Browsing by Author "Van Wyk, Koot J."
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Item 538 A.D. and the Transition from Pagan Roman Empire to Holy Roman Empire: Justinian’s Metamorphosis from Chief of Staffs to Theologian(2017-01-01) Van Wyk, Koot J.; Treiyer, Alberto R.; Shea, William H.; O'Reggio, Trevor; Nam, Dae Geuk; Miller, Nicolas; Lee, Myun Ju; Kwon, Jhung Haeng; Kim, Sook Young; de Kock, Edwin; Damsteegt, Gerard; Ahn, Keum YoungThe year 538 A.D. became the turning point in the history of the Roman Empire since so many aspects on political, administrative and economical levels were already switched off that when Justinian declared himself to be a theologian from this year and no longer a soldier, he crossed the barrier of his mandate between what is purely civil obligation and what is religious obligation, similarly to Constantine before, and entered in competition with the papal function and this role is evidence of Justinian’s ongoing caesaro-papism. The quest for unification of the empire by unification of the church, the fever for church-building projects with his wife Theodora, the persecution of enemies of the church and heretics, his disdain with the Sabbath although his second name was Sabbatini, his support for suppressing any eschatological fever in line with the church fathers and Oecumenius and yet trying to build the ‘Kingdom of God’ on earth, all this indicate the problem 538 was for the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church. Archaeological and historical original sources of Justinian and contemporaries of popes, biographer of Justinian and a commentator on Revelation (Oecumenius) are very revealing of these times and the shift or transition of what belonged to the Roman Empire handed over since 538 A.D. to the church and the papal function. The Code of Justinian was a persecuting instrument. Justinian upheld the supremacy of the papacy. He permitted through the Council of Orleans actions to be done on Sunday that Constantine prohibited like travel and preparation of food and cleaning the house. In Novellae CXLIV Justinian instituted a Seventh-day Sabbath persecution. He changed the times and laws ad hoc as his Novellae XLVI and coins of 538 A.D. (XII year) indicate. Private gatherings were persecuted. He had church-manual laws. Justinian studied Systematic Theology on the nature of Christ and wrote homiletical rules for preachers. He gave textcritical advice to Jews and condemned their doctrinal deviations. This theological hobby of the ruler of the once mighty Roman Empire was to be taken over by a more theological competent power that would eventually lead to papal-caesarism until the unsettling of this new aggrandizing paradigm in 1798 by Napoleon. The prophetic embedding of the 1260 days as “years” prophecies in both Daniel 7 and Revelation 12 definitely started in 538 A.D. contrary to W. Spicer’s (1918) suggestion of 533 or 538 as two alternative dates or any other dates suggested by other scholars in the history of interpretation in historicism. It is also not just a case of history of interpretation hermeneutics but data solidly supported by archaeology, iconography and original historical sources that coincides with the parameters provided by exegesis of the rest of the Books of Daniel and Revelation added with the exegesis of the detail of the passages under consideration. A necessary ingredient for the historical researcher remains to be the faith that God can predict the future and He did and that the data as well as the prophecies of the Biblical Text are evidence of that.
Item Analyzing J. W. Colenso's Unpublished Comments on the Book of Revelation(2018-04-30) Van Wyk, Koot J.; Kim, Sook YoungJohn W. Colenso was an Anglican missionary in South Africa in late 19th
century who took a role as a philanthropic legal advocate for the uncivilized. He
also contributed in pioneering linguistics of Zulu, one of the official languages
used by many in South Africa. However, he is known for his destructive views
on interpretation of the biblical texts, to be evaluated as one “smashing the
Old Testament text,” and it caused him to be disgraced by his own church.
His unpublished comments on the Book of Revelation, personally acquired
to this researcher, are selectively presented and analyzed in this study, and his
methodology of interpretation on the biblical texts examined. It was found that
he invented words that are not in the text, transformed those which are in the
text, and conflated some nouns as identical that are syntactically separated.
He foregrounded interpretation with a preteristic model but backgrounded
it now and then with a historicistic model. These findings confirm the
existing evaluations on his theology. His calculated attempt to break down
the inspiration of the Scripture is one of the biggest ironies regarding his
philanthropic services as a missionary.
Item Another Cuneiform Tablet from Drehem in the Ur III Period(2018-11-01) Van Wyk, Koot J.Although M. Sigrist and others spent some time in translating cuneiform texts at the Siegfried Horn Museum, there was one more unpublished Drehem tablet in the James White Library Archives and another tablet. The Adventist Heritage Center of the James White Library of Andrews University in Berrien Springs, MI, obtained this tablet from a private collector, George Barr Suhrie (1905-1985) in 1976. This text dates to the 45th year of Šulgi which is 2050/49 BCE. It is an economic text listing animals brought for various deities: En-lil; Nin-lil; by at least three individuals from Nippur to Drehem. Lugalazida was the son of the king, Ursukkal was a wine attendant and Šešdad was a temple-administrator. A large number of animals, bull, cows, sheep, ewes, kids, goats, equids, were received by Ilum-bani in 2050/2049 BCE. Two texts from the Oriental Institute of Chicago: Text 235 = A4977 and Text 417 = A2978, are dating also to Šulgi’s 45th year with the order of the items in the year formula identical to AUAHCCT 1 Reverse line 12. Biblical chronology is an exact science and according to strict biblical reckoning, with the 4th year of Solomon as 970 BCE, Jacob was born in 2080 BCE, 30 years before this tablet. The influence of the Ur III dynasty, with Šulgi deifying himself, can be seen in Jacob’s household and others with him, when he asked them to “put away the foreign gods among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments,” Genesis 35:2. Of course this event was a decade or two after this tablet because Esau got married in 2040 BCE and Jacob left afterwards.
