Intertestamental Period

Today, I went to this seminar at Hosanna Evangelical Free Chinese Church in Oakville on Intertestamental period. This seminar is held by a man named Paul (I don’t know his last name, I’ll get it in soon time) So what is this period? Well, from what I hear it’s the time between the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is

“… the four hundred years that elapsed from the writings of the prophet Malachi to the coming of Jesus Christ, the duration known as the intertestamental period. 1 During this period important historical events occurred, and a considerable amount of extra-biblical literature was written, both of which had a significant effect on the Mediterranean world and consequently influenced the religious thinking, customs, government, and lifestyle of those living in the first century era” (Source)

I decided I’d try to write on the trusty Palm again, excuse me for not conforming to correct Puncutation, grammar, and English rules, but here are my notes:

- Targum - aramaic trans of hebrew
- diaspora - jews outside of palestine
- synagogues (4 jews) did not exist in old test, happen after exile b/c no place 4 worship
- attracted gentiles (God fearers) but did not go all way (circumcision)
- judaism - happened after exile (what called than?)
- in old test. God is miqhty one, trans. Diff from hebrew, chanqes
- prophecies have dbl meaning, like in haggai, not abt zerubbabel, but future offsprinq. Like 'servant David' is not David, but descendants. Why? Dunno
samaritan
- 6 pts in creed, #6 moses or someone like come back
- assyria defeated isreal,deported ppl, bring in others (2 kings)


So a few things to touch on that I still have questions and am curious about. The first thing is about these God fearers, the Gentiles. When the Jews were exiled out of Israel, they became the Diaspora, and they had no place of worship, so they built these buildings that are called Synagogues. In addition to the Diaspora that worshipped there, the Gentiles also came, because they still worshipped the same God but they did not go all, (that being no circumcision). So my question is about this name, God fearers? Where did this name originate? Sounds more like a name given to people who either did not believe in God, or I guess maybe something like those who believe in Him, and fear him, like fear His wrath, know His power. Maybe that’s it, it kind of makes sense.

Second question, Paul mentioned that a lot of things came about AFTER the Jews were exiled. That being Judaism, the religion did not exist before the exile. So the question is, what did then? I’m a bit confused about these new things coming about after this exile, maybe it’s just my lack of knowledge, but still I don’t understand. Paul talked about how many things came about after this exile, like Synagogues, they never existed before the exile. Oh, and I suppose they used the temple before it was destroyed, so then what is the difference between temple and synagogue? I remember learning about this in Religion class in High school, but we may have referred to temple as the structure Buddhists use, and not Jews.

There are references from Ezekiel that refer to people like David:

23 I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. 24 I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.
Ezekiel 34: 23-24

But by this time, David has died, so ‘David’ actually is used for future offspring, or descendants. ‘David’ does not mean King David, but someone else. This also happens in Haggai:

"…Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I will shake the heavens and the earth. 22 I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.
23 " 'On that day,' declares the Lord Almighty, 'I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,' declares the Lord , 'and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,' declares the Lord Almighty."
Haggai 2:21-23

This prophecy was not fulfilled in Zerubbabel says some notes. I know Paul talked about this, but at this point, I kind of tuned out, unfortunate for me. So my question is what is with this form of writing? Why do the writers use other names to symbolize what they usually mean? Is it because some names/words/places mean more, and thus attract more attention? This is a perfect example of why the bible is so hard to understand and cryptic.

The third question I have is in regards to this use f the word ‘God’.

6 Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever;
a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions
by anointing you with the oil of joy.
Psalm 45:6-7

So this ‘God’ reference is not actually meaning the Almighty One. Turns out that it’s like this translation error or translation difference. In Hebrew, this says something that can be translated as ‘God’ or ‘Mighty one’, thus not a direct reference to God, but actually someone who is mighty. Someone like a king or someone. So I can’t read Hebrew, but why use ‘God’. Sure, I can understand that the kings were there as God’s representatives on earth, and thus they are considered powerful and anointed. So is this the reason for the use of ‘God’? Because they were chosen by God?

Alrite, so that’s the end of my questions. There were a few other points on Samaritans and stuff, but I won’t get into it too much. So I don’t know if anything like this was beneficial, but it was an interesting seminar. I will go back next week pending circumstances. I think I’ll try and red up on some internet material on this Intertestamental period.

Please get back to me if you have some answers for my questions, comments about anything I said, or questions yourself. Just click on the ‘Comments to Jon-C’ link on the left frame and I’ll get an e-mail right away. Or you can e-mail me outside of that, doesn’t matter.

Oh, funny thing happened there. There is this girl there, I’ll call her a1. So she has this candy, she was hesitant in eating, it, didn’t catch the conversation why. So she ate it, and then she tried to push the garbage off on someone. So tried unsuccessfully many people. I even turned her down. Then out of goodness of my heart, I decided, fine, I’ll take it. So I took it. Then 10 seconds later, she was like ‘ewwww, this is gross, it really does taste like dog food. Give me my wrapper back’, so I was like ‘nope, your not getting this back.’ Ahahahaahha. So alas, she had to suffer longer because she would not keep her own garbage, serves her right.


Currents Events Today: (Most Articles obtained from The Toronto Star)
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- 19 killed, 55 hurt by Jerusalem nail bomb. Among them are high school students.
- Our water is safe to drink says Environment Minister Chris Stockwell.