A remarkable convergence of circumstance, yet again.
1. A pastor friend doing a Ph.D. on 2nd temple Judaism.
2. Reading Daniel in my study focusing on other-testamental links.
3. Preaching Luke 1:26-56 (Annunciation and Magnificat).
My friend tipped me off that Jews of Jesus' day (2nd temple) had Daniel very much in mind.
So I'm reading Daniel in my regularly scheduled devotions, and I find all these references to Luke 1:33: "He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." Daniel 2:44; 4:3, 34; 6:26; 7:14, 27 all refer to this!
Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man most often, Daniel's title for the Messiah.
After Jesus' birth, what does Mary do? She keeps all these things in her heart (Lk 2:19, 51).
Lo and behold, what does Daniel do after the vision of chpt 7? Keeps these things in his heart (Dan 7:28).
Gabriel shows up in the Bible in 2 places, appearing to only 3 people: Daniel, Zechariah and Mary. Zechariah has been discussed earlier.
Regarding the Annunciation, Gabriel says the same thing to Daniel and to Mary: you are highly favored/blessed.
Not to quibble, but Zechariah gets a visit from Gabriel also.(Luke 1:19)
ReplyDeleteBut anyway, I am very interested in your work on seeing the OT parallels in the NT. I have gotten alot out of your link to En-Gedi and am considering doing an D.Min in 2nd Temple and Jesus Teachings (I don't have what it takes to do the PhD thingie)
Q. Are you following some special system to find the cross references?