Week 12 Study Page - Lamentations, Daniel, Matthew 1-4
Week #12 Study Page
Lamentations, Daniel, Matthew 1-4
Sunday – Lamentations 1-2
Monday - Lamentations 3-5
Tuesday – Daniel 1-3
Wednesday – Daniel 4-6
Thursday – Daniel 7-9
Friday – Daniel 10-12
Saturday – Matthew 1-4
Degree of difficulty: 7 out of 10 (Explanation:) This week's reading is fairly long, but should seem like a walk in the park after last week! understanding the historical setting of our two Old-Testament books this week will be vitally important to understanding what you are reading, so make sure to scroll down to the book briefs below. The book of Daniel is the "Revelation" of the Old Testament. Daniel's prophecies are full of vivid and strange imagery. In the same way that the book of Revelation gives Christians an excited anticipation and wonder because of the events that it foretells, the book of Daniel was especially important to the messianic expectations of the Jewish people after the exile. Reading this kind of apocalyptic prophecy can be head-spinning. It can be hard to find a reference point in the imagery to indicate the historical events that they are being used to describe, we'll do our best on that below. Our Matthew reading opens with a genealogy - but don't skip this one! all the hard work that you've put in over the last 2.5 months of reading Old Testament narrative will pay off when you recognize many of the names in this list.
About the Book(s)
Lamentations
Date of Authorship: shortly after the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC
Author: Jewish tradition maintains that the prophet Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations. There is no indication in the text that this is the case, but Lamentations was likely written during the time of Jeremiah's ministry. Its association with the prophet Jeremiah is the reason that Lamentations appears right after Jeremiah in the Bible, despite the fact that, by genre, it belongs in the poetic literature section.
Purpose: Lamentations is the tragic cry of a people experiencing the horrors of war, humiliation and exile. The author calls out to God for the Israelite people who have suffered this humiliating and total defeat at the hand of Babylon and wonders aloud if they will ever be restored.
Daniel
Date of Authorship The dating of Daniel has been a matter of controversy. Many modern scholars have used comparative literary analysis to place the authorship of this book to as late as the 2nd Century BC, possibly allowing for the Aramaic section (2:4-7:28) to have been written a century earlier. However, traditional dating of Daniel, maintains that Daniel himself wrote the book, dating it to the second half of the 6th century, while the Israelites were exiled in Babylon. A significant data-point emerged in this controversy when the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Qumran Community (Jewish essenes living near the dead sea) were discovered in 1946. many of these scrolls were copies of Old Testament texts, while others were devotional and religious writings from this community. the Book of Daniel played a very important and developed role in these writings. Many of the Dead sea scrolls date, themselves, to the 2nd Century BC. This discovery provides a significant problem for the non-traditional, late dating of Daniel, as it would have been nearly impossible for this work to circulate in that short amount of time.
Author Because I prefer an early date for the authorship of Daniel, i think that Daniel himself probably wrote this book. Still, I am interested in the shifts in voice that occur in the book. Notice the third person being used in places like 7:1 and the first person voice being used in 8:1. I'm not sure what to make of that.
Purpose In Chapters 1-6, Daniel provides an account of faithfulness to Yahweh even in exile, showing that the worship of God was not extinguished with the destruction of Israel. In Chapters 7-12 Daniels vivid visions provide a prophetic projection of how God will deliver his people and the rise and fall of nations in the intervening time. It is a message of hope for God's people that he's got a plan, and it's on track, no matter how things look.
Matthew (We'll look at this closer next week)
Date Of Authorship Before 70 AD (contested)
Author The apostle Matthew
Purpose To Tell the story of Jesus life and Ministry with special attention given to its connection to the Old Testament and the inauguration of the kingdom of God that it has accomplished
As you read Notes
Lamentations: A Concealed Structure
Any time you translate a text from one language to another, the text itself is changed. It is impossible to preserve all the nuances and peculiarities of the text in its original language when that text is translated into the structure and style of a language that it was not written or originally-read in. This change or loss is especially harsh in poetic literature. Poetry is the most nuanced form of any particular language. Poetry often employs elements specific to that language which cannot be preserved in translation like rhyme and meter. The Bible translators that produce our English versions have to choose between telling you what the poetic author is saying (the meaning of the words) and making the text sound or feel like the original poetry - they (thankfully) choose the former. Lamentations is poetic literature and it is built on an overt poetic structure that would have been immediately apparent to every Hebrew reader, but is impossible for English readers to see.
