Content
The Hebrew Bible groups Daniel with the Writings, where it appears after Esther and before Ezra-Nehemiah, whose historical accounts follow the chronological setting in Daniel. English Bibles that reflect the Christian tradition sandwich the book between the Major (Isaiah-Ezekiel) and Minor Prophets (HoseaMalachi), thus following the order of the Greek Septuagint and reflecting the prophetic aspects of Daniel. Roman Catholic Bibles also adopt the Septuagint version of Daniel, which includes material lacking in the older Hebrew/Aramaic text. Protestant Bibles follow the shorter, Hebrew/Aramaic version and group the additional Greek sections among the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonical works).
The bilingual nature of the oldest extant manuscripts of Daniel testifies to the enduring importance of Hebrew for the postexilic Jewish community even as linguistically related Aramaic took over as the international, diplomatic language of the day. The book begins and ends in Hebrew, with 2:4b-7:28 written in Aramaic.
Content
Daniel divides into two major sections. Chapters 1-6 present biographical excerpts from the lives of Daniel and his three fellow exiles, best known by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The accounts extend from the deportation of the youths to Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon in 605 B.C. to the early years of Persian domination, which began in 539. The accounts portray Daniel the dream interpreter as a new Joseph (cf. Genesis 37-45) and relate humanly insurmountable predicaments faced by the faithful four to showcase the limitless power of God. Daniel and his friends become role models of covenantal fidelity amid dire circumstances created by a dominant, often hostile foreign culture, and God emerges as the universal Sovereign of all peoples.
The chronological setting of chapters 7-12 (544-536) overlaps the first half of the book, but the literary character of the two sections differs significantly. This second division details from an autobiographical perspective four visions that enlighten an elderly Daniel concerning the clash between good and evil in the supernatural sphere and played out in the world of human beings, where it moves toward the culmination of history. The revelations contain detailed historical allusions that parallel the religious persecution of the Jews in the early to mid-2nd century. In this regard, the material mirrors the realism of the prophets. But the bizarre imagery in the visions and their emphasis on the end times signal the infancy of a new type of literature, called "apocalyptic;" which finds its fullest biblical expression in the New Testament book of Revelation (see "Beginnings of Apocalyptic Literature").
Date
Despite the 6th-century setting of Daniel and the autobiographical character of chapters 7-12, most scholars believe the book was composed some 400 years later by a devout Hebrew intent on inspiring faithfulness and hope for Jews suffering persecution by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, a and-century Greek ruler of Syria. Allusions in Daniel to Antiochus's desecration of the Jerusalem temple in 167, its documented ritual cleansing three years later, and historically inaccurate descriptions of his demise (in late 164/early 163) suggest that the book of Daniel reached its final, written form sometime between the latter two events, or at least before the author learned of Antiochus's death. This approach to dating Daniel harmonizes with the primary role of prophecy in the Old Testament, the addressing of contemporary issues and crises, but rejects the view that the Old Testament prophets also accurately predicted the future. Thus for the most part, the visions seen by Daniel become interpretations of past events that inspire moral courage on the part of the persecuted. An obvious challenge to this approach is to defend the author's reason for writing such a book after the period of persecution formally ended - an occurrence acknowledged in Daniel through allusions to the reconsecration of the temple.
Beginnings of Apocalyptic Literature
Although apocalyptic literature is fully represented in the Bible only in Daniel 7-12 and the book of Revelation, it has important roots within the Old Testament.
An essential characteristic of this genre is dualism, which sees reality as determined by a struggle between two basic forces: forces that create order and give life, and forces that threaten that order. Elements of a dualistic worldview were present among Israel's ancestors and neighbors in Mesopotamia and Canaan. Their poets described, in rich symbolic language, the ongoing divine combat between the creator gods and the gods of chaos and death, often in the guise of a sea monster, serpent, or even the sea itself.
Ancient Israel strongly rejected this mythological worldview. The revelation that God is one ultimately eliminated notions of other gods either in league with or arrayed against the God of Israel, although remnants of this earlier view remained in Israelite poetry (cf. Psalm 82). God's conflict in the Old Testament was primarily on a historical plane against persons and nations that resisted God's rule.
