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The Old Testament closed with the words of Malachi, which most scholars believe occured about 400 B.C. The period of 400 years between Malachi and the coming of Christ is important in the understanding of the New Testament, therefore, we are going to study, briefly, that period of time. This information is assembled from three sources, secular history, the writings of Josephus, a first century historian and the Books of the Apocrypha.
During this period the Hebrews experienced the dominance of three major powers and only a short period of independence.
| Persian | 538 to 332 B.C. |
| Greek | 332 to 167 B.C. |
| Independence | 167 to 63 B.C. |
| Roman | 63 B.C. to 70 AD. |
With the defeat of Babylon by the Persians under Cyrus the Great in 538 B.C. the Jews became subjects of Persia and was treated very fairly. Persia continued her domination of the Middle East for 200 years and then a little known nation in souther Europe, Greece, under the leadership of Alexander the Great, came south and defeated the persians in 332 B.C. The Greeks also treated the Jews very well. At the death of Alexander, the empire was divided into four regions. The Jews became wedged between two of those regions, Egypt and Syria. Ultimately, Syria prevailed and under them the Jews were greatly persecuted. Finally in desperation, the Jews under Judas Maccabeus, defeated the Syrians and established independence in 167 B.C.
The independence only lasted about 100 years. In 63 B.C., the Romans under the leadership of General Pompey took Palestine without a fight. The Jews continued to live under Roman rule for 133 years. Thus Christ was born and lived His earthly life under Roman rule. While the Jews were unhappy with this situation, it did provide an atmosphere of peace and stability under which the Christians could travel and wittness to the Gentiles. "When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son". (Gal. 4:4)
This perty much covers the historic background of this 400 year period, now lets look at the literature of that period.
These books are considered by Protestants as being non-canonical, but they are included in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Volgate. Some old Christian Bibles include these books for information purposes but the Hebrew Bible excludes them. Martin Luther described these books as literature not equal to the Sacred Scriptures yet useful and good for reading.
Basically, there are three Christian opinions about the Apocrypha:
For the most part, all of the books were written by Jewish authors and all were written in the last two centuries before Christ accept II Esdras which is believed to have been written in 90 AD. There are 15 books in all. Five were written in Hebrew, seven were written in Aramaic and three in Greek. There were two early Bibles assembled in the first century AD. The Alexander Bible that included these books and the Palestine Bible which did not because of the belief that no divine inspiration was given after Malachi (400 B.C.) However, they were included in an early Greek Bible from the time of Paul's missionary journeys to the Gentiles.
Another group of Jewish Literature called the Pseudepigrapha (Pseu-de-pi-grapha), which was written during this period and accepted only by Oriental Christian Churches, contains 19 books and are interesting reading but are not accepted by any of the western Christern denominations. It contain such books as, "The Life of Adam and Eve" and "The Assumption of Moses".
Let us now look briefly at each of the 15 books of the Apocrypha.
This book is a Greek version of parts of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah. Of note is a story of three youths who were Pages of King Darius of Persia. The story tells of a contest that was held to find the best answer to the question, "What is the strongest thing in the world?" The first youth said "wine". The second said "the King". The third said "women", then hastened to add "truth", and received the prize.
This book is the story of a man by the name of Sheal-tiel who grieved over the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. He did not grieve over the "disobedient" but rather over the few who were pious Jews and God's failure to reward them for their piety. In the story he had related to him the visions of "a mourning mother", "an eagle" and "the Son of Man". In these visions he is assured that God will manifest His justice in the age to come. This will be done through the Messiah, the Resurection and the Judgement which will establish "eternal judgements" for good and evil, an eternity in heaven or hell.
This book is a "love story" of strange proportions. A man by the name of Tobit, exiled to Nineveh by Shalmaneser V (727-722 B.C.) of the Tribe of Naphtali, observed the Law in the burying of a dead Jew but was blinded anyways. Hequarreled with his wife and declared his desire to die. In the meantime, back at the ranch, a lady by the name of Sara longed to die also. She lived in Ecbatana, Media. He problem was that the Demon Asmodeus had killed, in succession, her seven husbands on the nights of their weddings. Tobias, son of Tobit, guided by the Angel Raphael (disguised as Azarias) drove away Asmodeus and married Sara. He then brought back to Nineveh ten talents of silver, restored Tobits sight by means of the gall of a fish that he had cought in the Tibris River. Raphael returned to Heaven and Tobit phrased the Lord. Tobias, on the advice of Tobit, moved to Ecbatana before Nineveh was destroyed in 612 B.C.
