Bible and Culture 2016 – Introduction to the OT Prophets and Daniel

INTRODUCING THE

PROPHETSHistory

47%

Prophets 27%

Wisdom 26%

Parts of the OT

?What do you like about the Old Testament prophets?

What do you find hard about them?

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

?

barriers to

understanding

Language Geography

HistoryCulture

Religion

?How do . . .

• language • culture • geography • history • religion

. . . create barriers in our understanding of the Old Testament prophets?

?

The Prophets’ Function

‘‘’’

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

‘‘’’

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Matthew 5:17

‘‘’’

For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.

Matthew 11:13

‘‘’’

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Luke 24:27

not seeing the future

but speaking the word of YHWH

‘‘’’

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 expectations; 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

Calling people back

to the covenant

© Sputnik, used under a Creative Commons licence

Warning of judgment

© Bitzcelt, used under a Creative Commons licence

Promising restoration

© Sputnik, used under a Creative Commons licence

‘‘’’

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

The Prophets’ Focus

‘‘’’

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. MickelsonInterpreting the Bible, p. 287

Identifying Israel’s sin

Announcing judgment

Declaring God’s love for Israel

Announcing blessing

Anticipating the New Testament

the prophets’

focus

God extreme

holiness, wrath & grace

People extreme

disobedience

Judgment (apparently) total disaster

Blessing total peace

and joy

Fulfilment

New Testament

Promise

Old Testament

INTRODUCING DANIEL

Dating Daniel 6th century BC?

2nd century BC?‘‘

’’

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

J.J. Collins

How to approach Daniel

?What do we need to know before we can understand Daniel (or any other book of the Bible)?

?

Context

Genre

Structure

Content

Context

‘‘’’

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 III NIV Application Commentary: Daniel

‘‘’’

Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame – the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, both near and far, in all the countries where you have scattered us because of our unfaithfulness to you. . . . we have not obeyed the Lord our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. . . .

‘‘’’

. . . All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing on us great disaster.

Daniel 9:7–12

Warnings from Moses

e.g. Leviticus 26:27-39Deuteronomy 28:49-68

Warnings from the prophets

e.g. Isaiah 3:1–9; 39:1–8Habakkuk 1:5–17

Map: division of kingdom931 BC Israel

Israel

Judah

Assyria

Assyrian Empire around 823 BC

Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III (858–823)

© 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)

© Tony Watkins © Tony Watkins © Tony Watkins

© Tony Watkins © Tony Watkins


Assurbanipal (668–627)

© British Museum. Used by permission © Wayne Robinson, used under a Creative Commons licence

© Tony Watkins


Babylon

Babylonian Empire around 600 BC

Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 )


612 BC Nineveh falls to Babylon610 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 Chronicle This segment covers

605-594 BC • Battle of Carcemish • Accession of

Nebuchadnezzar • Appointment of

Zedekiah • Judean exile


Babylon

© Antonio TwizShiz Edward, used under a Creative Commons licence

Babylon Babylon


Babylon


Babylon gate

© Khalil Karim, used under a Creative Commons licence

Ishtar Gate

© Tony Watkins

‘‘’’

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

Jeremiah 51:7, NIV

Exile

Displacement

© UNHCR:ACNUR Américas, used under a Creative Commons licence

© IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation: Turkey, used under a Creative Commons licence

Cut off from home

© IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation: Turkey, used under a Creative Commons licence

‘‘’’

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’

Surrounded by pagan religion

© Tony Watkins

© Tony Watkins© Tony Watkins © Tony Watkins

‘‘’’

[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 Roux Ancient Iraq 3rd edition (Penguin, 1992)

Daniel 1 Genre

= type/style of writing

narratives: chapters 1–6 ‘court stories’

• 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

Hebrew Narrative• Why do you think there is so much narrative in the Bible?

• How are Hebrew narratives different from contemporary narratives?

originally for listening to repetition fast pace

internal connections Plot sequence of scenes

scenes usually only have 2 characterseach scene must be read in thecontext of the whole narrative

the big context isGod’s promises and intention

don’t focus on moral lessons plot = crisis and resolution

climax

settingoccasioning

incident

preliminary

incidents

rising tension

beginning of

resolution

outcome

conclusionresolution

Characters characters are not described in detail

pay attention to what they say and do Dialogue pay attention to when dialogue starts

pay attention to characters restating things

?Identify the scenes in Daniel 1.

What is the setting of each scene?

Who are the characters in each scene?

What do their actions and words reveal about them?

? Scene 1: Jerusalem (1–2)characters: Nebuchadnezzar and God

Scene 2: Babylon (3–10)characters: Daniel/friends and Ashpenaz

Scene 3: Babylon (11–17) characters: Daniel/friends & guard

Scene 4: King’s palace, 3 yrs later (18–21)characters: Daniel/friends and the king

www.tonywatkins.uk

Spiritual

Bible and Culture 2016 – Introduction to the OT Prophets and Daniel