Tricky Language

Scripture: Daniel 7-12

Learning Objectives:

  • Students will learn God exists outside of time and knows what will happen in the future.
  • Students will learn God’s prophecies always come true.
  • Students will learn there have always been false prophets. Some or all of their prophecies do not come to pass.
  • Students will learn how to decipher figurative language in the Bible.

Guiding Question: How is figurative language used within the Bible?

Materials: Internet access for links in Procedure section

Procedure: Review the stories of Daniel’s dreams and visions found in chapters 7-12.  Perhaps the most interesting are those found in Daniel chapter 11. Explain to students God sent prophecies for his prophets like Daniel to share with the people. Sometimes, the prophecies were just things God wanted the people to remember from things they had already been taught. At times though, these prophecies foretold the future. Because God knows everything, He knows what will happen in the future. People today who claim to tell the future are often wrong, or just make lucky guesses. Usually what they say is so general people can believe the prophecy came true no matter what actually happens.

Introduce the activity. Explain that often, figurative language is used within the Bible. Figurative language has to be deciphered to understand the meaning of the text. Show the students Bible story examples of figurative language and see if they can figure out what the various items represent.

Figurative Language Examples:

http://bib.irr.org/recognizing-figurative-language-in-bible

http://www.theexaminer.org/volume8/number5/language.htm

Additional Questions: Where is figurative language used in the Bible?

Supplemental Activity: After reviewing the types of figurative language used in the Bible, give each student a different form of figurative language to research where it is used within the Bible.

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