Skip to main content

Daniel 9-12



Lawrence Boadt provides so much helpful perspective on Daniel that I want to be sure to share it all with you. Here is the rest of what he has to say before we move on to our next book of the Bible….

The clear purpose of these visions is to predict in a veiled fashion the end of the kingdom of Antiochus Epiphanes and his persecution. This makes it highly probable that the author of chapters 7-12 was living through this terrible time and wrote these visions to give strength to Jews suffering for their faith with the promise that God would end both the persecutor and his persecution shortly. The author actually predicts the death of Antiochus in a great battle with Egypt (Dn 11:40-45). But since this was not the way the king actually died—he perished defending his empire in the east—we can suggest that at least this part of the book was completed by 164, the year before he died.

Today the consensus of scholars understands the whole book to be put together by an author and editor who first collected traditional stories in chapters 1-6 about the boy-hero Daniel showing his courage during the persecutions of exile and then added to them the visions of chapters 7-12 that predicted the coming end of Antiochus Epiphanes and his persecution. This kind of writing is called a vaticinium ex eventu, a “prediction after the fact,” in which an author creates a character of long ago and puts into his mouth as predictions all the important events that have already happened right up to the author’s own time and place. The language is often coded with symbolic animals and colors and dates to protect its message from the persecuting authorities. And its focus is not predicting the future, but giving some meaning to present happenings by explaining the  past events that led up to this terrible situation, and showing that all along God has permitted everything that takes place and is planning to act soon again to rescue his people.

To achieve such an important purpose, the authors mixed historical facts with older religious traditions and even pagan myths. Daniel is already known to the prophet Ezekiel during the exile (Ez 14) as an ancient figure of great holiness and wisdom, and not as a young captive of the Babylonians the way the stories portray him. Still earlier, a wise king, Daniel, forms part of The Tale of Aqhat in the Ugaritic literature of the thireteenth century B. C. (see ANET 149-155). Another religious theme accuses pagan kings of being arrogant and proud, rebelling against God. This echoes the oracles against nations found in the major prophets which often employ images of cosmic destruction or the motif of Yahweh as a divine warrior who comes to destroy Israel’s enemies.

Although the book of Daniel is not intended to be primarily an historical record, it does reflect the general course of events in the post-exilic period from the time of Nebuchadnezzar down to the Maccabees, a period of nearly four hundred years. Its whole purpose is to interpret that history without being wedded to the details. The authors were intensely interested in what was happening and what God would do about it. They were convinced that God really does act at every moment even when it may seem that he has abandoned his people. They also tried to answer why Israel suffered, and why God allowed people to be martyred for following his law. These were pressing problems at the time of the Maccabees, and the authors used all the skill at their command to create an answer, combining wisdom, prophecy and the new form of apocalyptic. They needed to convince a despairing people of the mercy of God and so they even left the court tales of chapters 1-6 in Aramaic, the language of the Babylonian court, for the sake of realism. Aside from a few chapters in Ezra, Daniel is the only Old Testament book with Aramaic in it.

The Lasting Significance of Daniel

The Book of Daniel is one of the latest books of the Old Testament and has played an important place in later interpretation of the Bible especially in Christian circles. Some of its more notable aspects can be listed:

(1)  It has many connections to the wisdom tradition. Not only was the chief character based on a legendary wise man of old, but he acts with superb prudence and insight in every situation. Daniel’s ability to interpret dreams and see through deceit expresses the Jewish concern for the wise practice of their religion over against the evil and stupid conduct of pagan nations who persecute them. These concerns also explain why the model stories of Susanna, Bel and the dragon were added to the Hebrew original.
(2)  Daniel and his friends frequently pray and fast, they show complete integrity and courage before the threat of death, and they study the law to learn right behavior. They are the ideal examples of good piety for the post-exilic period.
(3)  The book contains the first explicit teaching about a divine promise that the just person will rise after death to a life of happiness with God (Dn 12:2). This teaching is echoed in the later book of 2 Maccabees and becomes a regular part of the faith of the Pharisee party in Judah at the time of Jesus.
(4)  The book also projects a coming kingdom of God that will be brought about by a heavenly yet human figure, the Son of Man (chapter 7). It is not quite the same as the older idea of a messiah, an anointed king like the kings of old, which was to be found in Isaiah 7-11, Ezekiel 33-48 and Zechariah. But this Son of Man is clearly a messianic figure of salvation who will rule over Israel. Jesus himself used this term to describe his mission, and the early Church understood it to mean that Jesus was the eschatological Savior whose victory and the fulfillment of his mission would be known only after his own death and resurrection.
(5)  Finally, Daniel reveals a new type of literary thought for Israel—especially in the four visions of chapters 7-12. Since prophets had ceased centuries earlier, apocalyptic continues the work of prophecy in a new form. It accents God as master of all events with a care and plan for the world that he reveals through special agents, such as angels, or through special visions or dreams. Unlike prophecy, however, the language is usually symbolic and often obscure, and it does not expect political changes or reform to come from human conversion but from a direct intervention in power from God on behalf of the good and upright.

