OT Tuesday: Daniel and the 70 weeks

It's been years since the destruction of Jerusalem, and Daniel did a little research when Darius took over Babylon. Danial discovered that Jeremiah recorded that God promised the desolation of Jerusalem would only last 70 years. Those 70 years were drawing to a close and Danial was wondering how God would restore Jerusalem. God has revealed to Daniel the future of world empires that have yet to be dreamed about, but Jerusalem and her temple lay in ruins and the population of Judah was still captive in Babylon, Daniel wants to know about his hometown. 

So in Daniel 9:3 he began to pray, he fasted and wore sack cloth and ashes and began his prayer with confessing the sins of Israel to God. Daniel's confession of sin is in Daniel 9:4-15, he finishes his prayer begging God to restore Jerusalem, the temple, and His people as promised to Jeremiah. As Daniel prayed the angel Gabriel came to him again while he was praying and said “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding." and told Daniel that when Daniel started his prayers God commanded him to go to Daniel and explain God's plan for Israel. And with that Gabriel gave Daniel a vision that has been discussed, reviewed, studied, argued over, and prayed over ever since. 

O.T. Tuesday - Daniel Shifts To Hebrew

As we head into chapter 8 of the book of Daniel we find that Daniel has shifted from writing in Aramaic to writing in Hebrew. Aramaic is sort of a universal language among the Semitic people. In 500 BC Darius made Aramaic the lingua franca of the vast Persian empire, so we can safely assume that chapters 1 through 7 of the Book of Daniel were intended for widespread distribution while the following chapters, 8 thorough 12, are intended solely for the Jewish people as they are written in Hebrew. The first seven chapters begins and ends with the subject of the four nations: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Now Daniel changes language and subjects. 

Chapter 8 opens with Daniel having another vision. The date is 551 BC, Nebuchadnezzar has died and his son Nabonidus is king of Babylon. However Nabonidus has moved to Arabia and left Babylon in the hands of is incompetent son Belshazzar. The time of Daniel's vision is the third year of Belshazzar's reign, about 2 years after the vision of Chapter 7, and just before the fall of Babylon.

O.T. Tuesday: Vision of the Four Beasts

The first six chapters of Daniel were a brief rundown of the history of Daniel's life. Now we are going to see the prophesys that God gave Daniel. The first one we see is in chapter 7 which chronologically falls between chapter 5 and chapter 6. In his sleep Daniel was given a vision which he describes as: 

² Daniel said, “I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. ³ And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. ⁴ The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it. ⁵ And behold, another beast, a second one, resembling a bear. And it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, ‘Arise, devour much meat!’ ⁶ After this I kept looking, and behold, another one, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. ⁷ After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. ⁸ While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts. (Daniel 7:2-9)

The coolest thing about this vision is that it's similar to the one given to Nebuchadnezzar years ago in Daniel 2:31-36, now Daniel is seeing it himself, but it's presented in a whole new light.

OT Tuesday: Herding Cats

The Medes and Persians are now in charge of Babylon, and the king of Persia, Cyrus, appointed a new boss, Darius (also known in historical documentation as Gubaru) who appointed 120 satraps (provincial governors) to rule over the territories of Babylon. Over them Darius placed three commissioners that the satraps would be accountable to. One of those commissioners was Daniel.

It appears that Darius had heard of Daniel's interpretation of the handwriting on the wall and his appointment by Belshazzar as co-ruler of Babylon and appointed him to this group of commissioners. By now Daniel is an old man with a good spirit and a close relationship with God, and Darius saw that Daniel was trustworthy and loyal and planned to place him in charge of the entire kingdom of Babylon. This, of course, made the other commissioners and satraps jealous and they tried to dig up dirt on the old prophet but they couldn't find a single thing they could accuse him of. They found him to be as faithful and incorruptable as Darius had found him, which angered them even more.

Then these men said, “We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.” (Daniel 5:6)

OT Tuesday: The Vision of the Tree

As I read chapter Daniel 4 it appears to me that the chapter is structured with a decree from Nebuchadnezzar at the beginning, then a parenthetical synopsis of the events in the middle, and then the chapter ends with the completion of the decree. So that's how I'm going to go through this chapter. To me at least this is the most logical way of of looking at this chapter, it  just doesn't make sense to me any other way. So if someone out there has another, more accurate or logical, way of interpreting this chapter PLEASE clue me in!

