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Between The Testaments
This informative volume highlights the "four hundred silent years," the intertestamental period, about which the Bible gives no information. Here is a popularly written account of this period, an overview that explains the forces that shaped the world in the centuries immediately preceding the birth of Christ. Both the Persian and Hellenistic eras are covered in broad but informative strokes, and special attention is given to the status and problems of Jews during these periods. After reading this work, Bible students will have gained a deepened understanding of the world towhich Christ came "in the fullness of time."
138 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 1959
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 10, 2017
Short and simple but packs a lot of information. Great Sunday school resource if you’re looking for an overview of the period but lack the time to read hundreds of pages.
October 5, 2024
AN EXCELLENT, YET CONCISE, EXPLANATION OF THE IDEAS AND HISTORY OF THE “INTERTESTAMENTAL” PERIOD
The Preface to this 1960 book states, “In most Bibles the period between the Old and the New Testaments is represented by a single blank page… ‘From Malachi to Matthew’ has for long remained vague and unfamiliar to many readers of the Scriptures… Exciting new insights have been given by the writings of numbers of scholars and by some remarkable archaeological discoveries… The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls caught the popular imagination and engaged the attention of world-wide scholarship… they give … the beliefs and practices of the Covenanters of Qumran, but also … knowledge which they bring to the whole inter-testamental period. In this small volume an attempt is made to review these years in the light of recent study and discoveries and … to assess the religious contribution made by that rather strange company of men known as ‘the apocalyptists.’ … the purpose of this book is selective rather than exhaustive, indicating the part which the apocalyptists play within the religious development of Judaism and in the preparation of men’s minds for the coming of Christianity.”
He notes, “The word ‘Hellenism’ is commonly used to describe the civilization … from the time of Alexander the Great … during which the influence of Greek culture was felt in both East and West… From a very early stage the Jews must have felt the impact of this culture upon their manner of life and particularly upon their religion… they were not a State but rather a Dispersion, scattered… in every part of the Empire… From an early date there were Jewish settlements in Egypt, and Alexandria soon won for itself an honoured name, particularly as a literary centre. It was here that the Septuagint translation of the Scriptures into the Greek tongue emerged for Greek-speaking Jews in Egypt who were no longer able to read Hebrew…” (Pg. 14-15)
He adds, “The influence of Greek thought on the Wisdom of Solomon is evident also in its teaching concerning the Platonic doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul… In most of those Jewish book s (… of an apocalyptic character) the belief is expressed in a resurrection from the dead in which the soul or spirit is re-united with the body… but in its fundamental tenets Judaism remained true to the faith of its fathers and prepared the way not only for its own survival but also for the birth of the Christian religion.” (Pg. 24-25)
He explains, “‘Hamonean’ … is by this name that the Maccabees are known in later Jewish literature, but it is convenient to… use the title ‘Hasmonean’ to describe their descendants … under whom the Jews experienced almost seventy years of independence … during the reign of John Hyrcanus [134-104 B.C.]… Judaea became a vassal state, but independence was regained in 129 B.C. and was confirmed by the Roman Senate… there was a growing discontent, chiefly on the part of the Hasidim and the orthodox Jews generally, with the Maccabees and the Hasmonean House… they had become increasingly worldly and irreligious… the growing breach within Judaism had materialized into two parties whose names now emerge for the first time as Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Pg. 32)
Later, he adds, “The Judaism of the period with which we are dealing was a most complex system, containing within itself many different parties and groups and sects… Josephus states that ‘the Jews had … three sects of philosophy’… the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes to which he adds the party founded by Judas and Zadduk later to be given the name ‘Zealots’… but to keep matters in proportion, we must remember that they were a very small minority in Palestine. It has been calculated that Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes together would number only 30,000-35,000 out of a total of 500,000-600,000 in the time of Jesus. The Pharisees would number about five per cent of the total population.” (Pg. 48)
He observes about the Canon of the Old Testament, “One factor which would facilitate the closing of this division of ‘the Prophets’ would be the belief … that from the time of Ezra onwards prophetic activity and prophetic inspiration had ceased… This explains why such as book as Daniel is not to be found among ‘the Prophets’ but among ‘the Writings,’ for Daniel was not written until about the year 165 B.C. … by New Testament times at least the Canon of Scripture was virtually closed. But for a long time controversy continued over a number of the books. In particular there had been dissension … over the position of the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes… the matter of the Canon was still a point of debate in the second and third centuries A.D.
