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From Bondage to Freedom
In our Bibles there is a blank page between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The casual reader turns that page without realizing that it represents 400 years of history. What happened during that period? Ā When the Old Testament closes, the Jews are ruled by Persia; when the New Testament opens, Rome holds Israel in its iron grasp. In Old Testament times the Jews frequently became idolaters; in the New Testament idolatry never seems to be a problem. Clearly the intertestamental period was an era of substantial change. The era is frequently referred to as āthe 400 silent yearsāāan unfortunate name, for Daniel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah all prophesied about this period, and we have written record of how God preserved His people during the time and prepared the world for the coming of the promised Messiah. |
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1Ā The Prophetic Scriptures and the Exile
Chapter 2Ā The Jews in Babylon
Chapter 3Ā The Jewish Nation under Persia
Chapter 4Ā TheĀ Jewish Nation under Greece
Chapter 5Ā The Hasmonean Dynasty
Chatper 6Ā The Jewish Nation under Rome