So here we go: At the beginning of Chapter 4 of the Book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar sends out a decree to his entire kingdom, he greets his people then says

² It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. ³ How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation. (Daniel 4:2-3)

At first I noticed that Nebuchadnezzar's attitude toward God had changed, in previous chapters  Nebuchadnezzar considered God just another god in a huge collection of gods, it was like he was humoring Daniel when he was talking about God. Even after the furnace incident Nebuchadnezzar considered God just another god. But now he's seeing God as the most high God and marveling at His great and mighty wonders. What happened to change Nebuchadnezzar's mind about God? That's what Chapter 4 is all about. 

OT Tuesday: Bow or Burn

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, the height of which was sixty cubits (ninety feet) and its width six cubits (nine feet); he set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon. (Daniel 3:1)

No one is really sure why Nebuchadnezzar created the image of gold, some say it is a representation of the statue he saw in his dream and that building the statue in 100% gold was an act of defiance, proclaiming his own power. Remember that the dream was interpreted that the gold head of the statue was the Babylonian empire, and that the parts of the statue made of silver, brass, iron, and clay were other empires. By creating the entire statue in gold Nebuchadnezzar was proclaiming that his empire would last forever. 

In addition Nebuchadnezzar then proclaimed that when the people heard all kinds of music played by horn, flute, lyre (a harp), trigon (triangular bell), psaltery (ancient autoharp/banjo kind of thing), and bagpipe they were to stop, drop, and worship the statue. But...

But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire.” (Daniel 3:6)

And when the king says bow down and worship, you bow down and worship. That is unless you worship the true God whose very first commandment is "You shall have no other gods before me" which poses a problem for the Jews that Babylon had in bondage. They could bow, or they could burn. Some chose to burn.

OT Tuesday: Dreams and Visions

In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign he had a dream that was most puzzling and very upsetting to Nebuchadnezzar. In the middle east/southwest Asia dreams were highly regarded and the interpretation of dreams was big business for magicians and astrologers. However with Nebuchadnezzar they had a big problem - Nebuchadnezzar couldn't remember a single detail of this very puzzling and disturbing dream. He told his servants "Tell me my dream" to which they replied "Tell us your dream and we'll interpret it for you." Nebuchadnezzar wasn't buying any of that

⁵ The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. ⁶ But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.” (Daniel 2:5-6)

The magicians were stalling for time, probably looking for a graceful exit that would allow them to keep their heads attached but the argument went back and forth, the king demanding 'tell me my dream and interpret it for me' and the magicians saying 'sure, just tell us your dream first, then we'll interpret it for you' The king and the magicians went back and forth for some time until Nebuchadnezzar settled the argument with the Royal Compromise: "Off with their heads"

OT Tuesday: Daniel - No Compromises

When we last saw our hero Daniel he and his friends were captured, enslaved, and dragged off to Babylon, where they were being trained to become a translators and liaisons for King Nebuchadnezzar's court. Daniel and his friends were given new names, Daniel was named Belteshazzar, Hananiah became Shadrach, Mishael became Meshach; and Azariah became Abednego.

The boys were captured and entered into training on lanugages and protocol on King Nebuchadnezzar's orders:

³ Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, ⁴ youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king’s court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. (Daniel 1:3-4)

 Nebuchadnezzar wanted these boys to be court servants, to translate between Babylonian and Hebrew for the king so he could communicate with his new subjects. Taking "some of the royal family and of the nobles" was a time honored tradition and a good move, as these kids are now hostages. The Israeli royal family and nobles are not going to start an uprising against Nebuchadnezzar when he's holding their sons. Normally these hostages are treated very well, they are prisoners but they're also valuable so they're treated properly so not to antagonize their families back home. Nebuchadnezzar ordered that Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be well treated and well fed, and this became the first condition that Daniel refused to obey.

