Day 271 - 400 Years of Silence?
A short journey today...3 pages...none of which is 'scriptural'.
I have been browsing through websites about the 400 silent years...why were they considered silent? It sure was not a peaceful time! Silent, in that there were no prophets on the scene speaking forth the Word of Truth. Nothing. All those previous hundreds and hundreds of years of prophets foretelling, admonishing, cajoling, rebuking, exhorting to people, who for the most part, did not want to listen.
Some listened, just as some will listen to the expository on the Word today, but the majority of people are on the wide road.
As I was pondering on the prophets and who they were speaking to...for the most part the people of the nation that Father chose - Israel - or some semblance thereof. Many of the prophecies have been fulfilled...but many have not...and it is interesting to watch as Father's prophetic timeline continues to unfold.
One of the websites I visited used the analogy of the old testament coming to a close as being similar to a play - the curtain closes - then opens to a new stage. The OT closes with Persia as the dominant world power. When the 'curtain' opens in the NT, it is Rome that is on the world stage.
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XV - The History between the testaments - C 400 - 5 B.C.
- Persian reign weakens - 400-333 B.C.
- Greece is the world power 333 - 63 B.C. - (Daniel's third world empire)
- Rome is the world power - 63 B.C - A.D. 476 (Daniel's fourth world empire)
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There is quite a bit out there on the world wide web about the 400 silent years...here is a sampling of some of what I found:
I can not remember which site - or if it is even one of those listed below - too much data intake - but there was a comment on how when Alexander the Great was going to invade Jerusalem and the priests went out and showed him the prophecy of Daniel and how he fulfilled it...thus, for a time, leaving Jerusalem intact. Now the Jewish nation suffered greatly after Alexander died...his 4 generals squabbled with one another and guess who sat smack dab in the middle of their marching trail? Israel...got spanked time and again by the marauding armies.
I have not read all of this article - but have enjoyed it thus far: www.templemount.org/0240.html
Thought the brief overview offered by this site interesting: www.bibleteacher.org/Dm_os072.htm
During this time there were several institutions which came along:
-The Scribes - laymen who started out to help minister to the spiritual needs of Israel. Became cold in their work and bound up in tradition.
-The Synagogue - with the Temple destroyed the Jews created a place of meeting - 10 men required to start one.
-The Pharisees - conservative orthodox , straight laced, ultra conservative, Biblical literalists - Jewish tradition became their stumbling block.
-The Sadducees - liberal, Hellenistic Jews, go with the flow, wanted riches and fame.
-The Sanhedrin - made up mostly of Sadducees, with sprinkling of Pharisees - members were usually from the higher level of society.
-The Apocrypha - false scriptural writings - good historical data - but rejected for inclusion in the canon of Scripture.
As I was reading and absorbing...the Pharisee and Sadducee dynamics played through my mind...I can almost see some hyper-calvanists as our current day Pharisee or I've encountered a few Reformed folk who seem to think that since they have the doctrine of election down, they are the cat's meow. The attitude of "we've got our doctrine lined up and you don't" appears similar to those of the Pharisee "we've got Abraham as our Father."
While the Sadducee's could be considered the name it, claim it, blab it grab it group - or even the easy believism crowd...or perhaps the seeker friendly churches - those all want to get along, go with the flow, just invite them in - water down the gospel, make it palatable. Don't offend those in authority.
This blog was using the 400 years as a springboard for observing that during the 'silent' times in our lives, God is still at work, even when we do not see and/or perceive that HE is. jthelmsdeep.blogspot.com/2009/03/400-silent-years.html
NOTE - I do not vet websites for their doctrinal content - I am simply seeking information or reference items - it is each of our individual responsibilities to VET the information we take in - I did not perceive anything negative in the articles offered. Remember BE A BEREAN - Acts 17:11.
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