The verses that stood out to me most from these chapters were these:

At the beginning of your supplications a word went out, and I have come to declare it, for you are greatly beloved. (Daniel 9:23)

Do not fear, greatly beloved, you are safe. Be strong and courageous! (Daniel 10:19)

How would you feel if an angel came and spoke these words to you? We need to remember always that God has expressed his love to us and for us, personally and individually, in his Son, Jesus Christ. (John 3:16; Romans 5:8) Thus, it would not hurt for us to spend some time today, and every day, imagining God speaking these words from Daniel to us. We are his beloved children.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

C. S. Lewis on Homosexuality

Arthur Greeves In light of recent developments in the United States on the issue of gay marriage, I thought it would be interesting to revisit what C. S. Lewis thought about homosexuality. Lewis, who died in 1963, never wrote about same-sex marriage, but he did write, occasionally, about the topic of homosexuality in general. In the following I am quoting from my book, Mere Theology: A Guide to the Thought of C. S. Lewis . For detailed references and footnotes, you may obtain a copy from Amazon, your local library, or by clicking on the book cover at the right.... In Surprised by Joy , Lewis claimed that homosexuality was a vice to which he was never tempted and that he found opaque to the imagination. For this reason he refused to say anything too strongly against the pederasty that he encountered at Malvern College, where he attended school from the age of fifteen to sixteen. Lewis did not rate pederasty as the greatest evil of the school because he felt the cruelty displa

Fact, Faith, Feeling

"Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes. I know that by experience. Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable. This rebellion of your moods against your real self is going to come anyway. That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue: unless you teach your moods 'where to get off', you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion. Consequently one must train the habit of Faith." Mere Christianity Many years ago, when I was a young Christian, I remember seeing the graphic illustration above of what C. S. Lewis has, here, so

C. S. Lewis Tour--London

The final two days of our C. S. Lewis Tour of Ireland & England were spent in London. Upon our arrival we enjoyed a panoramic tour of the city that included Westminster Abbey. A number of our tour participants chose to tour the inside of the Abbey where they were able to view the new C. S. Lewis plaque in Poets' Corner. Though London was not one of Lewis' favorite places to visit, there are a number of locations associated with him. One which I have noted in my new book,  In the Footsteps of C. S. Lewis , is Endsleigh Palace Hospital (25 Gordon Street, London) where Lewis recovered from his wounds received during the First World War.... Not too far away from this location is King's College, part of the University of London, located on the Strand, just off the River Thames. This is the location where Lewis gave the annual commemoration oration entitled The Inner Ring  on 14 December 1944.... C. S. Lewis occasionally attended theatrical events in London.

The Shepherds' Perspective on Christmas

On December 21, 2015, the following headline appeared in the International Business Times: “Bethlehem Christmas 2015 Cancelled”. To be fully accurate, religious celebrations of Jesus’ birth went forward last year in Bethlehem, but many of the secular celebrations of Christmas that usually surround it were toned down due to instability in the area. Looking back a decade, there was even one year when Christian Arabs canceled community celebrations of Christmas in support of the Palestinian uprising. However, the Jewish government would have no part of that, so the Israeli military sponsored its own holiday celebrations in the area. It is also interesting to note who celebrated the first Christmas and who didn’t. The first Christmas was not celebrated by the emperor Caesar Augustus, nor Quirinius, the governor of Syria, nor was it celebrated by the lowly innkeeper. But Christmas was celebrated by a few lonely shepherds along with Joseph and Mary and the angels of heaven. How

A Prayer at Ground Zero

Does the Bible mention treating animals with kindness?

