Old Testament Texts

Humans may notice what is visible to them, at least to some extent. Insiders take notice of what is happening behind the scenes. This is so in the world of business and politics as well as in many other areas. In contrast to the insiders, most people can only guess at what is really happening. Ho...

When employees want to achieve something with their supervisors, they have a number of options: file a petition, collect signatures, curry favor with the supervisors, or even threaten or bribe them. Daniel uses a different approach with God. He prays. He speaks openly with the Lord. I. Structure ...

This is a revised version of an article published in the Journal of the Adventist Theological Society. The Sabbath commandment in Exodus 20:8–11 is important to Judaism and fairly well known in Christianity, especially in Adventism. Apart from Scripture, people have printed it in catechisms and...

Nations use images of animals as their representatives, conveying a message about how they see themselves. Some have chosen an eagle, others a lion, and still others a bear or an antelope. Sometimes humans are given animal names. This can be negative or positive. To be called “dog,” “fox,” “wolf,...

Freedom of conscience and religious liberty are constantly threatened in this world. Again and again there are persecution, imprisonment, and killing of people for their religious convictions. Daniel 6 describes such a situation. This chapter is the last chapter in the historical part of the book...

Close attention to biblical characters can provide useful insights for preaching and teaching the Bible. This essay illustrates this claim by looking at the prophet Ezra. Israel had been in the Babylonian exile—according to Jeremiah it would last seventy years—and the Jews were allowed to return ...

The Hebrew text of Genesis 3:6 appears to imply that Adam was with Eve in the scene of temptation. The King James Version, offers this word-by-word rendering: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,...

The Hebrew text of Genesis 3:6 appears to imply that Adam was with Eve in the scene of temptation. The King James Version, offers this word-by-word rendering: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,...

In this chapter the last Babylonian king appears: Belshazzar. In the past, critics had considered the book of Daniel to be historically unreliable. At that time not a single historian nor other material was known to mention Belshazzar. Then the cylinder of Cyrus and a number of clay tablets appea...

We are confronted with various diseases, among them mental and psychological illnesses. Depression has become a specific problem in our days. In Daniel 4 we read about King Nebuchadnezzar for the last time, and he is suffering from a mental disease. I. Discussion of the Chapter 1. The Frame The A...