"There was no definite time, then, when a deliberate collection was made of books called ‘canonical.’ Rather, by … their popularity and use in the synagogue worship they gradually won for themselves an established position within the body of sacred Scripture.” (Pg. 60-62) Later, he suggests that the apocalyptic books were not accepted into the Canon due to “the antipathy of the Rabbis who remembered the part played by such books in fanning the flames of revolt which led to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D…. Coupled with this was the use which the Christians were beginning to make of this type of literature.” (Pg. 70)
He states, “The rabbinical sources, in which the oral tradition has been handed down but which remained oral throughout the intertestamental period, divide themselves into two classes, the Midrash and the Mishnah. The … teachers… devoted themselves … to the exposition and application of the written Torah and… formed new regulations applicable to problems… which would arise as life became more and more complex. This process was called … Midrash (or ‘Exegesis’)… seeking out, inquiring into, the written text to explore its implications.
"The Midrash was divided into two sections. First, there was the Halakah… which consisted of regulations concerning matters of civil and religious law… Secondly, there was the Haggadah… This is that part of the rabbinical literature which is not … a point of law… This haggadic material was very highly valued, but it did not have the authority in Judaism held by the halakic Misradh… This word Mishnah is … ‘a systematic (topical) classification of the discussions and decisions of Rabbis during the previous centuries as to the right interpretation and expansion of the Torah… After the Bible, the Mishnah is the ground-work of Jewish literature to our own day and is the foundation of the Talmud… [which] is a compilation consisting of the Mishnah… together with the subsequent discussions or traditions (the Gemara, or ‘completion’) concerning it which arose in the Jewish ‘schools.’” (Pg. 66-68)
He says, “In both the Old Testament and the literature of the intertestamental period much is said about the coming of a Golden Age, a ‘Messianic Kingdom,’ in which the fortunes of Israel … would be restored, the surrounding nations judged and an era of peace and justice ushered in. But the phrase ‘Messianic Kingdom’ can be most misleading, for in both prophetic and apocalyptic writings… the figure of the Messiah is frequently absent…
"It is true that those passages in the Old Testament which refer to the coming kingdom frequently refer also to an ideal leader at its head, but … the passages do not use the term ‘Messiah’ to describe him. Conversely, in those passages where the term ‘Messiah’ is used… the reference is not to the ideal figure at all, but to an actual historical person, usually the anointed king of Israel… the word ‘Messiah’ … is simply an adjective, meaning ‘anointed,’ descriptive of one who has been set apart by God for a special purpose.” (Pg. 119-120)
In the final chapter, he notes, “According to the prophets of the Old Testament the hope for the future lay in the nation and in the coming kingdom which God would establish on the earth; its glories would be shared by those righteous Israelites who were living at that time and… by the Gentiles who would come to acknowledge Israel as the chosen people of God… But the pious in Israel could not remain satisfied with such a belief… At long last a solution was reached which was to have a revolutionary effect on the religions of both Judaism and of Christianity. Not only would the righteous nation share in the coming Messianic Kingdom; the righteous individual would share in it, too, for the righteous dead would be raised in resurrection and would receive due recompense from the hand of God.” (Pg. 145-146)
I found this to be a highly informative, yet pleasantly brief, overview of this crucial historical period, that is often a matter of utter mystification to many Christians. Although the book is more than 50 years old, most of its information is “timeless.”
The Preface to this 1960 book states, “In most Bibles the period between the Old and the New Testaments is represented by a single blank page… ‘From Malachi to Matthew’ has for long remained vague and unfamiliar to many readers of the Scriptures… Exciting new insights have been given by the writings of numbers of scholars and by some remarkable archaeological discoveries… The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls caught the popular imagination and engaged the attention of world-wide scholarship… they give … the beliefs and practices of the Covenanters of Qumran, but also … knowledge which they bring to the whole inter-testamental period. In this small volume an attempt is made to review these years in the light of recent study and discoveries and … to assess the religious contribution made by that rather strange company of men known as ‘the apocalyptists.’ … the purpose of this book is selective rather than exhaustive, indicating the part which the apocalyptists play within the religious development of Judaism and in the preparation of men’s minds for the coming of Christianity.”
