Sources for Inter-Testamental Jewish life

There are many sources which have been used to reconstruct the historical period known as the Intertestamental Period. One of these invaluable sources has been the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in 1949. These scrolls, according to Scott, “are the most significant.” (Scott, 31) Among these scrolls found are fragments of Biblical books belonging to several different literary genres.

Another source of the historical setting of Intertestamental Judaism is the first-century writers Philo and Flavius Josephus. These writers were not Christian writers, but they were objective historians who reported the details of life as it was in a first-century Jewish context. There were other historians as well, Greco-Roman writers, who reported details of Jewish life in the first century—including Pliny, Tacitus, Juvenal, and Dio Cassius. Scott notes, “Various texts about Jews by non-Jewish, classical authors have been collected by Menahem Stern.” (Scott 33)

There are also books within what is known as the Apocrypha, which was an addition to the Hebrew Old Testament added to the Greek Old Testament translation, known as the Septuagint. The Septuagint provides many historical narratives which take place in between the Old Testament book of Malachi and the New Testament book of Matthew. While conservative scholars would argue that these “Scriptures” are not to be part of the inspired Biblical text, they are nonetheless valuable and give important information which helps to discern what life was like for the Intertestamental Jews.

Beyond the Apocrypha, there are also what are known as “Pseudepigraphal” books which were written somewhere between the 2^nd century B.C. and almost 200 years after Jesus was on this earth. These are not as strictly Hebraic (written from a strictly Jewish perspective); some of the pseudepigraphal books are written from a Hellenistic point of view (a Greek influenced view).

One final area which helps us learn about life in Intertestamental Judaism is the New Testament itself. The New Testament, while not giving much explanation for the traditions that have developed since the close of the Old Testament and the Old Testament Jewish system, nevertheless does give us a great, inspired look into what life was like for Jews who were living in the first-century Roman-occupied land of Israel. To me, this would probably have to be the most important source of historical context, because all of the other sources serve to support this text. All of the other sources are used to decipher the historical context found within the New Testament. While all of these others are used invaluably to reconstruct life for the first-century Jew, I believe they ultimately point to the life of Jesus and should be used to help us interpret the life Jesus.