When I solicited questions to be addressed in this series, a member of the congregation wrote this to me: “Animals are mentioned in the Bible as beasts of burden and sacrificial animals.  Is there any mention of treating animals with kindness?” The short answer to that question is: yes. However, it is important to note that what the Bible says about caring for animals comes in the midst of a great narrative. It is a narrative of  Creation, Fall, and Redemption.  Let’s look at these three great acts in the narrative play of world history one by one. First, let’s look at creation. Creation At the very beginning of the Bible, in the book of Genesis, chapter 1, verses 26 through 28, we read this: Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the

Christmas Day Thought from Henri Nouwen

" I keep thinking about the Christmas scene that Anthony arranged under the altar. This probably is the most meaningful "crib" I have ever seen. Three small woodcarved figures made in India: a poor woman, a poor man, and a small child between them. The carving is simple, nearly primitive. No eyes, no ears, no mouths, just the contours of the faces. The figures are smaller than a human hand - nearly too small to attract attention at all. "But then - a beam of light shines on the three figures and projects large shadows on the wall of the sanctuary. That says it all. The light thrown on the smallness of Mary, Joseph, and the Child projects them as large, hopeful shadows against the walls of our life and our world. "While looking at the intimate scene we already see the first outlines of the majesty and glory they represent. While witnessing the most human of human events, I see the majesty of God appearing on the horizon of my existence. While

C. S. Lewis on Church Attendance

A friend's blog written yesterday ( http://wesroberts.typepad.com/ ) got me thinking about C. S. Lewis's experience of the church. I wrote this in a comment on Wes Robert's blog: It is interesting to note that C. S. Lewis attended the same small church for over thirty years. The experience was nothing spectacular on a weekly basis. For most of those years Lewis didn't care much for the sermons; he even sat behind a pillar so that the priest would not see the expression on his face. He attended the service without music because he so disliked hymns. And he left right after holy communion was served probably because he didn't like to engage in small talk with other parishioners after the service. But that life-long obedience in the same direction shaped Lewis in a way that nothing else could. Lewis was once asked, "Is attendance at a place of worship or membership with a Christian community necessary to a Christian way of life?" His answer w

Sheldon Vanauken Remembered

A good crowd gathered at the White Hart Cafe in Lynchburg, Virginia on Saturday, February 7 for a powerpoint presentation I gave on the life and work of Sheldon Vanauken. Van, as he was known to family and friends, was best known as the author of A Severe Mercy , the autobiography of his love relationship with his wife Jean "Davy" Palmer Davis. While living in Oxford, England in the early 1950's, Van and Davy came to faith in Christ through the influence of C. S. Lewis. Van was a professor of history and English literature at Lynchburg College from 1948 until his retirement around 1980. A Severe Mercy tells the story of Davy's death from a mysterious liver ailment in 1955 and Van's subsequent dealing with grief. Van himself died from cancer in 1996. It was my privilege to know Van for a brief period of time during the last year of his life. However, present at the White Hart on February 7 were some who knew Van far better than I did--Floyd Newman, one of Van&

Glenmerle

Glenmerle in the 1950s In 2013 I published a biography on one of my favorite authors, Sheldon Vanauken. If you are interested, you can learn more and/or purchase a signed copy here:  Signed Copy  or an unsigned copy here:  Amazon . One of the things that got me writing the book was my search for the location of Glenmerle, Vanauken's childhood home, so lovingly described in his book, A Severe Mercy . A visit to Van's alma mater, Staunton Military Academy, alerted me to the fact that Van grew up in Carmel, Indiana. Then, with the help of a local historian, we identified the location of Glenmerle.  Because Van had suggested, in my first conversation with him, that Glenmerle was destroyed, I naturally assumed that the house no longer existed. However, another one of Van's fans recently contacted me to let me know that she believed she had found Glenmerle still in existence. I was able to look up the house on a real estate web site and compare current interior photos o