Book of Daniel

Books of the Hebrew Bible

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The Book of Daniel, written in Hebrew and Aramaic, is a book in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. The book is set during the Babylonian Captivity, a period when the Jews had been deported and exiled to Babylon. It revolves around the figure of Daniel, an Israelite who becomes an adviser to Nebuchadnezzar, the ruler of Babylon from 605-562 B.C.E.

The book has two distinct parts: a series of six narratives (chapters 1-6) and four apocalyptic visions (chapters 7-12). The narratives take the form of court stories which focus on tests of religious fidelity involving Daniel and his friends (chapters 1, 3, and 6) and Daniel's interpretation of royal dreams and visions (chapters 2, 4 and 5). In the second part of the book, Daniel recounts his reception of dreams, visions, and angelic interpretations, speaking in the first person.

The dating and authorship of Daniel has been a matter of great debate. The traditional view holds that the work was written by Daniel, a prophet who lived during the sixth century B.C.E., whereas most modern biblical scholars maintain that the book was written in large part during the mid-second century B.C.E. and that most of the predictions of the book refer to events that had already occurred. A third viewpoint places the final editorial work in the fourth century B.C.E.

Content

Court narratives

The first six chapters of the Book of Daniel present a series of court tales, instructive narratives, and miracle tales.

1. After being taken captive to Babylon, Daniel and his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah—all of whom are members of the Jewish nobility—are treated well. They receive new names—Daniel is Belteshazzar, and his friends become Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They are to be trained for three years as courtiers, learning the language, literature, and customs of Baylon. However, they decline consume the non-kosher royal diet. Their overseer worries that they will appear unhealthy, but after ten days on a strictly vegetarian diet, the appear healthier-looking than any other young men at court. Entering the presence of Nebuchadnezzar, they are found not only to be good looking, but even wiser and more skilled than any of the kings advisers and magicians.

2. Nebuchadnezzar dreams of an idol made of four metals and a mixture of iron and clay. The image is destroyed by a rock that then dominates the world. None of the Babylonian astrologers and wise men can tell the king the content of his dream or interpret it, and he orders all of them to be put to death, and Daniel and his friends are to be included in this punishment. Daniel pleads for time to interpret the dreams. After he and his friends pray, Daniel receives a vision revealing the mystery. He tells Nebuchadnezzar what he dreamed and interprets the dream as a series of successive empires ending with God's kingdom. The king is so impressed that he does obeisance to Daniel, placing him over royal wise men and appointing Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as "administrators over the province of Babylon."

3. This is the famous story of the fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar creates a golden statue of himself and requires all of his officials to bow before it, on pain of death by fire. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse on religious grounds, believing that God will save them from the flames. They are thrown into a furnace, but God indeed preserves them. Nebuchadnezzar sees them and a fourth figure walking unharmed in the furnace. Bringing the three out, they are completely untouched by the flames. The king now declares that no one must speak against the God of the Israelites, and he gives the three Hebrews a further promotion in the Babylonian administration.

4.In this chapter, Nebuchadnezzar speaks in the first person. He is now apparently a convert to belief in the Hebrew God. He tells the readers of his dream of a tree so tall that it touches the sky: "Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was food for all. Under it the beasts of the field found shelter, and the birds of the air lived in its branches; from it every creature was fed." A "holy one" instructs that the tree be cut down, and its "stump" be transformed from a man to an animal. No one but his chief magician, Daniel/Belthazzar can interpret the dream. He regretfully informs the king that he himself is the tree, and that he will be driven insane, living with the animals and eating grass with the cows, for seven "times." The prophecy is fulfilled a year later as Nebuchadnezzar hears a voice from heaven and promptly goes insane. Only when he accepts Daniel's God as his own and repents of his sin does he regain his sanity.

5. Belshazzar's Feast, where Belshazzar insults Daniel's God and Daniel interprets the writing on the wall mene mene tekel upharsin to be:

Mene: God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

Tekel: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

Upharsin: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

6. Daniel in the lions' den

7. Susanna and the elders (apocryphal to Jewish and Protestant canons)

8. Bel and the Dragon (apocryphal to Jewish and Protestant canons)

Protestant and Jewish editions omit the sections that do not exist in the Masoretic text: in addition to the two chapters containing accounts of Daniel and Susanna and of Bel and the Dragon, a lengthy passage inserted into the middle of Daniel 3; this addition contains the prayer of Azariah while the three youths were in the fiery furnace, a brief account of the angel who met them in the furnace, and the hymn of praise they sang when they realized they were delivered. The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children are retained in the Septuagint and in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Roman Catholic canons; the "Song of the Three Holy Youths" is part of the Matins service in Orthodoxy, and of Lauds on Sundays and feast days in Catholicism.

