What happened during the 400 years of silence between the Old and New Testaments?

Between the last words of the Old Testament and the first words of the New Testament, there are four hundred years of silence during which God did not speak to Israel. The question is, “Why the silence?”

As a talkative person, it took me decades to appreciate the value of silence. God always knew this. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:7, “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (ESV). So, we should not be surprised that God entered a period of silence—a full four hundred years of it. God created both sound and silence. He knows the perfect timing for each.

Read more : Differences between the Old Testament and the New Testament

What Is the Four Hundred Years of Silence?

The four hundred years of silence occurred between the Old and New Testaments. The last verses of the Old Testament, ending with the book written by the prophet Malachi, read:

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction” (Malachi 4:5-6, ESV).

The first verse of the New Testament is found in the Gospel of Matthew: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1, ESV).

But between these books, there were 400 years without any recorded (written) prophecy or canonized scripture. We refer to this period as the 400 years of silence or the intertestamental period. Depending on your experience with silence, this can seem either ominous or understandable but inevitably raises further questions.

Was God angry and giving humans the “silent treatment”? Was God allowing a pause before the arrival of His Son, like a dramatic pause in a grand concert? God chooses not to explain this. Therefore, much of what we may understand about this time is speculation based on our knowledge of God’s character and how He operates.

What Can We Observe from What We Know About the Old and New Testaments?

Malachi was the last prophet of the Old Testament. In His book, God recounts a familiar story to His people. He loved them and desired a relationship with them, which required their obedience. They refused to obey and showed disrespect by misusing the temple and offering less than their best. Additionally, when God pointed out Israel’s sins, they argued that God was being unfair.

Malachi 3:17 may hold a key to the subsequent silence. God says, “You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ By saying, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.’ Or by asking, ‘Where is the God of justice?’” (ESV). God was tired of hearing their arguments, justifications, and excuses. After centuries of back-and-forth with His people, He was weary of their words.

Throughout the Old Testament, God and His people had a continuous dialogue. God explicitly told the Israelites what to do to please Him and maintain their relationship. The Israelites obeyed for a while but eventually started following false gods and committing other acts of disobedience. God then sent hardships to make them repent from their disobedience and return to Him. They obeyed for a while, but the cycle began again. Now, in the time of Malachi, not only did they not repent when He pointed out their sins, but they accused Him of being the problem.

God’s relationship with the Israelites had reached a point familiar to anyone who has loved someone insistent on their own way. Whether that loved one is caught in addiction, rebelling against God, or trapped in a stronghold of deceptive sin, there comes a time when our words seem to bounce off granite walls. When conversation is no longer fruitful. When it feels like we are wasting our words. Usually, this is when it is time to be silent, to retreat to establish a healthy boundary, and allow our loved ones to experience the consequences of that sin.

We continue to pray, love, and hope. We stand ready for the moment our loved one returns, but we recognize that we have reached a point where words no longer have an effect. Perhaps this is the point God had reached with Israel. Perhaps. But again, this is speculation based on what we can observe.

Do We Know Why Prophecy Ceased for 400 Years?

The book of Malachi ends with God’s promise to send Elijah. The New Testament period begins with the emergence of John the Baptist.

When Jesus spoke about John, He quoted Malachi 3:1 and then said, “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come” (Matthew 11:13-14).

God was silent for 400 years, but when He spoke again, it was to prepare the way for His Son, who was “the Word of God.” Throughout the Old Testament, God spoke through prophets. But Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).

God did not explain His silence, but the prophecies of the Old Testament were fully articulated with the last words of Malachi. What remained was their fulfillment. According to some estimates, Jesus fulfilled over 300 Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah. Apparently, God had said everything that needed to be said up to that point to lay the foundation of prophecy for the coming of Jesus and His expectations for His people. Then, He stopped speaking for a while.

Some of the books collected in the Apocrypha were written during this intertestamental period. Many of these books provide historical information about this time. However, various Jewish sources (and later Christian councils) did not deem these works canonical.

