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21 July 2022
Daniel comes very late in the biblical tradition. It is unusual in that its writing can be accurately dated: it reflects the historical situation of the 160's BCE. It comments on the theological meaning of hundreds of years of Jewish history, using the (fictional) literary device of an ancient figure being given coded messages from God about the future. The events of the Maccabean uprising are the last historical events spoken of in the Hebrew Bible, and it seems that the writing of the Hebrew Bible ended at about that time.
Daniel tells the tale of a young man exiled in the Babylonian captivity, who lives as a model of Jewish piety in a hostile world, while moving up to a high position of influence within a dominant non-Jewish kingdom. In this way Daniel is a character like Joseph or Esther, or, even later, Maimonides.
Daniel contains the theological elements that would undergird the idea of martyrdom in later Judaism and Christianity. While the Hebrew Bible in general does not contain beliefs about punishment and rewards in the afterlife, by the time Daniel was written those beliefs were beginning to develop into what would eventually become the notions of heaven and hell. Daniel contains the idea of Jews being persecuted willingly for refusal to go against their own religious beliefs (Daniel in the lion's den, the Hebrew children in the fiery furnace). Daniel also contains the idea that the righteous will be resurrected to reward, and the wicked to punishment (Daniel 12:2). Candida Moss compares these elements as well to 1 and 2 Maccabees, which cover the same time period as Daniel.[1]
In the late days of the Kingdom of Judah, Daniel is taken hostage in 605 BCE. He is taken to the Babylonian court to be trained for service in the royal court. In his first test of faithfulness, Daniel and three friends avoid taking on the dietary practices of Babylonia. God gives the four of them a gift for literature and the interpretation of dreams and visions.[2] The king finds that they are better than all his advisors in these interpretive arts, and Daniel stays there until 539 BC. Though the Hebrew text does not give the chronology here, a comparison with known chronology would have Daniel staying in the royal court then for 66 years (Daniel 1).
King Nebuchadnezzar (II) of Babylon (r. 605-562) has a dream (in 604) which troubles him. Worried that his dream-interpreting types might give him a false interpretation of the dream, he decides to test the authenticity of their gifts by demanding that they tell him what his dream was before interpreting it. He threatens to kill all the "wise men" of Babylon if they fail this test. Daniel, with God's help, succeeds, and tells Nebuchadnezzar about the future course of history and the kingdoms that will come. Nebuchadnezzar, impressed, makes Daniel the ruler over the central province of the Empire (Daniel 2).
Nebuchadnezzar makes a giant statue of himself and demands that people worship it. This causes a problem for observant Jews, for whom this is idolatry, and Daniel and his friends, who refuse, are thrown into a furnace. They come out unscathed, miraculously protected, and the impressed Nebuchadnezzar promotes Daniel's friends and makes it a capital crime to say anything critical of their god (Daniel 3).
Nebuchadnezzar has another dream, and Daniel predicts that Nebuchadnezzar will be driven from his kingdom. For his pride, Nebuchadnezzar is changed into an animal-like form, and wanders about, in an insane state, for seven years. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges the supremacy of Daniel's god and is restored to power. Much of this fourth chapter of Daniel is told in the first person by Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4).
The book now skips forward decades, to 539 BCE, as Belshazzar, king of Babylon,[3] is holding a major feast for notables in his kingdom, using the vessels looted from the Jerusalem Temple to serve the feast. A supernatural hand appears and writes in Aramaic on the wall, but no one is able to read it, even though the king offers the third highest position in his kingdom to anyone who can interpret it. The troubled king is told that Daniel may be able to interpret the writing, and Daniel is brought it. Daniel interprets the writing as a sign of coming punishment for Belshazzar's arrogance, including his use of the holy vessels. Belshazzar honors his promise and makes Daniel third in command over Babylon. That night, the Babylonian Empire comes to an end, and Darius "the Mede", of the now-ascendant Persian Empire, has Belshazzar killed (Daniel 5).
Darius the Mede organizes his empire into 120 satrapies, with three adminstrators over them all, one of whom is Daniel. In a bid to use Daniel's piety against him, the administrators and satraps convince the king to issue a decree that only Darius is to be worshipped over the next month, under pain of death by lions. Daniel, of course, continues his thrice-daily prayers to the god of Jerusalem. The plotters then inform the king of Daniel's prayers, and although the king does not want Daniel to be killed, the decrees of the kingdom are irrevocable and the king has no choice but the throw Daniel into the den of lions.[4] God stops the lions from killing Daniel, and the men who accused Daniel, along with their wives and children, are torn to pieces by the lions. Daniel prospers throughout the reigns of Darius and Cyrus (Daniel 6).[5]
The book now skips back to the time of Belshazzar, in whose first year,[6] Daniel has a dream-vision of four beasts, disclosing the future course of human history, to end with the everlasting kingdom of God (Daniel 7).
In the third year of Belshazzer,[7] Daniel has a vision of a ram and a goat, which concerns the events to come up to the time when the sanctuary of the Jerusalem Temple will be consecrated again (Daniel 8).[8]
Daniel 9 contains Daniel's re-interpretation of Jeremiah 29:10, which extends the time period that God promises for the end of the Babylonian captivity from 70 years to more like 490 years. In the cryptic language of Daniel, 62 "sevens" will pass from the "the word going out to restore Jerusalem", which would seem to be 434 years, until the "anointed one is cut off." Getting these dates to match up precisely with historical events is very difficult.[9]
Daniel 10 begins "in the third year of Cyrus"[10] when Daniel meets a supernatural figure who will give him information about a great war. Disclosing information from the "book" of truth, the visitor predicts (Daniel 11) that three more kings would rule the Persian Empire, followed by a fourth who would go to war against Greece. A mighty one (Alexander the Great) would then arise, whose kingdom would be split in four.[11] Following the break-up of Alexander's Empire, the angelic message follows with a summary of Ptolemaic and Seleucid struggles for control of the Holy Land. Daniel's final vision comes to its final climax with the events of the Maccabean rebellion and a prediction of the coming resurrection of the dead.
Driver, S. R. (1922). The Book of Daniel: With Introduction and Notes.
Montgomery, James Alan (1927). A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel.
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