400 years of silence?

QUESTION

What were the 400 years of silence?

ANSWER

The 400 years of silence refers to the time between the Old Testament and New Testament, during which, so far as we know, God did not speak—no Scripture was written. The 400 years of silence began with the warning that closed the Old Testament: “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse" (Malachi 4:5-6) and ended with the coming of John the Baptist, the Messiah’s forerunner.

At the time of Malachi’s warning, about 430 B.C., the Jews had returned to Israel from the Babylonian captivity (as merchants, not shepherds). The Medo-Persian Empire still ruled Israel, and the temple had been rebuilt. Both the Law and the priesthood of Aaron’s line had been restored, and the Jews had given up their worship of idols. Nevertheless, Malachi’s warning was not without cause. The Jewish people were mistreating their wives, marrying pagans and not tithing, and the priests were neglecting the temple and not teaching the people the ways of God. In short, the Jews were not honoring God.

In 333 B.C., Israel fell to the Greeks, and in 323 B.C. it fell to the Egyptians. The Jews generally were treated well throughout those reigns, and they adopted the Greek language and many of the Greek customs and manners, and in Egypt the Old Testament was translated into Greek. That translation, the Septuagint, came into widespread use (and is quoted frequently in the New Testament).

Jewish law and the priesthood remained more or less intact until Antiochus the Great of Syria captured Israel in 204 B.C. He and his successor, Antiochus Epiphanes, persecuted the Jews and sold the priesthood, and in 171 B.C. Epiphanes desecrated the Holy of Holies. This desecration resulted in an uprising by Judas Maccabeus of the priestly line of Aaron, and in 165 B.C. the Jews recaptured Jerusalem and cleansed the temple. However, fighting continued between the Jews and the Syrians until the Romans gained control of Israel in 63 B.C., at which time Pompey walked into the Holy of Holies, once again shocking and embittering the Jews. In 47 B.C., Caesar installed Antipater, a descendant of Esau, as procurator of Judea, and Antipater subsequently appointed his two sons as kings over Galilee and Judea.

As the New Testament opens, Antipater’s son, Herod the Great, a descendant of Esau, was king, and the priesthood was politically motivated and not of the line of Aaron. Politics also resulted in the development of two major factions, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees favored the liberal attitudes and practices of the Greeks. They held to only the Torah as regards religion but like most aristocrats they did not think God should have any part in governing the nation. The Pharisees were conservative zealots who, with the help of the scribes, developed religious law to the point where the concerns and care of people were essentially meaningless. Additionally, synagogues, new places of worship and social activity, had sprouted up all over the country, and religious and civil matters were governed by the lesser and the greater Sanhedrins, the greater Sanhedrin being comprised of a chief priest and seventy other members that handed out justice, sometimes by 39 lashes administered with full force.

Between the time of Malachi and the coming of the Messiah, several prophecies were fulfilled, including the 2,300 days of desecration between 171 and 165 B.C. (Daniel 8:14). However, the people did not put to good use either the fulfilled prophecies nor the 400 years the nation was given to study Scripture, to seek God (Psalm 43-44), and to prepare for the coming Messiah. In fact, those years blinded and deafened the nation to the point where most of the Jews could not even consider the concept of a humble Messiah (Zechariah 9:9; Isaiah 6:10; John 12:40).

Almost two millennia have passed since the New Testament canon was completed, and though the Word is full of grace and truth, and though the birth, life, and death of Jesus fulfilled a staggering array of prophecies, the Jews as a people have yet to open their eyes and ears. But Jesus is coming again, and one day a remnant will both see and hear.

Next QUESTION : WHY THE 400 YEARS OF SILENT? 🤔 

ANSWER : Rather, I am pointing out that the Hebrew Bible – the one which Jesus would have been familiar with – did not end with Malachi; it ended with Chronicles. That means that the Old Testament ends with these words:

“All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up!”

