Cracking the Bible code...
Cracking the code of the Bible actually turns out to be remarkably simple.
About two thousand years ago an historian named Flavius Josephus was working under a patronage to Emperor Vespasian of Rome.
In the course of writing the history of his people, the Jews, for Rome, he basically did a recap of the Bible in his book 'The Antiquities of the Jews'. However, in the course of doing a summary of the book of Daniel, he ventured an interpretation of the vision of the Second Chapter; the vision of the image with the head of gold and feet of clay. Josephus concluded that there were four kingdoms represented by the different parts of the image; the head of gold being Babylon, the chest of silver being Medo-Persia, the thorax of bronze (some translations say brass or copper) Greece , the legs of iron Rome. And this understanding was accepted by the Roman Catholic church and subsequently almost all Christian religions up to this day. In fact, the four beasts of Daniel chapter seven are thought to match the four kingdoms of chapter two perfectly. But a closer look reveals some important details.
The Bible specifically states in Daniel chapter two that the vision of the image was given to Nebuchadnezzar in his second year. And Daniel pointedly told Nebuchadnezzar "YOU YOURSELF are the head of gold". (Daniel 2:37,38 and Daniel 5:18-22 support that this applied only to Nebuchadnezzar and not to Belshazzar or the empire of Babylon in general) However, the vision of the four beasts was given to Daniel in Belshazzar's first year, many years after Nebucadnezzar had died, and was a prophecy of things yet to come.
Looking more carefully at Daniel chapter two yields some important clues also. In Daniel 2:45 there is revealing detail. When Daniel is enumerating the parts of the image, he makes what at first might seem to be an error in his sequencing of the elements of the image when he says; "whereas, you beheld the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold..." when actually, he should have said , "whereas, you beheld the clay, the iron, the bronze, the silver, and the gold...". Daniel here deliberately separates the iron from the clay by putting the copper (bronze) in-between. Had the the iron and clay only been a single entity or kingdom he would, should, and could not have done so. But by his separating these two elements, the iron and clay, he lays down a clue to help us see that there are in fact five kingdoms, not four.
Another clue is in verses 32 and 33. Notice that the gold, silver, bronze, iron, and the iron-clay mix are each introduced separately.
There are, in fact, five kingdoms in the Image, not four, and the first Beast of Daniel chapter 7 does not match up with Babylon, but with Medo-Persia. Certainly Belshazzar, the actual ruler of Babylon at the time of Daniel's vision, did not receive the heart of a man (Daniel 7:4). But Both Darius and Cyrus did; Darius the Mede, and Cyrus the Persian, hence the Medo-Persian empire. (a quick read of Ezra chapter 1 and Daniel chapter 6 will confirm this, pay particular attention to Ezra 1: vss 2-5 & Dan 6: vss 18-20; Cyrus was strongly committed to the rebuilding of the Temple, and Darius was deeply compassionate towards Daniel, thus; "A Heart of a Man").
The Second Beast would be Greece, which did consume "Much Flesh" under Alexander the Great, and the Third Beast would be Rome, the Four Heads of which would picture its Four Distinct Governmental eras, i.e. Monarchy, Republic, Empire, and The "Renovatio Imperii" (or the 'Restoration of Empire' phase, which included a complete rewriting of law, thus a fourth Governmental iteration).
Note too: The descriptions of the Beasts in Daniel Chapter 7 describe their Active Natures during their dominant Phase, not their Historical effects or Legacys, so, although for example, Greece, after Alexander, did divide into four separate Kingdoms, it did not have a Four-Headed Nature: It became, or fragmented into four separate Kingdoms or Realms. And in fact, they did not all continue to be Greece.
So the four Heads of the Third Beast would represent the Four Distinct Governmental epochs or 'heads' of the Roman Empire, or the overall Nature of that "Beast". It's an easy mistake to think that the four heads of the Third Beast identify it as Greece, but the 'Active Nature' of Greece under Alexander the Great was not four-headed, it became Four separate realms when it broke apart, it itself was not four-headed when it was Greece per se. And as for the 'three ribs' in the Bear's* (Greece's) mouth, (Dan 7:5) it is very easy to make a case for trifurcated (three pronged) realms/campaigns of conquests for Alexander the Great, i.e. :
The Balkan Campaign/Asia minor ,
The Persian Campaign/Middle-East Egypt/North Africa , &
The Indian Campaign India .
