Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 28/06/2004 08:57, George F. Somsel wrote:

> On June 28, 2004 Peter Kirk wrote:
>  
> On 28/06/2004 07:34, George F. Somsel wrote:
>
> >/ ...
> />/
> />/That is one way of handling the problem.  Since, however, it is 
> generally
> />/conceded that the Book of Daniel was an ex eventu (or at least
> />/contemporaneus) writing, it would be surprising to find him making 
> such a
> />/mistake.  My inclination is to accept that he knew whereof he spoke.
> />/ 
> />
> >But this compounds the backwardness of your argument. You presuppose
> >that Daniel was writing ex eventu and on that basis derive Hebrew
> >lexical principles? Anyway your presupposition is far from generally
> >conceded. It seems to me that it is accepted mainly by those who
> >presuppose that genuine predictive prophecy is impossible, and are
> >prepared to reject as a deliberate lie the explicit statement in verse 1
> >dating this vision to the third year of Belshazzar.
> _______________
>  
> I would not say that my proposal involves any assumption that 
> predictive prophecy is IMPOSSIBLE.  If one believes in God, then it 
> would seem he can do whatever he jolly well pleases.  It rather 
> observes that this is not the customary fashion in which God acts and 
> that there is no reason to presuppose that he has changed his modus 
> operandi.  I therefore assume that this is a very human manner of 
> speaking about events under the aegis of a faith in God who controls 
> all things.
>  
> You, on the other hand, have a priori assumed that God has changed his 
> mode of operation, that the events described happened precisely as 
> they are depicted, and that this is a case of predictive prophecy.  
> You do allow that if they did not happen as depicted then he was a 
> false prophet.  Therefore, I ask you "Where is your six year period?"  
> Or do you concede that this was not a compound word describing a 
> unitary object?


No, I haven't assumed anything. I have suggested an alternative 
explanation which cannot be ruled out a priori, that a man called Daniel 
saw a vision in the time of Belshazzar which he genuinely believed to be 
a vision from God and a prediction of a period of perhaps a bit more 
than six years (or perhaps just a bit more than three years, I am open 
on the lexical issue). Whether or not this prophecy was genuine, whether 
it has already been fulfilled (perhaps in events not recorded), or might 
yet be fulfilled in the future, is all irrelevant as far as I am 
concerned to the linguistic question and so should be kept in a separate 
domain (probably off this list) where it belongs.


--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/