Item Attendance and Gender Relations on Grades and Other Aspects(2018-11-30) Van Wyk, Koot J.; Kim, Joonhong; Harding, Graham; Chung, AndyThree aspects prompted this study: why are females in first year university in a countryside campus performing better than males as opposed to high school where the reverse is the case? Why are there waves of performance increases semester by semester? Why is there in the second semester always an increase in performance over the first semester? For this matter the researchers took a number of participants in total over the period 2012-2016, namely 3,963 students in Freshman English at a countryside campus (Sangju) for Kyungpook National University as their target. In the year 2016, only the first semester was calculated in this research. Three aspects were considered as far as data is concerned: attendance variables, grade variables and gender. Performances were always better in the second semester over the first and females almost always outperformed the males. What also came up as secondary considerations, are questions whether the environment like nature and the role of ‘table- talk’ of parents reverberating or not the GDP of the country over the period may have had an effect on the students. It was found when the GDP went up the students’ performance took a break but when the GDP is low the students increased their focus and performed better as their grades indicated. These last aspects were just mere observations and should be carried out with further investigation elsewhere. The attendance of females was always showing better attendance results than males for Freshmen at Sangju Campus, South Korea. While the GDP dropped and rose through the years investigated, the attendance of the students did not display a serious rise and fall but remained almost unchanged.
Item Kuntillet cAjrud: A Case for Critical Revision(2017-10-01) Van Wyk, Koot J.Kuntillet cAjrud is an archaeological site with data in objects, images and texts that kept scholars on both sides of the hermeneutical divide busy. The secular/nihilistic orientated archaeologists are trying to connect the dots on both image and text to what they have already chose to see regarding the text: that the text is a late post-exilic creation and archaeology in their view is uncovering the “true Israel and their religion and their pantheon”. The other view is biblically textual-based, a position supported by other extra-biblical sources of literacy in all periods of the Levant in nearly all Ancient cultures continuously, and not only after the sixth century BCE. The hazard to prove earlier writings’ existence archaeologically is the preservation ability of writings materials used that leads to meagreness of data, not the reality of its existence. Kuntillet cAjrud is not only an Ashera site but also a Baal site, mentioning the word “prophet”; included an eschatological text with elements similar to Habakkuk 3 (520 BCE) and the Divine Warrior motif in Kajr 4.2. Ceramics (pithoi) came from Jerusalem, Samaria and even further north. Was Ashera written on the pithoi in Jerusalem or on Kuntillet cAjrud? Ashera also appeared on plaster-texts. Scholars are divided how it should be interpreted: that Ashera is a cultic place, gameboard, goddess or name of person. The 3 rd person singular pronoun added to the name can be shown also at Ebla and Ugarit. However, consensus of nihilists preferred to read “his [Yahweh’s] Ashera”. It was found in this article that a revision of all data rather points to the fact that the Ashera of the Addresee is in mind just like at Khirbet el Qōm where it reads “his [Uryahu’s] Asherah, not that of Yahweh. It does not deny that idolatry was exercised here but as the prophets (early = Amos, Hosea, Isaiah) all condemned Ashera and Baal worship on mountains near Tema, at Samaria, so this continued also with the later prophets Ezechiel and Jeremiah around the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BCE and continuing to 586 BCE. The iconography at the site had strong connections to Greek Vase art, especially the particular connection to one cow and calf motif dating to ca. 520 BCE. Nimrud Ivories are dated not only in the 9 th century but from the 9 th to the 6 th century BCE as the scholars reminded us. Textiles at Kuntillet cAjrud were in abundance, especially linen and also wool. The prophets like Ezechiel indicated the importance of textiles for the idolaters of that era. Whereas nihilistic archaeological-priority scholars find support at Kuntillet cAjrud for Yahweh having a consort and proving their stance that Israel religion transformed from polytheism to monotheism, the opposite view in this article uses their excellent data to prove that the biblical texts (that not only originated after the exile) are text and data connected to such an extent that archaeology cannot be done without a text on the tel. The Lachish III pottery debate leaves open a 800 BCE date or a 597 BCE date (favored by this writer) and Kuntillet cAjrud are filled with these types of ceramics. Radiocarbon dating does not only indicate a 800 BCE date but as Schniedewind indicated may even touch the 10th century BCE. Phoenician influence at the site led Singer in her confrontation with ca. 800 BCE scholars (early Lachish III dating scholars) to move the timing about 50 years later around 730 BCE (herself also an early Lachish III dating scholar). The gods at this site included: Yahweh; Ashera; Bacal; and the Egyptian god Bes and as a trading post with cultic and entertainment facilities for the visitors, they specialized