Did Jehovah really order the excution of men, women, and children in the land of Canaan?

by John Aquila 32 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  CalebInFloroda

  @John Aquila

  Jews have a totally different understanding of that text from Daniel. We don't even include Daniel as one of the books of the prophets, even though he was a prophet himself. The text in Daniel 9 reads differently in the Hebrew, and this makes the formula something different for us. We read it as discussing 70 years of Babylonian exile followed by 420 years of the Second Temple.

  Not all Jews see prophecy about the Messiah as referring to a literal person. Many Jews see these prophecies as referring to a Messianic Age. Also the term "messiah" in Hebrew just means someone who has been chosen to rule, often being marked by literal anointing with oil as a sign of their installation. Because of that the references to "moshiach" in Daniel 9 have often been interpreted to be Cyrus, King Agrippa, and the High Priest at the Temple at the time of its fall is the third "moshiach." The term just means "anointed one" as in a ruler or priest.

  It should be noted that the New Testament authors never quote this text or offer the general formula popular among Christians for Daniel chapter 9 in connection with an expected arrival of the Messiah. Being independent of the New Testament, the formula and its final conclusions are not directly based on any Christian Scripture.
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  cofty

  I'm not sure I understand but thanks for your post, I appreciate it.
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  Crazyguy

  Not to step on calibinflorida, but most of the writings were taken from non Jewish sources. Example, most of the ten commandments come from the negative confessions from the Book of the Dead. Scriptures in proverbs and psalms come from Egypt and Assyria. There are even scriptures that refer to the god of the writer as being RA the sun God of Egypt. The stories like those about the flood are copied from Sumeria where the gods being discussed are the gods Enki and Enlil. Same with the stories about Adam, the garden of eden and the tower of babel, all originally Sumerian /Akkadian stories.

  So sorry to rain on your parade calibfromflorida, but the Jews just stole these writings to make a history for themselves, even king David and Solomon are just legends they never really existed. And God's temple that Solomon supposedly built was almost an exact replica of a temple at Arn Dara. Everything about the Bible is a fraud and so was this so called ancient nation of Israel.
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  John Aquila

  CalebInFloroda

  Jews have a totally different understanding of that text from Daniel. We don't even include Daniel as one of the books of the prophets,

  Thanks for that info, much appreciated

  Thanks for your comments Crazyguy
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  CalebInFloroda

  @Crazyguy

  I don't remember saying that we invented the stories ourselves. In fact, if you had done your homework you would be aware that Jews know very well that many of our legends are based and even transferred from the mythology of the ancient peoples who lived around us.

  For instance, the cosmogony of Genesis chapter 1 was popular among almost all the peoples of Mesopotamia. The Hebrew Noah has his story interpolated with that of Utnapishtim from the Gilgamesh Epic. The lengthy ages of the descendants from Shem to Abraham are connected to the type of pagan stories as found on the Weld Prism of world history which gives a list of ten kings who ruled before a world flood, with ages similar to those listed at Genesis 11.10-26. And I could go on and on and on...

  I don't know what parade you thought you were raining on, but I have no illusions on the texts we Jews claim as sacred and the origins of the texts. Their being original or not does not change the fact that I'm Jewish or stop me from fighting for justice where it is lacking or working to make the world a better place for all.
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  Crazyguy

  As for the book of Daniel, look at the oldest Bible ever written the septuigent in there you'll find that there's missing writings not included in the newer Bibles and there's also the story of Bel and the Dragon. Read these and then tell me this is not more stuff written about old Sumerian mythology.
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  Finkelstein

  CalebInFloroda sounds like a Jewish humanist
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  CalebInFloroda

  @Crazyguy

  Read my comments above your last post. I know very well where the stories come from.

  Also: The story of Bel and the Dragon is not found in the most ancient texts of Daniel which are written in Aramaic and Hebrew. Those additions were added when the Septuagint was created many generations later by Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt. They only exist in Greek. The stories show great influence from the Hellenistic and heathen world around them and are not included in the Jewish Tanakh.
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  CalebInFloroda

  @Finkelstein

  Thanks for that complement, but no. I'm a claimant to Reform Judaism.
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  Finkelstein

  Interesting there is some information about Reform Judaism on Wiki

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Judaism_%28North_America%29