Daniel Introduction

I. Introduction.

A. Daniel, like Ezekiel, was a Jewish captive in Babylon. He was of royal or princely descent (Dan 1:3). For his rank and comeliness he was trained for palace service. In the polluted atmosphere of an oriental court he lived a life of singular piety and usefulness. His long life extended from Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah, Ezekiel (Dan 14:20), Joshua, the high priest of the restoration, Ezra, and Zerubbabel. 

B. Daniel is the indispensable introduction to New Testament prophecy, the themes of which are, the manifestation of the man of sin, the great tribulation, the return of the Lord, the resurrections and the judgments. These, except the first, are Daniel’s themes also. But Daniel is distinctively the prophet of the “times of the Gentiles” (Lk 21:24); his vision sweeps the whole course of Gentile world-rule to its end in catastrophe, and to the setting up of the Messianic kingdom. 

C. Daniel is in four broad divisions:

1. Introduction. The personal history of Daniel from the conquest of Jerusalem to the second year of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 1:1-21).

2. The visions of Nebuchadnezzar and their results, (Dan 2:1-37). 

3. The personal history of Daniel under Belshazzar and Darius (Dan 5:1-28). 

4. The visions of Daniel (Dan 7:1-13). 

II. Other Factors. 

A. In 605 B.C., Prince Nebuchadnezzar led the Babylonian army of his father Nabopolassar against the allied forces of Assyria and Egypt. He defeated them at Carchemish near the top of the Fertile Crescent. This victory gave Babylon supremacy in the ancient Near East. With Babylon’s victory, Egypt’s vassals, including Judah, passed under Babylonian control. Shortly thereafter that same year Nabopolassar died, and Nebuchadnezzar succeeded him as king. Nebuchadnezzar then moved south and invaded Judah, also in 605 B.C. He took some royal and noble captives to Babylon (Dan 1:1-3), including Daniel, plus some of the vessels from Solomon’s temple (2 Ch 36:7). This was the first of Judah’s three deportations in which the Babylonians took groups of Judahites to Babylon. The king of Judah at that time was Jehoiakim (2 Kg 24:1-4.). 

B. Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah and Coniah) succeeded him in 598 B.C. Jehoiachin reigned for only three months and 10 days (2 Ch 36:9). Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah again. At the turn of the year, in 597 B.C., he took Jehoiachin to Babylon, along with most of Judah’s remaining leaders, including young Ezekiel, and the rest of the national treasures (2 Kg 24:10-17; 2 Ch 36:10). 

C. A third and final deportation took place approximately 11 years later, in 586 B.C. Jehoiakim’s younger brother Mattaniah, whose name Nebuchadnezzar had changed to Zedekiah, was then Judah’s puppet king. He rebelled against Babylon’s sovereignty by secretly making a treaty with Pharaoh Hophra under pressure from Jewish nationalists (Jer 37-38). After an 18-month siege, Jerusalem fell. Nebuchadnezzar returned to Jerusalem, burned the temple, broke down the city walls, and took all but the poorest of the Jews captive to Babylon. He also took Zedekiah prisoner to Babylon, after he executed his sons, and put out the king’s eyes, at Riblah in Aram (modern Syria, (2 Kg 24:18-25:24). 

III. Breadth Of Study.

Daniel, the main character from whom this book gets its name, was probably only a teenager when he arrived in Babylon in 605 B.C. The Hebrew words used to describe him, the internal evidence of chapter 1, and the length of his ministry, seem to make this clear. He continued in office as a public servant at least until 538 B.C. (Dan 1:21), and as a prophet at least until 536 B.C. (Dan 10:1). Thus the record of his ministry spans 70 years, the entire duration of the Babylonian Captivity. He probably lived to be at least 85 years old and perhaps older. 

IV. Writer.

There is little doubt among conservative scholars that Daniel himself wrote this book under the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Probably he did so late in his life, which could have been about 530 B.C. or a few years later. Several Persian-derived governmental terms appear in the book. The presence of these words suggests that the book received its final polishing after Persian had become the official language of government. This would have been late in Daniel’s life. What makes Daniel’s authorship quite clear is both internal and external evidence. 

A. Internally, the book claims in several places that Daniel was its writer (Dan 8:1; 9:2, 20; 10:2). References to Daniel in the third person do not indicate that someone else wrote about him, because it was customary for ancient authors of historical memoirs to write about themselves this way (Ex 20:2, 7). As in several other books of prophecy (e.g., Jeremiah and Hosea), the author is also the chief actor in the events recorded. 

B. Externally, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of this book as the writing of Daniel (Mt 24:15; Mk 13:14). The Jews believed that Daniel was its writer from its earliest appearance. The early church father Jerome argued for Daniel’s authorship against a contemporary critic of his, Porphyry, who contended that someone composed it about 165 B.C. and claimed that he was Daniel.