Bel and the Dragon

From New World Encyclopedia
File:Daniel-trappeth-the-priests.jpg
Daniel exposes the fraud of the priests of Bel to King Cyrus.

Bel and the Dragon is an apocryphal Jewish scripture which appears as chapter 14 of the Book of Daniel in the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Bible and is accepted as scripture by some Christians though not in Jewish tradition.

The text consists of two separate stories one relating to Daniel exposing a fraud perpetrated by the priests of the god Bel, the other to his context with a supposed dragon venerated by the Babylonians. In the former, Daniel, by a clever device, exposes the trick by which the priests of Bel made it appear that the idol consumed the food and drink set before it. In the latter, Daniel slays the supposed dragon-god by getting it to eat poisoned food, after which it bursts asunder. Daniel is thereupon cast into a den of lions, but remains unharmed by the beasts, and is fed by the prophet Habakkuk, who has been miraculously brought from Judea by an angel.


Summary

Bel and Dragon consists three independent narratives, which place the hero-prophet Daniel at the court of Cyrus, king of the Persians. There Daniel "was a companion of the king, and was the most honored of all his Friends." (14:1)

Daniel and Bel

The narrative of Bel, the king asks Daniel, "Do you not think that Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?" To this, Daniel answers that the idol is made of clay covered with bronze and thus, cannot eat or drink.

Enraged, the king then demands that the 70 priests of Bel show him that Bel truly consumes the offerings made to him. The priests then suggest that the king set the offerings as usual, consisting of "12 great measures of fine flour, and 40 sheep, and six vessels of wine," and then seal the entrance to the temple with his ring. If Bel does not consume the offerings, the priests are to be sentenced to death; otherwise, it is Daniel who is to be killed.

Daniel cleverly scatters ashes over the whole perimeter on the temple in the presence of the king after the priests have left. The next morning, Daniel calls attention to the footprints on the temple's floor. In fact, the sacred meal of Bel has been consumed at night their families, who entered through a secret door when the temple's doors were sealed. The priests of Bel were then arrested and, confess their deed. They, and the families are put to death, and Daniel is permitted to destroy the idol of Bel and the temple.

The dragon was sacred to the Babylonian god Marduk, shown here.

Daniel and the dragon

In the brief but autonomous companion narrative of the dragon, the text relates that "there was a great dragon, which the Babylonians revered." In this case the supposed god is no idol, but a living being supposed by the Babylonians to be an eternal deity. This time, Daniel exposes the folly of worshiping a mere create by proving its mortality. He rakes pitch, fat, and hair together to make cakes that, when eaten, cause the dragon to burst open, apparently from indigestion. In variant versions, other ingredients serve the same purpose.

The Babylonians, however, grow indignant. "The king has become a Jew; he has destroyed Bel, and killed the dragon, and slaughtered the priests," they say. They demand that Daniel be handed over to them.

Daniel, Habakkuk and the lions

The Septuagint version precedes this part of the story with the notice: "From the prophecy of Habakkuk, son of Yeshua, of the tribe of Levi." This incident appears to have been inserted into the narrative of Daniel's second visit to the lion's den, which then concludes after the story of Daniel and Habakkuk.

The story shifts to Judea, where the prophet Habukkuk is busy mixing some bread in a bowl together with a stew that he had boiled, for the reapers working in his fields. Suddenly an angel appears and commands him to take the meal to Daniel in the lions den at Babylon. "Babylon, sir, I have never seen," replies the prophet, "nor do not know the den!"

The angel then seizes the prophet by the hair and carries him to Babylon. "Daniel, Daniel," cried Habakkuk, "take the lunch God has sent you." Daniel thanks him, expresses his gratitude to God, and Habukkuk immediately departs back to Babylon.

One suspects that Daniel might have feed the meal to his animal friends, but this is not indicated in the text. In any case, Daniel remains unharmed in the den as the lions.

After the seven days are up, the king rejoices to learn that his friend remains unharmed, declaring: "You are great, O Lord, the God of Daniel, and there is no other besides you!" He then causes those who had demanded Daniel's death to be placed in the den, where they are promptly devoured.

Purpose, origin, and texts

File:Habukkuk-Daniel.jpg
The angel brings Habukkuk to Daniel

The purpose of the stories is to ridicule idol-worship and to extol the power of God, who preserves his faithful servants in all perils. The material is drawn from then-current ideas and legends. Bel was an important figure of the Babylonian idolatry as depicted in (Isaiah 45:1 and Jer. 51:44). The myth of the contest between God and the primordial dragon (called Tannin, Rahab, and Leviathan) occurs throughout the old post-exilic literature, and the way in which Daniel destroys the dragon is similar to that in which Marduk destroys Tiamat in the Babylonian Enuma Elish by driving a storm-wind into the dragon and rending it asunder. and Marshall (in Hastings' "Dictionary of the Bible") suggests that the "pitch" of the Greek (Aramean, ) may have come from an original term for "storm-wind" (Aramean, ).

How the prophet Habakkuk came to be introduced into the story probably can only be explained with reference to now lost legends relating to the two prophets.

Two versions of Bel and the Dragon have survived, on in Greek, the other in Aramaic; and the Greek work exists in two recensions: that of the Septuagint and that of Theodotion. In the Septuagint, Daniel is called a priest, the son of Habal, and is introduced as a person previously unknown. The name of the king of Babylon, whose friend he was, is not given; and a prophecy of Habukkuk is included. In Theodotion, the king is identified as Cyrus, Daniel is not called a priest, and nothing is said of a prophecy of Habakkuk.

Canonicity

Panel from door of Santa Sabina prophet Habakkuk, having prepared a dinner of lamb and bread, being seized by an angel to take him through the air to Babylon, in order to save Daniel from being eaten by lions

The stories of Daniel's contest against the priests of Bel, his adventure the Babylonian Dragon, and his second adventure in the Lion's Den are part of the so-called Additions to Daniel, comprising three chapters not found in the Hebrew/Aramaic text of Daniel. The additions are:

  • The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children: Daniel 3:24-90 inserted between verses 23 and 24 (v. 24 becomes v. 91) in the Protestant cannon. It also incorporates the Fiery Furnace episode.
  • Susanna and the Elders : before Daniel 1:1, a prologue in early Greek manuscripts; chapter 13 in the Vulgate
  • Bel and the Dragon: after Daniel 12:13 in Greek, an epilogue; chapter 14 in the Vulgate

These traditions appear to have been regarded by the ancient Jewish community of Alexandria, Egypt as belonging in the class of sacred writings, since they were included in the Septuagint version of the Hebrew scriptures produced there. However, the addition were apparently never regarded as scripture by the Palestinian Jewish leaders. They was thus not included in the canon of the Hebrew Bible.

However, because the Septuagint, being in Greek, was the Bible of choice of Christians, the additions to the Book of Daniel came to more influential in the Christian tradition. Bel and the Dragon is quoted as the work of the prophet Daniel by Tertullian and other early Christian writers, and its claim to canonicity is defended by Origen ("Epistola ad Africanum"). It was not, however, formally accepted as canonical by the earliest church. Together with the other additions to Daniel, it was accepted into the Catholic and Orthodox canons. In modern times it continues to be as part of the Book of Daniel in the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox churches, but is generally excluded by Protestants.

See also

Notes

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Jewish Encyclopedia, "Bel and the Dragon"
  • Daniel 14 in the NAB

External links

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