In my last article, we looked at one particular evidence both for the existence of God and for the divine inspiration of the Bible. The evidence we looked at, was that the Bible accurately predicted certain historical events 100s of years, in some cases thousands of years in advance. So, what objections do those who are critical/skeptical of the Bible raise to the idea of fulfilled prophecy?
One of the primary objections is that the prophecies were written after the purported prophesied events happened. This charges the writers of some of the prophetic literature were purposely posing like they were writing in the past, to make it seem like they were prophesying accurately. In this video, I have shown instances where this objection could not work. In this article, I am going to focus on two prophetic books where this objection is often leveled. Those two books are Daniel and Isaiah.
In Daniel, there are prophecies that talk about the rise of Greece as an ancient world power and about Alexander the Great conquering the Persian empire.
Daniel 8:5 And as I was considering, suddenly a male goat came from the west, across the surface of the whole earth, without touching the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 6 Then he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing beside the river, and ran at him with furious power. 7 And I saw him confronting the ram; he was moved with rage against him, attacked the ram, and broke his two horns. There was no power in the ram to withstand him, but he cast him down to the ground and trampled him; and there was no one that could deliver the ram from his hand. (NKJV)
Daniel 8:20 The ram which you saw, having the two horns — they are the kings of Media and Persia. 21 And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. (NKJV
This prophecy also foretells the splitting of the Greek empire into 4 regions. This happened after Alexander the Great died. His empire was divided into four parts among four of his generals. Egypt was ruled by Ptolemy, Syria was ruled by Seleucus, Macedonia by Cassander and Thrace by Lysimachus. Here is what Daniel 8 says in regards to this.
Daniel 8:8 Therefore the male goat grew very great; but when he became strong, the large horn was broken, and in place of it four notable ones came up toward the four winds of heaven.
Daniel 8:22 As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power.
Also in Daniel 8, there is a prediction about a coming persecutor of God’s people from one of those 4 regions. From 175–164, there was a king named Antiochus IV Epiphanes from the Seleucid Empire, which ruled the Syrian part of Alexander the greats empire. Antiochus Epiphanes decided to outlaw certain Jewish laws and customs in Judea. Here is a description of what happened from Encyclopedia Britannica.
Antiochus’s hellenizing policies brought him into conflict with the prosperous non-Greek temple organizations, and particularly with the Jews. Since Antiochus III’s reign the Jews had enjoyed extensive autonomy under their high priest. They were divided into two parties, the orthodox Hasideans (Pious Ones) and a reform party that favoured Hellenism. For financial reasons Antiochus supported the reform party and, in return for a considerable sum, permitted the high priest, Jason, to build a gymnasium in Jerusalem and to introduce the Greek mode of educating young people…The Greeks and those friendly toward them were united into the community of Antiochians; the worship of Yahweh and all of the Jewish rites were forbidden on pain of death. In the Temple an altar to Zeus Olympios was erected, and sacrifices were to be made at the feet of an idol in the image of the King.” -Hans Volkmann, Encyclopedia Britannica
Let us take note of what Daniel 8 says.
Daniel 8:9–12 9 And out of one of them came a little horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Glorious Land. 10 And it grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. 11 He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host; and by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of His sanctuary was cast down. 12 Because of transgression, an army was given over to the horn to oppose the daily sacrifices; and he cast truth down to the ground. He did all this and prospered.
Now, someone who doesn’t believe in the possibility of the supernatural is going to say that this had to be written after Antiochus persecuted the Jewish people and desecrated the Temple. Is this the sole reason that skeptics date Daniel the the 2nd century B.C. Rather than the 6th century B.C.?
Not exactly, there are some linguistic arguments skeptics make. Particularly regarding some Greek words found in Daniel. The argument is that since Greek words are found, this indicates a date after the conquests of Alexander the Great and is right in line with a date of writing after the activities of Antiochus. Joyce Baldwin in her commentary on the book of Daniel says this
Greek wares were being traded all over the Ancient Near East from the eighth century onwards; Greeks were apparently employed in Babylon in the time of Nebuchadrezzar, and there is nothing surprising about there being instruments of Greek origin and bearing Greek names in the Babylon of the sixth century B.C. What is significant is that there are so few Greek loan words in the Aramaic of Daniel.” (Pg 33, Baldwin, Joyce G. Daniel. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 1978.)
So, given that the Greeks were trading in the Ancient Near East during the eighth century and the Greek used in Daniel only refers to musical instruments, actually argues for a date prior to the widespread use of Greek in the Ancient Near East and so the traditional date of Daniel is not in peril because of the Greek terms.
What other indications could there be for the traditional 6th-5th century BC date of Daniel. According to Justin Rodgers article on Apologetic Press entitled The Date of Daniel: Does it Matter?
