history - exciting??

I've never liked history in school.  My most disliked subject.  Dates and conflicts and names -memorized.  Dry, dull and boring.  Hate it.  (please take note history teachers)

Until this study of Daniel.

History in the context of prophecy fullfilled - kinda mindblowing!  Especially the detail and all the drama in how it came to be.  And what it means.

Over the course of this study, I have become thoroughly convinced that we (as a people of the human race) are robbing ourselves of some serious wisdom by Jews and Christians being so separate.  This has been revealing itself to me little by little over the past year.  As a Gentile, I know little to nothing about Judiaism (even how to spell it), apart from what is read in the Bible.  And that itself is difficult to understand, not being raised in the culture.  Reading the words and understanding the meaning complete with the nuances are two different things.  (who knew that when Christ talked about his yoke being light he just might not be painting a word picture about an oxen yoke?)

Oh how I mourn this!  How rich Bible study would be if we could come together!!

This particular Bible study makes this clear because the prophecy in the book alternates with it's relevancy to Israel specifically and to the world in general.  It's so fascinating!  And startling.  I've gotten a lesson as to the background of chanukah (sp?) from the historical and prophetic standpoints.  Previously, this has been a mysterious Jewish holiday - very secret and exclusive.  Well, it's a mystery no more.  (I've already over used the words exciting and fascinating - and I don't want to offend anyone by making it sound like good fiction instead of the serious reality that it was)

I'm learning all about the Ptolemies and Seleucids and Greece and Rome and Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon...  Don't ask me about dates, and my grasp on the names are tentative at best.  But I'm coming out of this study smarter than when I entered it.

I'm looking forward to the day, at the end of this world as we know it, when Jew and Christian come together.  Once we get to gabbing, it'll be one great big Aha moment.

(disclaimer - These are my own personal thoughts.  Please don't bash me!)