Bible+Culture 2015: 1. Daniel intro

THE PROPHETS

?How do you feel about the Old Testament prophets?

What do you like about them?

What puts you off?

They have a queer way of talking, like people who, instead of proceeding in an orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next so that you cannot make heads or tails of them or see what they are getting at.

Martin Luther

?What aspects of the Old Testament prophets makes them difficult to understand?

barriers to

understanding

Language Geography

HistoryCulture

Religion

History 47%

Prophets 27%

Wisdom 26%

?Why do we have these books? What is their special contribution to the Bible?

‘‘’’

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. . . .

‘‘’’

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:19–21

‘‘’’

Whether he is discussing the past, present or future, the prophet is seeking to make God the most genuine reality that men can know and experience.

A.B. Mickelson‘Interpreting the Bible’, p. 287

the prophets’

focus

God extreme

grace & wrath

Humanity extreme

disobedience

Calamity apparently unlimited judgement

Prosperity unlimited

peace and joy

foretelling

forthtelling

‘‘’’

Prophecy is essentially a ministry of disclosure, a stripping bare. Israel’s great prophets do not merely lift the veil of the future in order to destroy false expect-ations; at the same time, they expose the conduct of their contemporaries. . . . Prophets tear the masks away and show the true face of the people behind them.

Hans Walter Wolff, ‘Confrontations’

The Word of YHWH

Calling people back to the covenant

Covenant enforcement

mediators(Fee and Stuart)

© Sputnik

Warning of judgment

© Bitzcelt, used under a Creative Commons licence

Promising restoration

© Sputnik

Identifying Israel’s sin

Announcing judgment

Declaring God’s love for Israel

Announcing blessing

‘‘’’

The ‘prophet in scripture takes on the role of gracious mediator. He stands between God and the people to deliver the word of the Lord. . . . The person of the prophet substitutes for the presence of Almighty God himself.’

O.P. Robertson, ‘The Christ of the Prophets’, p. 10

Fulfilment

NewTestament

Promise

OldTestament

DANIEL

WritingsKetuvim

ProphetsNevi’imProphetsHistory

Wisdom

History

LawPentateuch InstructionTorah

History

ProphetsProphets

Wisdom

Old Testament Tanak

Prophets

TorahLaw

KetuvimWritings

Former Prophets

TanakGenesis, Exodus, Leviticus,Numbers, Deuteronomy

Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings

Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Ruth, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, Lamentations, Esther, Daniel, Ezra–Nehemiah, Chronicles

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Book of the TwelveLatter Prophets

Dating Daniel

book implies 6th century BC origin

‘‘’’

On the whole, the Qumran discoveries provide powerful evidence of the antiquity of the textual tradition of the [Masoretic Text].

J.J. Collins

Understanding Daniel

danger of moralism

‘‘’’

It is dangerous to read the Old Testament in the light of the New before first reading the Old Testament in its original context. But it is equally incorrect for a Christian to neglect to read the Old in the fuller light of the New Testament.

Tremper Longman IIINIV Application Commentary: Daniel

Context

Genre

Structure

Content

Context

Warnings from Moses

e.g. Leviticus 26:27-39

Warnings from the prophets

e.g. Isaiah 3:1–9; 39:1–8

931 BC Israel

Israel

Judah

Assyria

Shalmaneser III

Assyrian Empire around 823 BC

Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser

© British Museum. Used by permission

Tiglath-pileser III ((743–726)

© Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin, used under a Creative Commons licence

Shalmaneser V (726–722)

722 BC

Judah

Sargon II(721–705)


Sennacherib (704–681)

Esarhaddon (680–669)

©

Assurbanipal (668–627)


Babylon

Nebuchadnezzar II (634-562 )


Babylonian Empire around 600 BC

612 BC Nineveh falls to Babylon

610 BC Babylonians take Haran

609 BC Josiah killed; Egyptians install Jehoiakim as king

605 BC Baylonians triumph at Carchemish; Judah under Babylonian control

601 BC Jehoiakim rebelled

597 BC King Jehoiachin exiled; Mattaniah made king (as Zedekiah)

586 BC Fall of Jerusalem; Zedekiah exiled

Babylonian ChronicleThis segment covers 605-594 BC• Battle of Carcemish• Accession of

Nebuchadnezzar• Appointment of

Zedekiah • Judean exile


Babylon

Ishtar Gate

‘‘’’

Babylon was a gold cup in the Lord ’s hand; she made the whole earth drunk.

Jeremiah 51:7, NIV

‘‘’’

Exile was not simply displacement from the land, but it was the experience of the end of creation, the exhaustion of salvation history, the demise of king, temple, city, land and all those supports which gave structure and meaning to life.

Walter Breuggemann, ‘Weariness, Exile and Chaos’

‘‘’’

[Babylon] covered an area of some 850 hectares, contained, we are told, 1,179 temples of various sizes, and while its normal population is estimated at about 100,000, it could have sheltered a quarter of a million people, if not more.

Georges RouxAncient Iraq 3rd edition (Penguin, 1992)

Themes

difficulties forGod’s people

faithfulness

survival

God’s sovereignty

‘‘’’

Only God is truly sovereign, and He will establish His eternal kingdom. . . . [This theme] provides coherence for the entire book of Daniel.

Les Bruce

values

narratives: chapters 1–6

‘court tales’

• The king faces a problem he cannot solve• The king’s sages fail to resolve it• The hero is called in and succeeds• The hero is rewarded

redemptive-historical narrative

prophetic visions: chs. 7–12

apocalyptic literature

‘‘’’

Even though there is a dramatic contrast in genre between the two halves of the book, . . . the overall message of the book is uniform: In spite of present appearances, God is in control.

Tremper Longman III

www.tonywatkins.uk

Bible+Culture 2015: 1. Daniel intro

Spiritual

Transcript of Bible+Culture 2015: 1. Daniel intro