Prophetic Perspective

Joel 3

            As Joel wraps up his prophecy, he looks forward to a day of judgment on Israel’s enemies and a day of restoration. This makes a good time to comment on what is called prophetic perspective. Joel is seeing a locust infestation, but he can see indistinctly meaning beyond that initial crisis. He likens those locusts to an invading army—whether that’s the Assyrians or the Babylonians or some other army, who knows. But the locusts are clearly a foreshadowing of something greater, which Joel summarizes as the day of the Lord. And as we read on, we see that the day of the Lord is greater than even the defeat of Israel’s enemies. He talks of multitudes gathered for judgment and the darkening of the skies. We can see in that a foreshadowing of the last day. Joel probably doesn’t see all of that, but the words which the Lord inspires him to utter contain all of that.

A Locust Hoard and the Day of the Lord

Joel 1-2

            Joel’s prophecy focuses on the devastation caused by a locust hoard. If 1: 4 is to be taken literally, it might have even been a succession of locust hoards. Some suggest a drought also afflicted Israel.

            Joel uses these natural disasters as an opportunity to call Israel to repentance. They are a foreshadowing of the day of the Lord, a day of destruction for Israel (1:15), “a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness” (2:2). Notice in 2:4-9 how Joel likens them to soldiers and how in 2:20 he refers to the locusts as “the northern horde.” Both Assyria and Babylon, while technically northeast and due east respectively, would have invaded from the north.

            This notion that disasters in the present are foreshadowings of God’s end-time judgment is important. Sometimes we want to know what present evil has occurred to occasion our troubles, but Joel offers an alternative explanation: they are reminders that the Lord will eventually judge a fallen world.

            Significantly, Joel prophesies that the Lord’s judgment is not His final word. He has a new age in store (2:28-32), a passage Peter quotes in connection to Pentecost (Acts). Peter’s appropriation of Joel 2 reminds us Christians that we already live in that new age through faith and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Out of the Blue?

Hosea 13

            After 13 verses detailing Ephraim’s arrogance and the Lord’s threats against her, like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, comes verse 14, “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?” In one way, it makes no sense, especially since the words of judgment pick up again in verse 15.

            So, it is possible, and many commentators argue for it and some modern translations do it, to translate verse 14 as rhetorical questions, “Shall I deliver this people? Shall I redeem them?” One commentator puts it this way, “This would be like a judge saying, ‘Shall I let this prisoner go? Executioner, where is your axe? I will not have pity.’” It makes a lot more sense contextually!

            On the other hand, in his great chapter on the resurrection, Paul quotes this verse about the defeat of death (1 Corinthians 15:55). So, Paul, at least, took it as a promise not a threat.

            What if it’s both? What if the original reader is supposed to read the question, “Shall I deliver?” and think, “Well, the Lord would certainly be in His rights not to deliver! He’s made an airtight case for the unfaithfulness of Israel. Exile was the long-threatened punishment for breaking the covenant. Israel certainly has it coming.” But what if the ambiguity is supposed to move them further so that they say, “On the other hand, the Lord promises that His anger will not burn forever, that He delights in mercy, and that He has purposes for Israel that are not yet fulfilled. Maybe there is yet hope.”

            As C.F.W. Walthers directs, “Do not hold forth with the Law too long; let the Gospel follow promptly. When the law has made the iron to flow, apply the Gospel immediately to shape it into a proper form; if the iron is allowed to cool, nothing can be done with it” (The Proper Distinction, Lecture 39).

Out of Egypt

Hosea 11-12

            Matthew plucks Hosea 11:1 out of the Old Testament and applies it to the Holy Family escaping from Herod’s assault on the infants of Bethlehem by fleeing to Egypt and their return to Nazareth (Matthew 2:13-23). On the surface, Matthew seems to choosing a verse that has very little to do with the story at hand. I mean, in Hosea 11, the bringing out of Israel is followed by a recitation of their persistent disobedience. By I think Matthew is making a deliberate contrast: Israel was called out of Israel and became disobedient in the wilderness, but in Matthew 3, Jesus, who obediently came out of Israel, submits to John’s baptism and takes up a vocation of righteousness. Hosea is setting up the next two chapters of God’s love for Israel and Israel’s scorning of the love. Matthew is showing Jesus to be everything Israel was supposed to have been, the fulfillment of the Lord’s plans through that people.