The monotheistic and historical orientation of Old Testament faith did not, however, prevent Israel from adapting the symbolism of their wider cultural environment. Israel often described God's intervention in their history with poetic imagery from the
divine combat narratives. In Exodus 15 and Psalm 114, the imagery of the Creator's primeval battle against the sea describes God's rescue of the Israelites from Pharaoh's army. Psalm 29 describes God's appearance in thunder and lightning, and Psalm 74 recounts God's victory over the dragons of the chaotic seas. Other texts describe God's reign over creation by means of a heavenly council (1 Kgs. 22:19-23; Isa. 6:1-13; Ps. 89:5-7). Although this symbolism was suppressed in much of the Old Testament, it reemerged with greater frequency in later apocalyptic literature.
Israel's faith in God as ruler of creation provided another essential element in apocalyptic literature, the concept of eschatology. Israel affirmed that God's conflict against rebellious persons and nations would not continue indefinitely, but rather was moving toward an ultimate end. Prophetic eschatology generally portrayed the end" in historical terms as the resolution of a particular situation (e.g., the end of the northern kingdom, Amos 8:1-3). Isaiah 13:6-13 invokes the day of the Lord," a time of cosmic judgment and calamity, to describe God's specific judgment of Babylon.
From the exilic period and after, God's final victory is described increasingly as an unspecified, even remote, future time. This literature employs poetic symbolism more frequently than historical references to iden-
tify God's ultimate enemies. Ezekiel 38-39 describes God's future battle against Gog and Magog, unknown nations symbolic of all God's enemies. Isaiah 24-27, often called the "Little Apocalypse," describes God's future victory over personified Death (25:7), as well as God's defeat of "Leviathan" (27:1). Zechariah 9-14 is a similar collection of oracles that describe the "day of the Lord" as an unspecified time when present reality would be transformed into a new order.
Late prophetic texts look increasingly toward the heavenly realm beyond the existing world, often expressed in visionary experiences (Ezekiel 1-3). Ezekiel 40-48 is a vision of a heavenly temple that was to serve as the pattern for a future temple for Israel. Zechariah is comforted regarding discouraging events in Jerusalem by visions of God's control exercised in the heavens (chs. 1-6). In Ezekiel and Zechariah, heavenly messengers or angels serve as mediators between the prophets and the heavenly world. As God seemed less directly engaged in earthly events and as they experienced increasing alienation from the sources of power over their communal destiny under Persian and later Hellenistic rule, the future time and transcendent realm of God's rule became more important within early Judaism. With the arrival of Hellenistic culture, with its cosmic speculation, philosophy of history, and heightened cultural conflict, the soil was fully prepared for the seeds of apocalypticism that would blossom in Daniel 7-12 and elsewhere.
For Further Reading
Russell, D. S. The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, 200 B.C.-A.D. 100. OTL. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1964.
BARRY A. JONES
Those who accept the principle of predictive prophecy generally argue for an earlier dating of Daniel. Their interpretations of the visions in chapters 2 and 7 claim certain historical advantages, though the inaccuracies concerning Antiochus IV's death remain a problem. Still others emphasize issues of content and literary style in arguing for an early composition of chapters 1-6 and a late writing of chapters 7-12; but the fact that both divisions of the book are bilingual presents problems for this view.
1-6 Daniel and Friends at the Babylonian Court
1 From Judahite Youths to Royal Consultants The account begins in 605 (1:1-2), the year the new King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated the Assyrians at Carchemish and then marched south through Canaan, where he besieged Jerusalem. Daniel's dating follows the Babylonian calendar (the Judahite king Jehoiakim's "third" year; cf. Jer. 25:1: "fourth" year, following the Hebrew calendar). The books of Kings and Chronicles record only the 597 and 587/86 Babylonian attacks.
Nebuchadnezzar adopts the ancient Near Eastern practice of training select foreigners for service in his court (cf. Moses in Exodus 2). Thus the promising Judahite youths Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah find themselves displaced to Babylonia. Their Hebrew names associate them with the God of Israel. (The ending "el" comes from "Elohim" and "iah" from "Yahweh.") Their new, Babylonian names - Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - erase this connection. "Belteshazzar" (Daniel) refers to Bel, a title of the Mesopotamian high god Marduk (cf. 4:8).
