Daniel 9 Apocalyptic Vision #3 Daniel 9 is about Daniel’s confession that the reason for the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem and the captivity is due to the failure of the Jewish people to be faithful to the covenant (Daniel 9:1-19). It is during this prayer that “the manContinue Reading

Daniel 8 – Apocalyptic Vision #2 Daniel sees the rise of the Medo-Persian empire – verse 3 “a ram which had two horns”… (Daniel 8:3) He also sees the rise of the Greek Empire, brought about by the conquests of Alexander the Great. The Greek empire would come to dominateContinue Reading

Daniel 7 – Apocalyptic Vision #1 Daniel 7 is all about the rise of four mighty empires: Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome. The vision shifts in verse 9, where Daniel sees “the thrones cast down, and the Ancient of Days…” come to take his place as the leader of theContinue Reading

Judaic Hyperbole In Numbers 11, we read about how the Lord sent quail to the Israelites because they were complaining that they were tired of eating manna in the wilderness, that they lacked meat (something that contradicts the rest of the narrative). With a couple of Bible helps 1 weContinue Reading

Historical Background – D&C 91 “On 8 March 1833, Joseph Smith received a revelation (D&C 90) concerning the First Presidency of the Church and its role in taking the gospel to the world.  In that revelation, it was also indicated to Joseph that he was to continue his work onContinue Reading

The production of the Old and New Testaments Time Period: 1500 BCE to 1611 CE How did we get the King James Version of the Bible? Old Testament Quick History Moses is credited in the Bible with authorship of the first five books. After Moses’ day, scholars surmise that theContinue Reading

Scripture comes in its cultural packaging In 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, Paul expresses his frustration with the division amongst the Saints. He says: Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you exceptContinue Reading

Right now I am reading The Elohist and North Israelite Traditions by Alan W. Jenks. On page 22 he writes, “The use of this motif (dreams and prophecy), like that of the divine speech in a night dream, suggests that the Elohist narratives were shaped in a group which wasContinue Reading

The Baal-Peor Incident – Problems with Numbers 25 Who caused the Israelites to worship the false god of Baal of Peor: the Moabites or the Midianites? (Numbers 25:1-2 vs Numbers 25:16-18, 31:15-16) Numbers 25:1-5 is a Yahwist text, and Numbers 25:6-18 is a Priestly account, which helps to explain theContinue Reading