The Great King Nebuchadnezzar

The Book of Daniel

An Introduction  Part One
 by Lane Rogers

Daniel 1-6

It is obvious to anyone who reads the book of Daniel that the first six chapters are dramatically different than the last six chapters. The first six chapters are called "dispora novellas/stories" or "court stories" "contest conflict" stories. The first six chapters tell of the life and struggles of captives in exile. The time or date is normally accepted as period from 586/587 to the Persian period of 539/333 and finally the Hellenistic age of 333-63 B.C.

If we read almost any modern commentary, we are told that these are "fictional" stories and the result of a healthy imagination. It is very easy to become distracted from our theological study because of this issue but there is currently a great deal of information that does not support the above view. I, for one, accept the first six chapters of Daniel as being real history that happened in time and space. If need be we can marshal arguments that support this position. There are other fragments of ancient documents that have similar stories as those we find in Daniel just as in some other OT books, but to say more than they exist is just speculation. Just as with some of the rest of the books of the Bible there is the charge that the Bible has copied  these stories.  I think it is a waste of time to spend much effort on these matters at this juncture. We live in a very skeptical age. There are a great many people who deny that the Holocaust ever happened and that was only 60 years or so ago. The unbeliever will use any and all excuses to disbelieve and only God has the power to bring many of these people around. However, as we have time through this study we will investigate some of these critical matters.

Daniel 7-12___The last six chapters of Daniel are known as Jewish apocalyptic literature. This form of literature was popular between the periods of 333 B. C. and 200 A.D. An apocalypse is intended to interpret current earthly circumstances in the light of the supernatural world of the future and influence the behavior of the audience by divine authority. In our case, these "visions" tell us of the future coming earthly kingdoms that culminate with the establishment of a heavenly kingdom.  At the heart of this story are the post Babylon kingdoms of Persia, Greece, Rome, and the establishment of the kingdom of God during the days of the Roman empire.

There is a great deal of New Testament influence from the book of Daniel. Discoveries of Parables at Qumran show that terms as "the Son of Man" and the "head of Days" were popular in their literature and were perhaps borrowed from Daniel. As Daniel 7:13-14 refers to the "Son of Man" the NT asserts that Jesus is the "Son of Man" who has authority on earth (Mk. 8:38; cf. 14:62). Further, the NT claims that the "Son of Man" comes to be served by declaring that first He comes to serve (Mk. 10:45; cf. Dan. 7:14).

Luke begins his gospel with Gabriel again appearing at the time of the evening to announce the beginning of a chain of events that will lead to periods in which 490 days of Daniel 9 are fulfilled.

(1) Mark's Jesus begins His ministry proclaiming that the rule of God that Daniel promised is at hand: the time he spoke of is fulfilled (cf. Dan. 2:44; 7:22).

(2) Luke's Jesus sees Himself as the stone that crushes, the very embodiment of the rule of God (20:18; Dan. 2:44-45). Here for Image

(3) John's Jesus speaks of resurrection in terms that follow Daniel 12 (5:28-29; cf. Matt. 13:43; 25:46).

(4) The most notable use of Daniel in the NT may be from Jesus when He quotes Daniel 9:27 in reference to the "Abomination and Desolation" that was to occur. In this instance the abomination is the Jews will use the Roman army to kill the Christ (the abomination) and the Messiah will use the Roman army to destroy the Jews (the desolation) as took place in 70 A.D. The Wars of the Jews with Josephus also see image Here.

Josephus reinforces the above interpretation. He believed that Daniel wrote of Rome, and in fact Rome was the 4th empire. The 490 years of Daniel are fulfilled in the events of A.D. 66-70; Vespasian is the "prince to come" of that prophecy (e.g. War 6. 5.4.).

The Historical Background of Daniel

It may be said that the Jewish kingdom we read of in the Bible had a very short life of independence. There was a period of tribal existence (roughly 1200-1000 B.C.) then a period of what we call the United Kingdom under the Davidic monarchy from 1020-922 B.C., with the northern part of the kingdom breaking away and staying away until the Assyrian conquest of 722 B.C. The southern state of Judah continued until Babylonian conquest begin in 597 B.C., the beginning of the Babylonian exile. Both the northern and southern kingdoms ended tragically in military conquest and deportation of most of their population. For a review of the dates look (Here).

Around 539 B.C., Cyrus the Persian conquered Babylon and soon after began to allow the Jews in captivity to return to Palestine (Ezra 1-6). It is here we discuss the Cyrus Cylinder and the historical records.

The Persian period ended with the conquest of Alexander the Great in 333 B.C.  After the death of Alexander the Great, his kingdom was divided among his generals. A period of warfare between these generals caused lines to be drawn between the eastern part of the kingdom known as Syria and the western part on the kingdom known as Egypt. The book of Daniel refers to this as the "king of the north" and the "king of the south."

The era of Hellenistic rule is a centerpiece of Daniel and for our interest starts with the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 B.C.). Antiochus's father, Antiochus III had already managed to expel the Ptolemies from Palestine by 200 B.C. and at first the Jewish residents welcomed this expulsion. Already during the years of Selecus IV Philopater (187-175 B.C.) the immediate successor of Antiochus III, the Jewish community was fractured into rival parties. A certain Simon denounced Onias III, at the time the high priest, and suggested that the high priest ought not have control over the great wealth of the temple treasury. Simon and his allies were pro-Selecuid, while Onias and Hyrcanus were pro-Ptolemaic. When Onias traveled to Antioch-on-Orantes to appeal to the king the new successor Antiochus IV put him in prison. Jason the brother of Onias paid a large sum of money to Antiochus IV who promptly made Jason the high priest. Jason was the head of a movement to Hellenize Judea and became a significant ally to Antiochus IV in controlling unruly Jews.

Matters took an even more complex turn when Simon's brother Menelaus, the old rival of Onias, outbid Jason for the office of high priest. So the situation involved two rival Hellenizing factions among the Jewish aristocracy. It is at this time a "third" anti-Hellenizing party takes root. This anti-Hellenizing party was known as the "pious ones." There were also many other anti-Hellenizing parties and some we will mention as we enter that part of our study.

Events took a change when Antiochus IV managed to destroy the Egyptian army of Ptolemy VI Philometer (180-145 B.C.) but instead of consolidating his power over Egypt, Antiochus faced Roman intervention. Rome humiliated Antiochus and forced his withdrawal from Egypt. Back in Jerusalem Jason had imprisoned Menelaus after hearing that Antiochus had been killed in battle but the word that Jason acted on turned out to be untrue and when Antiochus assessed the situation in Jerusalem it appeared that the Jews were in open revolt since they had arrested Menelaus. Antiochus reacted with violent measures. Not only were many many Jews killed and sold into slavery, but the Temple is violated. It was a reaction to this and other attempts at Hellenization that lead to what we know as the revolt of the Maccabees. The setting up of foreign idols in Jerusalem and other hostile acts toward the Jewish religion is at the center of the last half of the book of Daniel.

Instead of writing a new section on the dating of the book of Daniel, please refer to this excellent article (Here) on this same site. There is a long standing premise in the academic community that "prophecy" is just not possible. That assumption is the basis for all late datings of the book of Daniel, which I reject. We do need to mention some points about the different languages used in Daniel which I will do next.

The Seleucide Kings
The Ptolmey Kings
Inter-testimal Period One
Inter-testimal Period Two
Inter-testimal Period Three

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