As courtiers-in-training, Daniel and his friends pursue a three-year course of instruction in Chaldean (= Babylonian) language and literature, including magic and astrology. Mosaic law prohibited engaging in such practices, but the Hebrew youths committed no sin by simply studying these subjects. Daniel does believe, however, that eating food from the king's own, choice stores will ritually defile him (cf. Lev. 17:10-14) and/or put him in debt to Nebuchadnezzar. He petitions the king's commander for a diet of vegetables and water. Fearful of the king, the reluctant commander directs Daniel and his friends to test this new fare. When the lads prove healthier than those eating royal rations, they win the right to refuse the king's menu.
The observation that God gives to the youths broad knowledge and intelligence - and to Daniel, understanding of dreams and visions - implies that their obedience brought them divine favor. Nebuchadnezzar enlists the four to his personal service and holds their counsel in unrivaled regard. The parallels between Daniel and Joseph surface from the start. Daniel continued his service as a courtier till Babylon fell to the Persian king Cyrus, who allowed the Hebrews to return to Canaan (539; Ezra 1:1-4).
2 Daniel as Interpreter of Dreams Before Daniel and his companions finish their training, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream that leaves him anxious. He summons consultants skilled in the magical arts. ("Chaldeans, generally interchangeable with "Babylonians," is here used in its narrower sense, "master astrologers/magicians.") Nebuchadnezzar, refusing to describe his dream, insists that their ability to reveal its contents will prove their competence to interpret. Since none of them can deliver on the king's demand, he issues a death warrant for all the wise men of Babylon.
Even the four Judahite courtiers are included in this sentence, but Daniel's cool head, strong faith, and respectful manner with the head executioner win him an audience with the king. Nebuchadnezzar favorably receives Daniel's request for an opportunity to fulfill the royal demand. Daniel and friends pray that God will mercifully spare their lives by revealing the "mystery." God does so to Daniel, who first responds with a prayer of thanksgiving and praise and only then seeks a lifesaving, second audience with the king.
In a spirit of humility, Daniel gives God all the credit for revealing to him the dream and its interpretation. After announcing that the dream has to do with the future, Daniel describes Nebuchadnezzar's vision of a colossus resting precariously on partly clay feet. The golden head of the giant statue represents Babylon. Metals in descending order of value from torso to toes make up the rest of the body and represent the kingdoms that will succeed Babylon as reigning political powers. Though Daniel does not identify these kingdoms, the historical record suggests that they evolved as: Cyrus's empire of Medes and Persians (here viewed as a united political entity), Greece, and Rome. Scholars who favor a late (2nd-century) dating of Daniel must alter this scheme by considering the Median kingdom as the separate, less distinguished predecessor of the great Persian Empire; as a result the Greeks, not the Romans, round out the list. Thus Alexander the Great's four successors, who divided up the Greek Empire, become the partly iron, partly clay feet and toes of the colossus. A miraculously quarried stone that crushes these hybrid feet topples the entire monstrosity, which turns to dust. The stone grows into a mountain that overtakes the earth and represents the enduring, divine kingdom to end all human kingdoms.
Acknowledging the wisdom of Daniel and his God, Nebuchadnezzar bows before the Judahite youth, bestows on him lavish gifts, and promotes him to high positions in the government and court. At Daniel's request, the king also appoints the three friends to prominent administrative posts.
3 Daniel's Companions Tried by Fire Nebuchadnezzar commissions a 9o-ft. high, 9-ft. wide golden "image" to be erected in the province of Babylon. That the king pursues this project subsequent to learning the meaning of his dream suggests to the reader that Daniel's astutely worded interpretation went to the king's visionary golden head. Though the text does not specify what or whom the image represents, the placement of this account following Daniel's dream interpretation suggests that the giant sculpture depicts Nebuchadnezzar - the king's version of his dream come true (cf. 2:37-38). His command that the royal bureaucracy "fall down and worship" the image further supports this assumption, for ancient Near Eastern monarchs commonly claimed divine status. The report that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to worship the statue enrages the king, who repeats the threat to throw those who do not obey into a "furnace of burning fire."
