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Practice Exercises
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Linking
Themes and History
Passage B
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Deuteronomy 29:22-29
The next generation, your children who rise up after you, as
well as the foreigner who comes from a distant country, will
see the devastation of that land and the afflictions with which
the LORD has afflicted it -- all its soil burned out by sulfur
and salt, nothing planted, nothing sprouting, unable to support
any vegetation, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,
Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD destroyed in his fierce anger
-- they and indeed all the nations will wonder, "Why has
the LORD done thus to this land? What caused this
great display of anger?" They will conclude,
"It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD,
the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he
brought them out of the land of Egypt. They turned
and served other gods, worshiping them, gods whom they had not
known and whom he had not allotted to them; so the anger of
the LORD was kindled against that land, bringing on it every
curse written in this book. The LORD uprooted them
from their land in anger, fury, and great wrath, and cast them
into another land, as is now the case." The
secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things
belong to us and to our children forever, to observe all the
words of this law. |
Date
The Deuteronomists were the scribes in the court of King Josiah in 622 C.E. At the time they were writing a national history of Israel to help Josiah unify the country he was gradually uniting through a military campaign. In their national history, they were attempting to explain why the northern kingdom, which Josiah was regaining, had been destroyed by the Assyrians a century before. At the same time, they were trying to reassure the remaining people that the same fate would not befall them, if only they remained faithful to the covenant.
Text & Link
Several themes are emphasized in this passage. The most prominent, because it is repeated, is that the land will be destroyed and the people sent into exile. This clearly is a work written in hindsight, reflecting on the destruction and exile of the Northern Kingdom and trying to explain why it happened.
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In
fact, this very question that so preoccupied the Deuteronomists is
twice placed on the lips of "all the nations," revealing just how
important it is to the Deuteronomists. The
answer for this significant question is a theme, because it is a teaching
that the passage is designed to convey: the north fell because (and
the land will always fall if) the people worship other gods,
rather than loving God with all their hearts (Deut 6:5). The
final added comment distinguishes between secret things and revealed
things, acknowledging that sometimes God's plans are not apparent
and the basic equation (fidelity leads to reward) does not work (such
as 35 years later when the South itself will be destroyed by Babylon). All of these themes are characteristic of the Deuteronomistic scribes working during and after Josiah's reign.
Passage C
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- Isaiah 43:1-7
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- But now thus says the LORD,
- he who created you, O Jacob,
- he who formed you, O Israel:
- Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
- I have called you by name, you are mine.
- When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
- and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
- when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
- and the flame shall not consume you.
- For I am the LORD your God,
- the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
- I give Egypt as your ransom,
- Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.
- Because you are precious in my sight,
- and honored, and I love you,
- I give people in return for you,
- nations in exchange for your life.
- Do not fear, for I am with you;
- I will bring your offspring from the east,
- and from the west I will gather you;
- I will say to the north, "Give them up,"
- and to the south, "Do not withhold;
- bring my sons from far away
- and my daughters from the end of the earth--
- everyone who is called by my name,
- whom I created for my glory,
- whom I formed and made.
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Date
This passage derives from Second Isaiah, who added chapters to the original Isaiah's oracles during the Babylonian Exile (587-539 B.C.E.). During this time, the leading Jews had been taken into exile and servitude in Babylon, but were hoping to return to their own country and rebuild it. They believed that God was using the Persians, who were beginning to defeat the Babylonians, to help them return.
Text & Link
Several themes are emphasized in this passage. First,
an emphasis is placed on the creative power of God. The
emphasis is clear because this is the teaching that begins and
ends the passage and thus sets the tone for it. II
Isaiah is asserting, contrary to the exiles' experience, that
their God is the most powerful and the creator of the entire
universe, thus not just of Israel and the Jews, but of Babylon
and Persia and the entire world as well. |
Another
important theme is for the exiles not to fear; God has not only not
abandoned them, but will enable them to endure every threat. This
is clearly a theme because the words "Do not fear"are repeated
twice and are themselves supported by three scenarios which could
evoke fear but in which God promises support (waters, rivers, fire). Another
theme for II Isaiah is that God is the Holy One of Israel. This
theme is a constant theme throughout the Book of Isaiah (see Isaiah
6), but in this passage alone it would be hard to know that, since
it is not repeated or emphasized.
