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Daniel

Old Testament

Daniel

Daniel and his friends stay faithful in Babylon's court, and visions show God ruling over the kingdoms of men.

Overview

Who

Written by Daniel speaks in the first person in chapters 7-12 ("I Daniel," 7:15, 8:1, 9:2, 10:2); chapters 1-6 tell of him in the third person. Jesus quotes "Daniel the prophet" (Matthew 24:15). Daniel was one of the young men of Judah's royal family and nobles taken to Babylon, where he was named Belteshazzar (1:3-7).

Written to Not a letter. The book is written for God's people in exile and after it, and Daniel is told to "shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end" (12:4, 12:9).

When

Traditional view: Written by Daniel in the 500s BC. The events run from the third year of Jehoiakim, about 605 BC (1:1), to the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, about 536 BC (10:1).

Scholarly view: Many critical scholars date the book's final form to about 167-164 BC, under the Greek king Antiochus IV, because chapter 11 describes those years in detail. Others hold to the traditional 500s BC date, pointing to Jesus' words in Matthew 24:15 and to the book's knowledge of the Babylonian court.

Where

Written to Not stated. The Jewish people, first those in exile in Babylon, and later readers looking to "the time of the end" (12:4).

Written from Babylon, where Daniel served under Babylonian and then Persian kings (1:21, 2:48, 6:28). One vision places him at Shushan by the river Ulai (8:2).

Why

To show that "the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men" (4:17, 4:25, 4:32): God sets up and removes kings (2:21) and will set up a kingdom that "shall never be destroyed" (2:44, 7:14, 7:27). It shows God's people how to stay faithful to him while living under foreign rulers (1:8, 3:17-18, 6:10).

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem and carried off temple vessels and young men of Judah (1:1-4; 2 Kings 24:1-16; 2 Chronicles 36:6-7). Daniel served in the royal court through Babylon's fall to the Medes and Persians in one night (5:30-31) and into the reign of Cyrus (1:21, 6:28). Daniel 2:4 to 7:28 is written in Aramaic, the common language of the empire; the rest is in Hebrew.

Outline

  1. 1:1-21 Daniel and his friends stay faithful in Nebuchadnezzar's court
  2. 2:1-49 Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image
  3. 3:1-30 The golden image and the fiery furnace
  4. 4:1-37 Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the tree, and his humbling
  5. 5:1-31 Belshazzar's feast and the writing on the wall
  6. 6:1-28 Daniel in the lions' den
  7. 7:1-28 Four beasts, the Ancient of days and the Son of man
  8. 8:1-27 The ram and the he goat
  9. 9:1-27 Daniel's prayer and the seventy weeks
  10. 10:1-11:45 A vision of the kings of the north and the south
  11. 12:1-13 The time of the end and the resurrection

Key themes

  • God rules over the kingdoms of men and gives them to whom he will (2:21, 4:17).
  • God's kingdom will outlast every earthly empire (2:44, 7:14, 7:27).
  • Faithfulness to God under pressure, even at the cost of one's life (1:8, 3:17-18, 6:10).
  • God reveals secrets to those who seek him (2:19-22, 2:28).
  • Prayer, confession of sin, and trust in God's promises (9:2-19).
  • The resurrection of the dead (12:2).

From the book's own text, compared with Kings, Chronicles, Ezra and Jeremiah and with Jesus' words about Daniel; dating views summarized from standard introductions.

Chapters

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12

The world around the text

About 605-536 BC. From Nebuchadnezzar's first siege of Jerusalem (1:1) to the third year of Cyrus king of Persia (10:1). Daniel lived through the whole of Babylon's empire and into Persia's. The visions also look ahead to later kingdoms; where the book names them (Media, Persia and Grecia, 8:20-21), the timeline follows them.

BABYLONIAMEDIAASSYRIASYRIAJUDAHBabylon 1SusaJerusalemUlaiTyreDamascus
Places in and around the letter. Ancient region names are approximate.

Who ruled

  • King of BabylonNebuchadnezzar605-562 BC

    The king who besieged Jerusalem, carried Daniel and the temple vessels to Babylon, and later destroyed the city and temple. His own building inscriptions boast of the Babylon he built. Daniel 1:1-22 Kings 24:12 Kings 25:8-10Jeremiah 25:1Babylonian Chronicles (ABC 5)

  • Last king of Babylon, and his son who ruled in his placeNabonidus and Belshazzar556-539 BC

    Nabonidus spent about ten years at the oasis of Tema in Arabia and left his son Belshazzar to rule in Babylon. That is why Belshazzar could only offer Daniel the place of "third ruler in the kingdom": he was himself second. Daniel 5:1Daniel 5:7Daniel 5:29Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)Verse Account of Nabonidus

