"The Sounds of Silence" is the song that propelled the 1960s folk music duo Simon and Garfunkel to popularity. It was written in February 1964 by Paul Simon in the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Simon conceived of the song as a way of capturing the emotional trauma felt by many Americans. Listen to these lyrics from that song, “And the people bowed and prayed to the neon God they made. And the sign flashed out its warning, in the words that it was forming. And the signs said, the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls. And whispered in the sounds of silence.” These words in a way echo the plight of the Jewish people as we begin this segment of our journey on God’s Route 66. They are living with the results of bowing and praying to the gods that their hands had made. The emotional trauma is undoubtedly great, for centuries they have turned a deaf ear to God speaking through His prophets and now there is nothing left but the sounds of silence. God’s silence when the people have nowhere to turn. Today let’s discover what we can learn from this tragic period in Jewish history.
I. Two dreams in the book of Daniel are important and can help us make sense of this period.
A. Nebuchadnezzar has the first dream in Chapter 2. (2:31-47)
1. Nebuchadnezzar has this dream during the second year of his reign which began in March or April of 603 BC.
2. Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt he saw a statue (not an idol), an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. The statue was in human form: The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay
3. The statue was top-heavy, likely to topple to its ruin. To bring about this ruination, a rock appeared. The rock, moved by superhuman power, struck the statue on its feet, knocking it over. The fall resulted in the destruction of the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold of the statue.
4. Daniel’s interpretation of the dream begins with the identification of Nebuchadnezzar as the head of gold. This identification with the most precious of metals — gold — would have been flattering.
5. The Neo-Babylonian Empire would be followed by a second (“another”), third, and fourth kingdom. In other words, Daniel interprets the remaining metals as symbolic of nations rather than individual kings. These kingdoms will be world empires (will rule over the whole earth). The identification of these kingdoms with inferior metals — silver, bronze, iron/clay — implies gradual decline.
6. The fourth kingdom is described in greater detail than either the second or third.
7. The fourth kingdom has greater strength than the previous kingdoms: so it will crush and break all the others. But since clay and iron do not bond together, this kingdom is intrinsically weak. “Unity is impossible and the kingdom is vulnerable.
8. By contrast the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed. This kingdom is, of course, the rock that became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth”.
9. The interpretation ends with an affirmation of its certainty: The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.
B. Daniel has the second dream in chapter 7. (7:1-8)
1. God speaks to Daniel through a dream, and Daniel writes down the content of that revelation.
2. Daniel’s report of the vision begins with the setting. He is on the shore of the great sea, where the four winds of heaven are turning the waters into a turbulent frenzy.
a. By the time of Daniel, the sea was a symbol of humanity in rebellion against God and the ensuing chaos.
b. The four winds of heaven represent “the heavenly powers and forces by which God sets the nations of the world in motion.”
3. Out of the sea arise four great beasts, one after the other. Three of the beasts are bizarre: a lion with the wings of an eagle, a leopard with four heads and four wings like those of a bird, and a beast with iron teeth.
4. Like chapter 2 these beasts represent “kingdoms that will arise from the earth”
a. The lion with the wings of an eagle stands for the Babylonian Empire.
b. The bear with the three ribs between its teeth represents the Medo-Persian Empire.
c. The third beast, the leopard with four heads and four wings, is blazingly fast and represents the Greek Empire.
d. The forth beast which is powerful and terrible represents the Roman Empire.
5. Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel’s dreams share a common interpretation.
II. Understanding the intertestamental period.
A. During the intertestamental period Israel will be ruled by six different governments.
1. The Medo-Persian government will rule from 536-333 BC.
2. The Greek government will rule from 333-323 BC.
3. The Egyptian government will rule from 323-204 BC.
4. The Syrian government will rule from 204-165 BC.
5. The Maccabean revolt would lead to them ruling the land from 165-63 BC.
6. The Roman government would rule from 63 BC-313 AD.
7. God sovereignly uses these governments to set the stage for the coming of His Son.
a. Alexander the Great unites the world and makes Greek the universal language and common culture.
b. Rome unites the world with its great system of roads.
8. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. (Galatians 4:4-5—NIV)
B. The importance of the Maccabean revolt.
1. After the death of Alexander the Great the empire is divided among his four generals.
a. Cassander ruled Macedonia.
b. Lysimachus ruled what was known as Thrace.
c. Ptolemy who gained Egypt and northern Africa.
d. Seleucus ruled Mesopotamia and Persia.
2. In 203 BC a king named Anthiochus the Great of Syria took control of Palestine. During this time a man by the name of Menelaus destroyed the scrolls of the law and desecrated the temple by offering a pig on the altar.
3. Daniel predicted that the temple would be desecrated for 2300 days which translated to six and a half years. This was the exact period of time before the temple would be cleansed during the Maccabean revolt.
4. Judas Maccabaeus who was in the priestly line led a revolt against the Syrian king.
5. This is extremely significant because for the first time in centuries the Jews will be free of foreign domination. (102 years)
C. During this period of time the Jewish structure of authority is formed.
1. The Pharisees were the group most influential with the people, were noted for their accurate and therefore authoritative interpretations of Jewish law, and had their own traditions and way of life to which they were faithful.
2. The Sadducees were a group made up of the priestly upper class that seemed to value their political clout with Rome.
3. The Herodians were a group of Jewish leaders who worked to help Herod maintain his power. Politically they would have allied themselves with the Sadducees rather than the Pharisees.
4. The Sanhedrin was made up of seventy members and was the Jewish Supreme Judicial Council.
D. Three significant events took place in regard to the Scriptures during the intertestamental period.
1. The Old Testament is compiled and preserved as the thirty-nine books we have today.
2. The Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint is completed around 250 BC.
3. Many of the books of the Apocrypha are written during this period. Although they are considered to be non-inspired, they give us a historical glimpse into this era of history.
III. The years of silence between the Old and New Testaments remind us that God is still sovereign.
A. God amazingly uses history to accomplish His purposes.
1. It seems as though we are living in those years of silence, especially since it has been about 2,000 years with no inspired word from God.
2. Just as they did during those 400 years of silence we need to realize that God has said all that needs to be said in the Old and New Testaments.
3. God’s purposes have not ended; He is still working them out as He did in those days.
B. Even though at times things seem Hopeless, God is still in control.
1. God is working toward bringing the prophetic words to fulfillment.
2. God will announce the end of the silence once again in a big way.
More than any other biblical book, Esther is a tribute to the invisible providence of God. Although we never actually hear or see God in the story, we have an overwhelming sense of confidence that He is there, prompting the characters and orchestrating the events to protect His people from certain destruction.
The book of Esther is often like the dramas played out in everyday lives. For seldom when enemies are on our heels are our Red Seas parted. Seldom when disaster is at our door are we warned by angelic visitors. Seldom when we are in need of direction are we instructed by God from a burning bush. And neither was Esther.
It is easy to see God in the miraculous. It’s not so easy to see Him in the plain ordinary every day events of life. The problem with this is that this is where most of us live. We live without seeing handwriting on the wall or hearing thunder from the mountain. We live with God not on center stage but directing from just off stage.
