If you're reading this, I'm hoping that you've first reviewed my post on Nebuchadnezzar - The Great Statue. This could be considered as a "Part 2" to that post.
One of the main points of interest for us is the fifth component to the statue - the feet.
How can it be said that Yeshua will strike the ancient Greek, divided, mixed iron & clay empire?
According to Carol Newsom - He doesn't.
... the text adds one detail to the dream imagery, describing the rock as cut out from “a mountain” (v. 45a). This detail led early interpreters to interpret the rock as a symbol of the awaited messiah (4 Ezra [2 Esd] 13:6–7; Luke 20:18; also Irenaeus [Haer. 5.26] and Jerome [on 2:40]; see Towner 1999, 243). That, however, is an anachronistic interpretation. There is no messianic expectation in the book of Daniel itself, although aspects of its imagery are later reinterpreted in messianic contexts and play a significant role in the construction of messianic imagery (see comments on ch. 7). Newsom, Carol A.. Daniel: A Commentary (The Old Testament Library) (p. 83). Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Kindle Edition.
An anachronistic interpretation is when someone reads or explains an ancient text, event, or artifact by imposing ideas, categories, institutions, or realities from a later time period onto an earlier one, as if those later things already existed back then.
In simple terms: it’s judging or understanding the past using assumptions that didn’t exist yet at the time being described.
This is where I differ with Carol Newsom.
Apparently she, along with many other modern day scholars, do not believe that the "stone" was declared a symbol for Yeshua yet.
I agree with early interpreters (from the blue text above)... the Stone in Daniel is a prophecy of Yeshua HaMashiach!
Daniel is most definitely NOT an anachronistic interpretation - it is PROPHECY.
Daniel was obviously well versed in previous Scriptural writings. Yeshua quoted this verse...
[Psa 118:22 LSB] The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. [23] This is from Yahweh; It is marvelous in our eyes.
Their claim is that the author deliberately set the whole book in the 6th century and used the figure of Daniel (a legendary wise and righteous Jew already known from Ezekiel 14:14, 20; 28:3) as a pseudonym - a very common practice in apocalyptic literature of that era.
So... what their stance claims: Chapters 1–6 (the court tales) contain older traditions, some of which may go back centuries (possibly even to the Babylonian or early Persian period). Chapters 7–12 (the visions) were written in 167–164 BC as genuine resistance literature against Antiochus Epiphanes IV.
At some point, as Christians, we have to believe that Yahweh has preserved His Word in a form suitable for us to use as a roadmap. Meaning, I don't care if it was 6th-century BC authorship, or 2nd-century BC authorship. It makes absolutely zero difference to me.
Yeshua, Himself, considered the Book of Daniel authoritative, inspired, and prophetic Scripture.
[Mat 24:15 LSB] Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
[Mar 13:14 LSB] But when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.
Now, we can get back to our original question:
How can it be said that Yeshua will strike the ancient Greek, divided, mixed iron & clay empire?
Well, again… He doesn't... the feet are also a picture of a future stage world empire. He will smash the Greek world order that is based Greek/Hellenistic world views. The ancient Greeks (roughly 800–146 BC, plus the Hellenistic period to ~30 BC) left an incredibly deep imprint on both the modern world and the Christian church. Almost nothing in Western civilization—and by extension global civilization—escaped their influence.
Quote from my blog Nebuchadnezzar - The Great Statue:
All of the west's education system rests on the shoulders of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Questions of being, substance, and cause - come from Aristotle. The world of forms versus matter come from Plato. They also gave us the ideas of constitutionalism, democracy, and republicanism. The list could go on, and on. Almost every major Western philosopher (Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, etc.) is either building upon or reacting against Greek philosophy. Christianity as it spread through the Roman Empire and then Europe became a Greco-Christian synthesis. Gnosticism is rampant in today's church here in the west... Greece has it's fingerprints all over everything!
[Dan 2:44 LSB] And in the days of those kings...
[Dan 2:34 LSB] “You continued looking until a stone [Yeshua] was cut out without hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.
It should be noted that "all at the same time" somehow found it's way into our English translations. That is not the intent of the original Aramaic text. Below is a literal word for word translation of the Aramaic:
Then were-crushed together the-iron the-clay the-bronze the-silver the-gold and-they-became like-chaff from-threshing-floors-of-summer and-carried-them the-wind and-any-place not-was-found for-them and-the-stone that-struck the-statue became a-mountain great and-filled all-the-earth.
Frist, there are clearly five kingdoms as shown below.
[Dan 2:32-33 LSB] “The [1] head of that image was made of fine gold, its [2] breast and its arms of silver, its [3] belly and its thighs of bronze, [33] its [4] legs of iron, its [5] feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
[1] Head
[2] Breast and its Arms
[3] Belly and its Thighs
[4] Legs
[5] Feet
Notice that it does not read "Legs of iron AND feet...". No, the feet and toes are a fifth kingdom... a divided kingdom, but a fifth kingdom nonetheless.
[Dan 2:41-42 LSB] Now in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron; it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. [42] And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so some of the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle.
[Dan 2:35 LSB] “Then the [1] iron, the [2] clay, the [3] bronze, the [4] silver, and the [5] gold were crushed all at the same time...
[1] "the iron"
[2] "the clay"
[3] "the bronze"
[4] "the silver"
[5] "the gold"
Here's the complete interpretation from Daniel:
[Dan 2:31-35 LSB] “You, O king, were looking, and behold, there was a single great image; that image, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was rising up in front of you, and its appearance was awesome. [32] “The [1] head of that image was made of fine gold, its [2] breast and its arms of silver, its [3] belly and its thighs of bronze, [33] its [4] legs of iron, its [5] feet partly of iron and partly of clay. [34] “You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. [35] “Then [1] the iron, [2] the clay, [3] the bronze, [4] the silver, and [5] the gold were crushed all at the same time and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
The "stone cut without hands" was expected to smash the Greek/Hellenistic world-order and set up God’s eternal kingdom. But - that never happened. The Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms were not suddenly destroyed by a divine stone; instead they were gradually swallowed by Rome. Rome was swallowed up by the Islamic Caliphate and Ottoman Empire, etc. down to the one world geopolitical system we see forming before our eyes today.
No comments:
Post a Comment