The Bible reveals God’s purpose for mankind. Whether a person accepts this is up to that person. For those who have come to know Lord Jesus Christ, they realize that the Bible bears witness to Him. In fact, when Jesus said that the Bible bears witness to Himself, He was referring to the Old Testament only.
The Bible does not tell us what has happened around the world, except for the flood, where certain descendants of Noah settled and the fact that seventy language groups were created. Once we get to Genesis, chapter twelve, Abraham and the purpose of God to deliver mankind from the grip of evil becomes the Bible’s narrative. In the Old Testament, this has included mostly what has happened to Israel and, in particular, once Assyrians had taken the kingdom of Israel captive and resettled the people after it had separated from the kingdom of Judah, the focus is on the Judahites.
The book of Daniel predicts events that are to take place from the return of the Judahites, held captive at Babylon, to the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, Porphyry and others have claimed that Daniel was written after the fact, because of its accurate time frame.
Since the time of the Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry (c.232 - c.305 AD) the presence of predictive prophecy in Scripture has been denied. Porphyry, an intelligent man, produced a detailed verse by verse study of the book of Daniel in support of his argument for a second century date in volume 12 of his 15 volume work Against the Christians which survives in part in Jerome's 5th century Commentary on Daniel (Wilken, 1984: 139-143). During the Enlightenment many of Porphyry's arguments were revived and these, together with the conviction that predictive prophecy is impossible, still form the basis of liberal views on the book of Daniel.—The Book of DanielThe four hundred or so years between the Old Testament and the New Testament are historically documented in other books that are not part of the sixty-six books of what has become the accepted canon. Those who accept these other historical books found in the Apocrypha, as part of the biblical canon, have a Bible that possesses a record of events that took place during the intertestamental era, which affected the Israelite nation. But what is found in the prophecies of Daniel actually refers to events beyond what happened to Israel during the intertestamental period. One school of thought is that the following books were written in this period: Job, Jonah, Esther, Ecclesiastes, 1 Enoch, Tobit, Jubilees, Sirach, Daniel, 2 Maccabees, 1 Esdras, 1 Maccabees (Intertestamental Chronologies).
What happened during the years between Malachi and the birth of John the Baptist, whom Jesus referred to as Elijah who was to come, appears to have been of no account in respect to the purpose of God. For we find that in the last words of the book of Malachi that Elijah was to come and turn the hearts of the people towards God before the people who do not repent are smitten with a curse.
- “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5–6)
- And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” He replied, “Elijah does come, and he is to restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of man will suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist. (Mathew 17:10–13)
Plenty of things were happening around the globe during the period between the Old and the New Testaments. But these events had nothing to do with the purpose of God to bring about the salvation of mankind and the righteous judgment of the Evil One—along with those who reject the truth.
The Bible records the plan and purpose of God being wrought among men. Just because it is not written in the manner that a person might write a manifesto today, what is written is sufficient to sort the just from the unjust—those who desire the truth from those who prefer evil.
Since the last book of the prophets, Malachi, recorded the next event that was to take place in the purpose of God, there was no real need for documentation of the intertestamental period. This is the case, even though events that were to happen during that time are pointed to in the book of Daniel and recorded in the Apocrypha, during the Hellenization of Judah.
Malachi (4:5) States That The People Need To Remember The Law Given By Moses
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