More critical attention has been given to the Persian and Greek loanwords used in the book. Driver believed the Persian words ‘presuppose’ a later date, but in fact this is not true. Kenneth Kitchen found that ‘the Persian words in Daniel are specifically, Old Persian words.’ Since the transition to the Middle Persian dialect occurs around 300 B.C., we would expect an author in the second century to use a much different form of the Persian language. In addition, about half of the 20 or so Persian terms Driver isolated in Daniel are administrative, exactly the kind of language we would expect from an officer of the Persian court! The Persian terms actually serve to support a sixth century date for Daniel.”-Justin Rodgers
So, clearly, an argument can be made based on the linguistics of a 6th-5th century work. There is more that could be said, such as the traditional view has an easier time deciphering who the 4th kingdom is in Daniel than the 2nd-century view. However, it is beyond the scope of this article to go deeper into the book of Daniel. I will save that for when get to the book of Daniel during our deep dive through the scriptures.
I want to look at one more passage that is often used as an example where the prophetic literature claims to make a prophecy, but in reality, it is written after the fact. That passage would be Isaiah 45:1.
Isaiah 45:1 “Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held — To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut.” (NKJV)
Isaiah lived around 740–701 BC, while the Persian king Cyrus, who is responsible for defeating Babylon and allowing Jewish captives go back to Judea, lived from 590–529 BC. So, did Isaiah correctly predict a king named Cyrus would arise and conquer, or was this written after the fact? The truth is, this one is pretty complicated. Scholars have noted that there appear to be substantial differences between Isaiah 1–39 and Isaiah 40–66. These differences have led scholars to believe that there were at least two authors to the book of Isaiah and some scholars believe there may have even been three authors. Scholars have suggested the authorship of Isaiah 40–66 probably was written during the end of the Babylonian exile. They cite verses like Isaiah 48:20.
“Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing, Declare, proclaim this, Utter it to the end of the earth; Say, ‘The LORD has redeemed His servant Jacob!” Isaiah 48:20 (NKJV)
Those who maintain a traditional view of a single author of Isaiah in the 8th century will point out that in Isaiah 1–39 the destruction of Babylon is prophesied.
Isaiah 13:19 “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.” (NKJV)
They also point out that the walls of Jerusalem are mentioned in Isaiah 62:6
I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;They shall never hold their peace day or night.You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent” Isaiah 62:6 NKJV
This would indicate probably a date prior to Nebuchadnezzar destroying the walls of Jerusalem.It is also pointed out that similar language is used in both sections of Isaiah.
Isaiah 11:9 “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 65:25 “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,The lion shall eat straw like the ox,And dust shall be the serpent’s food.They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,”Says the Lord.”
I do think that there are compelling reasons to believe that Isaiah wrote both sections of Isaiah. However, given that the prophets did typically speak into the context of their current generation, it is a bit uncharacteristic that Isaiah is telling his fellow Jews to get out of Babylon in chapter 48, given that during Isaiah’s time Assyria was the big threat to Israel and Judah.
Perhaps Isaiah penned these words in anticipation of the Babylonian exile. We do have indications that Isaiah anticipated an exile. In Isaiah chapter 6, when the prophet recounts his calling by God himself, Isaiah is told that his people will be unresponsive to God’s message to them. Isaiah asks how long will they be in this unresponsive state and God replies.
Isaiah 6:11…Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant,The houses are without a man,The land is utterly desolate,12 The Lord has removed men far away,And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.” (NKJV)
There is also the passage in Isaiah 39, where Isaiah confronts Hezekiah for showing Babylonian officials far too much. Isaiah in response gives a prophecy of the coming Babylonian captivity.
Isaiah 39:5 “Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord. 7 ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” (NKJV)
So, it is quite possible that Isaiah was knowingly speaking to a future generation of his fellow Jews who he knew through divine revelation would be exiles of Babylon. However, another possibility also exists. We know that there existed a group known as the sons of the prophets.
2 Kings 2:5 “Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the Lord will take away your master from over you today?”So he answered, “Yes, I know; keep silent!” (NKJV)
We see this group mentioned several other times in scripture. This group seems to be disciples of those who had a prophetic ministry in Israel. Interestingly enough, we have a verse in Isaiah where Isaiah mentions he has disciples.
Isaiah 8:16 Bind up the testimony, seal the Law among my disciples. (NKJV)
So, could it be possible that Isaiah’s disciples were charged with compiling Isaiah’s prophecies and perhaps after the death of Isaiah they included some of their own prophetic insights as well? It is conjecture, but I believe that could be possible.
With all that said, it is difficult to tell one way or the other whether parts of Isaiah were written during the end of the Babylonian exile.While I believe a strong case for a traditional date of Daniel can be given, the traditional view of Isaiah being solely written by one author is a little bit of a harder case to make given that the prophets typically did speak in the context of the current struggles of their generation and there are parts of Isaiah that do not fit the struggles of the 8th century BC, but rather the 6th-5th century BC.4. Even if Isaiah is written primarily by Isaiah with some additions by his disciples, that should not shake our faith in the inspiration of scripture. God spoke both through his Son Jesus Christ and his disciples. So, likewise, God could reveal things both to Isaiah and his disciples.
In my next article, we will move into the intertestamental period and will be asking ourselves about the Apocrypha and why the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include the Apocrypha and the protestant Bibles do not.
