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Nuevo Testamento

Four Hundred Years of Silence

K.R.

2014

Table of Contents

I. Introduction .3

II.

The Four Hundred Years of Silence...4

III. Background of the Years of Silence ..5


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IV. The Necessity of the Interstamental

Period.....6

V. Conclusion...9

VI. Works

Cited..10

Introduction

I will be discussing the four hundred years of silence in depth and what occurred during those

years. The four hundred years of silence is called the interstamental period. The interstamental


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period refers to a time in history where God did not send his message through prophets, no

prophecy was heard and he seemed to be silenced through the four hundred years. Even though

there was silence God is always working, we may not hear his voice but he is still working. I am

going to discuss what occurred during this time frame.

It is the time frame between the old and new testament where the voice of God was not heard,

no scripture was written and no direct revelation came through prophets (Benware 18). Though

the era is called the silent years it does not mean that no information is known about this period.

This is why I am researching more about the interstamental period to know exactly what

occurred during time frame.

During the internstamental period the Samaritans built their own temple on Mt.

Gerizim. This is one of the reasons that Jesus hated the Samaritans and regarded them as fools

(Benware 47). One of the reasons the Jewish leaders called him a Samaritan found in (John

8:48) was because they were expressing audacity toward Lord Jesus.

The Four Hundred Years of Silence


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after this the Medopersa Empire followed. This changed had been prophesied by Daniel, who

said that a bear would rise in where it would rise taller on one side than the other, which would

represent the division between Persia and Media. This was all occurring between the last book of

the Old Testament and before Matthew. In the year 330 B.C a terrible war stroke out with the

Persians and Greeks in which changed history itself. In that war, there was a young man in his

twenties called Alexander Magno, lead the army of Greece to victory and won over the Persians

and destroyed all of their empire. The central power had shifted even more due to this

phenomenal even and this is how the Persian Empire came to be. A year after Alexand the Great

had won the war, he lead his troops to the Syrian nation toward the direction of Egypt. On his

way he also decided to have Israel. Word came around of Magnos coming in Israel and a priest

called Jadua (one who is mentioned on the bible by the way in the book of Nehemiah) took the

scriptures of the prophet Daniel, with many priests draped in their white robes, went and spoke to

Alexander out of the city. Alexander went and spoke to the priest and told him God had given

him a vision an elderly man with white robes who was to show him something of great

importance to him. The priest went to Alexander and showed him the sacred scriptures of Daniel.

All of this information known to us is by the Jewish historian Joseph. In the prophecies

Alexander could the prophecies of Daniel and everything written in them had come true. Its as if

they were talking about him (which he knew they were). To this day this is what is told, but

everyone knows as the years transgress the story could change a bit; anyways this is what is said.

The Necessity of the Interstamental Period


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The four hundred years of silence may not have seen as important years, but in essence they

were. God was preparing the perfect timing for the birth of Jesus Christ to occur and everything

that needed to take place. This is when we see the word of God come to life. In Ecclesiastes; it

states the following: 1 to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the

heaven:

2A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is

planted;

3A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time

to refrain from embracing;

6A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

9What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

10I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

11He hath made everything beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that

no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

12I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.


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13And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift

of God.

14I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing

taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

15That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that

which is past.

16And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the

place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

17I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for

every purpose and for every work.

18I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them,

and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

19For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the

one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence

above a beast: for all is vanity.

20All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

21Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth

downward to the earth?

22Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own

works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him? (Bible


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NJKV). Sometimes in the time of silence we get so desperate just to hear the voice of God

because we think that God has forgotten about us, but in reality he is just testing us to see our

faithfulness in quiet times. Four hundred years is a long time for the voice of God not to be heard

in the world. Even though there was no current prophecy, what the people had was the sacred

scriptures in which prophecies had been fulfilled, and those waiting to be fulfilled. Chapter 3 of

Ecclesiastes brings to me that for God everything is perfect, even when to us (humans) in our

natural mind do not seem to comprehend why certain things in our lives are not going as

planned. Why did I not get this job? Or why did I not get in to this school? Maybe if we see the

bigger picture we can comprehend that God has a time for everything. In my perspective the four

hundred years were necessary to his people to wait on him, not to depend on prophecies, but to

delay themselves on his faithfulness and love he has for his children.

Conclusion

In conclusion the four hundred years of silence has a great historic evidence of its existence.

While it is not written much in the bible we can see from the historians the conquering of

Alexander the Great and how Gods prophecy had been fulfilled through the prophet Daniel.


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The four hundred years of silence was a time for his children to delay themselves onto the Lord

and worship his greatness. May it had been a time for God to prepare the coming of Jesus Christ,

who died on the Calvary cross for our sins and resurrected on the third day and is now with God.

The four hundred years of silence may have been silent but God was still working behind the

scenes and there is nothing silent about that!

Works Cited

NKJV Exhaustive Concordance: New King James Version. Nashville: T. Nelson, 1992. Print.

Benware, Paul N. Survey of the New Testament. Chicago: Moody, 1990. Print.


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