To Nebuchadnezzar's face, the young men confirm their resolve to remain faithful to the commandment requiring the worship of God alone (Exod. 20:3-5). Their stated confidence in God's ability to deliver them from the fiery furnace directly answers Nebuchadnezzar's challenge that no god could do so, but their steadfast obedience does not hinge on the expectation that God will rescue them. They obey God simply because it's the right thing to do.
Strong royal guards die casting the bound men into a furnace (probably a brick-baking kiln) heated to its maximum ("seven times hotter" than usual; "seven" in biblical usage implies completeness). But the faithful Hebrews remain unsinged, much to the dismay of Nebuchadnezzar, who observes a fourth, apparently angelic being walking among the flames with the now untied trio. At the summons of the astonished king, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego walk out of the furnace under their own power. Thus God's proven ability to do whatever he wishes, in defiance of all human odds, emerges as the main message of the account. It verifies God's direct and unopposable authority over the Mesopotamian superpower - his instrument of judgment against Judah - embodied in its monarch. Though the deliverance of the Judahite trio leads to a royal edict requiring empirewide respect for the God of the Hebrews, the miracle does not lead to Nebuchadnezzar's own conversion. Nevertheless, he honors the young men's courageous demonstration of religious conviction by ensuring their prosperity.
The book of Daniel uses several Old Persian words, including "satrap," a provincial governor. The use in this chapter of Greek words to name Mesopotamian instruments (e.g., "lyre"/"zither"; "trigon, a triangular lyre; and "psaltery," a type of harp; W. 5, 7, 15) demonstrates the extent of cultural influences in Mesopotamia from Greece, which before Nebuchadnezzar's time began establishing geographically widespread colonies and supplying mercenaries to foreign armies. After verse 23, the Septuagint adds the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical "Prayer of Azariah" and "The Song of the Three Children."
4 Nebuchadnezzar Goes Mad Having acknowledged, in a brief, psalmlike confession, God's enduring sovereignty (vv. 2-3; cf. 34-35), Nebuchadnezzar recounts the events that generated his humility. Another royal dream, which the court consultants again cannot interpret, leads him to call upon the superior gifts of Daniel. This time Nebuchadnezzar willingly describes the dream, whose arbor imagery recalls Ezekiel's description of the flourishing and fall of prideful Assyria (Ezekiel 31). Reluctantly and regretfully, Daniel reports that the king's dream prophesies his temporary mental decline, but that the Babylonian king would come out of it better off. Nebuchadnezzar's refusal to turn over a righteous leaf would result in his divine transformation into a crazed "stump" of a man consigned to a beastly existence for "seven periods of time," until he acknowledged God as the source of all human power. Despite a yearlong opportunity to repent, the king's persisting pride triggers the onset of insanity. As prophesied, however, the humbling period of punishment ends in the restoration of Nebuchadnezzar's reason, which occasions his acknowledgment of God's supreme control over humanity. Thus Daniel's last picture of Nebuchadnezzar portrays him as the divinely reestablished Babylonian sovereign who serves as global witness for the God of the Hebrews.
Glazed brick wall relief of a lion, palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon. (Oriental Institute, University of Chicago)
5 The Writing on Belshazzar's Wall Belshazzar, son and coregent of Babylon's last king, Nabonidus, served as acting monarch during his father's io-year sojourn in the northern Arabian oasis of Tema. Daniels depicts Belshazzar's final, fatal fling on the eve of Babylon's downfall in 539. In the course of the party, the king decides to bring out goblets taken by his "father" (predecessor) Nebuchadnezzar from the Jerusalem temple. Raising the wine-filled sacred vessels, the guests toast their pagan idols. But merriment quickly turns to anxiety when a disembodied hand appears out of thin air and writes a message on the wall of the banquet hall. The fear-stricken Belshazzar quickly calls in the court magicians and astrologers to analyze the inscription, but despite the incentive of a royal appointment they are unable to decipher or interpret.
Once again, the stage is set for Daniel, who appears to have lost political status with the change in the royal administrations. (Nabonidus had apparently usurped the throne.) The queen mother enlightens the shaken king concerning the Judahite exile, now an octogenarian. In his apparently first and only audi ence with Belshazzar, Daniel rejects the king's generous offer of reward for his services. He reminds Belshazzar of his predecessor Nebuchadnezzar's humility-producing bout with insanity (ch. 4) and charges the king with prideful irreverence and willful disregard for God's sovereignty.
