Why Are There 400 Years of Silence in the Bible?

You’re at a gathering with a few friends when suddenly an unfamiliar man walks into the room. Immediately the room becomes awkward and silent. You inquire about this, and your friend tells you that this man and the host are not on speaking terms. Something happened a few years ago and they haven’t spoken since that awful event. When people get mad at one another they can stop speaking.

There are about 400 years between the last words of the Old Testament and the first words of the New Testament. Is this what explains that 400 years of silence? Was God actually silent for those 400 years?

What Are the 400 Years of Silence?

The 400 years of silence is a common descriptor for the time between the testaments. Most are under the impression that the Old Testament ends with Malachi. And the last words of that book are certainly chilling:

“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

According to Jesus, John the Baptist is the Elijah who was to come. When we see John the Baptist on the scene in the early pages of the gospel accounts, we know that the heavens are once again opened and God is now speaking to the people. It is phrased that way because it is believed there was no Scripture written between Malachi and Matthew. It ends with a promise of Elijah and then 400 years later that Elijah comes.

This narrative makes for a great sermon illustration, but is it accurate?

Was It Really Silent between Malachi and Matthew?

The first problem that we have with the above narrative is that the Old Testament doesn’t actually end with Malachi. No, I’m not arguing for accepting the apocryphal books from the intertestamental period (like Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, etc.). Rather, I am pointing out that the Hebrew Bible – the one which Jesus would have been familiar with – did not end with Malachi; it ended with Chronicles. That means that the Old Testament ends with these words:

“All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up!”

That statement is actually a 70-year leap from 2 Chronicles 36:21 with the people being dragged off to exile. 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 is a declaration that the seventy years of captivity has ended, but the sentence itself is incomplete in the Hebrew. The Old Testament kind of ends on an ellipsis. Why? I appreciate the answer given by Amber Dillon:

“So the return from exile under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah didn’t solve the people’s problems. The decree from Cyrus is incomplete because the authors of the TaNaK were still waiting for a real return from exile and the coming of the Messianic kingdom of God. God’s people need a deliverer from a deeper kind of exile than simply being ruled by Babylon.”

It's understandable, though, that the Christian Scriptures would have been compiled with having Malachi as the ending. Chronologically this is plausible. Malachi was one of the latest books written in the Old Testament. And there does seem to be a period of longing and waiting. You could say that there is prophetic silence, but I do not think it’s necessarily that God was punishing the people with silence. He was still communicating, and He was still the same God He is today. Many important historical events happened during this in-between time. 

What Happens Historically in between This “Period of Silence”?

There was much activity during this 400-year period. There are many things you see in the beginning pages of the New Testament that weren’t exactly present when the Old Testament comes to a close. For one, the second temple seems to be far more functioning than it was at the close of the Old Testament. There are groups like the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Sanhedrin that are not mentioned. What we have is what is known as the rise of Second Temple Judaism. All of that came to be during this intertestamental period.

There was also a great deal of military activity during this time. When the Old Testament closes, Cyrus the Great and Persia are the great superpowers. But by the time of the New Testament, we hear of the Romans being the ones who are ruling, and the language is in Greek, not Hebrew. Much has changed on the world stage in that 400-year period. Some of this is outlined in Jewish books written during this period like 1 and 2 Maccabees. Israel once again lost its independence during this period and then regained it and then lost it again.

It is clear that God was still working. In fact, some of what happened during this period was a fulfillment of prophecy spoken through the prophet Daniel.

Why Didn’t God Reveal Anything New in This Time?

I do not believe we have good warrant to connect the dots between the last words of Malachi and the first words of Matthew. But I do believe we can clearly say that there was no Scripture written between the close of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament. There was an inspired prophetic silence, though. During this time God did not reveal anything new. Why?

First, I think it is helpful for us to acknowledge that this 400-year period in between the Old and New Testament is not the only time in which God has “gone silent.” What do we make of the years of “silence” while the Hebrew people were in Egyptian bondage before God heard their cries and responded with rescue? Furthermore, what do we do with the almost 2,000 years of “silence” that we have experienced since the close of the New Testament? When we frame the question this way it helps us to understand that even if God is not inspiring new revelation, it does not mean that He is silent or inactive. And this may also help us to answer the question of why God did not reveal new Scripture during this time.

Secondly, we must acknowledge that God does not give us an explicit answer to this question. There is not a Scripture passage that refers to 400 years of silence. It’s something we have pieced together. This means that our answer will be tentative at best. But I think the answer, though perhaps not as dynamic as we would like, is that God was finished with the work of revelation he was doing at that stage in history.

I do not believe that these years of silence are like a spurned lover or an angry parent who chooses silence over communication. There is no Scripture where God says “I will be silent for 400 years.” Yes, there is that bit of prophecy in Malachi, but where does that even mention a period of prophetic silence? Yes, the people had rebelled and God was continuing to hand them over to judgment. But he was also preparing for their rescue.

God Is Still at Work

In some ways we are in a similar position to those of the time between the testaments. God has spoken definitively and has also promised a rescue. We too are awaiting His forthcoming rescue through the Second Coming of Christ. But unlike those in the intertestamental period we have seen and heard of the works of Jesus. We know the identity of the Rescuer. It would seem strange and inaccurate to call this period “2,000 years of silence” because we do not have Scripture being written. God is at work just as he was at work in the intertestamental period. He is just speaking differently.

Hebrews 1:1-2 will have the last word:

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”

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