, we could say this period lasted approximately 400 years--from Malachi to the birth of Christ.

This period of time is considered to have been a dark time because there was no open revelation from God. Don’t confuse this dark time with the dark ages of the church age which was from about 600 AD to 1500 AD. Even though there was no open revelation from God, He still had His prophets and a remnant stayed true to Him and went through this dark time. An example of that is the family of Zacharias. (Luke 1:5-6)

When Malachi ends, the people of Israel were under the Persian rule. The Persians had conquered Babylon in 539 BC and Cyrus the king had his heart turned by the Lord (Pro. 21:1) to allow the people of Israel to go back to Jerusalem. A remnant did, and finally the temple was rebuilt and the wall rebuilt allowing the people of Israel the freedom to worship God. But by Malachi’s time the heart of the people was not truly sincere about worshiping God, and as a result, He ceased to give Israel an open revelation.

There are five kings of the Persian empire not mentioned in the Bible but mentioned in history: Xexeres II 424 BC; Darius II 423 BC to 405 BC near the end of Malachi; Artaxerxes II 405-358 BC; Artaxerxes III 358 BC to 338 BC; and Arses 338-335 BC. Theses names do not have a special meaning to us.

During the last part of the Persian reign, Sanballat built his son-in-law, Eliashib the high priest of Israel’s son, a temple in Mt. Gerizim, the mount of blessing in Joshua’s day. (Deut. 11:29) Eliashib, the high priest’s son was chased away from Jerusalem by Nehemiah because he would not separate from his foreign wife and he took refuge with his father-in-law, an enemy of God’s people. (Neh. 2:10) Sanballat placed his son-in-law as a priest in the temple he had built for him. This started rival, false worship. This mountain became a holy mountain for the Samaritans and was referred to by the woman at the well in John 4:20, even though the temple was destroyed by Jesus’ day. Josephus, a reliable Jewish historian, speaks of it being built during the Persian rule. These facts are not in the Bible but in Jewish history. The Persian empire ended in 335 BC.

In 336 BC, Alexander the Great came on the scene when he was 20 years old. His dad, king of Greece, had been murdered and Alexander took over the army of Greece and set out to conquer the world. In two years, he had overrun the Persian Empire. He is the notable horn of Dan. 8:1-7.

In 332 BC, Alexander invaded Palestine--Israel, and he marched into Jerusalem. He was met by Juddua, the high priest and other priests about 65 years after Malachi. (History records this, not Bible, because there was no open revelation during this dark time.) Juddua met him in his priestly attire that Moses had laid down in Leviticus. The other priests with Juddua were dressed accordingly, and all the people with them were dressed in white. The priest had a dream and was told how to dress and to put wreaths on the walls of Jerusalem to meet Alexander.

The strange thing about this was, at the same time Alexander had a dream that coincided with this event. So even though there was no open revelation, God was still operating on behalf of the remnant during this dark time. (Heb. 1:1-2) God was working to put another Empire in power but was still going to show favor to the Jews.

Alexander was taken in the city and shown the prophecy of Dan. 8:3-7 describing the destruction of the Medo-Persian Empire by a large horn on a goat which represented Greece lead by Alexander. The two horns of the ram represented the Medo-Persian Empire--the one higher than the other represented the Persians led by Cyrus the king when they overrun Babylon in 539 BC. The shorter horn represented Darius the Median. When Alexander was shown this prophecy he said "that is me." As a result, he showed the Jews consideration and left the temple standing--Zerubbabel’s temple. Basically, he offered to give to the Jews what they wanted.

Alexander then went down to Egypt and conquered, and built the city of Alexandria, Egypt, a city of philosophy. That city had the largest library of the time and out of it came some corrupted texts of the Bible--not the received text or Textus Receptus. He encouraged many Jews to settle there. Thus, his establishment of this city Grecianized (to adapt to the Greek culture) the world.

God was setting things up for the coming of His Son. The known world all began to speak one language--Koine Greek. We know that the fourth world power that was to come was the Roman Empire which was noted for their roads; therefore, the gospel could be easily carried all over the known world in one language. God was not dead and not asleep. He was speaking to His remnant and getting the world ready for Christ to come in the flesh.

