Divine Hesed for an Eschatological Hope
God’s provision and guidance will lead Israel home (vv.1-3, 7-11), and the first future has been announced. After the safe return, Israel will receive a joyful and peaceful future (vv. 4-6, 12-14) or the second future. I call these two stages of future the double hope. The prophet tended to convince Israel and Judah of the constant hesed of YHWH, the God of the past, presence, and future. To be restored, Israel needs to have strong hope or the double hope. The list of God’s “I will” emphasizes the divine message of hope in the book of Consolation: “I will restore... I will bring them back... I will break the yolk... I will save... I will gather... I will lead... I will turn mourning into joy... I will make a new covenant... I will be their God.” In Jeremiah’s visions, the divine hesed will guarantee the first future, and the same hesed will also ensure a second future, a truly eschatological hope for Israel and Judah.
Depending on context and field, the “eschatological” notion carries different meanings. Within the context of this exegesis, I only concentrate its meaning in ancient Israel. Here, eschatology is a “momentous time during which YHWH will act decisively to create a time of weal for Israel.” However, only after the fall of Jerusalem (587 B.C.E.), eschatological tradition systematically emerges as a form which regards three traditions: patriarchal promise with Abraham (Gen 15:18-20), Davidic-Zion promise with David (2 Sam 7), and Sinai covenant with Israelites (Exod 20:22-23:33). Before the year 587 B.C.E. (pre-exilic prophets), eschatology is more negative eschatology because the prophetic messages often convey God’s cursing and judgment on Israelites for their unfaithfulness ...
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...g point. It is the promise of life when none is expected.” [Emphasis mine].
Therefore, we could call Jeremiah 31:1-14 an eschatological piece of hope. Connecting with Jeremiah 30-33, the theme of hope is so strangely new that Brueggemann calls this prophetic message a “theological leap” of hope beyond “Deuteronomic symmetry.” This hope does not depend on Israel’s repentance, but “Yahweh’s singular intention.”
These prophetic visions encourage the exiles actively engaging and enduring the long exile (587-538 BCE) until the end, and the eschatological transformation will surely come as YHWH promises “at that time.” Living in the divine hesed for the eschatological hope, Israel and Judah will have an opportunity to return ‘home’ and be reunited together with “the God of all families of Israel” in Zion, and both (reunited in one) possess God’s bountiful blessings.
Introduction The book of Daniel is one of the great books of the Bible and also one of the most debated books in the Bible. It contains details of the ministry of Daniel and some of the most perplexing and fulfilled prophecies. Christians often think that prophecy is not very difficult and a straight forward propositional prediction and fulfillment, but it is more complex than that. The interpretation of the apocalyptic genre is one of the main reasons for its difficulty. Today one of these perplexing passages from Daniel will be examined.
After reading these brief accounts of an enormous span of time we can begin to understand how and why the stories of the Old Testament are complied into the Bible. There is far more detailed accounts of all of the stories, people, places and issues I have mentioned yet this paper ties together all of them into a comprehensive paper which displays the interaction of all aspect of life from the time of the old testament. My goal for this paper was not to simply give a factorial timeline of events but go through the history of Israel and make connections within the span of King David up to the Maccabean Revolt.
The first eleven verses of chapter thirteen of Jeremiah are a very distinctive portion of an already unique book. Jeremiah’s vision of the sign of the loincloth is an affluent passage whose depth cannot be fully understood without a proper exegetical exploration. I intend on doing an exegesis on this passage of Jeremiah. The language and symbols used held significance easily understood by the original audience, yet are difficult to comprehend by modern audiences. The main significance of this piece is not the ruin of the people of Judah, rather the lack of an offering of hope which usually accompanies the prophecies and visions of Jeremiah. The complexity of the passage, coupled with the depth of scholarly research accompanying it make it a challenging, yet fulfilling passage for a deeper exegetical study.
Before beginning this essay proper, it is important to first comprehend some of what is meant by the term eschatology, and how it is understood in the Book of Revelation. Eschatology broadly defined is that part of theology which deals with conceptions of the ‘end times’ and of the final things of the world and humanity. Within it sit many concepts, such as heaven and hell, divine judgment, the second coming, the defeat of evil and the new creation, among others things. As such, it encapsulates any discussion about the ‘end times’. This is certainly an apt title for much of the Book of Revelation then, with so much discussion of divine judgment on the first earth, the second coming of Christ and the coming of the New Creation. Within the pages of this text, however, a more complex eschatology is portrayed. While in the grander literary scheme of the text we see the ultimate destruction of death and hades and their throwing into the lake of fire...
LaSor, W., Hubbard, D., Bush, F., & Allen, L. (1996). Old Testament survey: The message, form, and background of the Old Testament (2nd ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans
The book of Ezra suggests that, soon after Cyrus’s conquest of Babylon, the exiled Judahites were allowed to return to Jerusalem and its vicinity (Ezra 5:1). The list of those to return in Ezra 2, when read at face value, gives the impression of a collective and massive return from exile. The elements from the book of Ezra seem to suggest, “We all returned as one.” This image has yielded the view that the return was a single event to be dated in the early years of the Persian era. This view has been dominant in traditional descriptions of the history of ancient Israel by Jews and Christians alike. This view is present in more-traditional histories of Israel and can still be found in theological reflections on the
In the days of Christ’s life on this earth, believers did not have access to the Bible in its entirety as we know and are familiar with today. Believers in this ancient time period only had access to the Old Testament. However, through their access to the Old Testament, believers were provided a foundation for New Testament times. This foundation provided New Testament believers with the Lord’s established principles of right and wrong they were expected to follow. In addition, the Old Testament is overflowing with accounts of people whose lives exemplified the future life of Christ on this earth. These pictures allowed the Israelite nation to begin to have an understanding of why Christ needed to come as their Messiah and the work He needed to do on earth. Finally, there are common themes that are interwoven throughout the entire Old Testament. Three of these themes: transgression, redemption, and consummation point to the purpose of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. These themes portray God’s work both in the lives of Old Testament believers, but they also foreshadow God’s desire and plan for believers in New Testament times and beyond.
Though the book of Jeremiah contains oracles, poetry and metaphors, his use of metaphors makes him similar to Jesus talking to people in parables. As the narration is in “the first person,” the Collegeville commentary examines the statement “The word of the Lord” pointing to Jeremiah’s speech and considering it “as if he were God speaking.” Since Jeremiah’s words depict a narrative mode of the conversation that took place between Yahweh and him, the Collegeville commentary perceives it as the words of speech by a messenger that are spoken on behalf of a king. In this case, Jeremiah is the messenger, because he is the prophet and metaphorically speaking, the king is Yahweh.
Before Ezekiel began his prophecy there was widespread conflict in the Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel at the hands of the Assyrians, Egyptians and the Babylonians. In 597 BCE the Babylonians took control of Jerusalem with members of royalty, nobles, craftsmen and smiths being sent into exile. In 2 Kings 24:14 it is stated that “only the poorest people in the land” escaped exile, though this is likely to be an exaggeration as people living in rural areas more than likely survived relatively unharmed (Darr, 2001). The living conditions of the exiled people have been widely debated. The exiled community was permitted to preserve its language, religion and internal governance by the elders; however they bore the scars of the previous wars and of being deported and some were forced into labour (Barton & Muddiman, 2001).
Jeremiah 31:1-6 is the announcement of restoration, giving rest to Israel. Jeremiah 31:1, “At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.” (NIV). “While the return from captivity is a good thing, it was a very difficult time, a time when the Jews, where threatened by those who occupied that land during the captivity and later by the Greeks and Romans. This restoration includes al the clans of Israel. Historically the Northern kingdom ceased to exist nearly 200 years prior to prophecy.” “Jeremiah’s great contribution to our understanding of messianic prophecy and how the New Testament relates to the Old Testament is that he explicitly describes a coming glorious “new” covenant (Jer. 31:31-34) that will replace the old one that Israel/Judah has shattered and annulled” (Pg. 174). “Chapters 30 and 31 contain no historical dates or ties to the reign of a king. This absence of dates or specific historical ties gives these first two chapters a certain timelessness. Also, in chapters 30-33 Jeremiah does not connect the future restoration to the downfall of Babylon. Instead, the restoration is tied theologically to the fulfillment of both the Abrahamic and the Davidic covenants-the new covenant and the associated blessings of restoration come as a fulfillment of those prior covenants (which are not broken)” (Pg. 174).
The meaning of Daniel 9:24-27 is to provide a message of life and an assurance that the Lord has sovereignly decreed a forthcoming timeline of events concerning the restoration Israel, the coming Messiah and the establishment of his kingdom. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the various eschatological elements present in Daniel 9:24-27 and their relationship to God’s final plan for Israel. The study was initially undertaken through an inductive analysis of the passage followed by a review of commentaries and theological encyclopedias. Additionally, various secondary sources were utilized to focus on the individual components of the passage and the continuous academic discussion concerning its purpose and significance. The paper
Levine, Amy –Jill and Douglas Knight. The Meaning of the Bible: What Jewish and Christian Old Testament Can Teach Us. New York: HarperOne, 2011
Isaiah’s Messianic prophecies are more precise than any other writer’s in the Old Testament. He does not only give accurate details of the person and work of Jesus Christ, he also lived and wrote these prophecies hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was born. The central theme of the book is Salvation is of the Lord. In this paper, the identities of the corporate and individual Servants and also their mission as portrayed by Isaiah will be discussed. In the book of Isaiah, the concept of the servant is more complex than one would expect. In certain passages in Isaiah, the Servant appears to be more of a collective character rather than an individual, whereas in other passages, the nation of Israel is identified as the servant. Biblical scholars over the years have studied extensively and produced several theories to identify the Servant in the book of Isaiah. Is the Servant an individual or corporate? A proper understanding of the Servant and the mission provides a clearer insight concerning the plan of God in restoring His children.
Jesus’ healing ministry constructed a profound theological statement to Israel, similar to his selection of the twelve apostles and his eating with sinners. God’s promise one day to establish his kingdom and renew his people visible and available in preview to any who witnessed his deeds of the teacher from Nazareth.
Back in Abraham’s day, God promised him that he would make a great nation for him. From that promise, two beginnings of messianic prophecy would take shape. One would emphasize the glorious future of the Kingdom of Israel, and the other would speak to the coming work of the Messiah, portraying him not as a reigning king but as a suffering servant who would be slain on behalf of his people.