I attended a talk given by the constitutional law professor, Thio Li Ann, on the bible book of Daniel this afternoon.As usual, her erudition was palpable and spanned the gamut of biblical history to biblical eschatology. Her interpretation on how the biblical eschatology account is being fulfilled in the world today was most insightful.
It was interesting to learn that the a few biblical characters mentioned in the different books in the bible were contemporaries. The prophet Ezekiel, who prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, was living at the same time of Daniel. The prophet Jeremiah would have been an elder among the Jewish community and known to both Daniel and Ezekiel. Jeremiah prophesied of the subsequent conquering of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, and that Israel would come under foreign rule for 70 years before being allowed to return to rebuild their homeland by the Medo-Persian King, Cyrus. This knowledge of being in foreign exile would be understood by both Daniel and Ezekiel. Daniel, who saw the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy when Israel was conquered by the Babylonians would thus be in knowledge that he would be spending much of his lifetime under foreign rule.
Israel's subjugation to foreign rule has been the result of its disobedience to God. The covenant made with Jacob that if his descendents would keep to his commands, they would last as a nation had thus been broken. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon was used by God to exact punishment on the Israel, but God promised that Israel would be delivered from foreign rule after 70 years (Jeremiah 25:8-12).
Underlying the entire scheme of events of changing foreign powers that dominate the region is the understanding that God is in control. He determined the existence and destruction of nation states (Acts 17:26). Israel's existence as a nation state in the world of today is testament of the control that God has over global affairs. Moreover, God can use what seems to be rather unfortunate events to work out the good of his plans. Sometimes, God use foreign subjugation as a means to spread his influence. Professor Thio posited that Israel's conquering by Babylon allowed Daniel to make an influence on the system of governance in Babylon. When Daniel was instated as an administrator during the rule of King Darius, he effected a Federalist model of governance where 120 satraps were instituted over the principalities of the Medo-Persian empire (Daniel 6:1). This decentralization of power created a model of governance that reduced the possibility of tyrannical rule. Another biblical account where God used foreign subjugation for to effect his purpose is Joseph's exile to Egypt, during which time he rose to an influential position and helped the Israel community during the famine by his ability to interpret the dreams of the Pharoah of Egypt.
I have heard many different interpretations of Daniel chapter 2 on what the decreasing value in the material that is used to form the head, chest, legs, and feet of the statue that was in King Nebuchadnezzar's dream could signify eschatologically. I suppose it isn't surprising that an interpretation from a constitutional law professor would feature system of governance as the signified property by the decreasing value of the material. The form of governance from the Babylonians to the Romans feature an increasing decentralization in the system of governance. Babylon was a dictatorship. Medo-Persia was the beginning of a constitutional state where the king himself was placed under the rule of law. Greece was made up of many city states with their individual kings, such as those featured in the accounts of Athens and Sparta in Homer's Iliad. And the Roman empire was a system of congress and senate which provided a system of checks and balance, with the occasional vitiation with dictatorship. The modern day democracy is a continuation of this decentralization of power in forms of government.
It was enlightening hearing from Professor Thio Li Ann about the state of morality in today's times. She talked about how the prevalent anti-christian theme stemmed from the ideology of humanism. Doctrines of egalitarianism, when taking beyond its proper bounds, become the pulpit for advancing social agendas antithetical to Christian morality, such as same-sex marriage. Evidence of this includes the state of affairs of America and Europe, and how the United Nation has been an instrument in propagating homosexual agendas under the pretext of international human rights. The doctrine of human rights provides a veil to disguise such positions as being good, whilst construing those positions antithetical to it such as Christianity as being bad. It was as lamented by the Prophet Isaiah that there are those who call evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20). I am not very well-knowledged about the state of affairs in today's world, and I think that I am rather apathetic. I am always sanguine and optimistic in my observation of affairs, thinking that the state of things in today's world is better than ever. Perhaps part of the reason for my perception stems from my narrow scope of observation based on my daily life experience in Singapore. I think I felt somewhat of an ignoramus when I quite thoughtlessly told a friend of mine who was at the lesson that I actually felt that the state of the world has never been better. I think I must refrain from my anti-intellectualism by making off-the-cuff remarks based on impulse. It doesn't reflect well on me.
There were plenty of other things mentioned at the talk, some of which I have forgotten due to my poor memory and inability to take notes. But let me end off with a practical instruction provided by Professor Thio for Christians. We are asked to act as salt and light for the world. In Singapore, we think of salt as adding flavour, but in biblical times, the function of salt was to preserve food to slow down its decay. In the same way, we are asked to act in a way to slow the process of degeneration.
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