It is also trifurcated geographically; Asia minor, Africa/Egypt/Middle-East (MENA), and the Indian subcontinent. And it is a known fact that Alexander consumed a "Great deal" of Greecy food. The scripture (Dan 7:5) also mentions that the Bear*** was 'raised up on one side'. Compare that with Alexander's physical posture, interesting, yes ?
Just give it a Thunk or two.
Remember too please, that the vision of the beasts was given to Daniel in Belshazzar's first year, and was describing future events (see Dan 7:17). So the four Beasts of Daniel's vision (chapter 7) match up to the last four of the five kingdoms of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (chapter 2).
So, what is the key to cracking the Bible code?
Very simply, there are five kingdoms in the image of chapter 2, not four, and the first beast of Daniel chapter 7 starts with the second kingdom of the image of chapter 2. and the vision of the image does not end with Rome and the vision of the beasts does not end with Rome, but they both end with the Soviet Union*, in it's past form, and soon-to-be reformulation. A revived Soviet Union, or put another way, a "Soviet Reunion". **
But then, that's another story.
*
Compare Dan 2:41-43 with this comment from Dorling Kindersley's World
Atlas Second Edition (2002) page 125 first paragraph. And I'm
paraphrasing so as to respect copyright law:
'The Russian
Federation has more than 150 ethnic minorities, and 21 autonomous
republics. Regionalist dissent remains a danger.'
And
this is not counting former Soviet Republics soon to be forced back
into the fold.
The Soviet area is not homogeneous. In fact, there is a European Russia AND an Asian Russia. And many, many disparate factions (that says "disparate", not "desperate", but they might be desperate too).
**
"Reformulation" is important because of what Daniel 7:24
says, also Revelation 17:10,11 describes it this way 'that the beast
is an eighth king but one of the seven'. Thus it would be one of the
seven previous kings in a different formulation, but with similar or
the same identity. So don't look for the old communistic
Soviet Union to come back, but a re-formulation of a revived Soviet
Union (currently called the CIS,
which interestingly, has 10, yes ten, member nations(it varies from
time to time)...Plus Good Ol' Russia (little horn) hmmmm......Please
see Timeline section 1).
*** That Greece would be pictured by a Bear is no surprise. One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was the Temple of Artemis.
Artemis was one of the greatest Gods of the Greek Pantheon of Gods, and is, in fact, mentioned by name in the Bible (please read Acts 19: 23-35). It is significant that the name Artemis is "most likely" related to the Greek word for Bear, and is associated with Bear Worship.
Additionally, the Constellations Ursa Major & Ursa Minor (Big Bear & Little Bear) Originated from Greek Mythology. So, one can rightly say, 'the connection betwixt Greece and Bear(s) is "writ large" even in the Heavens'....
And of course, who hasn't heard of 'bear grease'....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
new (reformulated) Soviet Union will not be atheistic, or
communistic, here is a very eye-opening article......
This
one is a must-read......
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/
So
the New
Soviet Union
will be very different, and yet with the same, or very similar
identity ....
This
one should have made world-wide
Headlines:
http://www.mosnews.com/money/2006/07/03/sovietproperty.shtml
(link is now dead, please see note below. link will now take you to The WayBack Machine)
As of about June 2007, Mosnews no longer exists. However, the essence of this news article was that Russia had an agreement with the Paris Club and the former Soviet republics. (now also a dead link, but see here, here, here, & [note Russia's absence here], for supporting information from the Paris Club) The agreement was that if Russia could repay all of the Soviet Union's former debts, that Russia would obtain full, free, and clear title to all properties previously owned by the Soviet Union. Thus in essence creating a de facto reformulation of the Soviet Union. This happened back in 2006, as the date of the article indicates. And in fact, Russia willingly paid pre-payment penalties of over one billion dollars for the privilege of re-paying these debts almost a decade and a half early, frankly, I think everyone agreed to this deal because no one thought it was possible. But don't forget, Putin has the equivalent of a Ph.D. in economics, which he acquired after the fall of the Soviet Union.
see also: www.TheMoscowTimes.com (Now also a dead link .... hmmmm......)
This was an article describing the early repayment of the loan and how they would Force everyone to comply by restoring all of the properties in their countries previously controlled by the Soviet Union to Russia's control. Including The Ukraine, who was showing some recalcitrance. The Ukraine is to the Soviet Union/Russia as California is to the USA.