I’ve said a few times that if Christians in America ever experience more explicit, intense persecution, we will rediscover the true meaning and purpose of the biblical prophetic literature.
It was interesting to read a similar thought from Jennifer Dines concerning the “prophetic gap.” If the Pentateuch was translated in the mid-second century B.C.E. and the prophetic books began to be translated in the mid-second century, as many think, then what’s up with the 100 year gap? Dines reasons,
The third century had been a relatively stable time, but the second century was marked by power struggles between the Ptolemies and Seleucids and, for Jews, by the Maccabean Revolt and its consequences. It was a time of turmoil, uncertainty and conflicting loyalties, both within and without Judaism (cf. Wevers 1988: 29). Perhaps a need was felt for the old prophets to speak to a new generation, and this led to their rediscovery, their updating and, in Greek-speaking Judaism, their translation. Perhaps the prophetic message had not seemed so pressing in the third century. This is speculative, but the time-lapse requires explanation.
Jennifer Mary Dines, The Septuagint (T&T Clark, 2004), 50.
Brian W. Davidson 