The narratives are set in the period of the Babylonian captivity, first at the court of Nebuchadnezzar and later at the court of his successors Belshazzar and a 'King Darius' of unclear identity (see 'Historical Accuracy' and 'Date' below). Daniel is praised in Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897, as "the historian of the Captivity, the writer who alone furnishes any series of events for that dark and dismal period during which the harp of Israel hung on the trees that grew by the Euphrates. His narrative may be said in general to intervene between Kings and Chronicles on the one hand and Ezra on the other, or (more strictly) to fill out the sketch which the author of the Chronicles gives in a single verse in his last chapter: 'And them that had escaped from the sword carried he (i.e., Nebuchadnezzar) away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia' (2 Chr. 36:20)."

Daniel appears as an interpreter of dreams and visions in these early court tales. He is depicted later in the book as a "prophet" with his early experiences serving as the basis for his future ministry.

Apocalyptic visions in Daniel

The second part, the remaining six chapters, are visionary, an early example of apocalyptic literature, in which the author, now speaking in the first person, experiences visions entrusted to him alone. One feature of this section is Daniel's reliance on heavenly figures to interpret and explain his visions. The historical setting of the first chapters does not appear, except in the form of regnal dates. This section also consists of text from two languages, part (to 7:28) written in Aramaic, the rest (chapters 8-12) in Hebrew. The apocalyptic part of Daniel consists of three visions and one lengthened prophetic communication, mainly having to do with the destiny of Israel:

1. The vision in the first year of Belshazzar the king of Babylon (7:1) concerning four great beasts (7:3) representing four future kings (7:17) or kingdoms (7:23), the fourth of which devours the whole earth, treading it down and crushing it (7:23); this fourth kingdom is represented by a beast with ten horns representing ten kings, an empire, the last person described arises out of the fourth kingdom and subdues three of the ten kings (7:24), speaks against the Most High and the saints of the Most High, and intends to change the times and the law (7:25); after a time and times and half a time (three and a half years), this person is judged and his dominion is taken away (7:26); then, the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven are given to the people of the saints of the Most High (7:27)
2. The vision in the third year of Belshazzar concerning a ram and a male goat (8:1-27) which, we are informed, represent Medo-Persia and Greece. The vision focuses on a wicked king who arises to challenge the "army of the Lord" by removing the daily temple sacrifice and desecrating the sanctuary for a period of "twenty three hundred evening/mornings."
3. The vision in first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus (9:1) concerning seventy weeks, or seventy "sevens," apportioned for the history of the Israelites and of Jerusalem (9:24) This consists of a meditation on the prediction in Jeremiah that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years, a lengthy prayer by Daniel in which he pleads for God to restore Jerusalem and it's temple, and an angelic explanation which focuses on a longer time period - "seventy sevens" - and a future destruction of city and temple by a coming ruler.
4. A lengthy vision (10:1 - 12:13) in the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, regarding conflicts between the "King of the North" and the "King of the South" (= Egypt, 11:8). Starting with references to Persia and Greece it, again, culminates in the description of an arrogant king who desecrates the temple, sets up a "desolating abomination," removes the daily sacrifice, and persecutes those who remain true to the "holy covenant."

The prophetic and eschatological visions of Daniel, with those of Ezekiel and Isaiah, are the scriptural inspiration for much of the apocalyptic ideology and symbolism of the Qumran community's Dead Sea scrolls and the early literature of Christianity. The purpose behind the latter revelations are related to the establishment of Daniel's prominence in later revelations. That is, a prophetic ministry does not occur in a vacuum, the early events in his life serve to establish his later role as a prophet. The latter prophecies serve the purpose of confirming in the near future the basis for the acceptance of his final prophecies. "Daniel's clear association with the Maccabean Uprising and those against Rome are a possible factor in the eventual downgrading of it, to include a redefinition of the role of prophet, keeping in mind that at roughly this time the Hebrew canon was being evaluated and adopted.(Eisenman 1997, p 19f).

In Daniel are the first references to a "kingdom of God," and the most overt reference to the resurrection of the dead in the Tanakh.

Historical accuracy

Some modern historians of Babylonia or Achaemenid Persia do not adduce the narratives of Daniel as source materials, as they consider some statements in Daniel to be in conflict with other historical accounts. However, a major critic of Daniel, H. H. Rowley considered chapter 11 as "a first-class historical source for that period" But, Raymond Dougherty, an eminent scholar in this field, pointed out: "Of all the non Babylonian records dealing with the situation at the close of the Neo-Babylonian empire the fifth chapter of Daniel ranks next to cuneiform literature in accuracy so far as outstanding events are concerned." However, this stated, it is clear that Dougherty ranks the cuneiform literature as first in accuracy.

The four objections given below represent, in order of significance, the major instances of error historians generally find in Daniel.

Identity of "Darius the Mede"

The personage whom Daniel describes as taking control of Babylon after Belshazzar is deposed is named as Darius the Mede, who rules over Babylon in chapters 6 and 9. Daniel reports that Darius was 'about 62 years old' when he was 'made king over Babylon.'

