Living earth joe daniels series#
In Daniel, both the narrative and the apocalyptic imagery incorporate a series of empires.
This deployment of the book of Daniel and its motifs became what I have termed elsewhere as the “Danielic discourse.” 3Īn important part of this discourse was the four kingdoms motif, which was a larger Near Eastern motif depicting a series of empires and which was originally distinct from Daniel. Post-biblical interpreters recognized the imperial focus of the book and similarly used Daniel-whether it be with implicit allusions, explicit references, or entirely rewritten passages-when they wanted to say something, even tangentially, about empires. 2 In contrast, the second half of the book (chapters 7–12) details apocalyptic visions, which, in large part, center around the end of empires and their replacement with a divine kingdom. 1 The first half of the book (chapters 1–6) contains six stories that advocate cooperating with foreign kings as Daniel achieves success in an imperial world. Thus, this article’s survey of the four kingdoms demonstrates that Second Temple writers not only adopted the motif from the surrounding Near Eastern context but adapted it in such a way as to give added force to its anti-imperial rhetoric. In contrast, texts written under the Roman Empire remove the binary altogether, making Israel an animal equally as powerful as the empire. For example, in Hellenistic period texts, such as Daniel and the Animal Apocalypse, the animal/human binary emphasiz-es the horrific nature of empires, but, by identifying Israel with the human, the motif empowers the subjugated. However, using a hermeneutic lens inspired by the new field of animal studies, this article argues that the animalistic four kingdoms establishes a distinct binary between human and animal that counters imperial hegemony.
The ob-vious inference is that empires were understood to share these same out-of-control qualities. The animals are marked by carnivorous appetites, predatory instincts, and abnormal creation. However, upon closer examination, many of these texts share an even more distinctive motif: four kingdoms that appear as animals. The four kingdoms motif appears throughout the Jewish writings of the Second Temple period and is commonly used to anticipate the end of earthly empires and their replacement by a divine kingdom.
0 kommentar(er)
