The 400 silent years cover the close of the Old Testament revelation from God and the beginning of the New Testament. They are called silent because during that time there was no word from God. He was silent.
I can’t claim to remember a lot of the details in this book. Ironside traces the people and leadership of the land of Israel and surrounding nations between the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New.
The details of the leaders that followed from Alexander the Great are overwhelming to me, but definite themes stood out. The political plots, military endeavors, and family scandals are relentless.
At every turn the people of Israel suffered oppression and troubles with only brief seasons of relief. Probably the brightest lights during those 400 years were the Maccabees. However, in time, even this noble family declined and the ancestors of the original hero became villains.
Whether it was simply human nature, or the deliberate efforts of Satan to attack any Jewish leader just in case he was the promised Messiah, they all went through trials.
Something that stood out to me was the way in which the non-Jewish Herods became kings and given the opportunity to commit such atrocities. In 130 B.C. John Hyrcanus forced the Idumeans to convert to Judaism. The Herods were Idumeans and so though an un-Biblical move John set the stage for the attempted murder of Jesus, the murder of John the Baptist, the apostle James, and many others.
Another benefit of the book is to see the development of the movements that led to the Pharisees, Sadducees, and other political and religious groups firmly established by the lifetime of Jesus.
There are depths of detail in the 400 silent years which probably only benefit historians, but there are points that are invaluable to Bible teachers and Christians in understanding the times into which Jesus was born.
Leave a Reply