Daniel

Daniel was one of many Jews who were taken from Jerusalem to Babylon after Judah fell. He lived long enough to see the Babylonians fall to the Persians. This is an unusual book that has puzzled people for centuries. The first half is a plain history that sounds similar to many other Old Testament stories; the second half, however, is strange, surrealistic apocalyptic prophecy. A debate rages as to the dating of Daniel because his prophecies are remarkable accurate for Alexander and the leaders who came after him. If Daniel is an old book, it contains miraculous prophecies. Unlike other prophets, Daniel focuses much more on the Gentile nations than the Jewish state. The book is also odd for the way it switches from Hebrew(1:1-2:3) to Aramaic(2:4-7:28) and back to Hebrew(8:1-end). No one knows why although many theories abound.

HOSEA

This book starts a section of the Hebrew Bible called the Minor Prophets, not because the twelve books are less important but because they are shorter in length than the three Major Prophets (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah). They are laid out in chronological order, starting with the ones who served before the Assyrians invaded and ending with the ones who ministered after all twelve tribes had been taken captive. Hosea was a prophet to the northern kingdom, which he called Ephraim, because it and part of Manasseh were all that were left after Assyria had carried off the other northern tribes in 733 B.C. For the next ten years these two tribes were alone until they too went into captivity in 722 B.C.  Hosea is the only prophet from the northern ten tribes whose words have survived in the Hebrew Bible. He shares a great deal with Amos—they were contemporaries, they preached to the same people, they both used poetry effectively. When we look at Amos, we  will see one major difference in their approach. Like other prophets we have reviewed, Hosea used a startling visual aid to illustrate his message.