Introduction to Apocalyptic

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Begin by reading Daniel 11:40-12:13 and registering your own reaction to this sort of prediction.

Daniel and Zechariah provide a bridge to the full blown apocalyptic literature of the intertestamental literature.

What is apocalypticism?

Differentiate between literary genre and socio- religious movements

Martin Buber's dichotomization of prophetic and apocalyptic literature

   Prophetic  Apocalyptic
 Eschatology  native and monistic  foreign and dualistic (Iranian influence)
 Object of Hope  fulfillment of creation  dissolution of creation
 Judgment  coming event  firmly fixed date
   announced to unrepentant ---revocable  unalterable and final

The view represented by Paul Hanson - In the period following the exile, prophetic figures are regarded with skepticism and even with animosity. In order to establish their credentials, they use pseudonyms such as Enoch and Moses. This literature is to be set in the context of a crisis ridden post-exilic community for which reality does not meet with expectations. The apocalypticist's answer is that God's promises are not to be fulfilled in the historic realm but in another realm. These writers abdicate responsibility for reality. They are visionaries who envision a divine order that transcends all mundane institutions and structures. Hanson contends that these writers take no social responsibility for translating their vision into everyday concerns. He characterizes the literature as a loss of optimism and a turn to pessimism.

Biblical Scholars have tended to be apologetic about the apocalyptic literature. For the most part scholars have approached this literature through the lens of Form Criticism and have asked questions about form (genre) and Sitz im Leben.. Many modern readers are uncomfortable with the fantastic images and seeming strict determinism of these texts.

I will introduce this material using the lens of Narrative Theology and lean upon the results of Form Criticism.

When justice does not roll down like a river, what is the temptation? What happens to idealism?

What sort of qualities of character does one need in order to perpetuate idealism?

My hypothesis: The six stories of Daniel try to generate these sorts of qualities in their reading community; they contain a narrative theology.

1) Daniel and his three friends in training for the royal service (chapter 1)

2) Daniel as dream interpreter (chapter 2 especially verses 28, 34-35)
3) The three friends in the furnace (chapter 3 especially verses 16, 29)
4) Nebuchadnezzar's second dream (chapter 4 )
5) King Belshazzar's feast: the desecration of the temple wares and the handwriting on the wall (chapter 5 especially verse 17)
6) Daniel in the lion's den (chapter 6 especially verse 10)
 
Take note of how carefully these stories are crafted.
In what ways is Daniel portrayed as a better version of Joseph?
In what ways is Nebuchadnezzar's behavior unexpected?
What purpose does repetition serve?
 
Karel, Van Der Toorn, "In the Lion's Den: The Babylonian Background of a Biblical Motif," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 60 (1998) pp.626-40, examines how the image of the lion's den is used in contemporary Babylonian literature, im particular, Urad-Gula's letter of complaint, and finds the following:
The lions' den is not just a literary fantasy. The story of Daniel's fall from grace, his tribulations, and his eventual return to court conforms to the traditional narrative pattern of the Tale of the Vindicated Courtier, the story of an esteemed royal counselor who suffers disgrace and misery at the hands of envious colleagues but is finally restored to his former glory, thanks to the intervention of a friendly god. The pattern of the tale belongs to the literature of the sages; its protagonist is a sage who enjoys the confidence of the king. The stories of Joseph and Ahiqar can be adduced as examples. The biblical variant of the Tale of the Vindicated Courtier, the variant in the story of Daniel, follows a Babylonia narrative tradition. In letters to Neo-Assyrian kings, Mesopotamian scholars who have lost their influence at court describe their career according to a literary model. They see themselves as righteous sufferers, as real-life copies of the protagonist in that classic work of Babylonian wisdom literature, whose incipit is Ludlul bel nemeqi, "I shall praise the lord of wisdom."
Close study of Ludlul bel nemeqi and its echoes in letters by scholars who identify with its protagonist reveals that the motif of the pit of lions goes back to Babylonia as well. In the Babylonian tradition, however, the lions are not real lions; they stand for human adversaries. The "pit of lions," in its sole Babylonian occurrence, is a metaphor for the hostility and competition among the scholars at court. The biblical author inherited the motif of the lions' pit from the Babylonian tradition, but when he incorporated it into the story of Daniel, he turned the metaphor into a literal description. (p. 626)
 
The next step in our analysis is to determine what the relationship between these stories and Daniel's visions (chapters 7-12) might be.
 
Desired perlocutionary effect of the visions: to sustain faith and loyalty to Judaism during perilous times to come.
 
Desired effect: to encourage distaste by Jews for Maccabean rule (the Maccabees are a little help {11:34}).
 
The non-violence, non-resistance of the six stories is affirmed in the visions. Patience and perseverance alone enable the belief in the God of Israel to overcome God's opponents and Israel's oppressors. The Hasidim are portrayed as the loyal civil servant who refuses to obey only when pushed to an extreme.
 
Paul L. Redditt, "Daniel 11 and the sociohistorical setting of the book of Daniel" Catholic Biblical Quarterly 60 (1998 ) p463 -75, presents an overview of scholarly reconstructions of the community of the text and sides with the view that they were "pacifists" contending with the problem of remaining faithful under the tryanny of Antiochus IV. He concludes his study with the following:
If this reconstruction is correct, members of the group responsible for the Book of Daniel may well have known the years of royal favor when Antiochus III was attempting to court favor by reducing taxes. They may have seen their life in those years as the kind of good life possible even under foreign domination if people but remained faithful to God and obeyed Torah.
 
The persecutions under Antiochus IV must have "burst their balloon." Their dream had become a nightmare. Their foreign benefactor had become their worst enemy. One can also understand why the Maccabees were seen as of "little help," if, indeed, they are intended in 11:34.(n41) Neither they nor any other human agency could restore the previous relationship to the Seleucids. The only possibility for improvement lay in the hands of God, who would usher in God's own kingdom.(n42) In the midst of persecution, the wise could look ahead to the fall of Antiochus IV and of all foreign domination. They did not lay out a vision for life in God's kingdom or a program for future governance. Perhaps they did not have the leisure to do so, since their primary objective had become to hold on and survive under the government which they were experiencing.