This is the story of a very talented young lady. Nebuchadnezzar defeated Arphaxad, King of the Medes, and sent Holophernes to punish the Jews for not sending troops to help him. Holophernes was also to force the Jews to worship Nebuchadnezzar. Holophernes besieged the Jews at Bethulia where a pious young widow named Judith urged them not to be afraid for the Lord would deliver their city. She enticed Holophernes into her home and while he was drunk she cut off his head and thus delivered the Jews. She phrased the Lord and lived happy ever after.
This is actually another record of the dream of Mordecai and his discovery of a plot against the Jews. He discovered an edict by Artaxerxes, King of Babylon, which would have completely destroyed the Jews. Mordecai prayed and Esther got an audience with the king and as the result another edict was made by the king which kept the Babylonians from carrying out the first.
There are six statements of wisdom in this book.
This book is very similar to the book of Ecclesiastes. Fifty one chapters of instructions in wisdom. The following is a brief list of what wisdom this book contains.
Baruch was a secretary to Jeremiah. He is believed to have been the author of this book. Three subjects are covered here:
This name may be a rendition of the name Jeremiah. It is a sarcastic denunciation of the folly of idolatry.
This story is similar to the one found in the book of Daniel about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. The Prophet and Intercessor here was a man by the name of Azarias. The story describes the heating of the furnace, the presence of the Holy one in the furnace with the three children, their escape unharmed and the song of phrase of the three children.
Susanna was the wife of Joakim, a wealthy Jew in Babylon. One day as she was prepareing to bathe in her garden, two Jewish Elders approached her and tried to get her to commit adultery with them. She refused, so they trumped-up charges against her, accusing her of adultery with with an imaginary person. She was condemned to death but Daniel saw through their treachery and convicted the Elders of false testimony and they were executed.
This is a similar story to Daniel in the lions den. In Babylon there was a temple to the god Bel. It was believed that the food left daily there was eaten by Bel. Daniel did not believe it. To prove his point, he scattered ashes on the floor of the Temple at night and the next morning the footprints of the priests and their families showed that it was the priests and not Bel that ate the food. For this, Daniel was forced to face a dragon. He killed the dragon by feeding it poison. For this, he was thrown into the lions den. Habakkuk, a minor prophet, was flown from Judah to Babylon by Angels. There he brought Daniel his dinner and delivered him from the lions.
This book is a supplement to Second Chronicles 33:11-13. It tells the story of Manasseh being taken by the King of Syria, bound to Babylon. In distress, Manasseh prays to the Lord his God and God heard him and took him back to Jerusalem. This book is a Psalm of phrase and thanksgiving for what the Lord did for Manasseh.
The last two books are probably the best known, first and second Maccabees. The Maccabees were a family that had won religious and political independence for the Jews from the Syrians. They ruled from 166 to 37 B.C. Their leader was a man by the name of Judas Maccabee. He was the third son of the High Priest Mattathias. The Maccabean Rebellion was caused by the Syrians attempting to force a Hellenistic Culture upon the Jews and thus destroying Judaism. The first book tells of the High Priest, Mattathias, refusing to offer heathen sacrifices. He was forced to flee Jerusalem and he and his five sons made their home in the hill country north west of Jerusalem. After the death of Judas Maccabee (Maccabaeus) his son, Jonathan continued the struggle. He eventually defeated the Syrian detachment at Jerusalem and he purified the Temple and restored the worship of Yahweh.
This book contains letters from Jews in Palestine to Jews in Egypt. They tell of the re-dedication of the Temple and the finding in the process of the sacred books of Nehemiah and the establishment of a library. Detailed in this book is the series of campaigns by the Maccabees against the various enemies of the Jews. Finally, it records their victory over Lysias and Nicanor. Jerusalem was delivered from foreign possession until the Romans occupied it in 35 B.C.
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