OT Tuesday: Daniel, a Meandering Introduction

In 722 BC the ten northern tribes of Israel had been taken into captivity by the Assyrians leaving only the south of Israel, Judah, free. In 606 BC King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylonia invaded and conquered Judah and took all the vessels from the temple, he deported the healthiest of the Jews back to Babylonia to be slaves. Judah was left a vassal state, her king Jehoiakim was killed thrown off the walls of the palace, his son Jeconiah succeeded him but only lasted a few months followed by Zedekiah, who was just  a figurehead in reality. Meanwhile Egyptian pharaoh Hophra wanted to protect his eastern borders from Babylonian attack entered into a treaty with Zedekiah and sent Egyptian troops to Jerusalem. 

King Nebuchadnezzar II found out that his vassal state, Judah, had signed a treaty with his enemy, Egypt, and dispatched troops to Jerusalem. The Babylonian troops lay siege to Jerusalem for eighteen months, and eventually broke into the city destroying everything including the Egyptian troops. The temple was destroyed, the city walls torn down, the city was ransacked and burned, and King Zedekiah was hunted down like a dog. Zedekiah and his family was eventually captured and dragged off to the Babylonian encampment at Riblah. There Zedekiah watched his sons and other Jewish princes be slain, and to insure that this was the last sight Zedekiah would ever see, Nebuchadnezzar had Zedekiah's eyes gouged out then allowed Zedekiah to live.

OT Tuesday: Towering Confusion

A while ago God got really fed up with us people and decided to clean house, so to speak. So the entire world experienced a rinse cycle the likes of which have never been seen before or since. Slowly the waters receded and the sons of Noah began to replenish the earth.

As we know, Jesus likes little kids (Matthew 19:14) and that's because God does too, on more than one occasion He commanded us to go out and have lots of babies (Genesis 9:7) for him to love. Several times God told us to "Go forth and multiply", because he wanted mankind to spread over the earth he built for us

So humans being humans we thought we had a better idea, we got together and decided to build a town:

³ They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. ⁴ They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth. (Genesis 11:4-5)

Lots of people believe that the idea of building a tower that will reach to heaven is the sin of Babel but that may not be so... 

OT Tuesday: Judging Barak

The fledgling country of Israel crossed the Jordan and continued on with taking up their claim in the promised land. The tribe of Judah lead the fight against the Canaanites and the Perizzites winning a huge battle at Bezek capturing the king Adoni-bezek. Adoni-bezek had a habit of cutting off the thumbs and big toes of the kings he conquered before he made them serve him, and Israel gave Adoni-bezek a taste of his own medicine. Adoni-bezek eventually died in Jerusalem, thumbless.

The tribe of Judah conquored the cities of Jerusalem, Zepath, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron. The tribe of Joseph attacked and took Bethel, many great battles took place. Unfortunately all wasn't going well for the Israelites, they were falling into the sinful ways of their enemies, and suddenly the Angel of the Lord appeared before them and said

“I brought you up out of Egypt and led you into the land I swore to give to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you, ² and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? ³ And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’” (Judges 2:1-3)

Remember who I said that the Angel of the Lord was? 

OT Tuesday: Jesus Loved The Old Testament

Many times I've heard it said that we don't need to study the Old Testament because it's Old, everything we need to know is in the New Testament. That's sort of like saying "I'm trying to emulate Sir Isaac Newton, I don't need to know anything about math or physics."

Jesus loved the Old Testament and quoted it quite often, and why not? It is the law, it is the story of God's chosen people, it is His autobiography. Throughout His ministry on Earth, Jesus quoted the Old Testament and taught from the scriptures always confirming its accuracy and authenticity. Jesus Himself stated bluntly not to ignore the Old Testament nor because the messiah is here do not think that it was replaced:

17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18)

OT Tuesday: The Promise of Jesus

Ignore Rick Warren, he teaches his minions that they should not read bible prophecy, it's kind of like telling someone to read 'Lord of the Rings' but ignore the bits with hobbits and elves and dwarves. If you read the bible from the start, you're barely three chapters in before God gives us his first prophecy that pretty much gives away the ending of the book. In a passage directed toward Satan He says;

¹⁵ And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise (or crush) you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

What He told Satan is that Satan will be able to injure a certain descendant of Eve but that descendant will destroy Satan. And, of course, God was right. Satan was able to convince his followers to kill Jesus, who ruined Satan's plans by returning from the dead, the rest of the smackdown is yet to come prophesied throughout the bible. That's just the start of prophesy after prophesy fulfilled perfectly with many more yet to be fulfilled perfectly, terribly, and gloriously. 