            Which brings us to 11:8ff… Here the Lord demonstrates His heart. He loves Israel so much that He struggles with having to discipline them as they need to be disciplined. I talk often about the difference between God’s alien work and His proper work. God’s alien work, the work that is not natural for Him, is the work of punishment. No parent wants to punish their child, but sometimes a child’s disobedience forces a parent to it. So, too, with the Lord. Indeed, the Lord is the best of fathers, and His proper work, the work that reflects His deepest being, is to bless and care for us.

            Why doesn’t the Lord’s love just overturn all punishment? Because Israel (and we!) continue to resist. In chapter 12:4, especially, we see it. Israel’s forefather was named Jacob, but from the womb and well into adult life, he resisted the Lord’s claim on his life. Famously, he wrestled the angel on the banks of the Jabbok (Genesis 32:22-32). There’s a complexity to our relationship to the Lord. Having given us our own agency, we are free to resist Him, to wrestle with Him, and we do. The Lord’s love is steadfast and while He disciplines us when we disobey, His love endures forever. Consider Hosea 12:9: “I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, as in the days of your appointed festivals.” He doesn’t give up on Israel, and He doesn’t give up on us.

What Does This Mean for Us?

Hosea 9-10

            You know, sometimes I read the prophets and it just strikes me, “This is still God’s Word.” I mean, it’s not like it only applied 2700 years ago in the specific instance of Israel and her disregarding of the covenant the Lord made with her. Now, if you’ve ever sat in one of my Bible studies, you know that you have to be careful with the way that you bring it forward and apply, but it does still apply.

            What do these condemnations have to say to us? First, let’s remember that the Lord never completely abandoned His project with Israel. He did indeed fulfill the promises He made that through her all the peoples of the earth would be blessed. By the time that promise is fulfilled, there’s really only one truly faithful Israelite, namely, Jesus, but He did achieve His purpose. The Lord still promises today that His church will endure, that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So, we have that assurance, even if there are only 7000 left (1 Kings 19:18), the church will endure and the Lord’s purposes through it—to bring the good news of Jesus to the world—will be achieved.

            Second, though, our reading today is pretty short on promises! How do these condemnations apply to us?  For starters, Hosea 9:7 says, “The prophet is considered a fool, the inspired person a maniac.” How does that apply? I’m writing this at my district pastors’ conference, and the speaker just made a point about the way we often simply don’t hear God’s Word. He preached a funeral sermon and talked in it about the wages of sin being death; he made the point the sin was the cause of death. One of his congregation corrected him, “Oh, no. She died of cancer.” Sin is definitely a teaching of Scripture that is unpopular. No one likes to have their sins pointed out. In many ways, we (including this preacher) soft-peddle sin and its effects.

            Scorn for God and His Word, pursuing prosperity and a comfortable life, pursuing one’s own interests at the expense of others—these are things that Hosea condemns Israel for, laying them out as reasons for the Lord’s anger and the impending judgment. And put Israel’s sins that way and we realize the same charges could be applied to us today! Are we then under the threat of exile or destruction? Maybe. A principle I stand by, “God has promised that His church will endure until the second coming; He has not promised it will meet in your neighborhood.”

            These are sobering thoughts, but as I’ve said, these are the words of God, and they still apply to us these many years later. At the least, this ought to motivate us to examine our hearts and lives, to repent our sins and receive forgiveness, and to strive to live out our faith.

Images of Israel’s Sin

Hosea 7-8

            Chapters 7-8 use several images for Israel’s sin that make some important points about the nature of sin. First up, 7:3, in which they delight in sin. Sometimes we are caught up in sins and loathe ourselves for it (Romans 7:21-25). Other times we are so used to, habituated to, our sin that it becomes normal; we don’t even notice it as sin anymore. That’s delighting in sin!

