The key link that completely connects the Old and New Testaments,
Meet the Second Temple

The Second Temple period refers to the period from the rebuilding of the Temple in 516 BC to its destruction by the Romans in 70 AD.
This period, often referred to by the vague term "intertestamental period," has been dismissed as a background to the New Testament or a story outside the Bible.
However, the Second Temple period was a culmination of the completion of the Old Testament and the cohesion of Old Testament faith, and a turbulent period of struggle to preserve the essence of faith among powerful empires.


Old Testament scholar Kim Geun-ju has covered this vast period through meticulous and diligent research.
In a world where the Old and New Testaments seem disconnected, the Second Temple period holds the key to correcting distorted perspectives and bridging the gap.

Expressions like “intertestamental period” make us think that the Old and New Testaments are completely separate.
In the early first century AD, when Jesus lived and ministered, not a single line of the New Testament existed.
It wasn't even there in the mid-first century AD when Paul experienced his conversion and traveled throughout the Mediterranean world.
Although Paul wrote several letters, it cannot be said that these letters achieved the status of 'Scripture' comparable to the Old Testament in their time.
So, was the early to mid-first century AD the Old Testament era or the New Testament era? Given the countless citations, interpretations, and applications of Old Testament texts in the Gospels, wouldn't it be more plausible to say that Jesus Christ lived based on the Old Testament?
--- From the "Preface"

A much clearer and more substantial expression than the vague expression of 'intertestamental period', which has no beginning or end, is 'the Second Temple period'.
With the fall of Jerusalem, Solomon's Temple was destroyed, and a second temple, the Second Temple, was built by returnees from captivity (516 BC).
And this temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD and has not been rebuilt since.
The kingdom of David, a symbol of God's choice, grace, and promise, the destroyed Temple in Jerusalem, and the experience of God's people being taken into captivity had a profound impact on the faith and life of ancient Israel.
Even if a country prospered in ancient times, when it falls, its religious system also disappears or is absorbed into the religion of a powerful country.
Surprisingly, ancient Israel did not abandon their faith in Yahweh with the destruction, but rather understood and interpreted the destruction as an event that occurred according to Yahweh's will.
And in this way, they began to critically reflect on the past and collect, organize, and compile the religious traditions that had been passed down to them.
Therefore, the early period of the Second Temple period was the period when the Old Testament, which contained the religious traditions of ancient Israel, was finally formed, edited, and completed.
Although the nation disappeared, the Old Testament, a compilation of ancient religious traditions, was formed.
--- From the "Preface"

It seems very inappropriate to treat this period under the name of the 'intertestamental period'.
This term is always used when discussing the Second Temple period as a background to the New Testament or the Christian faith.
However, the content that the New Testament testifies to and proclaims continues from the waiting of the Second Temple, and that waiting is difficult to separate from the proclamations of the Old Testament prophets and the laws of the Pentateuch.
The Second Temple period is not merely the background of the New Testament, but rather the period in which Old Testament faith was consolidated through the formation of the Old Testament. It is also during this period that the Qumran community, New Testament Christianity, and Rabbinic Judaism emerged and formed. Therefore, it is clear that viewing this period solely as the "background history of the New Testament" is an extremely simplistic perspective.
--- From the "Introduction"

This conflict in the Old Testament cannot be adequately described as a 'contradiction.'
This is because the essence of a particular concept or system is revealed through the coexistence of seemingly opposing and conflicting views.
The Second Temple period was a time when this diversity or pluralism was accepted and preserved.
--- From "Chapter 2 Persian Period: The Formation of the Old Testament 2"

While Rabbinic Judaism, through the Pharisees, focused on a literal understanding of the law, early Christianity, through Jesus and Paul, could be said to have firmly adhered to the Old Testament law but advanced to become a world religion through symbolic reinterpretation.
This path is not entirely new; it is one that was already taken by countless Jews living in the diaspora and in the Jewish homeland during the Second Temple period.
--- From "Chapter 4 Antiochus IV and the Radical Hellenization Reform: Legalism and the Formation of Apocalypse"

It is noteworthy that marriage, the Sabbath and other festivals, the temple and its purification regulations were the topics of debate and the cause of division among the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes.
The debate is always limited to 'what external signs to observe'.
Instead of a just life, the seasons have become the subject of debate.
And ‘being with strangers’ is part of the essence of a ‘just life.’
In this respect, Christianity and Judaism, which have engaged in theological debates since then, are not much different from the situation during the Second Temple.
It has become too distant from everyday life, and has made everyday life too religious, so it has become distant from actual everyday life.
--- From "Chapter 5: The Hasmonean Dynasty: The Formation of Judaism"

The Apocrypha, regardless of whether it is canonical or not, has long been read as books that benefit the faith.
Today, Christians spend time reading devotional books and derive spiritual benefit from them.
From this perspective, the Apocrypha may still be the most valuable devotional books today.
--- From "Chapter 7 Apocrypha: Content and Significance"

The Second Temple period was truly a time when communities constantly formed books, books transformed communities, and books were formed as a result of those changes, a time when books, communities, and reality were intertwined.
In this respect, the books that expressed the faith of ancient Israel were not 'closed books' but rather 'open books'.
Since the Reformation, the canon has become an unchangeable fixed concept, and attempts to change it today are entirely futile, but at least Second Temple Judaism was an open system in which reality, books, and interpretive communities influenced each other.

--- From "Chapter 7 Apocrypha: Content and Significance"