A brief look into Biblical history by way of Daniel. Part 2
Posted : 24 Jun, 2012 06:56 PM
( Part 1 is here. http://www.christiandatingforfree.com/forum/forum_details.php?topic_id=15564&forum_sub_cat_id=14 )
When I left off part 1 of this on going exploration, I ended off with this;
"But one thing during these times remains to be noted is that the Jews still met to read the Scriptures and saw a clearer revelation of when the Messiah would come to visit His people and put an end to sin."
So, let's get a more in depth view of the culture and times of the Jews at the time of Babylon. Shall we? Oh! Wait! How can we do this when there is really nothing to go on according to some historians and archeologists, you might ask? Good question! Since all we have is texts to go with which are what the majority of historians and archeologists use to validate the cultures by, then we too, will go and explore the cultures by those texts. That make sense? ;-)
The book of Daniel is said to be written around the early 500 BCs. Some date it being written around 530 BC. There is a new belief growing amongst scholars date it to be a later writing within the 200s to the 50 BCs because of the "prophetic" accuracy of the events (by way of it being a future event at the time of it being written and fulfilled after it was written) that happened couldn't be so accurate unless it was chronicled after the event. I would agree with this opinion, BUT the fact that the Septuagint (The Greek literal translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.) was written by 72 Jews for King Ptolemy the 2nd in Alexandria because he wanted to make this place the most learned city of all the religions, and beliefs of the world was dated at 300 BC kind of puts a "small hole" in that theory. Ironically enough, the Jews actually used the Septuagint (With the exception of the Temple priests who used the original Hebrew for the Temple uses.) afterwards because of its accessibility well into Jesus' day. The Jews decided to forgo the use of Septuagint several hundreds of years of Christ because the Christian faith used this in order to prove their ties to the Messiah of Israel. (This little known fact is hardly taught in our circles today, but if you ever cross referenced some verses from the New Testament Greek from the Old Testament verses, you'd see that the translation is not the same. This is because the NT quotes the Septuagint.) The Jews introduced the "Masoretic" texts to combat the Christians and what was now considered to be "their" translation of the Jewish Scriptures. What is amusing about the validation of the Septuagint and its authenticity is that the story of the Jews translating the Hebrew into the Greek Septuagint comes straight OUT OF THEIR OWN TALMUDS.
So, back to Daniel's day. As we can see from the text about Daniel and his people, he was a learned man who was also able to know and learn the ways of the kings and to dispatch his laws upon other foreign lands (Dan, 1:3, 17; 6:1-2). Daniel, was gifted by God to understand His will by way of the nations. Although the Jews of this period still were secluding from the pagan world, Daniel and others like him, would be able to see a bigger glimpse into God's plan of bringing in the Messiah. If we note of the earlier writings, the Jews are to be separate from the world and not even bother to evangelize the nations into knowing their God, because God was making Himself manifest to them already in dreams, visions, and signs that God used in order for the Jews first to acknowledge and expound upon.
Although Daniel (and I use him as a representative of all the Jews in this period) was loyal to the King of the land, he was even more loyal to his God. He, as his custom, would read the Scriptures, meditate upon them, and pray to God. As time went on in the gatherings of the Jews, they became more structured and introduced more theological discussions in their meetings. The once small groups of gatherings started to grow to the point of establishing a proper assembly among themselves. This is when the gatherings were "made" official by there being 10 men or more present in the assembly. The laws concerning the foods, and the nations were still being kept out of "ritualistic" cleanness from the idolatrous world. Only Jews were allowed to attend these gatherings. As time went on, Jews were once again an exclusive social club with no real form of worship by way of sacrificing to their God like the rest of the world did. This is what brought about the yearning for a Temple and homeland for the Jews. As they gathered together and discussed the Scriptures they read, they came to be more of a theologian than a full fledged practitioner of their religion. This is where most of the dogmatic teachings of the Rabbinate originated from in Jesus' day. Although some didn't get added on until later on, the legalism had it's foundation in Babylon.
Discussions of how and when God created the heavens and the earth have it's roots here also. All sorts of ways to conduct their daily lives in a foreign land as well as what and how they should interpret the Scriptures according to the more popular agreements among themselves. The Sabbath of God was discussed here too. The idea of God resting from all of His works of His creation was a popular one. It was so popular that the intertwined this belief with the Sabbath command to the Exodus Jews to keep. It really wasn't the case for it, but it was the most accepted among the many who gathered so they fused it together. The discussion of the Sabbath (amongst other topics) was so important to them that they actually started to debate as to what was considered too heavy to lift, or how far to walk, and reasons for helping others. The WHOLE LAW OF MOSES was discussed (Deut 5:1-6:25). All of the "statutes", "ordinances", "commandments", "judgments", and "testimonies" (Deut 5:1; 30;10; Num 36:13; Lev 19:1-37; Lev 23; Lev 27:34; and Ezekiel 20:19-21) of God were subject of discussion. The Law of the Lord was constantly upon the Jewish mind which put a deeper yearning to return to the land God had taken away from them for not being faithful to their agreement and to restore the religious way of living for their God.
This brand of revived zeal mixed with legalism that sprang from the lack of a Levitical hierarchy was both good and bad for the faithful.
The bad; because it brought about a religious reform that was based more on a mixed legalism based on Babylonian influence than it was for the simplicity of the Message of God. One such "command" that came with came along with the exile was that of how women were to be completely servile to their husbands more so. This is where Paul gets this Law of women asking their husbands at home from in 1 Corinthians 14 (See Esther chapter 1 and pay attention to the last verse).
The GOOD!: It brought a more detailed view of the awaited Messiah whom the Lord would send. Since all of the Law (The Jews considered EVERY WRITTEN WORD of God as Law. Paul uses this example when He quotes Isaiah 28:11-12 AS THE LAW in 1 Corinthians 14:21. Jesus does this also in John 10:34 and 15:25. One thing that is noticed within the text, is that Jesus calls this "Law" in reference to the Jews".) was discussed, then so too, was the Messiah. This is when the Law was searched and verses that were applied to earthly situations and events were also applied to the birth, ministry, and reason of the Messiah's coming to the forefront of the Jewish mind. With these prophetic verses unfolded, the Messiah was constantly on their lips. The Jews always knew that the Messiah would come to redeem them in the future, but they never knew when He would come. Daniel was the first man of God to reveal WHEN the Messiah would come into the world!
