- Jan 18, 2012
- 2,581
- 1,466
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Male
- Faith
- Anglican
- Marital Status
- Widowed
Ezekiel offers Noah, Job, and Daniel as archetypes as he prophesies:
That the Prophet, as the mouth piece of God, chooses Noah, Job, and Daniel is fascinating. For further consideration, Daniel was nearly contemporary with Ezekiel. Two of the three may not have been Israelites.
12 The word of the Lord came to me: 13 “Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of bread, to send famine through it, and to wipe out both man and animal from it, 14 even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.
15 “If I allow dangerous animals to pass through the land and depopulate it so that it becomes desolate, with no one passing through it for fear of the animals, 16 even if these three men were in it, as I live”—the declaration of the Lord God—“they could not deliver their sons or daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.
17 “Or if I bring a sword against that land and say: Let a sword pass through it, so that I wipe out both man and animal from it, 18 even if these three men were in it, as I live”—the declaration of the Lord God—“they could not deliver their sons or daughters, but they alone would be delivered.
19 “Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out My wrath on it with bloodshed to wipe out both man and animal from it, 20 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live”—the declaration of the Lord God—“they could not deliver their son or daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.
I had either never noticed or forgotten this detail of the prophet. Thinking on the writings of St. Paul, it is clear that he had a strong preference for Abraham. And Jesus himself was transfigured with Moses and Elijah. Enoch also gets some scattered mentions throughout the NT. That the Prophet, as the mouth piece of God, chooses Noah, Job, and Daniel is fascinating. For further consideration, Daniel was nearly contemporary with Ezekiel. Two of the three may not have been Israelites.