A Study of Sadaq in Daniel 8:14, Its Relation to the "Cleanse" Semantic Field, and its Importance for Seventh-Day Adventism's Concept of Investigative Judgement

Abstract

While the Hebrew word root p1~ has a broad semantic range, examination of usage in this work shows that it relates mostly to justice and judgment, often describing the just manner of judicial proceedings. A number of these usages depict contexts that Seventh-day Adventism terms 'investigative judgments'; that is, the preliminary judicial phase in which evidence is examined. The relevant usages of verbal p1~ span narrative, legal, historical, poetic (particularly the individual laments), prophetic and wisdom genres. It frequently relates directly to the general biblical 'good-vs-evil' metannarative. The complex wisdom of Job is very illuminating as here verbal p1~ is utilised a disproportionately high number of times, and in connection with themes developed in Daniel, particularly the notions of test, conflict among professing God-followers, judicial investigation, theodicy, and anthropodicy. Further, there is a manifest connection with the "cleanse" semantic realm in the book of Job, in parallelism and linguistic interchange or substitution. This p1~-"cleanse" linguistic interrelation, also seen in other places in the Hebrew scriptures, is important for the cultic context of Dan 8. It suggests a strong connection between the righting of the sanctuary in Dan 8 (p1~) and the righting or cleansing of the sanctuary in the Day of Atonement service of Lev 16 (1;-m and 1~J pi.). The visual imagery of Dan 8, such as the sanctuary and the ram and goat, combined with the intertextual cultic-judicial usage of p1~ and metaphorical meaning of cultic words like 1;-m, ;i:,r, and 1~J, further gives reason to connect the two passages. Therefore it is legitimate to make the interpretive movement from the apocalyptic Dan 8:14 to the cultic and typological Lev 16, with the common referent of an investigative judgment. To deny a linguistic (and thematic) connection is often due to the restrictive semantic methodology of determinacy. A modified indeterminacy both engages prior usage of p1~, particularly in contexts reflecting Danielic themes, and utilises the present Dan 8 sanctuary context as the final determinant of meaning. Consequently, the translation " ... then shall the sanctuary be cleansed (P1~J)" (Dan 8:14), reflected in the Septuagint, Theodotion, Syriac, Coptic, and Vulgate, is an appropriate rendering as it engages the metaphorical "cleanse" nuance significantly associated with p1~, as seen in Dan 11/12, and particularly germane to the sanctuary and related themes of Dan 8.