That statement is actually a 70-year leap from 2 Chronicles 36:21 with the people being dragged off to exile. 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 is a declaration that the seventy years of captivity has ended, but the sentence itself is incomplete in the Hebrew. The Old Testament kind of ends on an ellipsis. Why? I appreciate the answer given by Amber Dillon:

“So the return from exile under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah didn’t solve the people’s problems. The decree from Cyrus is incomplete because the authors of the TaNaK were still waiting for a real return from exile and the coming of the Messianic kingdom of God. God’s people need a deliverer from a deeper kind of exile than simply being ruled by Babylon.”

It's understandable, though, that the Christian Scriptures would have been compiled with having Malachi as the ending. Chronologically this is plausible. Malachi was one of the latest books written in the Old Testament. And there does seem to be a period of longing and waiting. You could say that there is prophetic silence, but I do not think it’s necessarily that God was punishing the people with silence. He was still communicating, and He was still the same God He is today. Many important historical events happened during this in-between time. 

What Happens Historically in between This “Period of Silence”?

There was much activity during this 400-year period. There are many things you see in the beginning pages of the New Testament that weren’t exactly present when the Old Testament comes to a close. For one, the second temple seems to be far more functioning than it was at the close of the Old Testament. There are groups like the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Sanhedrin that are not mentioned. What we have is what is known as the rise of Second Temple Judaism. All of that came to be during this intertestamental period.

There was also a great deal of military activity during this time. When the Old Testament closes, Cyrus the Great and Persia are the great superpowers. But by the time of the New Testament, we hear of the Romans being the ones who are ruling, and the language is in Greek, not Hebrew. Much has changed on the world stage in that 400-year period. Some of this is outlined in Jewish books written during this period like 1 and 2 Maccabees. Israel once again lost its independence during this period and then regained it and then lost it again.

It is clear that God was still working. In fact, some of what happened during this period was a fulfillment of prophecy spoken through the prophet Daniel.

Why Didn’t God Reveal Anything New in This Time?

I do not believe we have good warrant to connect the dots between the last words of Malachi and the first words of Matthew. But I do believe we can clearly say that there was no Scripture written between the close of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament. There was an inspired prophetic silence, though. During this time God did not reveal anything new. Why?

First, I think it is helpful for us to acknowledge that this 400-year period in between the Old and New Testament is not the only time in which God has “gone silent.” What do we make of the years of “silence” while the Hebrew people were in Egyptian bondage before God heard their cries and responded with rescue? Furthermore, what do we do with the almost 2,000 years of “silence” that we have experienced since the close of the New Testament? When we frame the question this way it helps us to understand that even if God is not inspiring new revelation, it does not mean that He is silent or inactive. And this may also help us to answer the question of why God did not reveal new Scripture during this time.

Secondly, we must acknowledge that God does not give us an explicit answer to this question. There is not a Scripture passage that refers to 400 years of silence. It’s something we have pieced together. This means that our answer will be tentative at best. But I think the answer, though perhaps not as dynamic as we would like, is that God was finished with the work of revelation he was doing at that stage in history.

I do not believe that these years of silence are like a spurned lover or an angry parent who chooses silence over communication. There is no Scripture where God says “I will be silent for 400 years.” Yes, there is that bit of prophecy in Malachi, but where does that even mention a period of prophetic silence? Yes, the people had rebelled and God was continuing to hand them over to judgment. But he was also preparing for their rescue.

God Is Still at Work

In some ways we are in a similar position to those of the time between the two testaments ; the Old Testament and the New Testament. God has spoken definitively and has also promised a rescue. We too are awaiting His forthcoming rescue through the Second Coming of Christ. But unlike those in the intertestamental period we have seen and heard of the works of Jesus. We know the identity of the Rescuer / Savior. It would seem strange and inaccurate to call this period “2,000 years of silence” because we do not have Scripture being written. God is at work just as he was at work in the intertestamental period. He is just speaking differently.

Hebrews 1:1-2 will have the last word:

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”