            Second, I found the likening of sin to an oven powerful. But it’s not just any oven; it’s an oven that doesn’t need stirring because it’s always hot. What an image for the constant temptation of sin! Because sin is always ready to seize us, we need to be constantly aware of its burning in us.

            Finally, today I appreciated 8:7, “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.” My Bible’s cross-references remind me that we’ve read something similar before, but it’s an important reminder: play with the fire of sin and you get burned.

            So, today, a reminder to be on the watch for temptations to violate the Lord’s commands and to deal with our sin with immediate repentance. (Fortunately for me, my other devotions today included Psalm 86:5, “You, Lord, are forgiving and good!”)

Hosea 5-6

Hosea 5-6

            It’s so easy to think, “All Israel had to do was trust the Lord,” but it’s not always that simple. Well, it is that simple, but we don’t see things clearly. Imagine Israel. Hosea says they are sick and covered in sores (5:13). They know things aren’t going their way. They are surrounded by more powerful enemies Their economy is being squeezed. Things look grim. What’s the most natural thing to do? Find an ally. So, they turn to Assyria. What the Lord wanted was a radical dependence on him, that they would forsake their dalliances with the nations around them and their gods. I daresay we’re the same way. We want to rely on the Lord; we think we do. But our confidence is ultimately in different places—in our own abilities to fix our problems, in our finances to see us through, whatever. Those are pretty natural places to look for security, and we often don’t see it for the idolatry that it is.

            There are some important lines in chapter 6. The first paragraph (vv. 1-3) seem to be Israel’s confession, that the Lord who punishes also restores and that they only need to seek Him. The reference to “after two days, after three” in verse 2 may be the Scripture Paul is referring to in 1 Corinthians 15:4 when he says that Jesus “was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” Second, Jesus quote 6:6 in Matthew 9 and 12. The point here is that God doesn’t want mere mechanical performance of the sacrificial system; what matters is faith, faith that is active and living and manifests itself in a changed life. There’s a lot more that could be said there! I direct you to the Small Catechism and its discussion of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar. Finally, there’s a translational issue at 6:7. NIV takes Adam as referring to a place, down near the Jordan River. But the NIV’s footnote indicates that it could also be translated “like human beings.” NIV favors the first because of the second half of the verse and the word there that is there. Still, it’s interesting to think that maybe Hosea was being intentionally ambiguous, reminding Israel that for all her special role in God’s plan of salvation, she was still only human and therefore as much a part of God’s problem as the Gentiles.

Still Adulterers

Hosea 3-4

            Once again, Hosea’s marriage reflects the relationship of Israel with the Lord, and the prophet is sent to regain his wife. Apparently she had become a slave in the interim, because he had to redeem her for 15 shekels and some barley. Think about that: she had desired freedom to pursue her lovers and that had ended badly for her. There’s a lesson there: in our sinfulness, we think we can do better making our own choices, but the ways of God are always better in the long run—even if that long run takes us into the resurrection before we see the blessed outcomes.

            Chapter 4 has a lot going on. First, reading the prophets one would think the Israelites were a horrible people. I wonder if we need to understand some of the indictment in verse 2 in the way Jesus explains the 10 Commandments in Matthew 5. By that I mean, there’s probably no more actual murder in Israel than anywhere else (even if there should be less among God’s people), but Jesus explains that even anger is a violation of the 5^th Commandment. Second, my study Bible says that verses 4-9 are an indictment of the Levitical priests, and I see that. But the priests aren’t named as the subject right away. It’s just possible the verse 6, “I reject you as priests” is not just a rejection of that particular class, but a rejection of all of Israel who are a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6). To be clear, I think that the Levitical priests become the subject later in the passage. Third, I note the statement that the women will not be held guilty for adultery because it is the men encourage that behavior and are just as guilty. (That last makes a nice contrast with some of the things we read in Exodus and Leviticus, which always seemed to place the greater burden on the woman.)