'Darius the Mede, son of Ahasuerus' is a figure unknown by that name outside the Book of Daniel and Flavius Josephus, the only other source to offer any other detail.

As Darius the Mede is unknown to any other source, many historians view his presence in Daniel as simply a mistake of a much later author, who has perhaps inadvertently placed the Persian King Darius I at an earlier date than he actually reigned. They criticize the notion of a separate Mede rule by pointing out that the Persians at that point in history had control over the Medes, and that the contemporary cuneiform documents, such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Babylonian Chronicle, leaves no room for any Mede occupation of Babylon before the Persians under Cyrus conquered it.

Among writers trying to maintain an early date for the Book of Daniel, there are several interpretations of the identity of Darius the Mede. On the difficulty of ascertaining the correct view, H.H. Rowley in Darius the Mede and the Four World Empires in the Book of Daniel states: "[T]he references to Darius the Mede in the book of Daniel have long been recognized as providing the most serious historical problems in the book." His view concludes that Darius is just another name for Cyrus the Great, who captured Babylon on October 15th, 539 B.C.E. Another view, promoted by John Whitcomb (though first proposed by Babelon in 1883) in his 1959 book, Darius the Mede says that Darius is another name for the historical figure of Gubaru (sometimes spelled as Ugbaru). The third view (also that of Syncellus) sees Darius as another name for Astyages, the last Mede king who was ultimately deposed by Cyrus. Josephus makes Darius the son of Astyages, and uncle of Cyrus. Several scholars in the past (including Calvin, Ussher and John Gill) as well as in more recent times (eg. Keil and Delitzsch Vol.6, p.546-548) have thus attempted to identify 'Darius the Mede' with a certain Cyaxares II, who is mentioned as having the same relationships by Xenophon

"Darius the Mede" as Cyrus the Great: Unlike Gubaru or Astyages, Cyrus the Great of Persia was the king who took over the Babylonian Empire. Cyrus was also married to a Mede, and himself had Mede blood. An analysis of variant early texts, particularly the Septuagint, reveals that the names "Darius" (DRYWS in Hebrew) and "Cyrus" (KRWS) are reversed in 11:1, and may have been miscopied elsewhere^{[citation needed]}. The appellation "Mede" (Heb. MADAI) may have been used as an ethnic term to apply to Persians as well^{[citation needed]}, who were of the same race. In addition, Dan. 6:28, "So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian," could also be translated, "So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius, that is, the reign of Cyrus the Persian."

"Darius the Mede" as Gubaru/Ugbaru: Gubaru is the historical general known to have actually led the army that captured Babylon (see Pierre Briant below), according to Nabonidus. It is possible that Cyrus would have rewarded Gubaru with a regional governorship for capturing the capital of the Babylonian Empire and virtually ending the war. Furthermore, under the first translation of Dan. 6:28, Darius ruled during the reign of Cyrus, and Dan. 5:31 states that Darius the Mede "received the kingdom" of the Chaldeans.

Also, verse 1 of "Bel and the Dragon" (chapter 14 in Greek Daniel) references Astyages the Mede, who was indeed the last king before Cyrus; but nearly the same verse is added in the Greek LXX after the end of chapter 6, only reading "Darius" in place of "Astyages." ( LXX Dan. 14:1 and Dan 6:29)

Belshazzar

For many years Belshazzar (Akk. bêl-šar-usur), was an enigma for historians. The book of Daniel states that he was “king” (Ar. מֶלֶך) the night that Babylon fell (chap. 5) and says that his “father” (Ar. אַב) was Nebuchadnezzar (5:2, 11, 13, 18). Prior to 1854, archeologists and historians knew nothing of Belshazzar outside the book of Daniel. Indeed, while the deuterocanonical book of Baruch (Baruch 1:11, 12) and the writings of Josephus (Antiquities 10.11.2-4 §231-247) do mention Belshazzar, the references to Belshazzar in these works are ultimately dependent on the book of Daniel (Collins, p. 32). Both Xenophon (Cyropaedia, 7.5.28-30) and Herodotus (The Histories, 1.191) recount the fall of Babylon to Cyrus the Great, yet neither of these writers give the name of the king of Babylon. Additionally, both Berossus’ and Ptolemy’s king lists have Nabonidus (Akk. Nabû-nā'id) as the last king of Babylon with no mention of Belshazzar. All of this led Ferdinand Hitzig to claim in 1850 that Belshazzar was a "figment of the Jewish writer's imagination."

