The best books on the inter-testament period and how to better understand the background of the New Testament

A deeper understanding about the history of a period can be gained by examining the coinage of that time. Coins were the billboards and TV commercials of ancient history. David Hendin is the world-renowned expert on Biblical and inter-testament coinage. He does an excellent job of showing multiple versions of each denomination (since ancient coin dies were never identical) and explaining their history as well. David was also kind enough to verify the authenticity of the coins I present in my book. He discovered that I had inadvertently acquired what I thought was a valuable coin (of Aristobulus I of the Hasmoneans), but it was actually an overstrike of a less-valuable coin (Alexander Jannaeus).

The Quest just makes you excited, particularly if you are going to visit Jerusalem after reading it. It lays out very convincing arguments for where the remains of ancient structures are in Jerusalem today, particularly regarding the Temple and Temple Mount. You can know with confidence as you walk on a given path on which Jesus may have tread. You will learn which blocks of the Temple Mount wall were laid during which periods of history. The book also clearly shows where the bends are in the walls that delineate the Temple Mount of Solomon’s time, the extension of the mount by the Hasmoneans, and the greatly-expanded Temple Mount of Herod the Great.

As Leen Ritmeyer has done for the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Yigael Yadin has done for the fortress of Masada in the Judean wilderness. Through the findings of his excavations of Masada from October 1963 to May 1964, he transports you back in time to when the defenders of Masada, the last holdout of the Jewish rebellion, held off the Roman military for a time in AD 73. When the Romans finally breached the fortress, all they found were dead bodies. The Jewish defenders chose to end their own lives and those of their families to escape being killed, tortured, or sold into slavery. Yadin also presents the history of the fortress back to its founding by the Hasmonean, Alexander Jannaeus. 

Our knowledge of Jewish history would be sorely lacking if not for Titus Flavius Josephus. Josephus was a Hellenistic Jew who lived from AD 37-100, just a few decades after the end of the inter-testament period. He was a leader of the Galilean rebels during the Jewish revolt against the Romans. When the Jews led by him were soundly defeated in AD 67 in the town of Jotapata, he appealed to Vespasian, the Roman commander at the time, to spare his life and not send him to the emperor, Nero, for enslavement.  Josephus predicted that Vespasian and his son, Titus, would both become emperors. In time, Josephus became a patron of Vespasian and a prolific historian of the time.

Although not a history of Rome, per se, in this topically-arranged book, it covers a vast amount of Roman history. This is an outstanding book into the details of Rome’s religion, geography, administration, travel, and economy. It gives deep insight into what it was like to be a Roman citizen, whether one was a pleb or a member of the aristocracy. It presents the government of Rome, from the consuls and emperors down to the level of magistrates and civil servants. Many aspects of the history and structure of Rome’s military are covered in detail, and the book shows how it transformed and adapted over the years of the republic and empire. For any questions on Roman society, this book likely covers it.