By 331 BC, Alexander had conquered all the known world; therefore, he was called "the Great." In 323 BC, he returned to Babylon when he was 33 years old , where he set down and wept because there were no more countries to conquer. He soon died at the age of 33 years without an appointed heir. He didn’t have a will and as a result his kingdom fell into chaos and there was a struggle for power. It is said he had nine Generals but the chaos was settled among four Generals. This fulfilled the prophecy of Dan. 8:8. The great horn broken means Alexander died.

Now there are four kingdoms of the Grecian Empire headed up by four Generals. Only two are important to us because they deal with Israel--Seleucus in Syria and Ptolemy in Egypt. Israel is in the middle. After severe fighting Judea fell to Ptolemy along with Egypt. He allowed the Jews to govern themselves and practice their religion without any interference. In a sense the Jews faired well.

Several of the Jews came down to Alexandria in Egypt, where they had the best library to study. As a result, some got caught up in philosophy and logic and drunk deeply from the cup of federalization--loyalty to the ruling Empire. They became Grecian in their thoughts and actions. That is like a professing Christian who is out in the world, dressing like the world, and talking like the world. (I John 2:15; Rom. 12:2) That is what the Jews began to do.

Ptolemy’s son, Ptolemy II, took his place and commissioned Hebrew OT to be translated into Koine Greek in 285 BC. It took 150 years to complete this translation. He was trying to Helleize (to use the Greek language) the whole world. You may have heard of a Hellenist Jew--that is a Grecian Jew who uses the Greek language. Now they have the OT that can be read all over the world because Greek was spoken in every city. Was God in that? Yes! He was setting things up for the Lord’s first coming.

This Greek translation of the OT is called the Septuagint because Ptolemy II chose 70 translators who were scholars and who knew both Hebrew and Greek. The Pentateuch, the first five books of the OT, was translated first. The Septuagint translation was commonly used in the days of Christ. When the NT was written in Greek, many quotations from the OT were from the Septuagint and even Christ quoted from it; therefore, He approved of it. God had his hand in the translation, for if He hadn’t, Jesus would not have used it. Quoting from the Septuagint is the reason the English wording in the NT is different for OT in English, but the principle is the same.

About 198 BC, the Syrian king, Antiochus III called Antiochus the Great, conquered Palestine and it went back to the kings of Syria called the Seleucids. He divided Palestine into five regions--Judea, Galilee, Samaria, Ituraea, and Abilene (four are mentioned in Luke 3:1.) Two of these regions are not important to Jewish history while Judaea, Galilee, and Samaria are. A short time later Antiochus the Great was defeated by the Romans and had to pay a large sum of money to the Romans. To make sure he payed, they held his son, Antiochus IV or Antiochus Epiphanes, hostage. When his dad died in 187 BC his brother, Seleucus IV, took the place of Antiochus the Great. But in 175 BC Antiochus IV or Antiochus Epiphanes, who had been held hostage in Rome, usurped the throne in Syria by killing his brother.

Up to this time the Jews had been permitted to live under their own laws administered by the high priest and his council even though the kings were harsh to them. But now a "reign of terror" befell the Jews. Antiochus Epiphanes put a stop to the priesthood being passed on by birthright and it being for life. He sold the priesthood to the high priest’s brother. It wasn’t his to have.

During this period of time many Jews had adapted to the Hellenistic way of life which brought a conflict because a remnant, few of the few, of the Jews wanted to do right and stay with God and what He said. They were called the orthodox Jews. Today the orthodox Jew tries to heed what Moses said, yet they have missed Jesus as their Messiah. But in that day the orthodox Jews were the remnant. Therefore, there was a conflict between them and the Hellenist Jews.

Antiochus Epiphanes tried to overthrow Egypt’s General, Ptolemy VI, but was stopped by Rome who was beginning to move to try to become a world power. As a result Antiochus Epiphanes unleashed his anger on the Jews and was determined to exterminate them and their religion, all because of the remnant who would not compromise and follow the Hellenist way of life. This was 170 BC. He forbade circumcision with a threat of death to parents if they practiced this rite. If a copy of a portion of Scripture was found, it was burned and the person caught with it was put to death. The Jews were forbidden to celebrate the Sabbath. And in 168 BC, on Dec. 25 (why that date we know not) he sacrificed a sow on the altar in the temple. That was a slap in the face to the Jewish remnant.