Daniel's explanation of the inscription, which simply lists three measurements of weight, appeals to the root meanings of the individual words to prophesy the imminent fall of Babylon. "Mene" (mina; from the verb "to number") says the days of Belshazzar's kingdom are "numbered." "Tekel" (shekel; from the verb "to weigh") condemns the "underweight" king for deficiency, presumably in righteousness. "Peres" (from the verb "to divide"), playing on the similar root for "Persia, prophesies the division of Babylonia between the neighboring kingdoms of Media and Persia.
Despite the bad news, Belshazzar awards Daniel with promotion. The irreverent king meets his death that night. The ancient historians Herodotus and Xenophon record a nocturnal conquest of Babylon, and Xenophon reports the slaying of Belshazzar by the triumphant Persians. "Darius the Medea" said here to have "received" Belshazzar's kingdom, goes otherwise unmentioned in the historical record and could not be Darius I, who ruled Persia from 522 to 486. "Darius the Mede" may be an alternative or throne name for Cyrus the Persian, who according to all available records conquered Babylonia and succeeded Nabonidus/Belshazzar (v. 31; cf. 6:28). Cyrus was about 62 when he conquered the capital.
6 Daniel Delivered from the Lions' Den The aged Daniel regains a position of political prominence in the new Persian administration. But the distinction he gains as a gifted administrator generates jealousy on the part of his two cocommissioners and the satraps (provincial governors) who report to them. Much as Esther's nemesis Haman, the conspirators devise a legal trap to get rid of their scrupulous colleague. Banking on Daniel's staunch devotion to God, they convince the king to sign a 3o-day injunction prohibiting Persian subjects from petitioning any man or god, except the king. The decree
calls for throwing offenders to the lions, and no Persian law could be revoked.
As anticipated, the devout Judahite ignores the injunction and the threat of death, and he continues to pray openly to the "living God." The spying conspirators eagerly report this news to the king, who tries in vain to find a legal loophole. At the end of the day, the king dutifully entombs Daniel in the den, but not before expressing confidence that God will deliver his faithful servant from the beastly ordeal. The distressed monarch passes a sleepless night and at daybreak rushes to discover the fate of his inadvertent victim. From the would-be grave, Daniel reports that, in recognition of his innocence before God and the king, an angel ensured his safety by shutting the mouths of the lions (cf. the protecting angel in the fiery furnace, 3:25). The murderous plot backfires on Daniel's enemies when the king orders them thrown to the beasts.
The primary message here is not Daniel's deep devotion to God, or even faith, whose expression in this account comes from the Persian king (v. i6). Instead, the central point is God's supreme power in the world of human affairs. Once again, the acclamation of this divine Sovereign by the most politically powerful human monarch of the day reinforces the mandate for global honor of the God of the Hebrews (vv. 26-27).
7-12 The Apocalyptic Visions of Daniel
7 The Rise and Fall of the Four Beasts The book now turns apocalyptic, a term applied to literature that describes the "end times" and the age to come in visionary or prophetic revelations (see "The Beginnings of Apocalyptic Literature" [443-44]). Thus Daniel the dream interpreter becomes Daniel the dreamer. This first of Daniel's recorded visions occurs in 544, when Babylon's king Nabonidus began a decade-long sojourn in Arabia and left his son Belshazzar as acting monarch (cf. ch. 5).
Using different imagery to convey a similar message, this vision shows parallels to Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the composite "colossus on clay feet" (ch. 2). Here four "beasts;" which rise out of a windswept cosmic sea, represent the four successive kingdoms. The symbolism may spring from ancient mythology, which features the sea monsters Rahab and Leviathan (cf. Job, Psalms, and Isaiah), but Daniel ties the message to human history. Scholars generally agree that the lionlike beast represents Babylon, but they variously identify the ravenous bear, four-headed leopard, and iron-toothed, multihorned anomaly. The most widely adopted suggestions include their successive equation with the Medo-Persian Empire, Greece, and Rome (favored by an early dating of Daniel), or Media, Persia, and Greece (favored by a late dating of the book). Following the early dating, the leopard stands for the Greek Empire, split between Alexander the Great's four generals after his death, and the "little horn" stands for the Roman emperor Nero, infamous for his brutal persecution of Christians. For others, the antichrist of Revelation embodies the double fulfillment of the prophecy applied to Nero. With the late dating, the boastful, uth horn of the fourth beast represents Greece's Antiochus IV, whose desecration of the second temple in Jerusalem sparked the Jewish "Maccabean" revolt in the and century.