in Phoenician, Israelite, Egyptian, Greek and other visitors to the water sources at this hill. Kuntillet cAjrud is so relevant for biblical studies, that networks are set up by nihilist female archaeologists to make a quest for the historical Ashera and to raise the issue whether the biblical text have pushed Yahweh’s wife out of the picture in the past, setting up for them the agenda, in this day and age with LGBTQH agitations and world transgender legal jurisdiction concensus, also woman ordination contra the biblical text, to try to ”set free“ Ashera image in the modern world. On the other side of the divide, all the fingerprints of idolatry on mountains as complained by the early and later prophets, over a long period, especially the prophets Ezechiel and Jeremiah, are at this site. At the end of the research, after working with the conventional theory that Teman and Shomron are cities of Teman and Samaria, another theory became more appealing, namely that it refers to persons on the basis of Rabbi Redak’s exegesis of Jeremiah 49:7 and Obadiah 9 for linking Teman to a person as Genesis 36:11 did. Extending Redak’s method it was found that at least three people in various stages of Israel’s history were called by the name Shomron. Instead of F = Kajr3.9: “May he [functionary] bless you to Yahweh of Teman [(conventionally a city)] and to his [(Yahweh’s)] Asherah” rather read F = Kajr3.9: “May he [functionary] bless you to Yahweh of Teman [(a person)] and to his [(Teman’s)] Asherah”. The same is the case with Yahweh of Samaria. The result is that the conventional application that Yahweh had a consort no longer is the only interpretation of the syntax and semantics of the inscriptions.
Item Reconsidering Cuneiform and Biblical Distanzangaben or "Long Period" References(2017-01-01) Van Wyk, Koot J.Long period dating references or Distanzangaben can be found in both cuneiform texts and the Masoretic Text of the Old Testament. In this article five of them are selected. One reference is about 800 years; another one 700 years; still another 600 years and a further one covering a long period of 3200 years, the last which is a case of a need for a better understanding of Ancient Mathematics or Counting systems. These texts were discovered, transliterated, translated and discussed or commented upon by many scholars since the middle of the 19th century. Scholars are divided into two or more camps regarding these periods in cuneiform references: those who tried to find historicity in them taking them at face value; those who reject them as bogus and just “round numbers”. Optimistic scholars and pessimistic scholars are divided by the epistemology they are operating as well as the methodology they are selecting to solve the problems. Those who are skeptical in hermeneutics will not utilize these texts to construct chronology. Those who are affirmative in hermeneutics will try to find solutions harmonizing some or all of them. It is with this last method that this research was approached. The axiom was entertained that if the ancient scholars knew astronomy, mathematics, and other sciences so well, then surely they would have taken great pain in recording their own history. This led to the investigation again of these Distanzangaben in the cuneiform tablets and a reconsideration of the chronology of the Old Testament long period dating references and making an attempt to link some kings between the cuneiform texts and the Masoretic Text. The case of Amraphel of Genesis 14 and Hammurabi of the Nabonidus text was such a link and the second one is the closeness of the Sumerian King List’s Flood date applying the year-day principle (1 day = 360 days of the calendar of the hemerological cuneiform texts) and the Masoretic Text chronology for the Flood. Someone once said that scientific pursuit is the case of “two men sitting behind bars: the one saw mud and the other one stars.”
Item Textual Criticism under Scrutiny: Xerox Problems since Epiphanes(2011-01-01) Van Wyk, Koot J.The title gives the impression that if textual criticism is under criticism then there is no science for textual studies. But that will be misleading. What is changing in this pursuit of textual studies, is neither the data with which we are working nor an apathy for the science, but in fact, a stronger involvement with this science. The term "Xerox problems" is nothing but a modern wordplay for the old copy mechanics of the Ancients.
Item What was the Vorlage for Hebrews 1:6?: Reconsidering Early Old Testament Texts(2017-04-01) Kim, Sook Young; Van Wyk, Koot J.To find the Vorlage of Hebrews 1:6, various hermeneutic models were studied together with the texts of Targums, so-called LXX, Qumran, Josephus, and Masoretic Text surrounding this citation in Hebrews. Differences exist among Paul(the author of the Book of Hebrews here)’s rendering of the text, the ancient versions, and the original Masoretic Text. However, they are minor copulatives, prepositions, pronouns, or vocabulary substitutions. The text-analytical results of the ancient texts reveal that Paul did not cite the modern critical edition of the Septuagint in Hebrews, but he was tapping into a commonly shared midrash method that was considered the scientific writing way of the time. Different from the ancient documents with understanding beclouded by the Judaism of the intertestamental period, it is found Paul did not show discrepancy from what the original text intended to say. It is because the same Christ who was speaking to Moses or David was involved in this Epistle writing of Paul.