To continue the interesting creep....

To interpret this passage of Daniel

"As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was ancient of days took his seat, his raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire".

it would help to know that one of the chief poetic devices of the ancient Hebrews was repeating an idea or image using different words. With that in mind, it seems that the first "couplet" (if you will) refers to the color covering this "ancient" one, and the second to the brilliance of the throne.

That some people believe this passage, written at least 200 years BC, refers to Jesus doesn't surprise me. The beliefs of religious people are not subject to scientific, historical, or common sense review.

Fair play to them.

One interesting result, though, is that Matthew"s gospel has Jesus riding into Jerusalem on two animals, on a donkey and on its foal. In his zeal to find prophesies about Jesus in the scriptures, and with his Greek misunderstanding of Hebrew poetry, Matthew takes Zacheriah 9;9 literally. It says something like (this is not an exact quote): And our saviour shall ride into the City of David seated on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I've often wondered how Matthew envisioned this procession. Was Jesus standing with one foot on each animal? Did he sit across both of them? Or maybe it didn't occur to him that it didn't make sense. Or maybe it did but he didn't think his readers would care. Interesting speculation.

Thanks, Azizi, for the creep.

David