The text of Lamentations is based on the Hebrew alphabet. each verse of chapters 1, 2, & 4 start with its respective letter of the Hebrew alphabet (which is 22 characters long - see Psalm 119 paragraph headings). Notice that each of these chapters has 22 verses. in chapter 3, the structure changes - here each letter begins a 3-verse section instead of 1 verse-per-letter in the other chapters. the video above offers some insight as to why the text may be divided this way. Chapter 5 - though it is 22 verses (couplets) long - does not follow the Hebrew alphabet structure that the other chapters do. The author is breaking his structure for the same reason a poet might break meter, to say something poignant in a way that will really stick out. The cry of chapter 5 is so morose and heartbroken that the author dispenses of form in order to call out to God
You should notice, in lamentations that the second line of each sentence (sometimes a third as well) is indented. This is because Hebrew Poetry is written in couplets (usually) or triplets (these are also called a distich or bicolons - but i will call them couplets) these lines - the A-Line which is left justified and the B-line(s) which follow and are indented are to be understood as a singular unit of meaning - they are one-piece, completely attached to each other. When multiple couplets and triplets are joined together into a singular sense-unit we will call that a strophe. Notice that each verse (letter of the Hebrew alphabet) in chapter 1 begins a 3-couplet strophe. In 2:13 we see our first triplet of the poetry, and 2:17 is a pair of triplets, instead of a triplet of couplets - is your head spinning yet? We'll talk about poetic structure a little more thoroughly when we get to psalms (in just three weeks!) but it is important to see this structure and read these couplets, triplets, and strophes as singular units of meaning - because they were written that way.
(side note) this is why i highly* recommend reading poetic literature like Lamentations and song of songs in a single-column Bible. In addition to the poetic books like Psalms and Proverbs, much of the prophetic text of the Old Testament is written in this structure as well - all of Amos is structured this way. Most English Bibles (like the pew Bibles at Madison) are divided into two columns to reduce the number of pages required for printing. However, the columns are so skinny that lines A & B of the couplets often appear across multiple lines and make the structure of the poetry almost unintelligible. I've provided images here (you'll have to be on the web-page to see them) of Psalm 1. the skinny-column (right) is from a Madison pew bible which is bi-columnar. the wider text (left) is from my uni-columnar Bible. The line-breaks in Bibles with 2 columns per page make the structure of the poetic couplets and triplets in Hebrew poetic literature almost invisible. its not that you can't read Psalms or Lamentations with a bicolumnar Bible, but it is so important to keep these pairs of lines together while you're reading that a unicolumnar Bible will give you a great advantage
The Career of Daniel
Daniel lived to be quite old for this period. he was taken into exile from Jerusalem in the first incursion of Babylon into Judah. When i read the story of Daniel, i'm reminded of Joseph. Both were taken away from their family and homeland and both worked hard, were blessed by God, and were successful workers in their new setting. Additionally, both were skilled at the interpretation of dreams and visions. Daniel names 4 different kings that he served during his career. Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, and Cyrus, in order. Though it is likely that Darius in Daniel is a provincial governor of Babylon under Cyrus known in other historical accounts as "Gubaru," or that Darius is a throne-name for Cyrus, making them one and the same. His career spans two empires as the Persians (Darius and Cyrus) rise to power near the end of Daniel's life. God - through the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 29:10) - told the Israelites that their exile would last seventy years. that time spans when the first group of exiles were taken away in 605 to when Cyrus decrees permission for some Jews to return from Babylon to Jerusalem in 536. Daniel's career spans the entire seventy-year exile.
Daniel's Prophecies
Understanding the prophecies of Daniel is one of the most important keys to reading the Gospels and the New Testament. They will help you understand what the Jewish people of Jesus' time expected* their destiny to be, who Jesus claimed to be, and what the apostles taught that Jesus had accomplished by dying on the cross and raising from the Dead. Jesus is the Son of Man. Many of Daniel's prophecies concern the intervening time between the return of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and the arrival of Jesus, The Messiah, but some - as you will read - are still being fulfilled.
