400 year of Silence or the Intertestamental Period
There are 400 years of silence between the end of the Old and beginning of the New Testaments. The Old Testament ended in 433 B.C. with Judea ruled by the Persian Empire. At that time the language for trade and commerce was Aramaic. When the New Testament opens 400 years later, everything had changed. Judea was now ruled by the Roman Empire, and the primary language was Greek. To make it even more confusing to the modern reader, in the Old Testament there was one High Priest, and according to God’s Law always descended from Aaron. The High Priest was assisted in his worship duties by other priests, also descendants of Aaron, as well as Levites. When the New Testament opens, there are two High Priests, and to be High Priest one need no longer be a descendant of Aaron. The Levites have seemingly disappeared and in their place are Sadducees and Pharisees. The entire world had changed dramatically by Greek culture as it became “Hellenized.”
To help understand these major changes that effect our understanding of the New Testament, this lecture will very briefly highlight how these changes took place in history, religion and culture.
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