He notes, “The word ‘Hellenism’ is commonly used to describe the civilization … from the time of Alexander the Great … during which the influence of Greek culture was felt in both East and West… From a very early stage the Jews must have felt the impact of this culture upon their manner of life and particularly upon their religion… they were not a State but rather a Dispersion, scattered… in every part of the Empire… From an early date there were Jewish settlements in Egypt, and Alexandria soon won for itself an honoured name, particularly as a literary centre. It was here that the Septuagint translation of the Scriptures into the Greek tongue emerged for Greek-speaking Jews in Egypt who were no longer able to read Hebrew…” (Pg. 14-15)
He adds, “The influence of Greek thought on the Wisdom of Solomon is evident also in its teaching concerning the Platonic doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul… In most of those Jewish book s (… of an apocalyptic character) the belief is expressed in a resurrection from the dead in which the soul or spirit is re-united with the body… but in its fundamental tenets Judaism remained true to the faith of its fathers and prepared the way not only for its own survival but also for the birth of the Christian religion.” (Pg. 24-25)
He explains, “‘Hamonean’ … is by this name that the Maccabees are known in later Jewish literature, but it is convenient to… use the title ‘Hasmonean’ to describe their descendants … under whom the Jews experienced almost seventy years of independence … during the reign of John Hyrcanus [134-104 B.C.]… Judaea became a vassal state, but independence was regained in 129 B.C. and was confirmed by the Roman Senate… there was a growing discontent, chiefly on the part of the Hasidim and the orthodox Jews generally, with the Maccabees and the Hasmonean House… they had become increasingly worldly and irreligious… the growing breach within Judaism had materialized into two parties whose names now emerge for the first time as Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Pg. 32)
Later, he adds, “The Judaism of the period with which we are dealing was a most complex system, containing within itself many different parties and groups and sects… Josephus states that ‘the Jews had … three sects of philosophy’… the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes to which he adds the party founded by Judas and Zadduk later to be given the name ‘Zealots’… but to keep matters in proportion, we must remember that they were a very small minority in Palestine. It has been calculated that Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes together would number only 30,000-35,000 out of a total of 500,000-600,000 in the time of Jesus. The Pharisees would number about five per cent of the total population.” (Pg. 48)
He observes about the Canon of the Old Testament, “One factor which would facilitate the closing of this division of ‘the Prophets’ would be the belief … that from the time of Ezra onwards prophetic activity and prophetic inspiration had ceased… This explains why such as book as Daniel is not to be found among ‘the Prophets’ but among ‘the Writings,’ for Daniel was not written until about the year 165 B.C. … by New Testament times at least the Canon of Scripture was virtually closed. But for a long time controversy continued over a number of the books. In particular there had been dissension … over the position of the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes… the matter of the Canon was still a point of debate in the second and third centuries A.D.
"There was no definite time, then, when a deliberate collection was made of books called ‘canonical.’ Rather, by … their popularity and use in the synagogue worship they gradually won for themselves an established position within the body of sacred Scripture.” (Pg. 60-62) Later, he suggests that the apocalyptic books were not accepted into the Canon due to “the antipathy of the Rabbis who remembered the part played by such books in fanning the flames of revolt which led to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D…. Coupled with this was the use which the Christians were beginning to make of this type of literature.” (Pg. 70)
He states, “The rabbinical sources, in which the oral tradition has been handed down but which remained oral throughout the intertestamental period, divide themselves into two classes, the Midrash and the Mishnah. The … teachers… devoted themselves … to the exposition and application of the written Torah and… formed new regulations applicable to problems… which would arise as life became more and more complex. This process was called … Midrash (or ‘Exegesis’)… seeking out, inquiring into, the written text to explore its implications.
