The Four Silent Centuries (Part 1)

This is the first in a series about the time between the Testaments written by Wayne Jackson. This one first appeared in the August 1975 edition of The Christian Courier, was published by the East Main Street Church of Christ in Stockton, California and edited by Jackson.

Shortly before the beginning of the 5th century B.C., Malachi the prophet laid aside his inspired pen and divinely written Old Testament history was concluded. For the following 400 years, until the dawning of the gospel era, there existed a period known to Bible students as the "Inter-Biblical Period," sometimes called the "Four Silent Centuries." Church members generally know little about this era though an acquaintance with such is extremely vital for understanding some aspects of the New Testament.

The situations of first century Palestine are drastically varied from the time of Malachi. When the curtain falls on Old Testament history, the Hebrews are under Persian control; yet when one enters the New Testament they are subject to the Romans. Again, when the Old Testament closes, the Jewish population in Palestine is scant; Palestinian towns are heaps of rubbish and the land is furrowed deep with scars of desolation. But four centuries later, "Palestine is one of the most densely populated parts of the Empire; its cities are crowded, its terraced hills are cultivated to the last inch; its merchants share in and largely control the trade of the Mediterranean world; and general prosperity marks the time." (Grant) When one confronts the Gospel accounts, a religious scene curiously different from Old Testament times meets him. For instance, in those former days neither synagogues, Pharisees, Sadducees, nor Herods were known; but when Jesus was born synagogues adorned virtually every hamlet in Palestine, the bloody Herods made their dreaded presence widely felt and daily life literally rang with the clashes of the Jewish sects. The question naturally arises therefore, how came the development of these things? Inter-Biblical history must answer this query. H. I. Hester has observed that, "It is impossible for the student to understand the life of Jesus and other New Testament events without some acquaintance with the happenings during these four hundred years." (Heart of the Hebrew History, p. 311.)

Since this is the "between the Testaments" period, we are obviously dependent upon uninspired sources for a knowledge of the events therein. The historical documents of this are are: (a) Secular Greek and Roman writers (e.g., Xenophon, Herodotus, Livy, etc.) (b) The writings of Josephus (c) The Jewish Apocrypha; 14 books which, though not inspired (as the Catholic Church claims for most of them) do contain valuable material of this era. For convenience sake the history of the Inter-Biblical age may be politically classified thusly: (1) The Persian period (2) The Greek period and (3) The Roman period.

THE PERSIAN PERIOD - The Persian age (of the Inter-Biblical era) spanned some 70 years; from 400 B.C. (the end of the Old Testament) to 332 B.C. For the Jews, this was mostly a time of peace and prosperity. But as the case frequently is, when prosperity abounds, fidelity to Jehovah plummets. A commentary on the low spiritual tide of the time is recorded by Josephus. He tells of one John, the Jewish High Priest, who in a fit of anger murdered his own brother right in the temple. Josephus says that, "there never was so cruel and impious a thing done, neither by Greeks nor Barbarians." (Antiquities 11-7-1.) Apparently however, the disgraceful deed caused scarcely a ripple among the Jews!

Significant in this period was the gradually increasing political power of the High Priesthood. Persian rulers were very tolerant and thus did the High Priest gather governmental control more and more into his own hands. This of course, prepares the way for understanding the authority of the High Priest in connection with the death of Christ.

It is likely that the synagogue was evolving in this era. The word "synagogue" is of Greek derivation and suggested a "gathering together" for the purpose of worship and religious instruction. Though its origin has been obscured by antiquity, it was viewed in the 1st century as being "from generations of old." (Acts 15:21) It possibly had its beginnings in the days of the Babylonian captivity (606-536 B.C.) and in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah thereafter. Probably though, during the Persian period the synagogues were being more formally organized and used as schools of religious instruction. At the time of Jerusalem's destruction (70 A.D.) it is estimated that some 460 synagogues may have existed in Jerusalem alone, though this may be an exaggeration. (Edersheim, Jewish Social Life, p. 254) It was probably during this time also that there arose that class of professional scholars known as "scribes" who were to be so influential in Jesus' day.

It is also important to note that during this general period the Aramaic language gradually superseded Hebrew as the spoken language of the Jewish people. Though Hebrew was retained for purposes of worship and scripture, Aramaic became the living tongue of the Hebrews. This is illustrated by the fact that Jesus spoke Aramaic on several occasions (Mark 5:41; 7:34; 15:35) though it is certain that the Jews of the 1st century knew and spoke Greek as well. This is evidenced by the fact that the books of the New Testament were written in Greek (even when primarily directed to Jews; e.g. Matthew and Hebrews). Thus was the Persian era of the Inter-Biblical age an influential time. In the next article, the Greek age of the four silent centuries will be discussed.