But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law. (Galatians 4:4 NKJV)
Why, we might wonder, was Jesus born at that particular moment in history?
Every year, as I read through the Old Testament, I hear a cosmic clock ticking in the background. Everything chronicled is destined to culminate in one event—the advent of the Redeemer. But what about the silence between the Testaments? After Malachi, we are launched into the Christmas story with Israel now ruled by Rome, and the religious hierarchy presiding over its wealthy, spiritually vacuous system. It’s frequently referred to as “four hundred years of silence.” While it is true that there was no voice of the prophet during that time, meaning Jehovah did not, as far as we know, communicate with his wayward, benighted people, the world was hardly silent.
I’ve done some intertestamental digging to better understand the world Jesus entered—the world he came to save. For the Jewish people, it was four hundred years of being swept up by competing empires. True, there were periods of relative peace, but also terrible poverty, uprooting and banishment, and violence.
The Persian Period: 430–332 B.C.
The prophet Malachi, writing between 430-420 B.C., closes the Old Testament. By this time, Persia rules Palestine. Fortunately, Persian rule is relatively mild and tolerant. About fifty years earlier, Esther had become queen. Her husband, Xerxes (of the film, “300”, fame—and grandson of Cyrus), had made an ill-fated attempt in 480 B.C. to invade Greece. His armies suffered devastating losses, but managed to burn much of Athens to the ground before retreating.
The Greek Period: 331–167 B.C.
Strangely, the burning of Athens coincided with the rise of Greece’s Golden Age, 480-404 B.C. Athens was indeed the home of many of the great philosophers of that Age, such as Pericles, Socrates, and Plato. It was a center of literature, science, and art. During this period, too, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and its walls was completed. In 336 B.C., 20-year-old Alexander the Great took command of the Greek army and swept eastward, conquering every land in his path. Invading Palestine in 332 B.C., Alexander spared Jerusalem, showing great consideration toward the Jews. We note here that his practice was to establish Greek cities AND spread the Greek language in all his conquered domains. Consequently, the entire New Testament was written in Koine, or common Greek, the everyday language of the eastern Mediterranean at that time. Thus, the accounts and letters of the New Testament faced no language barriers as they were distributed to churches in great need of instruction and encouragement.
Under the Egyptian Rule: The Ptolemies
After Alexander died in 323 B.C., his empire was divided among his four generals. History gets a bit complicated here, so let’s keep it simple. Palestine now lay between two powers: Syria under General Seleucus and Egypt under General Ptolemy. Palestine “passed” first to Syria, then shortly after, to Egypt, remaining under Egyptian control for 102 years—until 198 B.C. The country was relatively peaceful under the Ptolemies. It should be noted that the city of Alexandria in Egypt became an influential center of Judaism. Here, two hundred years later, Joseph would flee for safety with his young family.
Unfortunately, Syria recaptured Palestine in 198, eventually ushering in the vile King Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Frustrated by the Jews’ refusal to give up both their religion and their identity, he embarked on a campaign of extermination, devastating Jerusalem. Circumcision was forbidden upon pain of death, and he sold thousands of Jewish families into slavery. All copies of scripture that could be found were destroyed, and unspeakable acts of torture were committed on Jews who refused to renounce their religion. At one point, he offered a pig on the temple altar. This horrific era ushered in one of the most heroic feats in history: the Maccabean revolt.
The Maccabean Period: 167–63 B.C.
Mattathias, a patriotic and courageous priest, had five heroic, warrior sons: Judas, Jonathan, Simon, John, and Eleazer. The priest gathered loyal Jews together and initiated a revolt. Mattathias died in 166 B.C., and the mantle fell on his son, Judas, a military genius. He captured Jerusalem in 165 B.C. and purified and rededicated the temple. (This was the origin of the Feast of Hannukkah.) A century of independence followed, with the sons and grandsons of Mattathias as priest-rulers. Ultimately, the legacy failed under an unworthy great-grandson, Aristobulus, and his sons. Rome, a rising power of the time, was appealed to for help.
Rome: 63 B.C–A.D. 636
Recognizing an easy win, Rome annexed Palestine in 63 B.C. We will note here that, during the previous three centuries, Rome had been building a vast network of excellent roads as its empire expanded. Emperor Augustus (see Luke 2:1) oversaw extensive repair and new construction. These roads would greatly enhance the spread of the gospel. In 37 B.C., Herod the Great became ruler of Palestine under the auspices of Rome. An Edomite (descendant of Esau), he was a shrewd politician and frequent murderer (including his wife, Mariamne, and three of his sons). He was also the architect of spectacular building projects, including rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. It was this Herod who ruled Judea when Jesus was born and, subsequently, had the children of Bethlehem slaughtered.
Thus, all is prepared for the birth of Jesus.
My pastor (my son) reminded us in a recent message that God created all things, orchestrated all things, knowing what it would require of him. Nothing was allowed to impede the forward progress of that Divine plan. And, in all of its beauty and touching simplicity, Christmas is, after all, the story of sacrifice and redemption.
In his book, The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis wrote,
We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade, the presence of God. The world is crowded with him.
May you find these days of preparation and anticipation crowded with the presence of the Savior who made all things ready for the great revelation of himself to us.