Daniel Issac Block .pdf wanted
by itsibitsybrainbutbigenoughtosmellarat 5 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Bobcat
I'm afraid I don't have it in PDF. I didn't know it was even available in that format.
I have it in paper. Very exhaustive. And Block is a lateral thinker. He gives all the standard viewpoints and offers some unique views of his own on some points.
An example is the 390/40 days that Ezekiel lays on his left/right side. (Ezekiel Chapter 4) This prophecy is a major chronology brick for the Society. IMO Block's interpretation makes much more sense than the Society's. (Although, I'm sure it has its detractors too.)
I took it with me to a DC one year and was reading it during off-session time. (At the time Ezekiel was being considered in the TMS.) I thought I was doing extra research. All I got were silent looks. I can say that it was part of my several-year waking experience. I still use it now.
At any rate, I hope you find it.
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VM44
Is Ezekiel's prophecy concerning the desolation of Egypt mentioned in Block's book?
Is it indeed an example of a failed Biblical prophecy?
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itsibitsybrainbutbigenoughtosmellarat
Hey, Thanks anyway.
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transhuman68
I thought this quote from the 'Reader's Digest Mysteries of The Bible' book might be appropriate here:
Some 20th-century writers, perhaps influenced by modern theories of psychology, have not been kind to the prophet Ezekiel. They tend to attribute his strange visions and erratic activities to personality disorders or medical problems. Among their diagnoses are paranoid schizophrenia, including delusions of grandeur and persecution, and cataleptic fits.
Was the man who produced such extraordinary descriptions a religious genius or an unbalanced fanatic? To a great extent the answer depends on the reader's assumptions about the reality or illusion of a world of the spirit apart from our world of the everyday.
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Bobcat
VM44:
Is Ezekiel's prophecy concerning the desolation of Egypt mentioned in Block's book?
Sorry I missed this post. (I was reviewing my posts to see what FS time I could include for Sept.)
Block's commentary has this to say in an introductory paragraph to chapter 29:
". . . Back in Jerusalem the prophet Jeremiah insisted that the Egyptians would be of no help for the Judeans against Nybuchadrezzar. On the contrary, Hophra would be given into N's. hand, just as Zedekiah had been (Jer 44:30), a prediction whose apparent fulfillment is suggested by Josephus''s report (Ant 10.11.1, 227) that N. eventually conducted campaigns against the Lybians, implying that Egypt had also been overrun. N's. role in the demise of Hophra is not clear. Josephus comments that N. slew him (10.9.7, 182), but this contradicts Herodotus, who reports that he was slain by his successor Amasis (Hist 2.163ff.). Whatever the case, N's. incursions into Egypt undoubtedly contributed to his weakening position on his own throne."
A footnote says:
For discussion of the historical context of Ezekiel's oracles against Egypt see K. S. Freely and D. B. Redford, "The dates of Ezekiel in Relation to Biblical, Babylonian and Egyptian Sources," JAOS 90 (1970) 462-85
Another point Block makes later (but I can't find it at the moment) was that there was a difference between Egypt and the other nations that Ezekiel condemned. The other nations were condemned for their hatred of Israel, whereas, Egypt was condemned for trying to help Israel against Babylon. Block considers the possibility that some prophecies could be mitigated in some way (aka Assyria/Jonah), and that Jehovah (Block prefers Yahweh) was not bound to carry out everything he said if circumstances called for a change of view. Block opines that this is one possibility that may have affected Egypt given that there is little historical evidence about a Babylonian campaign against them.
There was also some discussion about this here.
Take Care