The appearance of the "Ancient of Days" (God), seated on a chariot-throne (cf. Ezekiel 1, io), inaugurates judgment day for the beasts (v. 9; cf. Rev. 1:14). The court session commences with the opening of "the books," which record earthly deeds (v. 10; cf. Rev. 20:12). The multihorned beast suffers immediate death and destruction. Its reign of terror over the "saints" lasts "a time, times, and half a time;" which some take to mean "a year, [plus two] years, [plus] half a year," that is, three and a half years (v. 25; cf. Rev. 12:14; but see 4:16, 25, 32, where "time" means an unspecified period). The intent of the boastful horn to "make war with the holy ones" illustrates its lust for divine status. The other beasts lose their power but receive a stay of execution (v. 12; cf. W. 25-26). The imagery in Revelation 13 derives from this chapter. A humanlike being ("son of man"), who comes "with the clouds" (symbol of God's presence), receives from the Ancient of Days everlasting dominion over an eternal kingdom, which succeeds and subsumes the dominions of the deposed beasts (vv. 18, 27; cf. 2:34-35, 44-45).
8 The Ram and He-Goat Two years after Daniel's preceding revelatory dream, this second vision transports him to Susa, the winter capital of Persia, some 200 miles east of Babylon. Surveying his visionary surroundings, Daniel realizes that he has company - an unrivalled, twohorned ram (the Medo-Persian Empire; the longer horn represents Persia as the stronger of the two kingdoms). But invincibility eludes the ram when a hovering, single-horned hegoat (Alexander the Great) rushes it from the west (Greece) and shatters its horn-embodied power. At the peak of the he-goat's might, however, its horn is broken (Alexander's death at age 33), and four horns grow as replacements (the subsequent division of the Greek Empire into four parts: Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece). One of these horns (Syria) sprouts an offshoot (the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV) that grows like a weed toward the "Beautiful Land" (Canaan; Antiochus began southward invasions in 170). This growing horn claims equality with the Commander of the host (God, the "Prince of princes," V. 25); abolishes worship of God through sacrifice at his sanctuary (the second temple); and gains power over the sinful "host" (the chosen people of God; W. 12, 24). These abominable circumstances will persist for "2300 evenings and mornings." If interpreted as 1150 12-hour evenings and 1150 12-hour mornings (2300 half days), this figure approximates the time between Antiochus's initial desecration of the temple (168/67) and its reconsecration after his death, commemorated by Hanukkah (165/64). The 1150 full days also fit with the interpretation of "time, times, and half a time" as "a year, [two] years, and half a year" (7:25).
In verses 15-26, the angel Gabriel interprets the vision. This identification by name of an angelic messenger of God marks the earliest such occurrence in the Bible (v. 16). Here the angel informs Daniel that his vision concerns the "time of the end;" which lies "many days" in the future (vv 17, 26). The allusions here appear tied to the particular historical period that extends from the supremacy of Persia through the death of Antiochus IV. Overcome by his visionary receipt of classified information concerning the future, Daniel takes some time to recover, but his subsequent resumption of regular responsi bilities demonstrates an exemplary integration of his calling and "normal life."
9 Daniel's Prayer and Gabriel's Prophecy Daniel's reading of the prophecies of Jeremiah in 539 sparks a realization that the 70-year period of judgment against Jerusalem/Judah, which began with the Babylonian triumph over Assyria in 605, has almost ended (cf. Jer. 25:11-12). The realization moves Daniel to penitence, and he assumes the posture of a mourner (v. 3), offers a communal confession, and encourages God to spare Jerusalem from wrath - an implied request for restoration there. He laments that the city made holy by God's temple has suffered reproach from the pagan nations, who viewed its destruction and the exile of its people as proof of God's powerlessness to protect his homeland. This chastisement adversely affects God's own reputation, since both the city and the Hebrews bear his trademark name (v. 19; cf. Ezek. 36:16-38).
