Historical Preface to the Study of the New Testament

The period between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament is known as the "intertestamental" period, for which we have no prophetic record.

A brief overview of conditions covering about four hundred years between the time of Malachi and the ministry of the Master.

The land of Palestine, often called the Holy Land, was anciently given to Abraham by the Lord as an inheritance for him and his posterity through Isaac and Jacob on condition of their faithfully serving the Lord as a peculiar and covenant people.

However, strife and apostasy brought about a scattering of the house of Israel, and ten of the tribes were carried away captive into the north countries (about 722 B.C.). Also, the Jews were carried into Babylon in 587 B.C., with some returning about 530 B.C. At the time of Malachi’s writing (ca. 400 B.C.), only a remnant of the house of Israel remained in the land of Canaan—primarily the tribe of Judah, surrounded by gentile tribes and a scattering of apostate Hebrews. This point in history finds the people of promise living under the quasi-tolerant rule of the Medo-Persian empire.

Some hundred years later, a new power came on the scene: Alexander, son and successor of Philip, king of Macedonia, continued his father’s welding of the Greek city-states and with his armies successfully subjected the Persians, Syrians, Egyptians, Babylonians, and others, creating a new empire in that portion of the world where most of the action of the New Testament took place. The Jews now found themselves under a new master. The more faithful Jews were generally indignant at the alteration of their life-style by an encroaching gentile society.

With the death of Alexander, who left no heir, the empire was partitioned among his generals, with Ptolemy as ruler of Egypt and southern Syria, and Antigonus claiming the greater portion of northern Syria and west Babylonia. Seleucus I defeated Antigonus, and a struggle began for control of the strategically situated Palestine, placing the Jews in the tenuous position of being subject first to one of these powers and then to the other.

Not only did the Jews suffer under this condition of political turmoil, but there was considerable disunity among themselves, some attempting to assuage their uncomfortable position by fully partaking of the very popular Greek culture, while others sought as zealously to retain their peculiarity and isolation at whatever cost. The result was a riven Jewry.

A century after the death of Alexander (ca. 200 B.C.), Syria was firmly in control of Palestine. Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), perhaps disgruntled by his inability to defeat Egypt, returned to Jerusalem with a determination to subject the Jews to the religious practices of his kingdom. Judaism was completely proscribed. The possession or reading of the Torah was made punishable by death; observance of the Sabbath and circumcision were forbidden; Jerusalem’s walls were destroyed and thousands of her inhabitants slain, while other thousands were sold as slaves. The temple was plundered and converted into an Olympian shrine, with an image of Zeus placed upon the altar and a pig sacrificed in honor of the false god. These atrocities along with other outrages were calculated to embarrass the Jews, profane their religion, and discourage their observance of the Jewish law.

Yet the Lord had not forgotten his covenant people. In a miraculous manner the Jews and their religion survived. The abhorrent circumstances created by their oppressors were largely responsible for the rise of the Maccabees, a Jewish family providing a leadership to the people which successfully expelled the Syrians. The Jews then enjoyed a semblance of independence for about one hundred years (166 B.C.–63 B.C.). The Hellenizing pressure of the Syrians seems to have consolidated the Jews into a resistant group capable of preserving their identity among the nations into which they were scattered.

As the Maccabeean leadership degenerated into a corrupt political entity, Palestine, through political intrigue, was again subjected to a gentile empire— Rome—whose tyranny soon began to settle upon the Jewish state through the appointment of ambitious and ruthless men. Herod the Great, successor to his father, Antipater, was an Idumean of gentile lineage and exerted strong leadership. He preserved his leadership often at the expense of the lives of many, including a wife and some of his children. It was he who ordered the massacre of Jewish children in Bethlehem shortly after the birth of the Savior.

Following the death of Herod the Great, his Palestinian dominion was divided into three parts. At the time of Jesus’ ministry, these areas were governed by the following men:

1. Herod Philip (Ituraea and areas northeast of Galilee). He was a son of Herod the Great and was a rather tolerant ruler.

2. Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator (Judea, Samaria, and Idumea). We read of him in connection with the trial of Jesus.

3. Herod Antipas (Galilee and Perea). He was also a son of Herod the Great, and is mentioned in the New Testament in connection with the trial of Jesus. Prior to that he had been responsible for the imprisonment and execution of John the Baptist.

The events of this period do much to explain the need that many of the Jews felt for the appearance of the predicted Messiah. They could foresee no hope for national dignity other than in a spectacular, political salvation at the hands of a mighty Savior.

As we shall see in this course, Jesus came to them offering something much more glorious than a national salvation. An unspeakable happiness and peace might have entered the heart of every Jew. Then they might have participated and rejoiced in the establishment of the kingdom of God on earth!

(The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ, pp. 5-6)