OT Tuesday: Fun With Science

Warning: Contains Science. Read with care.

It's not a far stretch to say that there's better science being taught in Sunday School than there is in Public School. For one thing, Sunday School doesn't have to worry about political correctness, and for another the bible has a much longer track record of accuracy and consistency than the standard 6th grade text book. Looking back on what I was taught in middle school, just about everything has changed in one form or another while the Bible remains constant.

Of course the Bible has it's detractors who tend to be vocal in their dismissal of God's word. Anytime the truth conflicts with what is convenient or fun people will go out of their way to try to tear down the truth and replace it with what feels good. I recently saw an "educated" criticism of the scientific content of the bible summed up by stating in effect "How can you take the science in the Bible seriously when it was written by people who thought that all animals were within walking distance from Noah's ark?" This was written by someone whose ancestors at that time believed that the world was flat and rested on the back of a giant turtle. 

Of course when discussing science in the Bible eventually the myth of evolution will rear it's ugly head. Yes, I said myth. Unlike actual science, evolution cannot be observed, tested, or repeated, nor is there proof that it actually exists such as transitory examples in the fossil record (fish with feet, dogs with wings, etc). Evolution is based upon faith alone, and unlike biblical faith, the myth of evolution has no historical basis to add emphasis to that faith.  What history the myth of evolution does have is peppered with fraud, disinformation, and undisguised racism. One of the original tenants of evolution was to prove that blacks weren't human. (source)

But science, real science, is there in the Bible to be pondered and marveled, and why not? God invented science. 

OT Tuesday: Bathing Beauty

What could a girl do? Raised near the center of power in Jerusalem, Bathsheba was the daughter of Eliam, one of the king's "Thirty", his mightiest warriors. In fact she had married one of the Thirty, Uriah. Bathsheba was raised with power, she understood power, and in ancient times power was something of which  women did not have very much. But they did have some...

The fact that Bathsheba's husband Uriah was one of David's prize mighty men probably meant that they were fairly well off, as evidenced by the fact that they lived right next to King David's palace. Close enough in fact that when she took a bath, the mighty king was able to get an eyeful. History doesn't record if Bathsheba knew that the King had eyes for her (especially around bath time) but there is no evidence that Bathsheba was stupid. She was raised among military men with high political power and was probably a guest in the palace on more than one occasion, so when David's servants came to Bathsheba and invited her up to the King's chambers for "a chat", and considering the fact that the King had sent his troops to war, including her husband, Bathsheba probably knew what the topic of conversation was going to be. 

OT Tuesday: Golddigger or Lady of Faith?

The time of Judges was a tumultuous time in the nation of Israel, people were doing pretty much what ever they want, there was no centralized government and the law of the land (the Mosaic Law) was being obeyed only by the most devout. When things got real bad God would appoint a Judge to straighten things out, but the peace and order that the Judges actions brought rarely lasted. During this period a very bad famine spread across Judea. The famine was so bad that an Israelite family;  Elimelech his wife Naomi, and sons Mahlon and Chilion, move to Moab to escape starving.

While there in Moab Elimelch died and Naomi was left with her two sons who supported her. Eventually Mahlon and Chilion took wives as it was not forbidden for Jewish men to marry Moabite women. Mahlon married Ruth and Chilion married Orpah and they lived in Moab for 10 years. Then tragedy struck: both of Naiomi's sons Mahlon and Chilion  died. In these ancient days this is a tragedy of the worst kind. Very similar to custom in today's middle east, women didn't work outside of the house. Husbands provided for their wives, and sons provided for their widowed mothers. Now these three women were without any form of support. in Ruth 1:8-13 Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem and told her daughters-in-law to return to their families, which Orpah did, but in a display of love and devotion Ruth pledged herself to Naomi and to God. 

