TRANSITION FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
The span between the close of the old Testament and opening of the New Testament times is about 400 years. With Nehemiah's historical record, Malachi's prophecy, no voice was heard nor vision seen from heaven until God spoke through an angel to Zacharias who was to become the father of John the Baptist. This era is called the "Intertestamental Period."
It was at the close of the Old testament period that the canon of this portion of our Bible was formed. Before Israel's captivity there were only faint traces of the mode of preserving the sacred writings. Moses ordered the "book of the Law" to be put in the ""side of the Ark" (Deuteronomy 31: 24 - 26). After the Temple was erected, the Law was kept there (IIKings 22:8). To Moses' writings were subsequently added that of Joshua, and other Annals; and later Proverbs and some prophecies, for Daniel refers to the "Books" (9:2), Zechariah to the "Law and former Prophets" (7:12), and Isaiah to the "Book of the Lord: (29:18, 34:-16).
Ezra and the "Great Synagogue" most probably determined the canon of the Law in its final shape, and Nehemiah "gathered together the acts of the kings and prophets, and those of David" when "founding a library" for the Second Temple. This took place 430 B.C.
The first notice of the old testament as a collection of sacred writings is in the Prologue to the Greek translation of Ecclesiasticus, 131. B C, which specifies the "Law and the Prophets, and the rest of the books. (Ecclesiasticus" is not to be confused with the book of Ecclesiastes. This book was written 175 B. C., and is a part of apocryphal literature, know as Hokmah, or "Hebrew wisdom literature.") Philo Judaeus 920B. C.----A.D.40) refers to the constant use of the "Laws and oracles produced by the prophets, and hymns and other (writings)." Josephus (A.D. 30---100) enumerates twenty-two books as "divine", five of Moses, thirteen of the prophets, and four "hymns and directions of life." He mentions all the book of the Old Testament as canonical,* except Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon, to which he does not allude, as none of them furnish any material for his work. He also adds, that, since the death of Artaxexes (424 B. C.,) "no one has dared, up to his day, to add anything to them, to take anything from them, or to make any change in them."
Thus the Jewish canon was finally settled in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, and its contents are identical with our own thirty-nine books. They are grouped so as to accord with the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet.....
the twelve Minor Prophets counted as one book, Ruth coupled with Judges, Ezra with Nehemiah, Lamentations with Jeremiah, while the two book of Samuel,, two of Kings, and two of Chronicles were reckoned as on each. That these did not constitute the entire Hebrew sacred writings is evident from the fact that reference is made in the Old Testament to fifteen other books, while others again are mentioned in the Apocrypha, which were rejected from the Jewish canon. The whole of the book of the Hebrew canon are quoted in the New Testament as "Scripture," except Judges, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Solomon, Ezra, Esther, and Nehemiah. But in addition the "prophecy of Enoch" is quoted by Jude(Vs. 14). Christ evidently quoted from two unknown sources (Luke 11:49-51; John 7:38), and so, too, James (4:4,5).
As the Old Testament era closed, the Persians, who liberated Israel from Babylonian captivity, were in control of world powers. The Samaritans a mixed breed of Jews and Assyrians who had come into existence after the fall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C., had rejected Jerusalem as the seat of worship and erected a temple on Mount Garazim (400B.C.)......Those of the remnant of Judah who had intermarried and refused to heed Ezra's and Malachi's pleas to free themselves of these heathen idolaters (Ezra 10: 3, 19, also refused to return to the pure worship of God and joined in with the Samaritans. A split came between thestrict Jews and these "apostates," which resulted in two separate groups......the "Jews", and the "Samaritans." This division was still in existence, in Christ's day..........."for the Jews have no dealings with Samaritans" (John 4:9).
In fulfillment of Daniel's prophecy, the Grecians conquered the Persians and became the world ruler. Under Alexander the Great, Grecian culture and language dominated the people. When he died, his kingdom was divided among several of his generals. By 169 - 164 B.C., Antiochus Epiphanes IV, king of Syria, sought to bring the Jews under the sway of Grecian culture and religions. He polluted the Temple in Jerusalem, set up altars and groves, chapels of idols, and add insult to injury by looting the Temple He vowed to exterminate all Jews. His crimes touched off a rebellion and war under Maccabeans, who finally liberated Jerusalem and cleansed the Temple.
The Maccabeans, contrary to Levitical law, took to themselves the priesthood. They became more amore engaged in war and politics until the priesthood became corrupted. This paved the way for the rise of many sects which were in existence in Christ's day, one of which was the "Essenes," who hid the famous "Dead Sea Scrolls." In the meantime, Greece had fallen to the Romans (in 146 B. C)
With the retention of Grecian culture and language, this period became known as "Graeco-Roman." In 63 B. C., Pompey conquered Palestine and the Jews were under the yoke of the Romans. Rome held sway as a world power until A. D. 476.
References by: World's Bible Handbook
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*canon ~ the books of the Bible officially accepted by a church or
religious body as divinely inspired. |
