Symbolism In Daniel 9

Numerical Symbolism
One of the structural features of apocalyptic is that events and times are often arranged into distinct units, or epochs, which are then ordered into significantly numbered sets. 3, 4, 7, 10 and 12, and their multiples are especially significant. The seventy weeks of years in Daniel 9 is a prime example. This periodisation of history both highlighted the idea that the number and length of these units was determined - thus, despite all present circumstances, Gods purposes would ultimately be achieved; and to give the sense that the reader was positioned somewhere close to the end of the times described. That the number of days determined at the end of Daniel (12:11-12) are contradictory suggests that they were not to be taken literally.

Second, the use of apocalyptic as a literary tool to stir hope and courage among hearers in the midst of persecution and injustice. Many authors used pseudonyms to create the impression that the dreams and visions described were those of authoritative ancients, for instance Baruch and Esdras, who had been told to ‘seal up’ their visions for the ‘last day’, which is now - the time of writing. Such weight of authority prompted hearers to take heed to the revelations and their interpretations. Wright suggests that, whether the author was a ‘full-blown mystic’, a literarily imaginative commentator on socio-political events, or a pious Jew who had no ‘dramatic visionary experiences’, all were writing with ‘full and devout belief and longing, in words highly charged with religious emotion’.

While there is much more that could be said about apocalyptic genre, these essential characteristics provide the basic framework for interpretation. They should therefore be referred to, and indeed determine the exploration of the contemporary significance of biblical apocalyptic.

Biblical Apocalyptic