¹⁶ But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. ¹⁷ Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” (Ruth 1:16-17)

OT Tuesday: And the Walls Come 'a Tumblin Down

Last week on Old Testament Tuesday we discussed how Joshua had men scout the city of Jericho and with the aid of the harlot Rahab the scouts were able to bring valuable information back to the Israelites. 

Now the Israelite army is lined up at Jericho, a large city surrounded by a double ring of walls, the outer ring was 6 feet wide, the inner ring was 12 feet wide. Jericho was built on the top of a hill so it could only be taken by an army waging an uphill battle, which in the bronze age was tantamount to suicide. To take a city like Jericho the normal method would be to place the city under siege: surround the city with your army and block all traffic in and out, in essence to starve them out. A typical siege could last for months, or even years. However God had the fall of Jericho scheduled to happen in a week. 

After Joshua insured that everyone was circumcised and ready for battle (Joshua 5:2-8) and after Joshua had a little chat with Jesus (Joshua 5:13-15) (and look here if you missed it) God laid out his battle plan:

OT Tuesday: Shady Lady of Jericho

(Note: with the heavy events of the past few days weighing on my mind; the pope resigning, the North Koreans detonating a nuclear device they built with technology given them by the Clinton administration, I decided instead of writing about the Psalm 83 war as I had intended, I would write about something a bit lighter. A prostitute.)

It was a tough time for for the Israelites as they stood on the border of their new homeland. There were many obstacles in their way and the first of them was the town of Jericho. Their leader Moses was gone, and he was the only leader the Israelites ever knew. Every single Israelite who had known anything except endless wandering in the wilderness was gone, it was now time to settle down.

As the Israelites camped by the Jordan river at a place called Shittim, their leader, Joshua, decided a little intel was in order so he had two men cross over the Jordan and scout out the land “especially Jericho.” he ordered them. So they went to see a prostitute and hung out at her house. You may think - 'Hey, after wandering the wilderness for forty years a little R&R may be in order' - but you'd be wrong. Joshua was an awesome commander, he didn't send Privates Sad Sack and Snafu into town for some time with the ladies, he sent men who knew what they were doing. 

OT Tuesday: Nehushtan - Snake on a Stick

Have you ever been on a long trip where things just go from bad to worse? The journey where Moses led God's chosen people to the promised land should have taken just a matter of months, maybe a few years at the outside at a good walking pace, but due to internal bickering and quarreling it dragged on so long that with the exception of Joshua, no one who started the journey was able to end it.

After traveling 'way south through the Sinai peninsula, Moses had led his people back north to Kadesh where they met up with well marked roads which would make the journey easier. They sent out envoys to the nation of Edom and asked permission to pass through Edom on their way to the promised land but Edom denied them passage through their land threatening attack if the Israelites trespassed on their land.

Defeated, the Israelites headed south. Moses was probably in a pretty bad mood to begin with. First, his wife Miriam had died at Kadesh, and if that wasn't enough he was told by God that he would not enter the promised land for having not followed God's instruction at Meribah (Numbers 20:1-13). Now they have to avoid the land of Edom, what more could happen? Well, for one thing, Moses' brother Aaron died. He was buried on Mount Hor and his position of High Priest was transferred to his son  Eleazar. What more could happen?

Snakes, that's what. 

OT Tuesday: Tamar, Woman of Action

You're reading along in Genesis, and starting to delve into the story of Joseph in Chapter 37. You read of his brother's jealousy and how they leave Joseph in the pit to die, when Joseph's older brother Judah says "Hey - let's not kill him, let's just sell him into slavery where he'll have a miserable life and die in bondage." to which his brothers say "Cool!" and return to the pit only to find Joseph gone. Then suddenly the narrative in the bible veers so sharply to the side that you can hear the tires squealing.

In Chapter 38 the focus now shifts to highlight Judah, and Joseph is forgotten for a time. (Don't worry, Joseph is doing fine and living in Chapter 39) Judah starts chapter 38 by departing from his brothers having dispatched Joseph, and he settles down for a bit of family life. He married a Canaanite woman named Shua and with her he had three sons; Er, Onan, and Shelah. Judah found a wife for his oldest son Er who's name spelled backwards in Hebrew means "Evil". And evil he was, for is verse 7 the Lord gets rid of him:

 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life.