Week 36 - Daniel 4-6, Revelation 7 (Sept 3 - Sept 9)

Notes

Daniel 5: Time Jump

There is a considerable time lapse between the events of chapters four and five. Nebuchadnezzar dies in 562 BC, and Persia invades Babylon in 539. Because Nebuchadnezzar is still alive in Daniel 4, that means roughly 25 years have passed, and you can imagine that the young man, Daniel, of chapters 1-4 is now quite old for the times. The book of Daniel front-loads the historical accounts of the events of Daniel’s life in chapters 1-6 and then goes back in time to record the visions and prophecies of Daniel beginning in chapter 7.

Daniel 5: Belshazzar the coregent

Belshazzar is the only Babylonian king that we are told about in Daniel after Nebuchadnezzar. However, we know from other historical accounts that Nebuchadnezzar’s successor was “Nabonidus” and that he lived up until the Persian conquest. So where does Belshazzar fit in?

Belshazzar was the son and coregent of Nabonidus, the last king of BabyIon. Nabonidus spent ten years in Teima while his son was carrying out all the royal duties in Babylon. A number of documents have been found that mention him by name. About thirty years have passed since the last chapter. Nebuchadnezzar died in 562, and the banquet of this chapter takes place in October 539.

5:1. the banquet. The banquet is taking place in mid-October (15 Tashritu) 539. In the past few days the Persians have taken the city of Opis (fifty miles north on the Tigris) in a bloody battle and then crossed over to the Euphrates, where the city of Sippar surrendered without a fight on the fourteenth of Tashritu. It is likely that Babylon has received word of these events and that Belshazzar knows that the Persian army is on the march toward Babylon. Nabonidus had been with the army at Opis and fled when the city fell. When he was captured, it was in Babylon, but the texts are unclear about when he arrived. Berossus (third-century B.C. Chaldean historian, quoted by Josephus) claims that he was trapped in the city of Borsippa (about seventeen miles south of Babylon). in light of all of this, it appears that the banquet represents one final gathering before the momentous events that are about to transpire. Herodotus refers to a festival celebration that was taking place when the city fell. There is no reason to think, however, that the banquet reflects Belshazzar's pessimism about the outcome. Babylon was a defensible city, and they believed their gods to be strong.

IVP Bible Background Commentary, P. 736

Daniel 6: Darius the Governor

The end of chapter 5 tells us that it was “Darius the Mede” who took over the kingdom and he is referred to as the king in chapter 6. However, we know from other historical sources and even from other scripture passages that the king of the Persian empire at the time it overtook Babylon was Cyrus - so we’re left with another king problem to resolve in Daniel! It is likely that Darius is the provincial governor of Babylon (who could be called “a” king) under “the” King Cyrus of Persia

Darius the Mede. There is no known historical character named Darius prior to Darius the Great, who is too late to fit in here. Since Cyrus became ruler when Babylon fell, some have identified Darius the Mede and Cyrus as one and the same (see 6:28). Others suggest that Darius is an alternate name (or a throne name) for Ugbaru, the commander who led the Persian army into Babylon. He was governor of the Gutium and thus could easily be connected with the Medes (though he died just three weeks after the fall of Babylon). One named Gubaru was appointed the governor of Babylon and is also named by some as a candidate. There is reason to question that anyone but Cyrus could be called the king (v.6), and he was about sixty-two when Babylon fell. But Cyrus was a Persian, not a Mede, and was the son of Cambyses (not Ahasuerus, see 9:1). Further information will need to become available before a firm identification can be made.

IVP Bible Background Commentary P. 739

Revelation 7: Where did the 7th Seal go?

In chapter 5, we were introduced to a Lamb (Jesus) who was able to open the seals on a scroll held by the Almighty. In chapter 6 we learned that there are 7 seals and we read of the first six of them being opened. Then, when chapter 7 begins, we’re naturally expecting to read of the opening of the seventh seal, but we get something entirely different instead. The opening of the seals is suddenly interrupted by a happy and glorious vision of the redeemed standing victorious and praising God.

This phenomenon is called an “interlude” and this one in chapter 7 is actually the first of 10 such interludes (see the notes on chapter 5 for why that is a significant number) that are spread throughout the book. While the larger structure of seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls carries through John’s vision, there are “breaks” of sorts interspersed throughout that have a more positive and glorious demeanor

Interlude 1: Marking 144,000 (7:1-8)
Interlude 2: Universal Acclamation by Witnesses (7:9-17)
Interlude 3: Petitions of the Devout Ones (8:3-5)
Interlude 4: Little Book Eaten (10:1-11)
Interlude 5: Two Witnesses (11:1-14)
Interlude 6: Woman and Dragon (12:1-17)
Interlude 7: Dragon's Two Wild Things (13:1-18)
Interlude 8: Allegiant Ones (14:1-13)
Interlude 9: Judgment Announced (14:14-19)\
Interlude 10: Conquerors (15:2-4)

Here is what NT Scholar Scott McKnight says about these interludes:

Just as we get to the point where we want to put our hands over our eyes, John lifts us into the presence of God, a place of worship and revelation. These interruptions are called interludes and they perform one key function: they lift the listeners in the seven churches out of the horrors of the dragon and the wild things and Babylon into the heavenly throne room to experience God as the real story behind the story of everything. The new Jerusalem, the interludes remind us as listeners, is not yet here, and the life we now experience may feel like the dragon is winning. But Good Friday became Easter morning, and new Jerusalem will one day replace Babylon. John wants his hearers (and us, too) to remember our Easter faith, that Jesus defeated death in the resurrection. That story announces that the Lamb and justice win, and the dragon and death lose.

Each of these interludes are sudden but relieving revelations of the truest reality of all for those living in Babylon. Their purpose is to suspend our fear about Babylon and form within us a deeper allegiance to the Lamb, who reigns from the middle of the throne.

The positive messages are striking. In the first interlude (7:1-8), John sees 144,000 who have been marked, protected from the "four winds" and destined for redemption. That number is not literal, but clearly symbolic: 144,000 equals 12,000 × 12, and twelve is the number of tribes in Israel, so 144,000 represents a perfect or complete number of Israelites. Brian Blount calls this the "human wing of God's cosmic army" and Richard Bauckham reminds the reader of the "lavish use of militaristic language in a non-militaristic sense." John, so one reading goes, wants the seven churches to imagine a horde of Jewish believers in Jesus as Messiah, and to know that they are protected during these judgments, just as Israel was in Egypt (cf. Exod 12:26-27).

Revelation for the Rest of Us, 107

Revelation 7: Did You Catch It?

There is something off in the list of the 12 tribes of Israel in Revelation 7.

Read it again and see if you can catch it.

Do you see it?

There are actually a few peculiarities that you might have noticed, but the big one is the missing tribe of Dan! Here is NT Wright on the list in Revelation 7:

The list of the twelve tribes is peculiar when we compare it with the great biblical lists (e.g. Genesis 49 or Deuteronomy 33). We can easily explain the first strange feature, namely that Judah has been promoted to first place rather than the firstborn Reuben. This presumably indicates that this is the people of God as renewed by the Messiah, the 'lion of Judah (5.5).

Another feature - the omission of the tribe of Dan - may perhaps be explained on the grounds that in some Jewish traditions it was thought that the Antimessiah would come from that tribe. A third feature is harder to explain: why is Manasseh, one of Joseph's children, included in the list? Perhaps because Manasseh did become, in effect, a separate tribe, and John simply wanted to make up the twelve after dropping Dan.