"The Midrash was divided into two sections. First, there was the Halakah… which consisted of regulations concerning matters of civil and religious law… Secondly, there was the Haggadah… This is that part of the rabbinical literature which is not … a point of law… This haggadic material was very highly valued, but it did not have the authority in Judaism held by the halakic Misradh… This word Mishnah is … ‘a systematic (topical) classification of the discussions and decisions of Rabbis during the previous centuries as to the right interpretation and expansion of the Torah… After the Bible, the Mishnah is the ground-work of Jewish literature to our own day and is the foundation of the Talmud… [which] is a compilation consisting of the Mishnah… together with the subsequent discussions or traditions (the Gemara, or ‘completion’) concerning it which arose in the Jewish ‘schools.’” (Pg. 66-68)
He says, “In both the Old Testament and the literature of the intertestamental period much is said about the coming of a Golden Age, a ‘Messianic Kingdom,’ in which the fortunes of Israel … would be restored, the surrounding nations judged and an era of peace and justice ushered in. But the phrase ‘Messianic Kingdom’ can be most misleading, for in both prophetic and apocalyptic writings… the figure of the Messiah is frequently absent…
"It is true that those passages in the Old Testament which refer to the coming kingdom frequently refer also to an ideal leader at its head, but … the passages do not use the term ‘Messiah’ to describe him. Conversely, in those passages where the term ‘Messiah’ is used… the reference is not to the ideal figure at all, but to an actual historical person, usually the anointed king of Israel… the word ‘Messiah’ … is simply an adjective, meaning ‘anointed,’ descriptive of one who has been set apart by God for a special purpose.” (Pg. 119-120)
In the final chapter, he notes, “According to the prophets of the Old Testament the hope for the future lay in the nation and in the coming kingdom which God would establish on the earth; its glories would be shared by those righteous Israelites who were living at that time and… by the Gentiles who would come to acknowledge Israel as the chosen people of God… But the pious in Israel could not remain satisfied with such a belief… At long last a solution was reached which was to have a revolutionary effect on the religions of both Judaism and of Christianity. Not only would the righteous nation share in the coming Messianic Kingdom; the righteous individual would share in it, too, for the righteous dead would be raised in resurrection and would receive due recompense from the hand of God.” (Pg. 145-146)
I found this to be a highly informative, yet pleasantly brief, overview of this crucial historical period, that is often a matter of utter mystification to many Christians. Although the book is more than 50 years old, most of its information is “timeless.”
June 14, 2021
What happened in those silent centuries between Malachi and Matthew?
This short but informative book tells us. After the exile , the Jews became the property of the Greeks . With this came a clash between purity and Hellenisation, parties that crystallised as Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisee oral tradition was a sincere attempt to make the law workable in a changing culture but became the dry legalism of Jesus time.
We get the Maccabean rebellion and the Hyrcanean kings who followed. When Rome offered arbitration as a front for conquest, Antipater, ancestor of Herod, seized his chance to become their client king.
Less than 200 pages, but very informative.
This short but informative book tells us. After the exile , the Jews became the property of the Greeks . With this came a clash between purity and Hellenisation, parties that crystallised as Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisee oral tradition was a sincere attempt to make the law workable in a changing culture but became the dry legalism of Jesus time.
We get the Maccabean rebellion and the Hyrcanean kings who followed. When Rome offered arbitration as a front for conquest, Antipater, ancestor of Herod, seized his chance to become their client king.
Less than 200 pages, but very informative.
September 3, 2020
Huge amount of information packed in just 125 pages (small print). Amazing help to anyone interested in the Persian and Hellenistic periods of history. Great for pastors as the author explains the significance and the relation of these periods to the Old Testament and to the Jews between the Testaments.
October 23, 2021
This book has a good amount of information about the time between the close of the Old Testament and the opening of the new. I personally did not like the organization of the material. But it is a good book for anyone interested in that period of history.
November 3, 2014
This is a very good, short book covering the historical events occurring between the Jewish and Christian Testaments. The book is only a bit dated (1970s), but Charles Pfeiffer is a very centered and scholarly author. Good read for the person interested in setting the stage for the Christian Testament. Is doesn't get into Jewish culture with as much as I would have liked, but the world history and the Jewish interaction with Greek culture is covered very well.
June 3, 2014
Want to find a short historical account of what happened between the times of malachi and john the Baptist? This is the top choice. 60 pages each on the Persian and greek – 16 chapters covering the reigns of monarch, principalities and dynasties, as well as the origins of jewish sects and apocalyptic literature.
March 28, 2015
I wish I had had this book 35 years ago as a new Christian. Short, easy read. Explains
a lot of stuff like Samaritan, Pharisee, Sadducee, synagogue that you can't get just from
reading the Bible alone.
a lot of stuff like Samaritan, Pharisee, Sadducee, synagogue that you can't get just from
reading the Bible alone.
November 15, 2010
What happened in the 400 years between the book of Malachi and the book of Matthew in the Bible? This interesting book will tell you.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews