The message of Daniel speaks to these issues. After all, where had serving Yahweh gotten them, except exiled from their homeland? Perhaps, the gods of the Babylonians were more powerful than the God of Israel? Maybe Yahweh is a cruel and capricious god who goes back on his promises? Perhaps the Jew in exile should switch loyalties and follow the greater gods of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. God’s judgment was severe, perhaps he has canceled his promises when scattered his people among the nations to love as foreigners and aliens. For the exiles forced to settle in Babylon, it may have appeared God had forsaken his people. It was unthinkable the Temple itself could be dismantled, the Temple treasures stolen and placed at the feet of a pagan god in a temple in Babylon.īeyond the national disaster, the fall of Jerusalem was a spiritual and theological disaster. They might be oppressed by Assyria or Babylon, but God would always rescue them. Because of this, the city of Jerusalem would never be destroyed. Prior to 586 BC they believed hey were God’s people and God and God was present on Mount Zion. The fall of Jerusalem was a profound crisis of faith for the Jewish people. Daniel has several major theological themes which might be overlooked if we focus only on the difficult interpretive problems. It is easy to get bogged down in the details of apocalyptic literature when reading Daniel and miss the important theology of the book.
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