God did not speak to Israel for 400 years between the time of the prophet Malachi and the prophet John the Baptist. What happened to Judah and the lineage of the promised Seed during that time? Did the Seed ever appear? If so, when and how? What happened when the Seed appeared? When will a king from the lineage of David sit again on the throne of David?

Those are some of the questions we’ll address in the next several parts of our series.

Silence

Malachi prophesied during the 5th century BC, possibly after the time that Ezra and Nehemiah were leaders in Israel. We know from what we read in Ezra 10 that the Jews responded to God’s Word and put away their pagan wives. We know from what we read in Nehemiah 13 that Nehemiah instituted many godly reforms in Judah. However, what God told Malachi to prophesy to Israel was not positive, though it was hopeful.

God called the offerings the people made to Him ‘defiled,’ ‘profaned,’ and ‘blemished.’ That sounds nothing like what we read at the end of Ezra and Nehemiah’s ministries in Judah. According to Malachi’s prophecy the priests had become corrupt because of the worship of ‘a foreign god.’

Judah has dealt treacherously, And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, For Judah has profaned The Lord’s holy institution which He loves: He has married the daughter of a foreign god. May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob The man who does this, being awake and aware, Yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts! Malachi 2:11-12

The ‘hopeful’ part of Malachi’s prophecy comes in chapter 3 –

Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,’ Says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:1

A ‘messenger’ would precede the ‘Messenger of the covenant’ to prepare the way before God. However, as hopeful as that sounds, the coming of the ‘Messenger’ would not be easy for Israel –

But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire And like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver, That they may offer to the Lord An offering in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem Will be pleasant to the Lord, As in the days of old, As in former years. And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien— Because they do not fear Me,” Says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:2-5

The ‘hope’ is that God would send His ‘Messenger,’ but His coming would not be easy for Israel. Imagine being a member of Israel from the end of the 5th century BC and these are the last words you read from a true prophet of God. This is the last thing your God tells you before He goes ‘silent’ for hundreds of years –

For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘That will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked,For they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,‘ Says the Lord of hosts. ‘Remember the Law of Moses, My servant, Which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, With the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.’ Malachi 4:1-6

This is where the Old Testament prophecies end. There is a promise of ‘The Sun of Righteousness’ who would ‘arise With healing in His wings,’ but when would that happen? When would God ‘save’ Israel?

Israel During God’s Silence

God did not talk to His people for more than 400 years, but that doesn’t mean the people of Israel stopped living. We know something about how Israel lived because of the Apocryphal writings. One of the most important to understanding Jewish history during that period is 1 Maccabees. Several times in the book we read that the people were going about their lives waiting for a prophet of God to come along and show them what to do. The prophet never came. These are the only verses in 1 Maccabees that mention a prophet.

They thought it best to pull it down, lest it should be a reproach to them, because the heathen had defiled it: wherefore they pulled it down, And laid up the stones in the mountain of the temple in a convenient place, until there should come a prophet to shew what should be done with them. 1 Maccabees 4:45-46

So was there a great affliction in Israel, the like whereof was not since the time that a prophet was not seen among them. 1 Maccabees 9:27

Also that the Jews and priests were well pleased that Simon should be their governor and high priest for ever, until there should arise a faithful prophet. 1 Maccabees 14:41

Also, the name of God is used only a few times in 1 Maccabees and never in relation to His speaking to anyone. This is important. God spoke hundreds of times in the Old Testament and usually through prophets. Where are the prophets in 1 Maccabees? Where is God guiding His people by Voice? He was silent and 1 Maccabees is proof of that.

The reason I mention this is that many scholars believe 1 Maccabees is the most important historical writing in the Apocrypha. It details the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid Empire, which was established by one of the leading army officers who served under Alexander the Great (Seleucus I Nicator) during the 4th century BC. At its height, the Seleucid Empire included much of Mesopotamia, Persia, Central Asia, Asia Minor, and the Middle East. However, by the early to middle part of the 2nd century BC, the Seleucid “empire” had lost much of the eastern part of the empire to the Parthians. The Seleucids did continue to control parts of its western areas, including Syria and Judea, but the empire was unstable. That instability gave a small army of Jews the opportunity to take control of Judea.

Three religious groups formed during this time in Israel’s history: Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. The Sadducees came from the wealthy and priestly families and supported the Hasmoneans. The Hasidim were opposed to the Sadducees. The Pharisees and Essenes came from the Hasidim. The Pharisees believed in strict adherence to the Mosaic Law, but continued to live within Jewish society. The Essenes were so opposed to the Hasmoneans that they lived apart from society in desert communities. The Sadducees and Pharisees were the primary religious groups that Jesus Christ dealt with during the early part of the 1st century AD.

As for 2 Maccabees – 2 Maccabees deals with a short period of time in the history of Jewish revolt against the Seleucids, specifically 180 – 161 BC. The name of the author of 2 Maccabees is not known, though the writer states it is based on the five volumes written by Jason of Cyrene (2 Maccabees 2:23). Jason’s larger document has not been discovered, so there is no way to compare 2 Maccabees to what Jason of Cyrene may have written. There is also no way to confirm that Jason of Cyrene was a prophet through whom God spoke His Word. Jesus and His Apostles did not mention Jason nor quote from his writings. They also did not mention nor quote from 2 Maccabees in the New Testament.

God did not speak to Israel during the Silent Period (also know as the Intertestamental Period) because He had already spoken clearly to Israel for centuries. The people of Israel needed to obey the prophets God had already sent to them. They had the words of the prophets in their Bible. All they had to do was read Malachi to see what God expected and promised. They had Isaiah, and Micah, and Zechariah, and Ezekiel, and Daniel, and Zephaniah, etc. The people had all the Words of God they needed. They just had to do what God told them to do – they needed to be obedient to His revealed Word.

Free eBooks

You can download the first 13 chapters of this series here.

You can download chapters 14 – 24 of this series here.

You can download chapters 25 – 30 of this series here.

You can download chapters 31 – 39 of this series here.

Next Time

The bottom line is that God did not speak through a prophet during the 4th, 3rd, 2nd, or 1st centuries BC. That’s four hundred years without a new Word from God. Four centuries is a long time for God’s people NOT to hear from God. Would God ever speak to them again? We know from Malachi that He would – and He did. We’ll see when, where, and how He spoke as our series continues.

“Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.”

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