  • Received the kingdom after Babylon fellDarius the MedianFrom 539 BC

    Daniel says he "took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old" and set 120 princes over it. Records outside the Bible do not name him; he has been identified with Gubaru, the governor Cyrus set over Babylon, or with Cyrus himself. Daniel 5:31Daniel 6:1Daniel 9:1Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)

  • King of PersiaCyrus559-530 BC

    He united the Medes and Persians, took Babylon in 539 BC, and let the exiles go home to rebuild the temple, as Isaiah had named him beforehand. Daniel 1:21Daniel 6:28Daniel 10:1Ezra 1:1-4Isaiah 44:28-45:1Cyrus Cylinder

  • King of JudahJehoiakim609-598 BC

    Judah's king when Daniel was taken. Jeremiah warned him and his people that the land would serve Babylon seventy years. Daniel 1:1-22 Kings 23:36-24:6Jeremiah 25:1-11

What was happening

  1. 612 BC
    WarNineveh falls

    Babylon and the Medes destroyed Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, as Nahum and Zephaniah had foretold. Babylon became the great power of the region. Nahum 3:7Zephaniah 2:13Fall of Nineveh Chronicle (ABC 3)

  2. 605 BC
    WarBattle of Carchemish

    Nebuchadnezzar defeated Pharaoh Necho of Egypt at Carchemish on the Euphrates, in Jehoiakim's fourth year. The same year he came against Jerusalem and took the first captives, Daniel among them. Jeremiah 46:2Daniel 1:1-4Babylonian Chronicles (ABC 5)

  3. 597 BC
    WarJerusalem surrenders

    Nebuchadnezzar took King Jehoiachin, his nobles and craftsmen to Babylon. The prophet Ezekiel went into exile with them. 2 Kings 24:10-17Ezekiel 1:2Babylonian Chronicles (ABC 5)

  4. 586 BC
    WarJerusalem and the temple destroyed

    Babylon's army burned the temple and the city and broke down its walls. Daniel later prays over "the desolations of Jerusalem" and asks God to shine on his "sanctuary that is desolate." 2 Kings 25:8-10Jeremiah 52:12-14Daniel 9:2Daniel 9:17

  5. c. 575 BC
    BuildingBabylon rebuilt in splendor

    Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon with great walls, palaces and the blue-glazed Ishtar Gate, and his inscriptions praise his own work. Compare his boast: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?" Daniel 4:30Nebuchadnezzar's East India House InscriptionHerodotus, Histories 1.178-183

  6. 562 BC
    RulersNebuchadnezzar dies

    His son Evil-merodach became king and released Jehoiachin of Judah from prison. 2 Kings 25:27-30Jeremiah 52:31-34

  7. c. 553-543 BC
    RulersNabonidus leaves Babylon to Belshazzar

    King Nabonidus stayed at Tema in Arabia for about ten years, and the yearly New Year festival in Babylon was not held. Belshazzar governed in Babylon. Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)Daniel 5:1Daniel 7:1

  8. 550 BC
    WarCyrus unites the Medes and Persians

    Cyrus of Persia defeated Astyages king of the Medes, joining the two peoples in one kingdom. Daniel's vision names the ram's two horns as "the kings of Media and Persia," the higher coming up last. Daniel 8:3Daniel 8:20Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)Herodotus, Histories 1.127-130

  9. October 539 BC
    WarBabylon falls to Cyrus

    Cyrus's army entered Babylon without a long siege. Herodotus says the people were feasting when the city was taken. Daniel records that "in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain." Daniel 5:30-31Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7)Herodotus, Histories 1.191Cyrus Cylinder

  10. 538 BC
    God's peopleCyrus lets the exiles return

    In his first year over Babylon, Cyrus proclaimed that the Jews could go back and build the LORD's house in Jerusalem. Daniel "continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus." Ezra 1:1-42 Chronicles 36:22-23Daniel 1:21Cyrus Cylinder

  11. c. 536 BC
    God's peopleThe temple's foundation is laid

    The returned exiles rebuilt the altar and laid the foundation of the temple. In the third year of Cyrus, Daniel was still in the east, mourning and praying. Ezra 3:1-11Daniel 10:1-3

  12. 334-331 BC
    WarAlexander the Great conquers Persia

    Alexander of Macedon crossed into Asia and overthrew the Persian empire within four years. Daniel 8:21 names the rough goat as "the king of Grecia" and its great horn as "the first king." Daniel 8:5-8Daniel 8:21Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander 1-3

  13. 323-301 BC
    WarAlexander's empire is divided

    Alexander died young, and after twenty years of war his generals divided his empire, chiefly into four kingdoms. Daniel 8:22 says "four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power." Daniel 8:8Daniel 8:22Daniel 11:4Diodorus Siculus, Library 18-20Plutarch, Demetrius 28-30

  14. 167 BC
    WarAntiochus IV defiles the temple

    The Greek king Antiochus IV banned Jewish worship and set up a pagan altar on the altar of burnt offering. 1 Maccabees calls it "the abomination of desolation." Two centuries later Jesus spoke of "the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet" as still to come. 1 Maccabees 1:54-59Josephus, Antiquities 12.5.4Matthew 24:15

Babylon

Where Daniel lived and served for about seventy years. The capital of the Babylonian empire, on the Euphrates south of modern Baghdad, in the land the Bible calls Shinar and Chaldea.