Statue of a male goat, which in Daniel's vision (ch. 8) represents Alexander, the "king of Greece"; Ur, ca. 2500 B.c.). (British Museum; photo by Mitchell G. Reddish)
The angel Gabriel reappears to alert Daniel to troubles that lie beyond the period of judgment through exile. The "weeks" of verse 24 denote units of seven, which most interpreters understand as groups of seven years. A literal reading of the period under consideration would give 70 x 7 years = 490 years. According to verse 25, the time between the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and "the anointed prince" consists of (7 x 7 years) + (62 x 7 years) = 69 "weeks;" or 483 years. Nehemiah 1:1-2:8 records the issuing of such a decree by the Persian king Artaxerxes I in 445• Working from that date, 483 years of lunar months (3o days each) would extend into one of the likely dates of Jesus' three-year public ministry. The "cutting off" of the Messiah in verse 26 would refer to the rejection and death of Christ. That this "cutting off" is said to take place "after the 62 weeks" (i.e., after the 69th week[7+62]) suggests to some scholars that an unspecified gap exists between this event and the beginning of the final sevenyear "week," in which occurs the devastation described in the rest of the verse. This picture would fit with the great tribulation described in the book of Revelation. Verse 27 further describes the loth "week;" though obscurely. It remains unclear whether the covenant-maker refers to the Messiah or the destructive prince of verse 26. Those who accept the viability of predictive prophecy equate the destructive prince with the Roman emperor Nero and see the antichrist as embodying the double fulfillment of the prophecy. An alternative interpretation identifies the destroyer as Antiochus IV.
If one does not accept a literal interpretation of the numbers in 9:24-27, the beginning and ending dates of the 70 weeks can be tied to various historical events and periods that preceded the writing of Daniel. Viable alternatives to the identification of the "Messiah" (lit., "anointed one") would include Zerubbabel, the last legitimate descendant of David, who organized the rebuilding of the temple. The "cutting off" of the "Messiah/anointed one" might refer to the deposition of the Jewish high priest Onias III by Antiochus IV (2 Macc. 4:7). That in biblical usage the number seven indicates completeness or perfection may argue for chronological leeway in understanding Daniel's 70 weeks of 7.
10:1-11:1 A Vision, Visitant, and Revelation of the "Latter Days" This chapter sets the stage for the climactic revelation of the book. Three years into the reign of Cyrus and the restoration of the Hebrews to Canaan (536), Daniel, who has remained in Babylon, pursues a three-week period of mourning. At the end of this time, he sees in a vision a man clad in linen, the fabric of priestly garments (cf. Exod. 28:39-42). Though Daniel's companions fail to see the vision themselves, a feeling of fear overtakes them. They desert the drained Daniel, who swoons when the visionary being begins to speak.
An unnamed angel resuscitates the frightened seer. The divine messenger reveals that a battle in the spiritual realm against the patron angel ("prince") of Persia delayed him from coming to Daniel's aid for three weeks until help came from Michael, his sole ally (10:21) and the archangelic defender of God's people (cf. Jude 9; Rev. 12:7). Daniel's heavenly visitor, who resembles a human being, announces that he has come to enlighten Daniel concerning the fate of his people in the "latter days;' according to the "book of truth" - the divinely prewritten record of human history (10:14, 21). The angel's anticipated struggle against the supernatural patron of Greece gives a first hint about the events to come (10:20).
11:2-45 Canaan Caught in the Crossfire Daniel's angelic visitor interprets the events pictorially portrayed in previous visions (esp. chs. 7-8). Verses 2-19 recount the Greek period from the time of Alexander the Great (the "warrior king" of V. 3) to the defeat of Antiochus III by the Romans in 190 (vv. 18-19). Verse 2 summarizes the Persian monarchy from Cyrus to Xerxes, the "fourth" king, whose failed invasion of Greece in 48o signaled the transfer of ancient Near Eastern power to the Macedonians. Verse 4 highlights the division of Alexander's empire between his four generals, two of whose dynasties played prominent roles in the history of the
Jews in Canaan: Ptolemy I ("king of the south") and his descendants ruled Egypt from 304-30, while Seleucus I ("king of the north") and his successors governed Syria during roughly the same period. Because Canaan constituted the only viable land bridge between the two kingdoms, their interest in dominating this geographical buffer zone loomed large, and future rivalry between them would eventually involve the Hebrew bystanders.
