The prophets of Israel had vanished. No one is sure which of the prophets was last on the scene (Malachi or Joel) but it is clear that after 400 BCE the prophetic voice was silenced. This is somewhat remarkable considering that the role of prophet had been central to the life of Israel for more than 600 years. During those 600 years (from the time of King David until after the restoration of Jerusalem following the Exile) prophets had helped to shape the religious and political identity of the nation. Their writings had helped to preserve Judaism during some of its most difficult moments. Yet suddenly and inexplicably there was silence. No man or woman appeared to be called by God to speak a word to the people.
This silence was particularly deafening because the 400 years before the birth of Christ were some of the most difficult and destructive years in the history of the nation of Israel. We will take a moment for a brief recounting of those times. The difficulty began in 332BC when Alexander the Great wrested Judea from the Persians. Alexander died and claim to Judea fell to the Ptolemies (the descendants of one of the four Generals who claimed portions of Alexander's Empire) who were not kind to the Jews. In 198 BC the nation was conquered by the Seleucids (another family descended from one of Alexander's four generals). The Seleucids eventually outlawed Judaism and made its practice punishable by death. The Jews rebelled and after a 27 year war of liberation gained independence in 142 BC. Less than 100 years later (around 63 BC) the Romans conquered the nation, tore down the walls of Jerusalem and killed more than 12,000 Jews. In 40 BC the Parthians (people from what is modern day Iran who had been influenced by the Seleucids and the Greek culture) drove out the Romans. They ruled for only 3 years, when the Romans once again became the dominant power and installed Herod (the Great) as the local ruler.
We might imagine the desperation of the Jewish people for a word from God as they lived through centuries of brutality and conquest. Surely, the people believed, God would speak. After all the great prophets had promised that not only would God speak but that God would act; God would act to redeem God's people. The Jew's sacred scriptures were replete with promises of a new creation, of a restored Israel and of a messiah that would make it all possible. While there was no overall consensus about the messiah (who he would be, when he would arrive or if he would be a descendant of King David) the majority of Jews held fast to the hope that such a person would arise and be the savior of God's people. In the years preceding the life and ministry of Jesus there were numerous men who claimed to be the messiah, yet all were eventually killed by Herod or Rome thus proving they were not "the one."
It was into this silence that John the Baptizer appeared. While we have some information on John from the Gospels (Luke records that he is the cousin of Jesus) we know little more than that he baptized Jews (including Jesus) in the Jordan River as a preparation for the coming of the Kingdom of God. Many of the people around him considered him to be either the prophet Elijah returned (it had been prophesied that Elijah would return to prepare the way for the messiah) or a new prophet like those of old. John's preaching and teaching implied that he saw himself as both. He was very clear that he was not the messiah. His task was instead to prepare the way for the chosen one of God by calling the people to repentance and faithful obedience to the Torah. Ultimately his prophetic proclamations got him in hot water with the king and brought about his beheading.
John's work fanned the flames of messianic expectation. So when Jesus appeared on the scene the people were more than ready to see in him the one who would free God's people. The only problem was, as we will discover, that in the end Jesus did not fit anyone's mold of what a messiah was supposed to be.
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