Up Doctrine New Testiment Bible Journey Bible Origin HERMENEUTICS Intertestament Test Mid-Term 20-45 Mid-Term Senior Books/Divisions Redemption

World of The New Testament

Session One
INTERTESTAMENT PERIOD-THE SILENT YEARS
INTRODUCTION:

Many Christians act as though background and context are unimportant to under -standing the New Testament. The way we ignore the Old Testament, you might think God had wasted his time all those years.  It is difficult for us to grasp that the more we study the Old Testament the better we understand the New Testament.  The same can be said of the Intertestament Period – “The Silent Years.”  Most of us step out of Malachi right into Matthew.  That causes real problems.  However, you can’t read very far into your NT without coming across some things your OT did not prepare you for: Pharisees, Sadducees, Greek speaking Jews, chief priests, Herodioans, king Herod the tetrarch, Roman procurators and governors, synagogues, which all have their roots in the Intertestament Period.  The world Jesus was born was a product of both ancient and recent history.  A clear understanding of both helps us to gain a clearer understanding of him.
 
  1. External Developments Shaping the New Testament World thru the OT
The Book of Daniel was, for the Jew of the Intertestament Period a road map to the future.  In this book, God specifically reveals the shape of world over a 400+ years period.
  1. Nebuchadnezzars’s Dream
          
  1. Daniel 2:36-38 - Babylon is the head of gold.
 
  1. Daniel 2:39a  - Medo-Persia is the chest of  silver.
 
  1. Daniel 2:39b –Greece is the loins of brass.
 
  1. Daniel 2:40  -Rome is the legs of iron mixed with miry clay.
 
  1. B. Daniel’s Dream and Antiochus Epiphanies
          Daniel  8:3-14
 
  1. Ram with 2 horns =Media and Persia (vs 20)
 
  1. Goat = Greece (vs 21); horn =Alexander
 
  1. Another horn” =Antiochus Epiphanies
  1. The persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanies
  1. The Maccabean Revolt
 
  1. Internal Developments Shaping the New Testament World thru the OT
  A.    History of Israel’s “Decline and Fall”
  1.  1010 -930 B.C.  80 years-Zenith of Israel
            a.       King David –unifying the Kingdom
            b.      King Solomon –establishing regal reign
  2.      930 -586 B.C.   -  The Demise of Israel
            a.       Division of the Kingdom  - 975 B.C.  1 Kings 12
            b.      Altars built in Dan and Bethel (Samaria) 1 Kgs 13
            c.       Destruction of Israel  -721 B.C.  2 Kings 17
            d.      Destruction of Judah  -586 B.C.  Daniel 1
B.  An Imitation Kingdom
   
4.      Return of the Exiles  -538, 458, 445 B.C.  Nehemiah--Ezra
   
5.      Political Realities
 
  1.  Israel was no longer an independent nation.  The kingdom of Israel, that reached such splendor during the reign of Solomon, came to a crushing end with its final capture by Babylon in 586 B.C. There was 70 years of captivity during which the Southern Israelites (Judah &  Benjamin) became known as Jews.  (Esther)  Also the “synagogue” became a place for worship while the Jews were dispersed with no temple.
 
  1. b.      King Cyrus  of Persia allowed a remnant of Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild.  (538 – 445 B.C.)
 
  1. Slightly more than a hundred years later, the Persian Empire was overrun by the Greeks under Alexander, The Great. (325B.C.?)
 
  1. Translation of Hebrew Scriptures into Greek by 70 Egyptian Jews and by 70 Jerusalem Jews.
  C.  Between Alexander the Great  and Jesus Christ.  (325 B.C. – A. D.)
6.      Alexanderian, Egyptian, Syrian, Maccaabean, Roman Periods
7.      Antiochus III the Great, a hundred plus years after Alexander, gained possession of Palestine in 198 B.C., with the help of the Jews.
8.      The Jews revolted against Antiochus due to his Hellenistic views (converting Jewish rituals into Grecian)
9.      Maccabean Period.  (165 -63 B.C.)  Judas Maccabeus followed after the death of his father and became the leader of the Jewish patriots, and governor of Palestine, rededicating the temple (feast of Purification). Later assassinated thus leading, to various wars until the Romans brought peace through their domination with a powerful garrison of troops.
10.  Enter the Caesars and the Herods.

      

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