Today, I want to show you how i delineate the outline of Chapter Three.

 

1. Setting -- the first sentence of the story, which begins with subject “King Nebuchadnezzar” (I refer to the Hebrew Scripture -- there is no waw-consecutive, wayyiqtol in the beginning of the sentence) is the setting of the story. 

V. 1: “King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.”

2. Rising Action 1 -- the following sentences which begin with wayyiqtol are sequential or consequential actions that we should put together in a paragraph; and the paragraph ends with two “therefore,”  a conclusion of the Rising Action. 

Vv. 2-12 -- 

2 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent... 3 Then the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the justices, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered … 4 And the herald proclaimed aloud, ... 6 And whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace.” 

7 Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard... fell down and worshiped the golden image ... 

8 Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews... 

3. Rising Action 2  - Sometimes, a series of Rising Actions lead to a climax. Wayyiqtol appears in verse 13, signifying the action continues from verse 6.  

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded …

14 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? 15 Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?” 

 

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” 

Vv.14-18 is a dialogue as part of the actions beginning from verse 13.

 

4. Climax -- wayyiqtol also appears in the beginning of v 19, signifying that the climax is building up from previous verses. 

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury... 20 And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind ... 21 Then these men were bound ...and they were thrown ...22 Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men... 

23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into...24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, 

“Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” 

They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 

25 He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.” 

      Vv. 24b - 25 is a dialogue as part of the actions beginning from verse 24a.

5. Falling Action 

26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near … and declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. 27 And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar answered and said, 

“Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the king’s command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree: Any people, nation, or language that speaks anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb, and their houses laid in ruins, for there is no other god who is able to rescue in this way.” 

6. Resolution 

30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon. 

 V. 1               vv. 2-12            vv. 13-18       vv. 19-25      vv. 26-29              v. 30

God’s glory and power were manifested in the climax of the plot. 

God’s glory came after the daring action of the three who had been thrown into the burning fiery furnace.

Application: 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego lived out Jesus' declaration.  

Jesus said, ”Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24).

Dare we die for our faith? 

Dear colleagues, friends and NewLifers: 

I want to share with you how I identify the key point of Chapter 2 of the Book of Daniel. Firstly, I used markers (a technical term called wayiqtto; some of the English versions use “And” or “Then” to translate this and it always appears in the beginning of a sentence) embedded in the Hebrew text to identify sequential or consequential actions in order to draw an outline. Secondly, since the genre of Daniel is narrative, we should use Narrative Criticism to identify the plot and the main character. There are five parts of the plot: Setting, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. The outline often fits well into the framework of the plot:    

1.   Setting: The setting of a story/episode. 

Daniel 2: 1 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his                         spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. 

2. Rising Action: A series of events develop into a conflict and move toward a climax in the action.

Daniel 2: 2-13 “ Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” 4 Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, … Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. 13 So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. 

3.  Climax or Turning Point:  After the climax, everything changes: the problem is solved and the tension relieved. The main character appears here -- Daniel is the main character and God the main character behind the scene.

Daniel 2: 14-23 “ Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. 15 He declared to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. 16 And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king. 17 Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18 and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel answered and said:                

     “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. 21  He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;  22  he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. 23  To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.” 

 

4.  Falling Action: There may be moments of suspense, but conflict begins to resolve. 

Daniel 2: 24-45   24 Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.” 25 Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him: “I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” 26 The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?”  27 Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, 28 but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days… 45 A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.” 

 

5.    Resolution (denouement): This is the final state of affairs within the narrative. This is where the main character ends up dead, living happily ever after, being promoted, etc.

Daniel 2:46-49:   Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. 47 The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to

reveal this mystery.” 48 Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. But Daniel remained at the king’s court.

The actions in the climax reveal a core theological message:

1. V. 14 -- “Then Daniel replied with prudence”

2. Vv. 17-18 -- “Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, …”

3. Vv. 19b-23“Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel answered and said: (Daniel’s adoration to God)               

So, the message is: It was precisely because of Daniel’s prudent reply and the prayers of Daniel and his three companions that the crisis was resolved and lives were saved.

 

Pastor Paul Tong

Hellow, my dear colleagues, friends and New Lifers.