In the vision and prophecy of Daniel 2 and 7, Daniel describes 4 kingdoms. these are likely Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome
It seems likely that Alexander the Great is the prophesied Leopard of the third beast (7:6) and it is well established that Alexander's kingdom was divided among four principal successors (Ptolemy, Selucus, Philip, and Antigonus) which would explain the four wings and four heads given authority to rule. (more on those guys below)
The small horn that grows to power in 8:9-14 is likely Antiochus IV Epiphanes the Seleucid king who is also the instigator responsible for the first fulfillment of the abomination of desolation in Daniel 9:27 which occurred in 168 BC, when he set up his own statue in the temple and offered pagan sacrifices in the temple. (see note on the Seleucid empire below)
the "one like a son of man" who approaches the Ancient of Days (God) and is given authority in Daniel 7:13-14 becomes INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT to Israel's expectation and anticipation of a Messiah. You must remember this verse and the prophesied destiny of "the son of man" when you're reading the Gospels!
for more historical analysis of how Daniel's prophesies were fulfilled - read here : https://bible.org/seriespage/7-daniel-s-vision-future-world-history
The History of the Exile
Judah (the kingdom representing the southern 2 tribes of Israel, Judah and Simeon) are taken into exile, and then return from exile, but it is a little more complicated than that. there were multiple occasions on which Babylon exiles Israelites (605, 597, 586). Jerusalem is destroyed in 586. Babylon, the kingdom that exiled Judah, falls to the Persians under Cyrus the great, Cyrus issues a decree allowing the return of the Jewish people in 538 BC, and there are 4 major episodes of this return.
Shesbazzar returns with the articles of gold and silver that had been taken from the temple in 538 along with ~1,000 exiles (Ezra 1)
Zerubbabel (heir to David's throne and ancestor of Joseph - father of Jesus) returns in 538 along with 42,360 exiles (Ezra 2)
the returned exiles delay in rebuilding the temple, they are chastised by the prophet Haggai in 520 BC and finally complete their (relatively modest) temple in 517 BC
Ezra returns in 458 BC with ~ 4,000 exiles (Ezra 7-8)
Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem in 433 BC with a strong army escort supplied by the king of Babylon which allows them to rebuild the walls of the city.
A Brief Intertestamental History (this is worth reading before we get to the Gospel of Matthew)
We're getting ready to jump into the New Testament for three weeks! Never again in our reading will we have such a long, uninterrupted section of the Old Testament; if you've stuck with us so far you've done a GREAT JOB! However, there is a major historical gap to span from the final events of the Old Testament (the return of Nehemiah in 433 to the arrival of Jesus more than 400 years later. you may have heard someone in church say that this was a "time of silence" and while it is true that no canonical prophet appears in this span, it likely did not feel like a time of silence or emptiness to the Jews of Palestine.
Persia had allowed the Jewish people to return to the promised land and basically let them self-govern though they were still a vassal state (this is actually the M.O. of the Persian empire for nearly all conquered states). During this time, historical records indicate that it was the high-priest who exercised the most civil authority over the people of Israel.
Persian control of Israel comes to a sudden end when the Macedonian (Greek) Alexander the Great defeats Darius III and sweeps through the Persian empire and beyond. Though Alexander only ruled over the Grecian empire for 13 years, his vision of a worldwide empire unified by language, custom and civilization would continue to shape the history of western civilization to this day. in a process called 'Hellenization' everyone touched by the Greek empire - Including the Jewish people of Palestine - began to use the Greek language and culture. A very important Biblical development occurred as a result of Hellenization - the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek. This Greek translation is called the "Septuagint" (often abbreviated LXX meaning "seventy") The Septuagint is especially important because it becomes clear that it is the version of the Old Testament that the New Testament authors are usually working from. you can read more about the Septuagint here - this will not be the last time i discuss it in the study notes http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2016/03/31/A-Brief-History-of-the-Septuagint.aspx
Alexander's empire was more-or-less divided into 4 kingdoms after his death, and Israel fell under Ptolemaic (Hellenistic rule centered in Egypt) control from 323-198 BC. under the Ptolemies, Israel was treated well and given generous autonomy, but they increasingly adopted Greek culture and even Greek religious practices. Durring this time of Greek rule a Jewish council was established to bring civil law to the people of Israel - this council was called the Sanhedrin. in 198 BC the Seleucid empire (the Syrian (north) division of Alexander's kingdom) pushed down and took control of Israel. under the Seleucids, the Jews were treated harshly and the Hellenization of their culture was accelerated. A party of orthodox Jews (later to become known as the Pharisees) rebelled against this Hellenization. which brought the Seleucid ruler Antiochus Epiphanes to Jerusalem in a fit of rage in 168 BC. He forbade all sacrifices, outlawed circumcision, cancelled the observance of the Sabbath, destroyed every copy of the Hebrew bible that they could find and forced the Jews to eat pork and sacrifice to Idols. His most awful act was to set up an altar to Zeus and offer sacrifices to him in the Most Holy Place of the temple.