Hosea

Hosea 1-2

            When we turn the page from Daniel to Hosea, we are going back in time. Hosea is part of a collection called the minor prophets or sometimes the Book of the Twelve. These are minor prophets only in the sense that they are much shorter than Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel. And they are collected from all over Israel’s history—from the 8^th century BC to the 5^th century. Hosea may be the oldest of them. He identifies his ministry with King Uzziah, making him roughly a contemporary of Isaiah.

            Hosea casts his prophecy around his own life experience. The prophet is told to marry a promiscuous woman, perhaps even a prostitute. He has children by her, named successively, Jezreel, a prophecy against the house of Jehu, Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi, twin prophecies against faithless Israel, who is just like adulterous Gomer. We’ve talked before about the analogy between adultery and idolatry. Idolatry is not just some sin. It is a sin that violated God to His very core, just as adultery violates a marriage to its core.

Dreams and Angels

Daniel 10-12

            Danel has a dream, well, I guess a vision technically. Whatever. He is talking to a man shining and golden, probably an angelic being. Angels figure prominently in this kind of literature. In fact, a lot of what we think we know about angels and demons has more to do with non-biblical books in this same style from this period.

            Anyway, the angel lays out a very thorough history between a king of the south and a king of the north. My study bible explicates chapter 11 in terms of the breakup of the kingdom of Alexander the Great and the intermittent war between two parts of that broken kingdom: the Ptolemaic (Egypt) and Seleucid (Syria) Empires. This story culminates with the king of the north invading and persecuting Israel. This is a reference to events that happened about 170 BC, when the Seleucid king, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, conquered Jerusalem and desecrated the temple.

            Whenever things look bleak for God’s people, they look to the future when the Lord will set all things right. So, too, Daniel, who looks for a great confrontation and the resurrection and everlasting life. No wonder that by Jesus’ day so many Jews were ready to think that the day of the Lord was right at hand!

Daniel’s Prayer and Seventy Sevens

Daniel 9

            The first part of Daniel is straightforward enough. Daniel recognizes that he’s been in Babylon almost 70 years (605-538 BC) and prays that the Lord would keep His promise through Jeremiah that the exile would only last 70 years. One interesting note in Daniel’s prayer is the way that he contrasts the Lord’s righteousness with Israel’s sin. One scholar thinks that when we read “righteousness” in the Bible, we should not think of God’s “moral rectitude” but of His “covenant faithfulness.” That is, He had told them the consequences of violating the covenant terms, so He was just when He exiled them. But He also promised to hear and restore, and His righteousness would be proved by keeping that promise.

            Much more difficult is the promise of 70 sevens. At the outset, we need to acknowledge that 70 sevens is pretty obviously a symbolic phrase, probably of some divinely set span of time. But the temptation is to take it literally. Certainly by the century before Jesus, Jewish people were working those number and working them hard, because 70 time 7 is 490, and by 100 BC, it was closing in on 490 years since Daniel had begun his work. So, these verses were being applied feverishly and those times were filled with wild expectation that the day of God’s great intervention was at hand.

            Now, the early church inherited Daniel along with the rest of the Old Testament from their Jewish forebears. And there’s a lot in these verses that they would see in hindsight as referring to the Messiah. First, the Anointed One is literally the messiah. Second, there is a clear statement that the Anointed One would be killed Third, Jesus Himself had spoken of the abomination of desolation when He prophesied the destruction of the Temple. The final seven, then, was taken as the remainder of the era between Jesus resurrection and His second coming.

            Whatever we make of the details—and a lot has been written!—Jesus clearly referred to this chapter, too, so we have to struggle with it as we try to understand what He said about His own ministry.

The First True Apocalyptic Visions

Daniel 7-8

            Oof. What a set of chapters! Literally dozens and dozens of books are written about this portion of Daniel.

            First, there are connections with the prior chapters of Daniel. In chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar had been struck down so that he lived as a beast of the field, and in chapter 6 Daniel had been thrown to the wild beasts. So, the connection with the pagan nations with wild beasts is well-established. Additionally, in chapters 1and 5 Daniel had predicted the demise of Babylon, so a vision that speaks of successive empires fits.

