Reading for June 18th

DANIEL'S VISIONS CONCERNING THE COMING KINGDOM OF GOD
Chs. 7-12 the visions point to the establishment of the kingdom of God as the
primary theme of the book.
Scholars generally agree that these chapters were written in the mid second century BCE
to support the Maccabean revolt against Seleucid Syria.
With the fall of Seleucid Syria, the kingdom of God would be realized as an independent
Jewish state centered around Jerusalem Temple.

Read Daniel 7.1-28 The vision of the four beasts.
This narrative points to God's overthrow of Antiochus IV.
In verses 1-8 first year of Belshazzar: Belshazzar's regency began tin 554 BCE.
Daniel's vision draws upon creation traditions, which portray God's defeat of the sea
or a sea dragon as the basis for the created world order (Ps 74.13-17; 89.9-10;
Isa 27.1; 51.9-10; compare Gen 1; Ex 15).
Here, the chaos monsters emerge from the sea to overturn creation.
The four winds refer to the four cardinal directions, the universal context of the four beasts,
which represent a succession of empires (ch. 2).
The lion with eagles' wings is Babylon, which employed such figures extensively in art.
The bear with three tusks (literally, "ribs") in its mouth is Media.
The leopard with four wings and four heads is Persia, which ruled most of the Near Eastern world.
The beast with iron teeth is the Greek-Macedonia empire of Alexander the Great.
The ten horns represent the ten rulers of the Seleucid umpire, who used horns as
symbols of their power.
The little horn with eyes...and a mouth speaking arrogantly is Antiochus IV, who claimed to be a god and usurped the throne following the assassination of his brother, Seleucus IV.
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