He desecrated the altar of God and erected a statue to either Zeus or Jupiter (one account says one while another says the other) in the Holy place. I found out Zeus and Jupiter are connected and both are idols. He compelled Jews to eat swine which was contrary to the law of Moses. He hated the Jews and wanted to destroy them. This is just a fulfillment of Scripture. Dan. 8:9-13 and 11:31 prophesied this incident of Antiochus Epiphanes. This was fulfilled in reality then but just a type of the anti-christ to come who is called the abomination of desolation in Mat. 24:15 and he will stand in the Holy place in the temple that shall be built in Jerusalem in the 70^th week of Daniel.

Soon after this incident, one of Antiochus Epiphanes’ officers came in the temple and commanded the aged priest, Mattathias to make a sacrifice to the statue erected in the holy place and he refused--part of the remnant. A younger Jew (a sympathizer to the king) stepped in to take the old man’s place and do what Antiochus Epiphanes wanted done. Mattathias was infuriated--righteous anger (Eph. 4:26), and stuck a dagger through the young Jew volunteer and the officer as well. As a result, the remnant had to flee to the hills and many joined them. About 1000 were burned alive in the cave where they hid because it was on the sabbath day and they would not defend themselves. Then Mattathias persuaded the survivors that self-defense was right even on the sabbath. That is what is going to happen when the antichrist comes and sets himself up as god--the Jews will flee to Petra. (Mat. 24:16-21)

Mattathias and his five sons fled. Mattathias died in 166 BC and his mantle fell on his son Judas Maccabeus who led a revolt called the Maccabean revolt. He was a warrior, an amazing military genius and he won battle after battle against unbelievable and impossible odds. In 165 BC two and one-half years after the sow was offered on the altar, Jerusalem was recaptured, the temple was refurbished, and sacrifices reinstated. And in that year on Dec. 25, 165 BC three years from the time the sow was offered, they celebrated with a "feast of light" called "Hanukkah" also called "feast of Maccabeus" and "feast of dedication." (John 10:22) The remnant got control of Jerusalem and ruled (the descendants of Mattathias) until 63 BC when Pompey and the Romans conquered Jerusalem.

During this rule of the remnant, it was called "rule of independence for Jews." Readers of history could not believe that these Jews, few in number, could win over Antiochus Epiphanes. But they did!

During the reign of Mattathias’ grandson (135-106), he destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim and from that time on the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. They hated them. They would pray everyday, "Don’t let my eyes fall upon a Samaritan." When traveling from Galilee to Judaea, they would not go through Samaria which was nearer, but they would go out of their way to the east or west of Samaria to get to their destination.

Also it was during the reign of that grandson that the Pharisee sect was started. Pharisee means the separated ones, which may have come from them separating themselves from the strong influence of Hellenism. Thus, the Pharisees may have been started for a good reason and yet, we don’t want any part of them today. You know, almost all things that wind up bad started with good intent and a good motive. Someone said, "The seeds of destruction are always present at the birth of an organization." Their aim was to preserve their national integrity and strict conformity to the Mosaic Law. They later developed into the self-righteous, hypocritical, formalistic ones that caused Jesus great problems in the NT. In the beginning they were not that way. Doctrinally, they viewed the entire OT as authoritative--tradition.

The Pharisees believed in life after death, in resurrection, in angels and demons. Also during the reign of that same grandson’s rule, there were a mass of traditions created and obedience was transferred from the law to tradition. There was no open revelation. That is where the Pharisees got off tract--they moved from the law and said tradition is more important. Is that not what Baptists have done and are doing?--gone from God’s Word to what man has said.

About that same time another sect came into being--the Sadducees. They did not believe in the resurrection so they were "sad-you-see." They were more wealthy than the Pharisees. They accepted only the Torah, the first five books of the Bible on a scroll called the Torah, and not the whole Bible. They were right in their observance of the law and held to literal interpretation. They denied resurrection, life after death, existence of angels and demons, and any reward or punishment after death. They were "sad-you-see"--in bad shape. But they were also, along with the Pharisees, the ones who caused Jesus the most trouble.

The Sadducees were in charge and controlled the temple because they were the moneyed people. Even though they were strict in law, they leaned toward Hellenism and were unpopular among the Jewish people. They took no part in the Maccabean struggle for their nation’s liberty. This sounds like some groups we have today--will not salute the flag and will not fight for their country but get their mail from the US Mail.