From that time new evidence from Babylon has verified the existence of Belshazzar as well as his co-regency during the absence of his father, Nabonidus, in Temâ. For example, In the Nabonidus Cylinder, Nabonidus petitions the god Sin as follows: “And as for Belshazzar my firstborn son, my own child, let the fear of your great divinity be in his heart, and may he commit no sin; may he enjoy happiness in life." In addition, The Verse Account of Nabonidus (British Museum tablet 38299) states, “[Nabonidus] entrusted the army (?) to his oldest son, his first born, the troops in the country he ordered under his command. He let everything go, entrusted the kingship (Akk. šarrûtu) to him, and, himself, he started out for a long journey. The military forces of Akkad marching with him, he turned to Temâ deep in the west” (Col. II, lines 18 - 29. 18). In line with the statement that Nabonidus "entrusted the kingship" to Belshazzar in his absence, there is evidence that Belshazzar's name was used with his father's in oath formulas, that he was able to pass edicts, lease farmlands, and receive the "royal privilege" to eat the food offered to the gods.

The available information concerning Belshazzar's regency goes silent after Nabonidus' fourteenth year. According to the Nabonidus Chronicle, Nabonidus was back from Temâ by his seventeenth year and celebrated the New Year’s Festival (Akk. Akitu). Whether or not Belshazzar continued his regency under his father's authority after his return cannot be demonstrated from the available documents. Some scholars have argued that the non-observance of the Akitu during Nabonidus' absence demonstrates that Belshazzar was not the "king" since it shows that he could not officiate over the festival. However, The Verse Account of Nabonidus says, "Nabonidus said: 'I shall build a temple for him (the Moon god Sin)...till I have achieved this, till I have obtained what is my desire, I shall omit all festivals, I shall order even the New Year's festival to cease!'" Thus, the halting of the Akitu may have been done by the king's command rather an inability on the part of Belshazzar. This stated, the fact that Belshazzar did not disobey his father's command is evidence that Nabonidus remained the official (and actual) king of Babylon.

There is no evidence that Belshazzar ever officially held the title of "king" as he is never called such in the Nabonidus Cylinder. Furthermore, the Aramaic term מלך (mlk, king) applied in Daniel could be used to translate titles of various levels of high ranking officials. (This can be seen in the case of a 9th century B.C.E. Akkadian/Aramaic bilinguagal inscription found at Tel Fekheriyeh in 1979 which reads "king" for the Akkadian "governor".) A contract tablet dating to the third year of his regency (550 B.C.E.) includes the designation "son of the king." This, of course, is not proof that he possessed any status as the official king of Babylon. The bottom line is that Nabonidus was still alive when Cyrus conquered Babylon, and had not been replaced as the official king of Babylon by Belshazzar.

No known extrabiblical text indicates a blood relation between Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar. Historians have objected to this aspect of the record in Daniel. There were several rulers over Babylon between the death of Nebuchadnezzar and the rulership of Nabonidus and Belshazzar. Many scholars have attributed the lack of mention of these rulers as indicating the author mistakenly thought that the two rulerships were consecutive. The Jewish Encyclopedia, holding to a later date of the book (see 'Date'), supposed that "during the long period of oral tradition the unimportant kings of Babylon might easily have been forgotten, and the last king, who was vanquished by Cyrus, would have been taken as the successor of the well-known Nebuchadnezzar." Based on this reasoning, historians have considered the reference to Belshazzar's relationship to Nebuchadnezzar simply an error based on the above misconception.

However, there is another, rather speculative, explanation. Belshazzar is never called an independent king in the book of Daniel. In fact, in Daniel 5:7, 16, 29 Belshazzar implies that he is the second ruler in the kingdom, not the sole ruler; and yet, he has sufficient power to make someone the third ruler in the kingdom. Secondly, we should note that co-regencies were not that uncommon in the Ancient Near East (commonly abbreviated as ANE). Third, we should also note that, Wilson, in the previous reference, showed that the very word "king" was used in a variety of ways other than that which we use today. The same also applies to the use of the word "son"—it doesn't necessarily mean a biological relationship. (In this case, though, it is a stretch to say that Belshazzar was a "son" of Nebuchadnezzar, since neither he nor his actual father Nabonidus were immediate successors to Nebuchadnezzar.) Finally, we should be aware that Daniel is not writing an official state document for Babylon such as one would expect from the court scribes, although the lack of accurate specificity in the references also tends to be inconsistent with the claim of an early date for Daniel.

Madness of Nebuchadnezzar

A third significant objection by historians is the account of the insanity suffered by Nebuchadnezzar found in the fourth chapter of Daniel. In the Dead Sea Scrolls a fragment known as The Prayer of Nabonidus (4QPrNab, sometimes given as 4QOrNab) discusses a disease suffered by Nabonidus, and there are obvious parallels between the two accounts (1).