So heinous was the behavior of Antiochus Epiphanes that the Jewish people revolted led by a family named the Maccabees. by 165 BC the Maccabean revolt had retaken Jerusalem, cleansed the temple, and restored biblical worship. This occasion is the genesis of the story of Hanukkah, or the festival of dedication, which Jesus himself celebrates (John 10:22). Israel experienced a brief period of independence under this, the Hasmonaean, dynasty. The Hasmonaean rulers were priests, but they rose to such power that they began to refer to themselves as kings, even though they were not from the lineage of King David. the party that opposed the Hasmonaeans calling themselves kings were called the Pharisees (means "separatists") and those who supported the Hasmonaeans were called Sadducees (means righteous); who were generally more Hellenized than their Pharisee counterparts.
in 63 BC, the Roman conquest of the Mediterranean world reached Israel, their independence was once again lost. because Jerusalem resisted the invading Pompey, Israel was punished. The Romans placed an Idumean (Edomite) governor over them, who would later become the 'Herods' and they would be made king of the Jews. the second Idumean ruler was Herod the Great who began rebuilding the modest temple constructed by the returned Israelite exiles in 20 AD - not because he was a devout practitioner of the Jewish faith - but because he loved great building projects which would bring him fame. This building project was mostly complete when Jesus minsters (30-33AD) but was not fully complete until 63 AD. Herod the great was historically successful but also extremely paranoid (as we see in Matthew 2) he had every surviving descendant of the Hasmonaeans killed including his wife and two sons, so that there would be no threat to his throne.
When the New Testament age arrives with the birth of Christ. the Jewish situation is bleak, they are still mostly scattered across the Near East from the Assyrian and Babylonian Exiles. they only tasted independence for a brief moment that was filled with strife, and they are now under their strongest oppressor yet. the might of the incredible Roman empire is behind their foreign ruler, Herod, who murdered their last remaining thread of hope for independence - the Hasmonaean descendants.
Imagine what it would have meant for John the Baptist and Jesus to arrive and, in our Matthew reading, say this:
"The kingdom of heaven has come near" (Matthew 3:2, 4:17)
Study Questions:
In Lamentations 1:2, Israel is depicted as having been abandoned and betrayed by her lovers. What had they given their love to instead of God? how was this affecting them now in their time of trouble? does this happen to people today? how do your protect yourself from depending on things that will abandon you in times of trouble?
In Lamentations 3:33, the author tells us that "[God] does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone" so how can we explain this destruction being brought on the Israelites?
In Daniel 3:18, Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego, say six of my favorite words in the Bible. Why is this such a powerful declaration? are you ready to be faithful, even if God's deliverance of you is not earthly?
In Daniel 6, Daniel is thrown into the lion's den. Why was he given this sentence? If a law was passed that made prayer to God illegal, would anyone be able to accuse you?
In Daniel 9:3, Daniel responds to his Bible reading. have you / do you respond[ed] to your reading of Scripture in this way?
In Daniel 12:10, Daniel is told that not everyone will understand this teaching. Does this sound like anything Jesus said during his ministry? How can we ensure that we are counted among those who understand (the wise)?
in Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus is tempted by the Devil. What does Jesus use to respond to each temptation? what does this teach us about facing temptation in our lives?