            Whether in chapter 1 or here in chapter 7, the idea of four successive kingdoms makes the majority of scholar think that Daniel was written much later than Daniel himself. Daniel was active from at least 605 BC to 536 BC, but most scholars assume the book wasn’t written until about 160 BC. The Persians almost bloodlessly took over the city of Babylon in 539 BC, and the rest of the empire quickly followed. The Persians ruled the ancient near east for two centuries, until the conquest of Alexander the Great, a Greek, in a series of campaigns from 334 BC to 323 BC. Alexander died shortly thereafter, and his empire was divided into four parts, given to his four leading generals. At first the Egyptian quadrant ruled Israel, but Israel came under the control of the Syrian quadrant (the Seleucids) in 187 BC and a period of intense persecution followed until 175 BC. In 167 BC, a Jewish revolt under the leadership of the Maccabees threw off the Seleucid yoke. Most commentators, then, see Daniel 7 not as a prophecy of the future but a retelling of history.

            Whether Daniel was written in the 500s (the traditional view) or the 160s (the modern view), the fourth kingdom was still in the near future. Perhaps it should be identified with Rome, which was first starting to assert itself in the Mediterranean in this time period; maybe it should be identified with the Seleucids. Many Jews in the Maccabean period seem to have thought of this last kingdom in the latter way and they were looking carefully for the rise of God’s everlasting kingdom (7:26-27).

            As apocalyptic, the language here is highly symbolic. The idea of beasts should be understood as pagan powers. The various animal parts are intended to draw on popular associations. The lion was the most powerful of the land animals, and the eagle the most powerful of the animals in the sky. The bear was known for its power and ferocity, the leopard for its speed. Numbers also had symbolic force: 7 was God’s number, 10 the fullness of earthly power, 4 indicative of the 4 corners of the earth.

            From a New Testament perspective, the most important part is Daniel 7:9-14, the vision of the Ancient of Days and one like a son of man. In the centuries before Jesus, messianic expectation was at an all time high. So, when Jesus chose to refer to Himself as the Son of Man, he was tapping into widely known messianic expectation.

            There’s a lot more that could be said. I’ll deal with it in my Wednesday morning Bible class this week.

The Stories of Daniel

Daniel 2-6

            Daniel 2: Pharaoh had been troubled by his dreams of plenty and famine (Genesis 41), but he had at least told his magicians and wise men the dream before asking for an interpretation. Nebuchadnezzar is a breed apart and demands that his magicians not only tell him what his dream means; they must also tell him what the dream was. (One gets the impression that the king of Babylon knew that many of his advisers were shysters…) Enter Daniel, who like Joseph before him, gives the credit to the Lord.

            Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was about a huge statue made of gold, silver, bronze, and clay which was destroyed by a rock and crashed to the ground. Most modern scholars think the whole scene was made up after the fact to describe the succession of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and eventually Syrians (technically the Seleucids, a Greek people ruling over Syria) as the nations that oppressed Israel. Of course, if you don’t believe that God knows the future, you have to find a different explanation. The reality is that the dream has Babylon as the gold, but historically you could argue that Persia and Greece were the greater empires. The dream and its interpretations seem to have two purposes. First, it seems designed to stoke Nebuchadnezzar’s ego, similar to the way that the Lord enticed Pharaoh to arrogance so that He could glorify His name. Second, it looks forward to a lasting kingdom, which in Christian reflection means the kingdom of the Messiah.

            Daniel 3: Having dreamed about a statue, Nebuchadnezzar builds himself a statue and its quite a thing—90 feet tall and 9 feet wide. Think a giant obelisk, or in the language of archaeology, a stele. He falls right into the trap of arrogance laid for him. The three young men: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to worship and are thrown into a blazing furnace. Two quick notes: first, the fiery furnace should remind us for fiery trial, that is, the difficulties that come on us to test our faith. (The testing of faith is a theme through Daniel—part of that no-compromise agenda.) Second, when the king looks in the furnace, he sees four men, and one looks a son of the gods. The fourth may have been an angel, or it may have been the pre-incarnate Christ, that is the legitimate Son of God. Daniel is filled with messianic expectation.

