Four Hundred Silent Years

Readers of the Bible may wonder what happened to the Jewish people after Malachi's prophesy closed the Old Testament and the New Testament opened with the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. This book deals with that 400- year window and traces Jewish history from the priestly rule after the Jewish people returned from their captivity in Babylon, through the times of the Maccabees and into the reign of Herod the Great and Rome. Along the way, we learn the origins of the Sadducees and Pharisees and see how God preserved a remnant who were faithfully waiting for the promised Messiah, even as they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36). (Summary by MaryAnn)