There are a number of superficial differences between The Prayer of Nabonidus and the account of Nebuchanezzar's madness:

1. Nebuchadnezzar's "affliction" was of the mind whereas Nabonidus' was an "evil ulcer."
2. Nebuchadnezzar's was a punishment from Daniel's God for sin, there is no indication that such was the case for Nabonidus—his was supposedly for idolatry. (It could be argued, however, that Nebuchadnezzar's "sin" was also a form of idolatry, involving self-idolization, rendering this difference quite superficial.)
3. In the case of Nabonidus the "exorcist pardoned my sin" whereas in the case of Nebuchadnezzar he "lifted up my eyes unto heaven and mine understanding returned unto me." (KJV)—i.e., when he recognized (accepted) the sovereignty of Daniel's god.
4. Nabonidus' condition was cured by an unnamed Jewish exorcist whereas Nebuchadnezzar's recovery is not attributed to a human agent.
5. Nebuchadnezzar's illness came while he was in Babylon; while that of Nabonidus was in Tema, although it does state in Daniel 4:33 that Nebuchadnezzar was "driven away from mankind." (NASB)
6. Finally, some of the words and phrases of the prayer have to be inferred from the context because they are missing in the original fragment. [Archer, Gleason L. "Daniel," Expositor's. Vol. 7 (Zondervan, 1985): 15; he cites Harrison, R. K. Introduction to the Old Testament. (Tyndale, 1969): 1118-9]

Date of Nebuchadnezzar's first siege of Jerusalem

The Book of Daniel begins by stating:

In the third year of the reign of Jehoi'akim king of Judah came Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoi'akim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. (King James Version)

This appears to be a description of the first siege of Jerusalem in 597 B.C.E., which occurred in the twelfth year of Jehoiakim and into the reign of his son Jehoiachin. (see 2 Kings 24, Daniel 5:1-5, and 2 Chronicles 36). The third year of Jehoiakim (606 B.C.E.), saw Nebuchadnezzar not yet King of Babylon, and the Egyptians still dominant in the region. Advocates of an early date of Daniel generally explain this by positing an additional, otherwise unmentioned, siege of Jerusalem in 605 B.C.E., shortly after the Battle of Carchemish.

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah

Dan. 1:6-7 records that Daniel was accompanied in the courts by three other Jews: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. The chief officials gave them new Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, respectively. In Dan. 3:8-23, these same three persons refuse to perform an act of worship before an image of Nebuchadnezzar, which results in their subjection to the death penalty by burning. However, according to Dan. 3:24-30, God delivers them from the fiery furnace.

Professor William Shea (1982) refers to a clay prism that was found in Babylon with five columns of text listing various officials of the government. Three of the officials are listed as "Mushallim-Marduk, [one of] the overseers (lit.:heads) of the slave-girls," "Ardi-Nabu, the sipiru-official of the crown prince," and "Hanunu - chief of the royal merchants," and Dan. 2:49 states, "Moreover, at Daniel's request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court." Some conservative Christian writers have therefore connected Hanunu with Hananiah, Mushallim-Marduk with Meshach, and Ardi-Nabu with Abednego; however, it is unclear why Hananiah would be referenced by his Hebrew name (Oppenheim (see citation) posits that "Hanunu" is "Phoenician" rather than Hebrew) and not his Babylonian one, Shadrach. There is no other evidence to connect these figures with the ones mentioned in the Book of Daniel.

Dating and content

Template:Npov-section Traditionally, the Book of Daniel was believed to have been written by its namesake during and shortly after the Babylonian captivity in the sixth century B.C.E. Although this view continues to be held by traditionalist Christians and Jews, it has been discredited by critical scholars. Antiochus IV Epiphanes desecrated the altar around 167 B.C.E., and the Book of Daniel (in its final form) was written, these scholars propose, in reaction to that incident. The citing of Antiochus as being the one whose abomination causes desolation is accurate, based upon independently documented historical data and careful analysis of the text. (A conceptual precedent of sorts was set by Manassah when he set up idols on temple grounds, which allegedly resulted in the desolation of Jerusalem by the god of Israel.) Traditionalists, attempting to establish an earlier date for the Book of Daniel, occasionally make reference to Josephus, who states that upon Alexander the Great's approach, a small party met him outside of Jerusalem, telling him that his presence was ordained by scripture. However, Josephus wrote about 400 years after the event in question, and cannot be justifiably considered as a reliable source in this matter. Additionally, some point to the Dead Sea scrolls found at Qumran dating to the mid-2nd-cent BC. These scrolls include several manuscript copies of Daniel, the premise being that there must have been much time between the original writing and the copying of the manuscripts found at Qumran, since it would have taken time for the book to have gained acceptance and be made available for copying. However, it is more likely that the relatively large number of copies at Qumran was due to the current (at the time) popularity of this recently "published" book.

Antiochus IV Epiphanes

Modern scholars have demonstrated that the Prophesies in the Book of Daniel reflect the persecutions of the Jews by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 B.C.E.), and his desecration of the altar in the temple at Jerusalem, and consequently date its composition to that period. In particular, the vision in Chapter 11, which focuses on a series of wars between the "King of the North" and the "King of the South," is generally interpreted as a record of Levantine history from the time of Alexander the Great down to the era of Antiochus IV, with the "Kings of the North" being the Seleucid kings of Syria and the "Kings of the South" being the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt. This conclusion was first drawn by the philosopher Porphyry of Tyros, a third century pagan and Neoplatonist, whose fifteen-volume work Against the Christians is only known to us through Jerome's reply.

