Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 87 No. 2, 2017.
Original scientific paper
The Apocalyptic Elements in Daniel 2 – 6
Dubravko Turalija
orcid.org/0000-0002-8806-3967
; The Catholic Faculty of Theology University of Sarajevo, Bosna and Herzegovina
Abstract
The classical division of the Book of Daniel into the narrative (1 – 6) and visions (7 – 12) should not be excluded from further theological discussion because it is not insignificant for modern exegetes whether Daniel 1 – 6 belongs to apocalyptic literature or not, or whether Chapter 7 corresponds to the narrative or vision in the Book of Daniel. Our position is that Chapters 1 – 6 contain apocalyptic elements. The first four chapters cover the prehistorical period up to the Hebrew exile and Diaspora. The figure of the king Nebuchadnezzar in this section represents all the turbulent historical background of the events in which the Temple, the Kingdom and the Nation were lost. This historic part of Daniel 1 – 4 is slightly different in the Hellenistic period, and why itbecomes much more detailed and concrete in Sections 5 – 8 is still not entirely known. Finally, Chapter 9 begins with futuristic enigmas of the numbers and ends with the theology of the Resurrection in Chapter 12. Therefore, Daniel 1 – 6 and 7 – 12 can be divided into Daniel 1 – 4, 5 – 8 and 9 – 12, where, in the microcosmic framework, the writer or the editor includes the past (1 – 4), the present (5 – 8) and the future (9 – 12). For example, not only with Daniel and the sages in Chapter 2, but with Daniel and his compatriots in Chapter 3, and in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Chapter 4, a three‑dimensional sequence of events is clearly specified in which the former is reflected in the future through the nucleus of the present, which occupies a key role linking the natural and climatic category with the supernatural, timeless, final and permanent. The background of all of Daniel’s postulates consists of the socio‑ ethical components of the historical events, which could be summarized in the nucleus of the current situation and environment of the writer, from which, similar to the proportions of the past context, the thesis of the future time in launched. Daniel could not be called apocalyptic writer, much less an eschatologist, unless we include these three realties: the past, through which the present filter catalyst hints at future events, which resemble each other, but, by their system and completeness, metamorphose Israelite history into the supernatural sphere of apocalyptic reality.
Keywords
apocalyptic; Chaldeans; dreams; eschatology; holy guardian; horn; secret; statue; vision; world
Hrčak ID:
184966
URI
Publication date:
20.7.2017.
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