Readings:
Daniel 8
Judith 8-9
1 Thessalonians 3

Daniel 8

Daniel’s second vision is recounted here, and it’s a couple years after his previous one. In this vision he sees a ram with one horn bigger than the other, and this represents the Persian empire, with an imbalance between the Medes and Persians. Cyrus the great was half Mede and half Persian, but the Persians came to dominate that empire.

The goat is the Greeks that come charging out of the west, led by Alexander the Great. He is the “conspicuous horn” that Daniel mentions and the speed he’s traveling it looks like it’s not even touching the ground, this is because the Greeks completely overran ever nation they come across from Macedonia to India.

The single horn is broken (Alexander died in his prime in Babylon) and is replaced by four horns. These are the same as the four heads of the leopard in the previous chapter. The little horn is Antiochus Epiphanes who is one of the worst people in the Bible (he features heavily in the books of Maccabees) and is a foreshadowing of the anti-christ. For three and a half years he defiled the temple and prevented the daily sacrifice to God from being offered.

When Gabriel interprets the vision for him he finishes by telling him to seal it up because it’s for a time far off. The time between Daniel receiving this vision and it coming to pass was around 400 years.

Judith 8-9

Judith, the character after whom the book is named, finally makes her appearance here. She’s introduced as a widow that is very devout in her mourning of her passed husband and in her studious observance of the things of God. Much like David taking exception to the blasphemous words of Goliath, and the fact that none stood up to him, Judith is enraged at the elders and their handling of this situation.

Judith makes some solid points in her dressing down of the elders. She says that we can’t put a time limit in God to answer a pray like he’s our subordinate and we can put him under a deadline. Also she says that when we are seeking after God’s assistance we have to be persistent and he will help us, if it’s his will. He’s under no obligation to save these people in this town, no matter how much they ask, but if he chooses to do it then they know he’s able to do it.

She tells them this is a test, just like generations of their people have been tested, and they must remain faithful. She prays and throws herself and the city at the mercy of God and pleads that he avenge and deliver them as he has in the past.

1 Thessalonians 3

Paul mentions an event that happens in Acts 17 where the authorities in Thessaloniki were riled up against them by some agitators in the synagogue and the had to leave at night. This didn’t sit well with him, and so he sent Timothy back to minister to the newborn community. Timothy met back up with Paul in Corinth and brought good news of spiritual growth among the Thessalonians and that comforted Paul greatly because he’d been suffering lots of afflictions and resistance at that time.

He thanks them for their commitment to Christ and the encouragement it’s brought him. He mentions that he longs to return to them to “supply what is lacking in your faith” and that really stands out because, we have to remember, this is the first written part of the New Testament.

New Christians can’t just pick up a Bible and read about Jesus or any of the epistles, they have to be taught by an apostle or on of their successors. These letters will eventually circulate around the area, but a complete New Testament is still a couple hundred years away. And to top that off, these were mostly converts from paganism, so they’re not even familiar with the Old Testament that many of Jesus’ parables and teaching find root in. They’d need serious catechesis, not just an hour a week.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Daniel 9
Judith 10-12
1 Thessalonians 4