Old Testament Texts

Introduction The book of Amos is a small book—nine chapters, 146 verses, and about 2,050 Hebrew words— but it is a challenging book. Works on this book are legion, the interpretation of almost every clause is debated among scholars, and all kinds of methods have been applied to its study—from his...

Genesis 2:1–3 contains the first biblical text on the seventh-day Sabbath, which is also the first whole day of human history, as it comes chronologically at the end of the whole event of creation when humans are created. This is therefore a foundational text for the historical and theological un...

Dr. René Gehring, the author of this volume in German, is the president of Seminar Schloss Bogenhofen in Austria. Following an introduction, the book is divided into five chapters, the first four of which investigate the Trinity in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, in the writings of Ellen...

Jacques Doukhan has brought back for analysis and discussion Daniel 11, one of the most difficult passages in biblical apocalyptic literature, raising new questions and offering some new readings through the use of a new approach to the text. Doukhan’s academic training in literature and text ana...

The Decalogue is a precious gift endowed to humanity by God Himself (Exod 31:18), uttered (Exod 20:1; Deut 5:4–5, 24) and written (Exod 24:12; 31:18; Deut 5:22) by Him. It presents the foundational principles to preserve life and defines how one maintains the vertical (first four commandments) an...

The commentators of the book of Daniel usually divide the book into two parts: one containing narratives about Daniel and his friends and another containing visions. Usually, the narrative part is considered not very important for the interpretation of the visions. This presentation seeks to show that the book of Daniel is a coherent unity and the keys for interpreting the visions might be found in the narrative section. For this purpose the character of the little horn is taken as a test case. This presentation comes to the conclusion that the little horn is portrayed as having some features that are peculiar to the portraits of the pagan kings in the book of Daniel. Therefore some elements of the stories of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius might be understood as typological ones that anticipate the antitypological fulfillment in the end of time.

While the ending of the 1,260-year prophecy of Daniel and Revelation appears relatively decisive, there has been criticism of the beginning period as being rather obscure and imprecise. A careful, historical understanding of the history of church and state is exceedingly helpful to an understanding of prophecy. Rather than focusing on military events, losses or victories, a concern with legal enactments relating to church and state is of greater importance. The uprooting of three horns is a historical process over a period of time, from the 470s to 550s, whereas legal enactments—especially related to the Justinian Code—can provide a more precise time boundary for events. It also serves to highlight the end of the period, with Justinian’s Religious Code being replaced by the Napoleonic Secular Code in 1798. This new way of looking at prophetic periods may also help us with more obscure prophecies, such as the time periods in the fifth and sixth trumpets of Revelation.

Desmond Ford argued that he could not find an allusion to Daniel in Hebrews and the Daniel and Revelation Committee agreed on this point, concluding that Hebrews neither explicitly teaches nor denies Christ’s two-phased ministry in heaven. Adventist scholarship, however, has missed an allusion to Daniel 7:18 in Hebrews 12:28. This presentation explores the role that the allusion to Daniel 7:18—a chapter dealing with the pre-advent judgment—plays in the argument of Hebrews. It will show that while in the expository sections of Hebrews the author was primarily interested in discussing the achievements of Christ in the past, his hortatory argument looks to the future and its most important concern is to prepare believers for the judgment they will face.

Eschatology, “the teaching of the last things” (from the Greek eschaton, ‘’last” or “final”), is usually thought to focus on the last things. However, eschatology is not only the end of everything; it has a starting point. Old Testament eschatology is a story of restitution; hence it may be said to begin with the fall of Adam and Eve, where God is in full presence with Adam and Eve and announces the seed for eschatology. After the fall, humanity fell out of relationship with God. The remainder of Scripture tells the story of God’s plan to restore holiness among a holy people. This presentation seeks to situate the linear understanding of Old Testament eschatology.

This presentation examines the theological, methodological, and historical process that characterizes the development of the futuristic system of prophetic interpretation, especially the books of Daniel and Revelation, until its establishment as the Dispensationalism. Here it is shown that the adoption of the hermeneutics methodology known as futurism, based on a literal interpretation of Scripture and the concept of a double fulfillment, has gained ground among Protestant movements to almost eliminate the system of the prophetic interpretation of the Reformation. In this way, the acceptance of the futuristic methodological approach inexorably has led to transform the eschatological interpretation in both Protestantism and Adventism.