When Was Jesus Silent?

At the end of Malachi, God’s people were arguing with Him, challenging Him, and refusing to listen. This may have been reason enough for Him to stop speaking. Jesus was also sometimes silent. From His silences, we might glean some reasons for God’s not speaking.

Jesus remained silent for a long time when confronted with a crowd of angry men wanting Him to condemn a woman caught in adultery. It is wise to remain silent when people are openly seeking to hear a particular answer from us or when they are so full of anger or other emotions that they are unlikely to listen to us. Jesus remained silent until the angry crowd had exhausted their words and gained their attention.

Jesus was also silent on the night of His betrayal. He stood before the council and heard multiple false accusations from men who had been paid for their deceitful testimonies. These men could not even agree among themselves and could not make their lies align. Jesus refused to respond (Mark 14:61). His silence may have indicated that their false testimonies were unworthy of a response. Similarly, when the chief priests brought these charges before Pilate, Jesus did not respond. Again, as we see at the end of Malachi, people falsely accused God of justifying their wicked choices.

Perhaps God was silent between the Testaments because people only wanted a specific answer, were too angry to listen, or He had already answered, and they had not listened. Perhaps He was declaring by His silence that their accusations were unworthy of a response.

Many wise parents fall silent when an angry child, refusing to accept an answer already given, repeatedly asks the same question. Asked and answered. Nothing more needs to be said. We know that God is a wise Father. People say there are no stupid questions, but there are wise questions. Jewish teachings revolved around asking intelligent questions. Jesus, as a child, was praised for His thoughtful questions. Perhaps there was a famine of wise questions in the intertestamental period, so God remained silent and let all that He had said in the centuries before stand for those truly seeking answers.

What Happened to Israel During the 400 Years of Silence?

While God was silent between the Old and New Testaments, this does not mean nothing significant happened in Jewish life. Much of the historical events of that time, particularly the vision given to Daniel (Daniel 7 and 9) showing a large statue representing different kingdoms, fulfilled earlier prophecies. Malachi prophesied during the Medo-Persian Empire, followed by the Greek Empire, and then the Roman Empire. The Jews were allowed to rebuild Jerusalem under Persian rule. They lived as a people but still did not follow all of God’s commands.

However, with the coming of the Greeks, the Greek language became the common language among different groups of people. Eventually, the Old Testament was translated into Greek (the Greek Septuagint). The Romans later came and conquered Israel in 63 BC. The Romans built roads throughout their empire. Both developments aided the spread of the Gospel after Christ’s death, resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit, leading to the birth of the Church. Thus, God’s period of silence was void of prophecy but not of preparation for the fulfillment of prophecy. By the time John the Baptist began to prophesy, people should have been hungry and thirsty for God’s voice.

What Is the Purpose and Power of God’s Silence Between the Old and New Testaments?

Time is different from God’s perspective; we know this. A thousand years are like a day to God, and a day is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). Four hundred years is very long for us. For God, it is probably like a musical beat, a short time for silence.

We do not think enough about silence. God included silence for many purposes throughout creation. Silence provides peace and an opportunity for reflection. Silence can be centering.

We expect silence after death and in the presence of power. We are silent in reverent worship and when we run out of words due to pain or despair.

Silence in a musical or theatrical performance provides a time to breathe and prepares the audience to know that something important is about to happen. Reflecting on all these purposes for silence in our lives can give us more insight into God’s silence during the intertestamental period.

Another silence is coming. In the last days, Revelation 8:1 says that when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. This silence occurs before God completes His vengeance on those who rebel against Him on earth. This silence precedes the final chapter where God rains down destruction on the earth before the redeemed enjoy a new heaven and a new earth with Him.

We should listen when God speaks. But when He stops speaking, we should pay attention. We should take the opportunity to repent and prepare for what is to come. We should reflect on the 400 years of silence and follow Jesus now before the next silence that is to come.