Verse 6 alludes to the temporary alliance of Egypt and Syria forged by the marriage of the Ptolemaic princess Berenice to Antiochus II (grandson of Seleucus 1). Their divorce and the subsequent murder of Berenice sparked a revengeful invasion of Syria by her brother Ptolemy III N. 7), now the Syrian ruler, and the three kings who succeeded him perpetuated the feud with incursions that reached as far south as Raphia (20 mi. south of Gaza; vv. 9-13). Jewish militants, intent on shedding Egyptian domination, joined with the third of these Seleucid rulers (Antiochus III) in attacking Egypt (vv. 14-15). The allied success resulted in another failed marriage alliance between the Ptolemies and Seleucids (v. 17), and Antiochus's subsequent military campaigns in Asia Minor and Greece met with humiliating defeat by the Romans (vv. 18-19).
Verse 20 briefly acknowledges the relatively short-lived career of the next Syrian ruler, Seleucus IV, who oppressed the "jewel of the kingdom" (probably a reference to Jerusalem and the temple) by raising taxes, no doubt to replenish the royal treasury bankrupted by his predecessors' constant military campaigning. The assassination of Seleucus (175) paved the way for a takeover by his brother, the villainous Antiochus IV, whose "contemptible" behavior concerning the chosen people and their religion constitute the focus of verses 21-39. The first of two invasions by Antiochus into Egypt met with at least temporary success, thanks to the murder of his rival ruler, Ptolemy VI, by Egyptian insiders (173; V. 25). Antiochus returned to Syria by way of Jerusalem, where with a "heart ... set against the holy covenant" he slaughtered 80 thousand Jews. In 168 he again attacked Ptolemaic Egypt, now recently allied with Rome, whose naval backup fresh from Kittim (Cyprus) forced the enraged Antiochus to turn back. The retreating Syrian ruler found in Jerusalem a convenient outlet for his anger (vv 29-30). With the aid of Jews sympathetic to Hellenization, he desecrated the temple by erecting in it an altar to Zeus (the "abomination that makes desolate," V. 31) and by using the altar of burnt offering to celebrate pagan religious rites. Antiochus won some of the Jews over to his program of sacrilege, but those who stood their ground with respect to the covenant suffered widespread slaughter at his command (vv. 32-35). For the faithful, "a little help" (v. 34) came in the form of a successful revolt led by the Maccabee family, and in 164 Antiochus abandoned his persecution against the faithful followers of Hebrew religion and turned his attention eastward to Persia.
Verses 36-45 prophesy the "end" in Canaan of a "king" who considers himself divine, but the historical record indicates that Antiochus died in Persia by early 163. Some scholars view the historically accurate verses 1-35 as prophecy after-the-fact, with verses 36-45 predicting Antiochus's inevitable doom, though the prophecy did not pan out in historical detail. Some identify this "king" as an evil antichrist struggling in vain and alone in the end times (cf. 8:19-25). From a literary standpoint, the historical allu sions to Antiochus combine with eschatological foreshadowing to link the past events of 11:2-35 with the future foreseen in chapter 12.
12 Awakening the Dead to Eternity The archangel Michael prophesies the final rescue of God's faithful from unprecedented persecution. Verse 2 contains the most explicit Old Testament reference to resurrection by foreseeing the restoration to life of all the dead, some of whom attain "everlasting life" and the rest of whom inherit "everlasting contempt" (cf. Isa. 26:19).
Two witnesses to Daniel's vision of the angel appear on each flank of the Tigris River, over which the angel hovers (cf. 10:4). One asks when the prophesied end will come and receives the standard answer, "a time, times, and half a time" (cf. 7:25). Verses 11-12 may specify numbers of days that approximate the nearly three-and-a-half year period between the defilement of the temple by Antiochus IV and its cleansing in 164.
When Daniel asks for clarification as to the outcome of the end-time events, the angel refuses to give details. Instead, he instructs Daniel to live out his life in the knowledge that one day, he will rise from death to receive his ultimate inheritance.