The
intertestamental period is a Christian term for the gap of time between the period covered by the
Hebrew Bible and the period covered by the Christian
New Testament. Traditionally, it is considered to cover roughly four hundred years, spanning the ministry of
Malachi (c. 420 BC) to the appearance of
John the Baptist in the early
1st century AD, almost the same period as the
Second Temple period (530 BC to 70 AD).