            Daniel 4: Daniel 4 takes the form of a letter after the fact. Nebuchadnezzar narrates a story about a dream with a great tree cut down, it’s interpretation by Daniel, namely, that Nebuchadnezzar will be punished for his arrogance, and the fulfillment of that threat. The point of the thing is at the end of the chapter when Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges the God of Israel. Another theme of Daniel: the pagan kings cannot help but acknowledge the Lord’s power.

            Daniel 5: That same theme continues in chapter 5, where, on the night of the Persian conquest of Babylon, the king is having a banquet. Filled with pride in his own power, a hand writes a message on the wall: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin—“Your days are numbered; you have been weighed; your kingdom is divided.” The Lord judges the great nations and His power can only be recognized, never denied.

            There’s a difficulty in chapter 5, namely, that it says Darius the Mede conquered Babylon. Historically, Cyrus was the Persian king who accomplished that in 539 BC. Skeptics will look at that and use it as evidence that the Bible is inaccurate. However, consult a decent study Bible and you will see there are ways to explain it.

            Daniel 6: The last chapter this week tells the familiar story of Daniel and the lion’s den, one of those iconic Sunday school stories. As adults we notice the continuation of the themes that God’s people are never to compromise their faith, no matter what the consequences, and that the Lord is able to deliver from every threat. Notice, too, the deep identification of pagan powers with beasts: Nebuchadnezzar becoming a beast, the king of Persia using wild beasts to impose his will. Why notice that? The vision of succeeding kingdoms and their beastly nature lies behind the fantastic visions that will occupy us next week.

Introducing Daniel

Daniel 1

            Daniel’s life experience takes us from 605 BC to about 536 BC, a span that takes us from Daniel’s childhood to his golden years. We can easily imagine Daniel being a tween, about 12, though that’s just a guess, when he was chosen for training, and that means he would have lived and worked to a good, old age of at least 81.

            Daniel is clearly patterned on Joseph, from the book of Genesis. He is portrayed as a sort of golden boy, handsome and bright, just as Joseph quickly rose to prominence both in Potiphar’s house, where he, unfortunately, became desirable to his master’s wife; in the prison in which he was incarcerated; and before Pharaoh. Just as Joseph served in the courts of a foreign power, so did Daniel; just as Joseph interpreted dreams, so did Daniel.

            More than a replay of Joseph, though, Daniel became an example of how an Israelite could stay faithful to their God in face of tremendous pressure to compromise. In this chapter, he proposes a small test to demonstrate that staying kosher was possible and even better than the alternatives.

            This no-compromise theme runs through Daniel. No wonder it became one of the most referenced books in the period between the Testaments! In the centuries after the exile, it seems that Israel determined never to fall into idolatry again. (See, for example, Ezra and the controversy around intermarrying with pagans.) Beginning with the conquest of Alexander the Great in the late 300s and running for the next two centuries with Alexander’s successors, Israel faced incredible pressure to hellenize, that is, to adopt Greek practices and to soften some of their more distinctive practices; their refusal led to all sorts of persecution. In such an environment, the example of Daniel shown brightly. So Daniel became the great example of a man who could beat the pagans at their own games but do it on the Lord’s terms. No wonder he became a hero.

 

            Now, the book of Daniel works in two parts. Chapters one to six are full of stories, many of which a modern reader will find familiar. The three men in the fiery furnace are here. So, is the origin of the phrase, “The writing in on the wall.” And the very famous story of Daniel in the lions’ den rounds out the section. Keep these stories in mind, because the last six chapters are filled with fantastic visions (the technical term for them is apocalyptic), and, if we pay attention, we will see how the stories provide the framework for understanding the visions. (I personally find N. T. Wright’s summary of Daniel in The New Testament and the People of God, pages 292-294, very helpful, and I’ll be relying on it in this blog quite a lot.)