Four Kingdoms

Many biblical scholars have concluded that the four kingdoms beginning with Nebuchadnezzar, mentioned in the "statue vision" of chapter 2, are identical to the four "end-time" kingdoms of the vision in chapter 7, and usually consider them to represent (1) Babylonia, (2) Media, (3) Persia, and (4) Macedonia. Some conservative Christians (eg. Young) believe that they should be identified as (1) the Neo-Babylonian empire, (2) the Medo-Persian empire (3) the Macedonian empire of Alexander and his successors, and (4) the Roman empire. Others (eg. Stuart, Lagrange) have advocated the following schema: (1) the Neo-Babylonian, (2) the Medo-Persian, (3) the short-lived rule of Alexander, and (4) the rival Diadochi, viz. Egypt and Syria.

There are serious difficulties in assigning Media and Persia to different world empires. Daniel, in his first reference to the empire that succeeds Babyon, calls it the "Medes and the Persians" (Daniel 6:28: "Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." Daniel also quotes the king and the subordinate rulers calling their own kingdom the "Medes and Persians: (: Daniel 6:8, 12, 15), while Cyrus was married to a Mede and himself had Mede blood, making the Medes and Persians merged kingdoms by marriage at the time of the conquest of Babylon. However, as noted previously, a late author's apparent reliance on Jeremiah may explain this.

Language

Scholars have speculated about the bilingual literary structure of Daniel - Chapters 2 through 7 in Aramaic, the rest in Hebrew. One of the most frequent speculations is that the entire book (excepting 9:4-20) was originally written in Aramaic, with portions translated into Hebrew, possibly to increase acceptance (Hartman and Di Lella, 1990, p. 408) - many Aramaisms in the Hebrew text find proposed explanation by the hypothesis of an inexact initial translation into Hebrew.

According to John Collins in his 1993 commentary, Daniel, Hermennia Commentary, the Aramaic in Daniel is of a later form than that used in the Samaria correspondence, but slightly earlier than the form used in the Dead Sea Scrolls, meaning that the Aramaic chapters 2-6 may have been written earlier in the Hellenistic period than the rest of the book, with the vision in chapter 7 being the only Aramaic portion dating to the time of Antiochus. The Hebrew portion is, for all intents and purposes, identical to that found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, suggesting a second century B.C.E. date for the Hebrew chapters 1 and 8-12.

Contrary to the above, the Expositor's Bible Commentary (Zondervan, 1990) claims that the language of Daniel, in comparison with the Hebrew and Aramaic texts of the Hellenistic period, "prove quite conclusively to any scholar that the second-century date and Palestinian provenance of the Book of Daniel cannot be upheld any longer without violence being done to the science of linguistics." It adds that the serius mistakes of the Septuagint to render many Persian and Accadian terms, as the offices mentioned in Daniel 3:3, proves ignorance of words of the old past, already forgotten in the Hellenistic period, indicating that the Book of Daniel was written in the late 6th century B.C.E.

Literary structure

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William H. Shea Ph.D. (Archeology) shows that the book of Daniel was composed as a double chiasm, a common literary structure of Hebrew poetry. Parts labeled A, A', A" and A"' are parallel, dealing with a similar theme—Kingdom Prophecies. Parts B, B', B" and B"' are parallel sections that come under the topic of trials of "God's people." The parallel C, C', C" and C"' concern the dealings of kings. It is claimed, although not proven, that the design of the literary structure itself focuses attention on the lone topic (D)—"an anointed (one)" which is translated in some common versions of the Bible as "the Anointed One" or "the Messiah." However, Shea's addition of the section "D" to the chiasm is totally unnecessary, and is not supported by the correct translation of the text.

The literary structure indicates that the author put a lot of thought into writing the book. For instance, Chapter six (B'), which ought to follow chapter seven (A') chronologically, is put in parallel with chapter 3 (B) because they both deal with the issue for "God's people" of whom to worship. And Chapter 5 (C') should be after chapter 8 (A"), but it is put in parallel with Chapter 4 (C) where the kings are faced with choosing to accept Daniel's god or not.

The first chiasm is mostly in Aramaic. The literary structure explains why the author chose to end the Aramaic section with chapter 7 rather than chapter 6—the last of the narratives.

Loan words

Three Greek words used within the text have long been considered evidence for a late dating of Daniel. All three are used for musical instruments. The existence of the Greek word 'symphonia' was cited by Rowlings as having its earliest use in second century B.C.E., but it has subsequently been shown that Pythagoras used the term to denote an instrument, while its use to refer to a group performing together is found in the 'Hymni Homerica, ad Mercurium 51'; both instances date from the sixth century B.C.E., the supposed setting of Daniel. Despite this, there is no evidence for the use of these Greek terms in Mesopotamia in the Neo-Babylonian period.

