Transitioning Between Testaments

We are almost there! For the last few months we’ve been walking through the familiar countryside of the prophets and, like driving across Nebraska, you reach a point where you begin to wonder if this road will ever end! The journey and the never-changing scenery just seem to go on and on and on and on. Even so, like catching the outline of the Rocky Mountains on the western horizon, in the distance we’ve seen the promise of something new and we are now just a few days away from entering into a whole new world—or rather, an entirely New Testament.

 

Before we leave the prophets behind, I thought it might be helpful to take one last look back and see if we can put their messages and timing into context. (The dates I list are not affirmed by all scholars, but they do fit with extra-biblical history, archaeological discoveries and the biblical record.)

 

MAJOR EVENTS OVERVIEW

950: Israel splits into two kingdoms. The ten tribes in the north are called Israel and the two tribes in the south are called Judah.

 

Age of Assyrian Rule

721: Due to Israel’s disobedience, Assyria conquers Israel and scatters the ten tribes into its kingdom. These ten tribes eventually lose their unique identity as Jews as they adopt religious and cultural practices of the people around them.

 

Age of Babylonian Rule

605: Nebuchadnezzar conquers Judah and takes the first round of exiles (Daniel was in this group. Daniel 1:1-2).

597: The next Babylonian deportation is followed by rising tensions (Ezekiel taken here). What will Judah’s king Zedekiah do?

590: In an attempt to regain freedom, Zedekiah aligns with local kings to rebel against Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar responds.

588: Jerusalem siege begins.

586: Babylon conquers Judah, destroys its temple and sends out another wave of exiles. Like Daniel, these exiles do not adopt Babylonian ways but rather hold on to their faith and retain their Jewish heritage.

 

Age of Persian Rule

538: The Edict of Cyrus allows the exiled Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild.  

 

No matter which political power was in charge, God still had a message to give His people and so He sent His prophets at various times to different groups to present His message. During Assyrian and Babylonian rule, the message centered on a warning. “If you don’t obey the Covenant, God will bring His discipline on you!” During the exile it retained its warning but also focused on hope. “You must return to the Lord and remain faithful to Him. He will one day restore you to Himself.” During Persian rule, the message centered on encouragement and admonition. “Your homes are built but God’s home remains in ruins! Don’t stop now! Finish God’s home and build Jerusalem’s wall!”

 

Perhaps the following tables will be helpful in putting the puzzle pieces together so that we can see how these prophets line up with their God-given task.

 

Click the different tabs for each section.

Assyrian Age
Babylonian Age
Persian Age
Assyrian Age

To Israel

To Judah

To a Foreign Nation




Amos: c. 763-750 B.C.

Hosea: c. 755-715 B.C.

Isaiah: c. 740-700 B.C.

Micah: c. 737-690 B.C.

Jonah: c. 770-750 B.C.

Babylonian Age
Persian Age

  

And so we come to around 400 B.C. when God goes silent. Imagine what that would have been like. For 1,000 years they had relied on God to speak to them through Moses and the other prophets, but now…nothing. Silence. Where was God? Why were no prophets speaking? Even though silent, God was not absent.

 

During these centuries Alexander the Great swept through the land and gave the world a common language and dominant culture. After his death, his kingdom was split into four primary parts. Around 250 B.C. Jewish leaders recognized that many were no longer able to read Hebrew, so they translated their Scriptures into Greek (called the Septuagint and abbreviated with LXX—the Roman numerals for 70). The success of the Maccabean Revolt in 164 B.C. fanned the messianic flames as dreams of a restored and powerful nation of Israel flooded the cultural climate. Those dreams only heightened when the Romans took over around 64 B.C., but by now the stage was fully set.

 

With the common language of Greek, the amazing roads from the Romans and the messianic expectations in the people, all the pieces were in place for God to break His silence through the last Old Testament prophet, a man we call John the Baptist, who just happened to be related to a young carpenter from Nazareth. But that is getting ahead of the story.

 

“When the time had fully come, God sent His son…” (Gal 4:2). For about the last 16 months we have been reading about all that God did to prepare for this fullness of time. Now that the time has come, we will see what He does with it.

 

And by the way, if God seems silent in your life right now, I hope you will find strength in the silence of the intertestamental period. Whenever God falls silent or seems distant, you can be certain that He remains active and fully aware of who you are and what you need. As the song states, even when you don’t see it or feel it, He’s working. If God seems silent to you today, I pray that He will give you the patience you need to wait for the “time to fully come” in your own life.

 

Expectantly,

 

Rob