What is the gap in years between the final historical accounts and prophesies of the Old Testament (KJV and similar versions) and the birth of Jesus in the New Testament?

my_baby_love

From the Old Testament book of Malachi, written about 400 B.C. To probably the New Testament book of James, written as early as A.D. 45. So, about 445 years. Oct 21 05, 5:19 AM

JoshCaleb12

The answer to the question, which is esentially "what is the gap between the Testaments?", is about 400 years. Oct 21 05, 5:43 AM

Arpeggionist

Actually, Ezra and Nehemiah were written after Malachi. Esther was also written pretty late. So the gap is just a little shorter. Oct 21 05, 7:16 AM

my_baby_love

Do you picquero mean the gap in years of the recorded events from the OT to the NT, or do you mean the gap in years from the date of last OT writing to the date of the first NT writing? Oct 21 05, 9:57 AM

lanfranco

"Final historical accounts" would seem to imply writing. The earliest book of the New Testament, according to some modern scholars, is probably 1 Thessalonians, written ca. 51 BCE. (The Epistle of James, if authentic, falls somewhere in the 50's, though if pseudepigraphical, as a number of scholars think, it might have been written late in the first century or even at some point well into the second.) Since scholars can date the books of the Bible only roughly and solely according to internal and philological evidence in the texts as they've come down to us, this is a question that probably cannot be decisively and accurately answered. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament Oct 21 05, 12:03 PM

picqero

To clarify, I'm not referring to writing but to the historical events described. I don't know the answer, by the way, so am relying on you guys! Oct 21 05, 3:19 PM

JoshCaleb12

My NIV Bible has a section called the "Time Between the Testaments" and they say that gap is about 400 years... from the end of Malachi to the birth of Christ... of course, the Gospels were written AFTER I Thessalonians... but Christ was born BEFORE any NT books were written... Oct 21 05, 7:29 PM

JoshCaleb12

I just found this site which might be of interest to you, picqero... http://www.templemount.org/0240.html Oct 21 05, 7:31 PM

picqero

Thanks JoshCaleb, it's a very interesting article with a lot of historical facts, dates and personalities. The gap in years between the Old and New testaments does seem to be about 400 years, 435BC being mentioned in the article as being when Malachi wrote his prophecy. I wonder though if Nehemiah just pinches it as he was Governor in Jerusalem from 445 - 425 BC, and mentions being Governor in Nehemiah 12.26? Oct 21 05, 11:08 PM

my_baby_love

Also, the Roman Catholic Church includes in their Old Testament 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees. These books describe events that occurred shortly before the first century BC, making the time gap much closer to 100 years. http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/1/1/1_maccabees.htm Oct 22 05, 5:39 AM

JoshCaleb12

Most of the rest of the church considers the Maccabees Apocryphal, or non-canonical books of the Bible. Just so you know... Oct 22 05, 8:36 AM

Arpeggionist

Judaism considers Maccabees and Judith (which were written about the same time) as appocrypha. The latest account in what Jews know as the Bible is therefore the later years of Nehemiah, describing the people settled in Jerusalem with the second Temple built. (Malachi, along with Haggai and Zechariah, date to about a generation before that.) Oct 22 05, 9:36 AM

my_baby_love

Yes Josh, I do know that about half of the world's Christians, non-Catholics, do not consider the Apocyphal to be Scripture. Oct 22 05, 10:53 AM