On Creationism

The Book of Hosea was written around the fall of the Kingdom of Israel. These tumultuous times are explained as a punishment from God, as usual, as a reaction to the people worshiping false gods. Hosea is the first book to liken this to prostitution. If I was cynical, I would say this was because Hosea's wife was unfaithful to him, and he wanted to mitigate his shame. He still loved her, and eventually they got through it. Thus, after a quick intro, we read: Hosea 1:2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. That is one bizarre command! Rather more likely, he married the girl, she was unfaithful, and he later claimed to have that command. Sad that for thousands of years, poor Gomer has been know as a promiscuous woman. It continues with a...

I have been looking at messianic prophecies a lot recently, and struggling to keep straight what happened when. This timeline was centred on the Babylonian Captivity (bold below), but goes some way either side, and a later edit extends it even further. Dates are obvious approximate, some more than others. 843 Athaliah made herself Queen of Judah, killing all the royal family except Jehoash , who was rescued by Jehosheba, sister to the old king and wife of Jehoiada the priest. 2 Kings 11 837 Joash/Jehoash from  797 Amaziah from  792 Corecency from  783 Uzziah from 783 (the time of Zechariah, son of Jehoiada) 760 Big earthquate 760 750 Corecency from 750 (when Uzziah contracted leprosy) (the time of Amos) 742 Jotham ruled from 742 740 Start of Isaiah's ministry 738 Israel forced to pay heavy tribute to Neo-Assyrian Empire 732 Ahaz ruled from 732 (he was pro-Assyria, and a bad Jew) 720 Fall of Israel (Northern Kingdom) to Neo-Assyrian Empire after three years siege, trigge...

Having looked at Zechariah, I thought I would look at some other minor prophets. This is a brief overview of ten of the last twelve books of the Old Testament, known as the Minor Prophets (Hosea and Zechariah being the other two). Just 39 chapters between the ten of them. All these books except Jonah have the same general theme of anger at the sinful nature of the people, the threat of God visiting terrible calamities if it goes on, but the promise of greatness for Israel if they live according to God's laws. We can see the beginning of the Pharisaic position here; they believed that following God's laws were vital too, but the greatness for Israel had evolved into the messianic age, the coming of the kingdom of God including the resurrection of the dead. There is, however, very little to suggest The Messiah, as opposed to a messiah, a new king. Today, Christianity gives us the carrot and stick, where the carrot is the promise of heaven, and the stick is the threat of hel...

Zechariah chapters 1 to 8 are generally believed to be authentic, i.e., actually written by Zechariah around 518 BCE. The later chapters, 9 to 14, are considered later additions, though perhaps not much later, possibly added by a disciple of Zechariah a generation or so later. Background In 539 BCE, the Persians conquered Babylon, and the following year a decree by Cyrus allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem. Between 520 and 515, under the rule of Darius the Great (son-in-law of Cyrus), the second temple was built - the Persians believed in keeping their vassals happy to prevent them rebelling. Darius was considered a messiah for his actions. At this time, the High Priest was Joshua, and the Jews were ruled by Zerubbabel, who was the grandson of Jeconiah, the king who had ruled for just three months before capture by Babylon. Although Zerubbabel was of royal descent, he was not king, but rather he was governor of that province. Note that both Joshua and Zerubbabel were considered m...

Christianity is adamant that the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 52-53 is a prophecy about Jesus. The alternative position is that it is about the nation of Israel. Note that there is some evidence that Jews also took the position this was a messianic prophecy, only abandoning that when Christianity became strong. However, that certainly does not indicate it was originally intended in that way. NOTE:I have edited this page, 23/Jan/25, to tidy it up a bit and to focus on the specific verses Christians claim apply to Jesus. For a look at the context, chapters 40 to 54, see  here . It should be noted that Christians are not alone in seeing the text as a prophesy for a messiah; this was a popular belief among Jews around the time of Jesus. However, that does not prove that the author considered it to be a prophesy. So let us consider two completing scenarios. In the first scenario, Isaiah is prophesying the arrival and crucifixion of Jesus. In the second, Isaiah is bemoaning the fate ...

Daniel is written from the perspective of someone living at the time of the Babylonian Captivity, and the first half is about the author keeping his faith despite many tribulations. The second half, from chapter nine onwards, are a supposed prophesy detailing what will befall Israel in the next five centuries. This prophesy is amazingly accurate up to a point, then suddenly gets a lot wrong, and most modern scholars date the book to that point, about 167 BC. Context At the time Daniel was written (assuming a later dating), Israel was ruled by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, of the Seleucid Empire. The Jews were split between those who embraced Hellenisation and those who did not. Rumours had circulate Jerusalem that Antiochus had died in battle in Egypt, and the traditionalist Jews took the opportunity to seize power. The rumours were untrue, and when Antiochus returned, he sided with the Hellenised Jews, and set about stopping the traditional practices of Judaism, and among other things p...

The Book of Daniel was one of the last written in the OT, and in many ways one of the most important. Many Christians say it prophesises Jesus, and according to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus himself referenced it (also Mark 14:15, but without explicitly saying Daniel): Matthew 24:15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. There are two schools of thought on the dating of the Book of Daniel. It is written from the perspective of a man living through the Babylonia Captivity, seeing a vision of the future. He is told to seal up the words until they are needed: Dan 12:4 But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.” Accordingly, the text was unsealed around ,164 BC, and the book became well known. This then is the earlier dating. ...

As Christmas approaches it is interesting to look at the prophecy of a virgin birth in Isaiah. Isaiah 7:1 Now it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not [a]conquer it. 2 When it was reported to the house of David, saying, “The Arameans [b]have camped in Ephraim,” his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake [c]with the wind. 3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son [d]Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the [e]fuller’s field, 4 and say to him, ‘Take care and be calm, have no fear and do not be fainthearted because of these two stubs of smoldering firebrands, on account of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Aram, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has planned evil...

These verses from Isaiah 9 are often taken as a prophecy of Jesus' birth. Isaiah 9:66 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. However, another possibility is that they refer to the birth of King Hezekiah, a child of King Ahaz, and a contemporary of Isaiah. Note the tenses used in this version; the child has already been born when Isaiah is speaking, but has yet to be made king. That cannot be Jesus. But what of all those titles? How can a mere mortal be called "The mighty God"? These are not titles, but names. Most names have a meaning, and...