Sometime later, in the Maccabean rule, civil war broke out between two great grandsons of Mattathias and there was a struggle for power which led to Rome becoming involved to settle their dispute. Therefore, in 68 BC Pompey conquered Jerusalem with some of his soldiers. Then he walked into the holy of holies. The Jews said he was not suppose to be in there and even though he never touched anything, they never forgave him.

Beginning in 63 BC, the Romans became the fourth world Empire and the Grecian Empire has fallen. During this time the Sanhedrin was established. The Sanhedrin was the governing body of Jews instituted by Rome to govern the affairs of the Jews under the authority of Rome. It consisted of 70 members and the high priest; thus, 71 total made up of both the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Sometimes in the NT it is called the "council." They were not allowed to put people to death without the permission of the Roman government, which is why they carried Jesus to Pilot. They had a trial (unlawful) where they accused Him of blasphemy but they could not put Him to death without the governor’s okay. When Pilate asked what he needed to do with Jesus, they said, "crucify Him" and the Roman government sentenced Jesus to death.

In 55 BC, there were three men who controlled Rome--Pompey, Casus, and Julius Caesar. In 44 BC, eleven years later, Julius Caesar was murdered by Brutus and Cassius (spelling is different from the one who ruled in 55 BC.) This caused a civil war to break out and Brutus and Cassius were defeated by Mark Anthony. There was great struggle between all these men that even history does not agree about. Caesar’s nephew, called Octavian, who later declared himself to be Caesar Augustus, was Caesar’s designated heir. "Caesar" is the name of the Emperor, Ruler of Rome like Pharaoh of Egypt--a title.

In 40 BC, Herod the Great became the king of the Jews--ruler over the area of Palestine. Rome gave him that title. He was not a Jew but married a descendent of Mattathias, a Maccabean Jew, hoping that this would make him more acceptable to the Jews. He was a mean and wicked man. In 20 BC, Herod begin to rebuild the temple. Zerubbabel’s temple was still standing but it was not as large as Solomon’s temple. So Herod got all the materials together to build a more magnificent temple than even Solomon’s was. It seems that part of the temple was taken down and in one and one-half years the walls were put back up. This is why it was called Herod’s temple. Today, the stones on the western wall or wailing wall consist of three definite layers: first section on bottom = Solomon’s temple; second section = Zerubbabel’s temple; and third section = Herod’s temple. There is talk today about the third temple going to be built in the future. This seems to be the fourth temple. What is the answer to this dilemma? Herod did not actually build a temple, he just remodeled Zerubbabel’s temple. In John 2:20 there is mentioned 46 years in building this temple. This time refers to the restoration, repairing and rebuilding of the second temple. This was started by Herod 16 years before Jesus was born and He is 30 years old at this time; thus, 46 years in building, even though Herod was dead because it was still not completed according to Jewish history.

Herod was only a Jew in practice not in descendant. Even though Rome had given him the title "King of the Jews," he was never accepted by the Jews he ruled over. When the wise men came looking for "he that is born King of the Jews" in Mat. 2:1-6, Herod was upset and ordered all children two years and under to be killed. (Mat. 2:16) He wanted to make sure to kill the born King of the Jews. Herod’s death is dated at 4 BC; therefore, Jesus had to be born before that, maybe about 4-6 BC. We do not know the date for sure but God does.

When Jesus was born, those living in Judea and Galilee saw a great light, not the star the wise men saw, but Jesus, who was the Light of the world. Even thou there had been a 400-year period of silence, the silence was broken for they heard God’s voice as He spoke to them as a 12 year old boy. And then the NT begins to unfold.

Information of this 400-year inter-testament period comes from Josephus, a Jewish Historian and a scholar, born in 37 AD. His writings are not Scripture, thus not inspired and they contain some errors. But still he is recognized as the most authoritative Jewish historian of that period of time. He was there when the temple was destroyed by Titus, a Roman, in 70 AD. He came on the scene soon after Jesus died on the cross; therefore, he had some first hand information, even though most of his information was passed to him by word of mouth.

We also have some information from secular history as well as from the books of the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha consists of 14 books the Catholic Bible contains between Malachi and Matthew. They are also in the KJV 1611 Bible--put there by Catholic influence. These books are not Scripture, thus not inspired. They contain error in doctrine but they do have some historical value. Jesus and the apostles quoted many OT Scriptures throughout their ministry; many times it was from the Septuagint which indicates that God approved of the Septuagint. But you’ll never find any reference referring to the Apocrypha as being Scripture.