A city built to impress
Babylon had double walls, broad processional streets, and the Ishtar Gate faced with blue glazed bricks and figures of lions, bulls and dragons. Herodotus, who wrote about a century later, described it as the most splendid city he knew. Daniel 4:30Herodotus, Histories 1.178-183Nebuchadnezzar's East India House Inscription
The river through the city
The Euphrates ran through the middle of Babylon, with canals branching off it. The exiles remembered sitting "by the rivers of Babylon." Psalms 137:1Herodotus, Histories 1.180Daniel 10:4
Bel and his temple
Babylon's chief god was Marduk, called Bel ("lord"). Nebuchadnezzar put the temple vessels "into the treasure house of his god," and Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold Bel's fall. Daniel 1:2Isaiah 46:1Jeremiah 50:2Jeremiah 51:44
The plain of Dura
Nebuchadnezzar set up his golden image "in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon." The exact site is not known. Daniel 3:1

Shushan (Susa)

A royal city of the Persian kings in Elam, east of Babylon, beside the Ulai canal. Daniel saw the vision of the ram and the he goat there.

A palace city
Shushan became a winter capital of the Persian kings. Nehemiah served there as the king's cupbearer, and the story of Esther takes place in its palace. Daniel 8:2Nehemiah 1:1Esther 1:2Darius's foundation charter from Susa
By the river of Ulai
Daniel was "by the river of Ulai" in the vision and heard a voice "between the banks of Ulai." The Ulai was a watercourse beside Shushan. Daniel 8:2Daniel 8:16

Jerusalem

Daniel's home city, in ruins for most of his life. He prayed toward it three times a day.

Seventy years of desolation
Daniel read in Jeremiah that God would "accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem," and that reading moved him to pray. Daniel 9:2Jeremiah 25:11-12Jeremiah 29:10
Praying toward the city
Solomon had asked God to hear his people when they prayed toward the land, the city and the temple from the land of their captivity. Daniel prayed with his windows open toward Jerusalem. Daniel 6:101 Kings 8:46-49

Daily life and culture

Trained for the king's service · 1:3-5, 1:17-20
Young men of royal and noble families were taught "the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans" for three years and fed from the king's table. Babylonian scholars wrote in cuneiform on clay tablets. Daniel 1:3-5Daniel 1:17
New names · 1:7, 4:8
Daniel and his friends were given Babylonian names. Nebuchadnezzar says Belteshazzar was named "according to the name of my god." Daniel 1:7Daniel 4:8
Wise men and dream readers · 2:2, 2:10-11, 2:27
Babylon's court kept magicians, astrologers, sorcerers and Chaldeans who read omens in dreams and the stars. Isaiah mocks Babylon's "astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators." Daniel 2:2Daniel 2:27Isaiah 47:13
Two languages · 2:4
At 2:4 the Chaldeans answer the king "in Syriack," that is, Aramaic, and the book stays in Aramaic until the end of chapter 7. Aramaic was the shared language of government and trade across the empire. Daniel 2:42 Kings 18:26Ezra 4:7
Burning as a punishment · 3:6, 3:19-23
Jeremiah mentions two men "whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire." The furnace in Daniel 3 was such a punishment. Jeremiah 29:22Daniel 3:6
Laws that could not be changed · 6:8, 6:12, 6:15
A law sealed by a Persian king could not be revoked, even by the king himself. The same rule appears in Esther. Daniel 6:8Daniel 6:15Esther 1:19Esther 8:8
Lions kept by kings · 6:7, 6:16-24
The kings of Mesopotamia kept lions and hunted them as a show of royal power, as the Assyrian palace reliefs of Ashurbanipal's lion hunt show. Daniel 6:7Daniel 6:16Assyrian palace reliefs, Ashurbanipal's lion hunt
Prayer three times a day · 6:10
Daniel knelt "three times a day" to pray. David speaks of praying "evening, and morning, and at noon." Daniel 6:10Psalms 55:17

Scripture first, then ancient records of these years (the Babylonian Chronicles, the Cyrus Cylinder, Nebuchadnezzar's inscriptions) and ancient writers (Herodotus, Arrian, Diodorus, Josephus). Drafted by Claude and not yet reviewed by a person.