Finally, a theme typical of II Isaiah is that God will ransom his
people from slavery -- that is, "pay-off" their owners so
that the slaves can be freed and can be gathered back in their homeland
from all corners of the earth. All of these themes
are characteristic of the Babylonian exile.
Passage D
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- Daniel 7 (some verses summarized below; analyze
only verses 23-27)
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- Summary of verses 1-23
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- The protagonist has a mysterious dream that he alone cannot comprehend. In
the dream, four great beasts emerge from a wind-swept sea: a
lion with eagles' wings who becomes a human, a bear with three
devouring tusks told to devour many bodies, a leopard with four
wings and four heads that was given dominion, and the most terrifying
animal of all, one with iron teeth stamping everything under
its feet, with ten horns and then a small eleventh one. The
eleventh horn has human eyes and speaks arrogantly. Then the
Ancient One appears on his throne and destroys the final beast
and takes power away from the others, giving it instead to "one
like a Son of Man" who comes with the clouds of heaven
and appears before the Ancient One. The protagonist, troubled by the dream, asks a heavenly attendant what it means. The attendant/angel tells him that the four beasts are the kings of the earth, and that the holy ones will eventually triumph over them. Still troubled by the fourth and most terrifying beast with the ten and then eleven horns, the protagonist asks the attendant what this one means.
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- verses 23-27
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- "As for the fourth beast,
- there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth
- that shall be different from all the other kingdoms;
- it shall devour the whole earth,
- and trample it down, and break it to pieces.
- As for the ten horns,
- out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise,
- and another shall arise after them.
- This one shall be different from the former ones,
- and shall put down three kings.
- He shall speak words against the Most High,
- shall wear out the holy ones of the Most High,
- and shall attempt to change the sacred seasons and the law;
- and they shall be given into his power
- for a time, two times, and half a time.
- Then the court shall sit in judgment,
- and his dominion shall be taken away,
- to be consumed and totally destroyed.
- The kingship and dominion
- and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven
- shall be given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High;
- their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom,
- and all dominions shall serve and obey them."
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Date
The story of the Book of Daniel is set during the Babylonian
Exile (587-539 B.C.E.), but the discourse
or telling of the story is occurring much later, during the
Maccabean Revolt (166 B.C.E.). The Jews are revolting because the current Greek king, Antiochus IV, has embarked on a program of forced Hellenization to eradicate Jewish laws and observances and to homogenize his Empire to Greek customs, laws and religious practices.
In this context, it is dangerous to oppose Antiochus IV directly, and so the author adopts a style of writing that sets his message not in the present but in an analogous past moment, choosing the Babylonian exile and persecution of Jewish refugees like Daniel.
Antiochus' success has created a theological problem that the author tries to resolve: Antiochus is winning, and the Jews, who believe themselves to be in the right, are losing.
To resolve the problem of how God can allow them to suffer, they write the apocalyptic Book of Daniel. In this genre, God is remote and mysterious; God never reveals directly (as with Moses and the burning bush), but speaks through intermediary angels to a single (Jewish) interpreter, in this case the wise man Daniel. The message is to be patient; God is in control of history and will destroy evil in the final days. From the point of view of the characters in the story, the final days lie in the future; but from the point of view of the author, the final days are the era in which he is writing. This literature thus gives hope of vindication to a persecuted people.
Text & Link
Several typical apocalyptic themes are emphasized in this passage. First, this entire passage is a revelation from a heavenly intermediary disclosing (in Greek, apokaluptein) God's plan for history.
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The
several beasts are historical figures, not kings really but kingdoms,
which have already risen and fallen: the Babylonians (lion), the Medes
(bear), the Persians (leopard), and the Greeks (the fourth and "most
terrifying" beast with iron teeth and 11 horns). The
eleventh horn is none other than Antiochus IV. The presumption
of the revelation is that, since God knows and controls what has happened
and what will happen, Daniel (and the audience) can trust that the
revelation regarding Antiochus will occur. Another
important theme in the passage is the precise fate of the eleventh
horn: there will be a judgment, and Antiochus will be judged evil
and will be destroyed. In apocalyptic literature, the good always triumph. A final theme that is implicit in the others is that the last days when the judgment will occur are the time of the author. The character Daniel's dream is of a future vindication, but from the point of view of the author, that eleventh horn is persecuting the Jews now, and therefore his judgment is coming soon. All of these themes are emphasized to give hope to a persecuted people.
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