The fifth and last age was the Iron Age, which Hesiod attributed to his own time. Iron is the hardest metal and the most troublesome to work, forged in fire and hammered. All manner of evils came into being as mankind abandoned the worship of the gods to devote themselves to themselves in the Greek religion of Humanism.
Those of us familiar with the Bible recognize the parallel between Hesiod’s Five Ages of Man and Daniel’s imagery of World Empires in which the hyperdimensional beings are metal, and mankind is clay.
“Thou, O king [Nebuchadnezzar] sawest, and behold a great image…
- head was of fine gold / lion with eagle’s wings – Babylon
- breast and arms of silver / bear – Persia
- belly and thighs of brass / 4-headed leopard with 4 wings – Greece
- legs of iron / dreadful beast with iron teeth – Rome
- feet part iron and part clay / little horn with eyes of a man – recreation of hybrid demigods (Daniel 2:31-33, 7:3-7)
The only difference between the two portrayals is that the last two ages are switched.
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In contrast to Hesiod calling these hybrids “Heroes” and this writer calling their actions “The Stone Age”, Daniel reports that the re-emergence of humanity bonding with hyperdimensional beings is what causes the destruction of this world, as it did the world that then was before the Flood.
Hesiod (c. 700 BC) either ignores, or is unaware of, this historic data, unlike Daniel’s version, which provides a strong argument for Daniel’s higher credibility. Hesiod considered the gods’ superhuman power a benefit for humanity. Following the last hurray by the Trojan era heroes he sees Humanism as degeneracy with ultimate self-destruction as the consequence of not giving the gods the honor and payment demanded, and predicted that Zeus / Satan would one day destroy this race for its impiety.
The following passage applies as much to Hesiod’s pagan gods as it does to YHVH.
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“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” (Psalm 2:1-3)
Humanists of all ilk are therefore oblivious to the true source of power of the rulers of this age.
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“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6:12)
And they are therefore held captive by the Adversary.
“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” (II Timothy 2:25-26)
Published 2017:
