The 400 Silent Years (What Happened Between the Old and New Testaments)

In 332 BC, a 24-year-old conqueror rode toward Jerusalem with the most powerful army on earth behind him. The city had no army. So the high priest put on his robes of blue and gold and walked out to meet him, and Alexander the Great got off his horse and bowed. That story is not in your Bible, because the Old Testament had already ended. Malachi spoke around 430 BC. The New Testament opens around 6 BC. In between are more than 400 years with no prophet and no new Scripture. Christians call them the silent years, and most of us skip straight from Malachi to Matthew. But everything happened in between: Malachi's last promise: "I will send you the prophet Elijah" How the synagogue was born in the silence Alexander's empire, Ptolemy and Seleucus, and Greek becoming the world's language The Septuagint: the Bible translated into Greek, the version the apostles quoted Antiochus IV "Epiphanes", the king who outlawed Judaism and put the abomination on the altar Mattathias, his five sons, and Judas Maccabeus, "the Hammer" Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, and why it is in your New Testament The mother and her seven sons, and the faith Hebrews 11 remembers How the Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes were born Pompey, Rome and Herod the Great, the man who built the temple Jesus taught in "The fullness of time", and the very first words God spoke when the silence broke This is not a video about dates to memorize. It is about what God was doing while He was not saying anything, and why the silence was the sound of the gift being built. ⏱️ TIMELINE 00:00 A 24-year-old rides toward Jerusalem 00:45 The high priest walks out to meet Alexander 01:01 Alexander bows 01:22 The priests show him the Book of Daniel 01:43 332 BC: the story that isn't in your Bible 02:06 A gap of more than 400 years 02:26 The silent years, and everything that happened in between 03:05 One thing to hold on to: a holiday 03:29 What God was doing while He was silent 03:46 Malachi 4: "I will send you the prophet Elijah" 04:13 Fifteen generations of waiting 04:38 The Persian period 04:57 The empty Holy of Holies 05:08 Scribes, and the birth of the synagogue 05:47 Alexander dies; his empire is divided 06:01 Ptolemy and Seleucus: Israel caught between 06:14 Greek, the English of the ancient world 06:31 Alexandria and the Septuagint 07:07 Why the Septuagint matters to you 07:27 The road was being paved in the dark 07:49 Antiochus IV Epiphanes, "God Manifest" 08:16 167 BC: Judaism outlawed 08:47 The abomination in the temple 09:07 Daniel saw it coming; Jesus repeated it 09:39 Modein: the officer and the altar 10:16 Mattathias: "We will not obey" 10:36 The revolt begins 10:57 Judas Maccabeus, the Hammer 11:25 "Better to die in battle" 11:36 December 164 BC: the temple rededicated 11:53 What your small "no" can start 12:12 Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication 12:35 The mother and her seven sons 13:27 Dying for the resurrection (Hebrews 11:35) 14:00 The victory goes bad: the Hasmoneans 14:34 Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes are born 15:20 Before you judge the Pharisees 15:43 For anyone in a silent season 15:58 63 BC: Pompey walks into the Holy of Holies 16:28 Herod the Great 16:48 Herod's temple, built by the man who tried to kill Jesus 17:13 What the silence had built 18:01 "The fullness of time" (Galatians 4:4) 18:32 The silence breaks: Zechariah in the temple 19:01 "In the spirit and power of Elijah" 19:17 God picks up the sentence where He left it 19:29 Zechariah doubts, and Gabriel silences him 20:05 Simeon holds the Messiah 20:28 Jesus at Hanukkah (John 10) 20:52 "I and the Father are one" 21:14 They pick up stones 21:43 The night before Christmas 22:05 The silence was the sound of the gift being built 22:41 1: The silent years were not empty years 23:11 2: Faith grew in the silence 23:35 3: God doesn't leave His sentences unfinished 24:11 What surprised you most? 24:32 If heaven feels quiet 📖 SCRIPTURES IN THIS VIDEO Malachi 4:5–6 · Daniel 8; 9:27; 11:31 · Matthew 1:23; 24:15–16 · Luke 1:5–25; 2:25–32 · John 10:22–33 · Galatians 4:4 · Hebrews 11:35 · 1 Maccabees 1–4 · 2 Maccabees 7 · Isaiah 7:14 (Septuagint) 💬 What surprised you most about the silent years: Alexander bowing, the pig on the altar, or Hanukkah in the New Testament? And if you're willing, tell me how long your own silence has lasted. I read every one. 🔔 Subscribe so you don't miss the rest of this series. If you know someone in a silent season right now, praying and hearing nothing, send them this video. The end of it is for them. "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son." (Galatians 4:4) #SilentYears #IntertestamentalPeriod #Maccabees #Hanukkah #Septuagint #AlexanderTheGreat #BibleHistory #BibleExplained #BibleStudy #Christian