Hot answers tagged prophecy
21
This is actually part of a theme that runs through prophetic literature: the idea that the people of Israel are doing the ritual right but getting all the important stuff wrong. It is consonant with, for example, in the book of Hosea:
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt-offerings. (Hosea 6.6)
Or in ...
13
I think lonesomeday has a good answer, but I would like to add another dimension:
The festivals and sacrifices being observed in Israel at the time of Amos were also displeasing because they were bound up with idol worship and violated many of the statutes God has given regarding them. The vision Amos receives is written to the people in the day of Jeroboam ...
11
A little bit of Friday, Saturday and a little bit of Sunday could be properly describe as three days and nights in Biblical language. We think of days as 24 hour periods but they included in their common expressions a 'day' as 'any part of a day, or 'touching any part of a calendar day'. The term 'three days and three nights' was a Jewish expression that ...
7
One of my favorite sayings in hermeneutics is:
The meaning of a word is determined by the context in which it is used.
As you indicated in your question, there are many "women" mentioned in the Bible, so to determine which "woman" is being referenced here, we need to look at the context. As we proceed, keep in mind that this is "a great sign in ...
6
It is Gabriel. The answer is given a little earlier: Daniel 9:21:
...while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.
It could not have been Michael, since the man in the vision refers to Michael in verses 13 and 21.
6
Hermeneutic principles for understanding this passage:
The Christology of the the law and the prophets. It's all is about Christ; even if you were to disagree with this personally, this is certainly the overarching principle of hermeneutics that Matthew is working with (see my answer here for a few example passages). This gives us pause in claiming that ...
6
There were many things that Matthew did not understand about the ministry of Christ until after Jesus death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. The references that the prophets made about the Messiah were likely high on that list. The beauty of most of the references about the messiah is that they were already understood in the historical context which ...
5
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 constitutes what is considered the fourth Servant song. The others are Isaiah 42:1-9, Isaiah 49:1-13, and Isaiah 50:4-9. Also, some consider Isaiah 61:1-3 a fifth Servant song, though the word "servant" is not used there.
All of these songs speak of a Servant called by God to lead the nations. There is no clear referant within Isaiah ...
4
The usage of Hosea 11:1 in Matthew 2:15 is consistent with the "drash" reading of scripture that was accepted among the dominant Pharisaic Jewish tradition at the time of Jesus.
See this explanation of "drash" and its relationship to context in the Wikipedia article on "pshat" [emphasis is mine]:
Definitions of Peshat also note the importance of ...
4
I am not an expert on Christian scriptures and history, but discussion on other answers on this question led me to enough information to propose an answer.
One approach is to count partial days, so "three days and three nights" is understood as "three days, including the nights". If we understand Jesus' death to have been on Friday (the dominant opinion to ...
4
This should not be taken as a prophecy but as a lesson on true faith. If you read before this passage, you see that Jesus has been having issues with the religious leaders. Over and over they fail to believe, or more specifically, fail to recognize who he is.
Now, go back to the Hebrew scriptures. Jonah was pretty cool, but you would really only expect ...
4
Nahum takes place about 140 years after Jonah. Jonah preached, they repented, they later returned to wickedness, and Nahum prophesied judgement. Ironically, Nahum means "comfort."
Jonah shows a 7-8th century BC background (though some argue the current form came much later, around the 4th century BC). And 2 Kings 14:25 mentions a prophet named Jonah son ...
3
The Hebrew word for week is literally a time period of seven (#7620 Strong's).
In Deut. 16:9 it is certainly used to refer to a time period of seven days.
In Genesis 29:18-30 it is clearly used to refer to a time period of seven years!
Thus, Upon seeing this word one must ask, "a time period of seven whats?" We are dependent upon textual and historical ...
3
There is nothing in the text in 2 Samuel 7 or in subsequent writings within the Tanakh that hints that the Davidic covenant spoken through Nathan was spoken falsely by him or embellished. 1 Kings 4:31 esteems the wisdom of Ethan the Ezrahite pretty highly; his wisdom is the bar by which the author compares Solomon's own wisdom. I mention this because Ethan ...
2
If this is not a quotation of an unrepentant group, the Christology is abundantly clear (all the points below apply to this case). Even if it is a quotation from an unrepentant group:
There is Scriptural precedent for prophecy by unregenerate individuals...
both those who are aware that that they are prophesying (Saul)
and those who are not (Caiaphas)
...
2
I'd like to add the words of Philo, who lived in the 1st century A.D.
In Concerning Noah's Work as a Planter (De Plantatione), Ch. XXV, Sec. 107-108, Philo writes,
107 For some persons have fancied the sacrificing of oxen to be piety, and they assign a portion of all that they steal or obtain by denials, or by cheating their creditors, or by plundering, ...
1
The citation in Ezekiel 4:6 is exactly identical with a similar case of judgment in Numbers 14:34, where the Israelites were confined to the wilderness for 40 years so that each year corresponded with each day that the spies were in the land. In both Ezekiel 4:6 and Numbers 14:34, the expansion of "days into years" stemmed from the iniquity of the Israelites ...
1
There is not a standard belief among various bible scholars about what this means, but I suppose in general it could be said to the agreement of most that the prophecy is referring to a remnant of the Philistines, which Ekron was a city of, who would become proselytes of Judaism as a result of the destruction that was to fall on them. Possibly this ...
1
In context, the phrase seems to be the culmination of a series of illustrations of the depravity surrounding the prophet:
The best of them is like a brier,
the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
now their confusion is at hand.
Put no trust in a neighbor;
have no confidence in a friend;
...
1
The key for understanding this section is that from verses 1-6 the prophecy deals with cleansing sin which includes banishing ‘the names of the idols’ and 'false prophets'. In fact the false prophets should be killed even by ‘their own parents” who will ‘stab the one who prophesies’ (v3). This was the rule under the laws of Moses. (Deuteronomy 13:9) The idea ...
1
I have read several commentaries on this portion of scripture and see it causes a lot of confusion because the most probable meaning is that it is not associated with the first coming of Messiah but the second coming. Originally I may have fell into the 'destruction of Jerusalem' trap because Jesus spoke about the destruction of Jerusalem while sitting on ...
1
Heb 11.13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and
embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on
the earth. 14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they
seek a country.
We err if we presume that the NT authors gave us ...
1
My wife summarizes it well: "Sometimes, saying 'sorry' is not enough"; i.e. you have to mean it. In the long list of increasing punishments that the Jews could receive if they should reject G-d's statutes (Lev. 26:14-41) even confessing one's sins, and those of one's father, will not be enough, causing G-d to work on behalf of the enemies of the Jews. ...
1
In prophetic recapitulation, the story of Christ is told repeatedly in many ways. Noah in the ark, Moses and the ark of bulrushes [1], the tablets of the law in the ark of the covenant are all prophecies of Christ. Using this principle A, B and C prophesy D. If an author is aware of A but not B, C or D he can write of A and appear to be prophesying of B and ...
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