It has been argued that "Greek mercenaries and slaves served in the Babylonian and Assyrian periods, some of whom were undoubtedly versed in Greek music and musical instruments." (Expositor's Bible Commentary) This might, theoretically, explain the existence of the three Greek musical terms in the book of Daniel, if there was no other evidence dating the book to the Hellenistic period. On the other hand, the existence of these Greek words is consistent with the well-established date of the book in the Hellenistic period.

There are also nineteen Persian loan-words in the book, most of them having to do with governmental positions.

Use of the word 'Chaldeans'

The book of Daniel uses the term "Chaldean" to refer both to an ethnic group, and to astrologers in general. According to Montgomery and Hammer, Daniel's use of the word 'Chaldean' to refer to astrologers in general is an anachronism, as during the Neo-Babylonian and early Persian periods (when Daniel is said to have lived), it referred only to an ethnicity. (Compare the later Chaldean Oracles).

Unity of Daniel

Whereas almost all scholars conclude a second century dating of the book in its final form, scholarship varies greatly regarding the unity of Daniel. Many scholars, finding portions of the book dealing with themes they do not believe fit with the time of Antiochus, conclude separate authors for different portions of the book. Included in this group are Barton, L. Berthold, Collins, and H. L. Ginsberg. Some historians who support that the book was a unified whole include J.A. Montgomery, S.R. Driver, R. H. Pfeiffer, and H.H. Rowley in the latter's aptly titled essay "The Unity of the Book of Daniel" (1952). Those who hold to a unified Daniel claim that their opponents fail to find any consensus in their various theories of where divisions exist. Montgomery ^{[citation needed]} is particularly harsh to his colleagues, stating that the proliferation of theories without agreement showed a "bankruptcy of criticism." They also charge that composite theories fail to account for the consistent thematic portrayal of Daniel's life throughout the book of Daniel.

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The first story is in Hebrew; then Aramaic is used from ch. 2:4, beginning with the speech of the "Chaldeans" through chapter seven. Hebrew is then used from chapter eight through chapter twelve. Three additional sections are preserved only in the Septuagint, and are considered apocryphal by Protestant Christians and Jews, and deuterocanonical by Catholic and Orthodox Christians.

Christian uses of Daniel

As mentioned above, the prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Children from the deuterocanonical parts of Daniel are widely used in Orthodox and Catholic prayer.

The various episodes in the first half of the book are used by Christians as moral stories, and are often believed to foreshadow events in the gospels.

The apocalyptic section is important to Christians for the image of the "Son of Man" (Dan. 7:13). According to the gospels, Jesus used this title as his preferred name for himself. The connection with Daniel's vision (as opposed to the usage in the Book of Ezekiel) is made explicit in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark (Matt 26:64; Mk 14:62). Christians see this as a direct claim by Jesus that he is the Messiah.

Traditional Christians have embraced the "prophecies" of Daniel, as they believe they clearly illustrate that Jesus Christ of Nazareth must be the Messiah.^{[citation needed]} In addition, in the Olivet discourse (Mark 13:14, Matthew 24:15) Jesus himself is quoted as applying Daniel's prophecy of a desolating sacrilege to a future event—either the AD 70 destruction of Jerusalem, or a future Antichrist immediately preceding Judgement Day. Some consider the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks to be particularly compelling due to what they interpret to be prophetic accuracy.

According to modern-day scholars, Daniel 12:2 is the earliest clear reference in the Old Testament to the resurrection of the dead (Hartman and Di Lella, 1990, p. 419), with many of "your countrymen" awakening from death, some to eternal life and some to eternal disgrace. The notion of resurrection was to be perfected in the New Testament and Christian doctrine.

The importance of Daniel's visions

Daniel's alleged presence in the royal court would have exposed him to the running of an empire. His purported "knowledge," as in the case of other so-called "prophets," is presented as serving as the basis for his "revelations." It has been claimed that Daniel's importance is that of introducing the age of the gentiles, the framework for events from then to the last days. Due to its apocalyptic character and its place in both the Jewish and Christian canons, the book of Daniel has had great influence in Jewish and Christian history.

The Book of Daniel is included in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, in the section known as the Ketuvim (Hagiographa, or the "Writings") . Daniel was considered a prophet at Qumran (4Q174 [4QFlorilegium]) and later by Josephus (Antiquity of the Jews 10.11.7 §266) and the author (the "Pseudo-Philo") of Liber antiquitatum biblicarum (L.A.B. ["Book of Biblical antiquities"] 4.6, 8), and was grouped among the prophets in the Septuagint, the Jewish Greek Old Testament, and by Christians, who place the book among the prophets. However, Daniel is not currently included by the Jews in the section of the prophets, the Nebiim.

The Jewish exegete Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon, sometimes called simply RaMBaM and later called Maimonides, was so concerned that the "untutored populace would be led astray" if they attempted to calculate the timing of the Messiah that it was decreed that "Cursed be those who predict the end times." This verbiage can be both found in his letter Igeret Teiman and in his booklet The Statutes and Wars of the Messiah-King.

Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel lamented that the times for the fulfillment of the prophecy of Daniel "were over long ago" (Sanhedrin 98b, 97a).

Many Orthodox Jews believe that the prophecy refers to the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 C.E. Secular scholars however, believe that the prophecy better fits the reign of Antiochus, and that it is an example of vaticinium ex eventu (prophecy after the fact).

Medieval study of angels was also affected by this book, as it is the only Old Testament source for the names of two of the archangels, Gabriel and Michael (Dan 9:21; 12:1). The only other angel given a name in the Old Testament is Raphael, mentioned in the deuterocanoncial Book of Tobit.

Daniel's Prophecy - Last Days Knowledge Increase

In the past 100 years there has been a literal explosion in the increase of knowledge. The invention of electricity, automobiles, airplanes and computers have all taken place in our generation. The Hebrew word for “increase” (ra^ba^h) implies not only an addition of knowledge, but also a multiplication or a knowledge that is increasing exponentially. This is so much of an exact prophecy that knowledge is now presently doubling every twenty-two months.

Daniel uses the words “time of the end.” This increase in knowledge explosion has happened in the same century as the rebirth of Israel.

Daniel 12:4 Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

Traditional tomb sites of Daniel

A tomb said to be the last resting place of the prophet Daniel is located in the Kirkuk Citadel in the city of Kirkuk in Iraq. There is a mosque built on the tomb, the mosque has arches and pillars and two domes on a decorated base and beside it there are three minarets belonging to the end of the Mongolian reign. The mosque is about 400 square meters, it has four illusions tombs of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Another tomb in Shush, Iran, is also claimed to be that of Daniel and is venerated by local Shi'as and Persian Jews alike. Yet a third site in Uzbekistan is claimed to be Daniel's resting place. Ironically, Daniel is not listed as one of the prophets in the Quran- Islam's holy book. There is no general recognition among Muslims that indeed Daniel was a prophet at all, although the possibility exists.

See also

• Theodotion
• Biblical archaeology (reference to Nabonidus cylinder)
• Nebuchadnezzar's statue vision in Daniel 2
• Daniel's Vision of Chapter 7
• Prophecy of Seventy Weeks
• Daniel's Vision of Chapter 8
• Christian eschatology
• Apocalypse
• Book of Revelation

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• John J. Collins, Daniel: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel, 1993. ISBN 0-8006-6040-4.
• E. J. Bickerman, Four Strange Books of the Bible, 1967. ISBN 0-8052-0774-0.
  • A standard analysis.
• Robert Eisenman, James the Brother of Jesus, 1997. ISBN 0-14-025773-X.
  • "Eisenman here sets out a fascinating and controversial theory that puts St. James at the center of the story as the heir to Jesus' teachings."
• Pierre Briant, From Cyrus to Alexander. Librairie Artheme Fayard (Paris), 1996. (Translation by Peter Daniels, 2002) p. 42.
• Louis F. Hartman and Alexander A. Di Lella, "Daniel," in Raymond E. Brown et al., ed., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, 1990, pp. 406-20.
• William H. Shea, "The Prophecy of Daniel 9:24-27," in Holbrook, Frank. ed., The Seventy Weeks, Leviticus, and the Nature of Prophecy, 1986, Daniel and Revelation Committee Series, Vol. 3, Review and Herald Publishing Association.
  • Source for double chiasm figure
• W. Sibley Towner, "Daniel," in The Oxford Companion to the Bible, 1993, pp. 149-52.
• John F. Walvoord, Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation, 1989. ISBN 0-8024-1753-1.
  • "A detailed, systematic analysis of the Book of Daniel with emphasis on studying and refuting nonbiblical views."
• David J. Conklin Dating the Book of Daniel or The Date of Daniel
  • A conservative attempt at a rebuttal to secular viewpoints on the dating of Daniel.
• Daniel in the Debunkers Den
  • An Atheist's explanation of errors in Daniel.
• Lion 1 Daniel 0
  • One of several articles discrediting a conservative viewpoint.
• D.J. Wiseman, T.C. Mitchell & R. Joyce, W.J. Martin & K.A. Kitchen, Notes on Some Problems in the Book of Daniel. London: The Tyndale Press, 1965.
• [http://www.prophecy101.freeservers.com
  • A symposium of Daniel by conservative scholars.
• Easton's bible dictionary

External links

• Jewish translations:
  • Daniel (Judaica Press) translation with Rashi's commentary at Chabad.org

• Christian translations:
  • Online Bible at GospelHall.org
  • Daniel at The Great Books (New Revised Standard Version)
  • Daniel at Wikisource (Authorised King James Version)
  • The Book of Daniel (Full text from St-Takla.org, also available in Arabic)

Related Articles:

• Daniel at iTanakh
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Daniel
• Daniel: Wise Man and Visionary, by Elias Bickerman
• Daniel by Rob Bradshaw Detailed dictionary-style article.

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