. . . the word רָז in Daniel
refers to a mystery which is revealed by God relating to his purposes. The
means of revelation were a dream (given to Nebuchadnezzar) and its
interpretation given to another person (Daniel). While that clearly forms an
important part of the background to the use of το μυστηριον in Mark 4:11, we should also be alert to similar concepts and
words with a similar meaning in other parts of the Old Testament. ‘The Hebrew
word סוֹד, meaning ‘counsel’ or ‘secret counsel’, is sometimes translated as μυστηριον in
the Greek versions of Theodotion and Symmachus, although not in the LXX. It
sometimes denotes intimacy with God (Job 15:8; Psalm 25:14; Proverbs 3:32), and
on four occasions denotes secrets or secret counsel, which may be revealed (גׇּלָה;
Amos 3:7; Proverbs 11:13; 20:19; 25:9). While the latter three references in
Proverbs refer to secular secrets, Amos 3:7 is particularly relevant as it
refers to the revelation of God’s secret:
Surely the Lord God does nothing,
without revealing his secret
to his servants the prophets.
This may be seen as a general
prophetic principle, which was one of the bases of the ministry of the Old
Testament prophets. The dreams with their interpretations in Daniel chapters 2
and 4 may be seen as particular instances of this principle.
We have seen that in Mark
4:11-12, ‘the secret of the kingdom of God’ is linked to a quotation
from Isaiah chapter 6, which in turn tells of the prophet’s vision of God as
King and his sending of Isaiah to preach. Would we be justified in suggesting a
more general parallel between the Markan μυστηριον of God’s kingdom and Isaiah’s ‘call-vision’
of Yahweh enthroned? Whereas in Daniel chapters 2 and 4, revelation came
through dreams, in Isaiah chapter 6 revelation came through a vision, and
provides another example of God ‘revealing his secret (סוֹד) to his servants the
prophets’ (Amos 3:7). (Robert D. Rowe, God’s Kingdom and God’s Son: The
Background to Mark’s Christology from Concepts of Kingship in the Psalms [Leiden:
Brill, 2002], 130-31)
