The intertestamental period is often referred to as the "400 years of silence," in the sense that God appeared to be silent (although of course He was still working). We can learn a lot about this period from history books, but the reason that there's nothing on it in the Bible is that there was no prophets, or special revelation, or miracles, or the like- again, the Lord was "silent."

The Apocrapha (the un-inspired, and sometimes errant, extra few books that the catholics use in their bible) contain some information on this period, like the books 1 and 2 Maccabees. Again, information like this is fascinating, and gives us an extremely rich understanding of the background for Christ's appearance, but it's not inspired in any way, and is clearly outside the scope of material that the Bible, as God's special revelation to us, is chiefly concerned about.

Hope that makes sense...

Last edited by Henry; Wed Jul 21, 2004 9:13 AM.
(Latin phrase goes here.)