I haven’t blogged for a few years. It is great to be able to find time to blog again.

We have started a new series of sermon based on the Book of Daniel, at New Life Baptist Church from the last Sunday. Here, I want to share with you what may interest you: some of my observations from the Book of Daniel, Chapter One.

We have been held captive in the Covid-19 for almost 2 years and a new norm/culture of doing things and running church has emerged in the midst of Covid 19. We are restricted: cannot meet one another as usual, dine out as usual , socialize as usual, fellowship as usual, and worship the Lord as usual … The challenge we are facing, I am sure, is nothing compared to the experience Daniel underwent during his days of exile from 605 to 535 BC. Daniel was one of several young men chosen to serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s court (605 BC). When Persia conquered Babylon in 539 BC, Daniel was again given a position of power. He remained faithful to God and stood firm not to compromise in a pagan culture. I am sure Daniel and his three friends are good examples, showing to us how we should face the challenges due to Covid 19 and challenges in the different workplace we are called to serve.

Here, I observed that the crisis starts from our cultural identity.

Daniel and his three companions had Hebrew names that mentioned God. Then, they were given Babylon names that cunningly and gradually made them forget the God of their fathers.  The meaning of the Hebrew word, “Daniel,” is "God is my judge", The Babylon (Akkadian) name given to Daniel is Belteshazzar (Akkadian: 𒊩𒆪𒈗𒋀), it means "lord of the straitened treasure”. Moreover, they had to learn the culture and language of Chaldean as their formal education. The most compromising thing that Daniel and his three friends were caught in is the request for them to eat the King's meat and wine which is against the Law.

My reflection is that our name, education and daily food, if we don't aware of, could become our cultural identity that corrupts our mind. Therefore in Roman 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Rom. 12:2 NAS)

 It takes courage for Daniel to reject the King’s offer of food and wine because the consequence was persecution or death penalty.

Dare we live out our value system by faith?

Pastor Paul Tong

How To Read The Old Testament

I want to introduce to you an approach to understand the OT. First of all, I show you how the NT writers read the OT, and then I use Genesis 14 as example to illustrate how to use the approach that was used by them.

What is the basic content of the OT? The basic content of the OT is to convey how God saved the Israelites to demonstrate how He would work out the salvation for the whole world. It always consists of types, prophecies and promises, concerning God’s salvation in time to come, whereas the NT is the testament of the fulfilment of the types, prophecies, and promises. So, on the one hand, the NT writers need to read the OT in the perspective of typology (ref to the last post in my blog).

On the other hand, the NT writers view and use each independent episode, for example, how the main character making decision in a moral dilemma, as an object lesson to explain ethical principles or spiritual reflections to educate, edify or warn NT readers.

So, NT writers use the OT’s materials as types, models and analogies:

1. Types: The New Testament tells us about the fulfillment of what the OT promised. This is testified by Jesus himself, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself (Lk. 24:27)  -- Jesus explained to the two disciples during their walk to the village called Emmaus that what had happened to Him had to happen according to the scriptures. There were prophecies embedded in OT figures, events, or things and we call them Types. The images of a perfect high priest, king, prophet, or of a lamb, sacrifice, feast, temple and even the entire ritual system are intended to be types.

2. Models: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). Here, “all scripture” refers to the OT.  We can see that whether Jesus or NT writers always take OT stories or laws of Moses as basic reference to explain further what they means in the new era. NT writer has viewed Abraham as our spiritual model. In fact, the religious and ethical aspects of the laws are also treated as models.

3. Analogies: In the NT, writers like to use OT believers to make comparison with Christians in order to draw spiritual lessons. 1Cor 10:1-12, “For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, .. nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, or they were overthrown in the wilderness… Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction,…” From this OT events quoted by Paul to warn the Corinthian church, we see a typical example of an analogical use for spiritual reflection.