Rom. 4:3 states, "For what saith the scripture?" The Septuagint was considered Scripture. The Hebrew Bible was considered Scripture. But there is not one quote in the NT from the Apocrypha because it is man’s writings. Those 14 books do have some value as far as history is concerned but they go against God’s word in doctrine.

I want to list the 14 books of the Apocrypha and give a few words about each one:

1. I Esdras: The Greek form of Ezra. Its object was to picture the liberality of Cyrus and Darius toward the Jews as a pattern for the Ptolemies.

2. II Esdras: It purports to contain visions given to Ezra, dealing with God’s government of the world, a coming new age, and the restoration of certain lost Scriptures.

3. Tobit: A romance, entirely devoid of historical value, of a rich young Israelite captive in Nineveh, who was led by an angel to wed a "virgin-widow" (who ever heard of such?) who had seven husbands. (Doesn’t sound like Scripture to me.)

4. Judith: A historical romance of a rich, beautiful and devout Jewish widow who, in the days of the Babylonian invasion of Judah, in a skillful manner, went to the tent of the Babylonian general, and under guise of offering herself to him, cut off his head and thus saved her city.

5. Rest of Esther: written to show the hand of God in her story. Because the Book of Esther did not mention God by name, someone thought it ought to have God’s name in it. We do not need another book to show us that the hand of God was in Esther’s story.

6. Wisdom of Solomon: Similar to Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, written by an Alexandrian Jew who impersonates himself as Solomon.

7. Ecclesiasticus: Also called the "Wisdom of Jesus." It resembles Proverbs. It is written by a widely traveled Jewish Philosopher and has a Hellenist view.

8. Baruch: Designed to show it comes from Baruch, the scribe of Jeremiah, who is represented as spending the last portion of his life in Babylon. It is addressed to the exiles. It consists mostly of paraphrases from Jeremiah, Daniel, and other Prophets.

9. Son of the three Holy children: This is an unauthentic addition to the book of Daniel inserted after Dan. 3:23 designed to give the prayer for deliverance of the three Hebrew boys while in the fiery furnace. No doubt, they prayed but this is not God’s inspired book.

10. History of Susanna: Another unauthentic amplification of the book of Daniel, relating how the godly wife of a wealthy Jew in Babylon, falsely accused of adultery, was cleared by the wisdom of Daniel.

11. Bel and the Dragon: Another unauthentic addition to the book of Daniel. It contains two stories. In both, Daniel proves that the idols Bel and Dragon are not gods. One of which is based on the story of the lion’s den.

12. Prayer of Manasses: A king who was carried captive to Babylon. A wicked king who was saved later in life. God said I’m going to destroy Judah because of Manasseh’s deeds. Designed to be the prayer of Manasseh when he was held captive in Babylon spoken of in II Chron. 33:12-13.

13. I Maccabees: A historical work of great value on the Maccabean period, relating events of the Jew’s heroic struggle for liberty. Written about 100 BC by a Palestinian Jew.

14. II Maccabees: Does not have the historical value as I Maccabees. It is said to be an account of the Maccabean struggle but it is inferior to I Maccabees.

In the OT, the synagogue is mentioned only one time and that is in Psa. 74:8. It is believed that the synagogue probably originated during Babylonian captivity due to the temple being destroyed and the Jews having no place to meet for worship. The nation had been scattered and they needed a place of instruction and worship so the idea of a synagogue came into being. It was a place where the Jews could meet together in the land of captivity and read portions of Scripture if they had it available. The devout Jews met in the synagogues and that practice was continued during the 400 years of silence--no open revelation. This practice was still prominent in the NT even though they had a temple. I know they had a lot of mass tradition and they tended to follow that instead of the law.

We conclude the inter-testament period. The dates mentioned can vary a year or two which is the reason you might find a different date for some event in various writings. Our main object of this book is to allow you to see that this four hundred year period of time was a dark time and a silent time since there was no open revelation from God. But He still had a remnant (few of the few) who stayed true to the Lord, and came through that period victoriously. That has always been the case and it always will be the case. I don’t know about you, but I want to be a part of the remnant of God.