My slides from the first day of Bible & Culture 2016: - introduction to the Old Testament prophets - introduction to the book of Daniel - starting to look at Daniel 1 See more about Bible and Culture at bibleandculture.org)

1. INTRODUCING
THE
PROPHETS
History
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

2. ‘‘
’’
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

3. 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. Mickelson
Interpreting 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?

4. 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

5. Warnings from Moses
e.g. Leviticus 26:27-39
Deuteronomy 28:49-68
Warnings from the prophets
e.g. Isaiah 3:1–9; 39:1–8
Habakkuk 1:5–17
Map: division of kingdom
931 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

6. Sargon II
(721–705)
© British Museum. Used by permission
Sennacherib
(704–681)
Assyrian Empire
around 700 BC
Esarhaddon
(680–669)
© Tony Watkins © Tony Watkins © Tony Watkins
© Tony Watkins © Tony Watkins
© British Museum. Used by permission

7. Assurbanipal
(668–627)
© British Museum. Used by permission © Wayne Robinson, used under a Creative Commons licence
© Tony Watkins
Assyrian Empire
around 640 BC
Babylon
Babylonian Empire
around 600 BC
Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 )
© British Museum. Used by permission
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 Chronicle
This segment covers
605-594 BC
• Battle of Carcemish
• Accession of
Nebuchadnezzar
• Appointment of
Zedekiah
• Judean exile
© British Museum. Used by permission

8. Babylon
© Antonio TwizShiz Edward, used under a Creative Commons licence
Babylon Babylon
© Antonio TwizShiz Edward, used under a Creative Commons licence
Babylon
© Antonio TwizShiz Edward, used under a Creative Commons licence
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

9. © 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

10. 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?

11. originally for listening to repetition fast pace
internal connections Plot sequence of scenes
scenes usually only have 2 characters
each scene must be read in the
context of the whole narrative
the big context is
God’s promises and intention

12. don’t focus on moral lessons plot = crisis and resolution
climax
setting
occasioning
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

13. 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
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