These three: types, models, and analogies, are vivid and self-explanatory illustrations of instruction used by the NT writers to encourage modern believers so that their lives can be encouraged, corrected, reproved, and trained and that they may be “complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:17)

Let’s take Genesis 14 as an example. The Story of Gen 14 is about this. After leaving from Abraham, Lot settled in Sodom. Lot and his family became captives after four kings invaded Sodom and Gomorrah. When Abraham heard the news, he deployed his servants to fight against the four kings. After Abraham won the battle, the kings of Sodom and Salem went out to congratulate Abraham in the Valley of Shaveh. Abraham gave a tenth of everything to Melchizedek, the king of Salem, who was the high priest of the Most High God, but rejected goods given by Bera, the king of Sodom, who was a wicked king.

1. A Spiritual Lesson from an Analogical Perspective:

Abraham offers a tithe to Melchizedek, who serves the same God as he serves. This testifies of his faith on and gratitude to God: God the one and only one who has led him to win the battle shall be acknowledged and honored. On the other hand, by not receiving the gifts of Bera, Abraham shows that he hates what God hates, stands firm not to be an ally of God’s enemy, and makes it explicit that his wealth is not gained from the evil king (ref to Gen 14:23). Thus, Abraham’s action exemplifies to whom a modern Christian should accredit his success, and how one can solely rely on God’s power in a world hostile to Christianity.

This is what I mean by a “spiritual lesson”, because it reflects Abraham’s faith at a particular stage of his spiritual journey.

2. A Moral Lesson through Exemplary Behavior:

Abraham and his servants are not trained officers and soldiers. In a state of emergency, out of love, to rescue his nephew, Abraham risks his life and the lives of his servants to fight against the well-trained military alliance of the four kings, who have just proven strong and ferocious enough to defeat the five kings. Abraham is not only courageous but also forgiving as Lot’s departure is due to the disputes between their individual herdsmen at the time when both of them lived in the hill country between Bethel and Ai. Abraham demonstrates how an elder should treat a young relative and be ready to help in time of need.

The above is classified as a moral lesson because it reveals a high moral standard of how one should relate to his fellow brothers and sisters.

3. A Typological Lesson from the NT perspective:

Melchizedek means “righteous” and the king of Salem, means “king of peace.” Melchizedek appears only in Genesis 14. Neither his genealogy nor his parents’ names are mentioned. And there is no record of his beginning of days and end of life, which is rare among OT heroes, whose lineage can always be traced back to Noah.

In the book of Hebrew, Melchizedek is used as a type or a symbolic feature to explain the everlasting priesthood role of Christ. All characteristics of the person Melchizedek fit well to explain Jesus, who plays the role of a high priest, which is not based on the legal requirement, according to the priestly line passing down from Aaron, but is based on the power of an endless and indestructible life after the order of Melchizedek  (ref. Hebrew 7:15-17).

I have shown to you how we can learn three lessons in one same story through the approach. However, not all the three lessons are always implied in a given passage. It is possible but difficult for us to learn typological lessons from the OT without referring to the New Testament.

To explain to you further how a careful reading of a passage can help in understanding typology, I use Luke 13:10-17 to illustrate.

In Luke13:10-17, Jesus heals the crippled woman, who is bound by the Satan for eighteen years. The Jewish leaders are angry because Jesus does not even want to delay a day for the healing, as it seems that there is no difference for the woman who has already suffered for eighteen years. “But the ruler of synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the Synagogue ruler said to the people, ‘There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.’” (Luke 13:14).

This incident has been commonly interpreted by saying that Jesus was acting with God’s authority. However, in this narrative, Jesus is actually portrayed as a Redeemer who rescues the woman from the bondage of Satan, and the Sabbath is portrayed as a day for deliverance. “That is why it was not merely generally appropriate that this woman should be healed, and if it happened to be on the Sabbath, well and good. The claim was that the Sabbath day was the most appropriate day, because that day celebrated release from captivity, from bondage, as well as from work.”

Therefore, the Lord answers the synagogue ruler, “You hypocrites! Don’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” (Luke 13:15-17). Thus the common doing of untying one’s ox and donkey from the stall on Sabbath becomes an effective illustration of Jesus’ justification.

Sabbath is a type, prophesizing the day of deliverance and healing. It is the day to manifest God’s power.

I gave a series of teaching on Old Testament Background in Mandarin:

Lesson 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ELJXUvKHY

Lesson 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kCZIRhl0NQ

Lesson 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-d1n68bmy8

Lesson 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Fgqx-enO8