The Book of Daniel stands to the fore as “the Apocalypse of the Old Testament.” The word apocalypse means an unveiling, a disclosure of things hidden, a revelation of divine mysteries.1
The Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation have much in common, although in certain important respects they are different. The dramatic crises, the clash of forces on a cosmic scale, and the focus on the time of the end appear in both books. Many of the symbolic images of Daniel are reflected in Revelation. The horned beasts of Daniel, representing earthly powers, find their counterpart in the beasts of Revelation. In both books we see a vision of the Glorious One whose presence overwhelms the onlooker. In both we see thrones, and the throne where sits the Ancient of Days. Both depict the culmination of history, when the kingdoms of men yield to the triumphant and eternal kingdom of God.
Daniel and Revelation do not stand alone in the apocalyptic tradition. A number of other books both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament contain sections characterized as apocalyptic. Isaiah 24—27 has been called “The Isaiah Apocalypse.” Zechariah contains distinctive apocalyptic elements such as the visions of mystic symbols of horses and chariots, of candlesticks and flying scroll. The prefiguring of the Messiah, both Priest and King, is suggested in the two “anointed ones,” Joshua and Zerubbabel. And the climactic judgment of the nations depicted in Zechariah 14 is most clearly apocalyptic.
In the New Testament, each of the three Synoptic Gospels contains apocalyptic sections. These are found in Matt. 24:1—25:46; Mark 13:1-37; and Luke 21:5-36. The section in Mark has been called “The Little Apocalypse.” A Pauline apocalypse is found in II Thess. 1:7—2:12. Each of these New Testament sections clearly reflects elements found in the Book of Daniel.
Apocalyptic literature is distinctive in a number of characteristics, all of which the Book of Daniel well illustrates. There is first of all the element of mystery contained in visions and unusual symbols. There is also the element of disclosure. Apocalypticism is related primarily to the future and to the ultimate consummation of God's plan. As distinctive from the function of prophecy, which proclaims God's more immediate word within history, apocalypse reaches beyond history. It pictures events of the end time in cataclysm and judgment. It reveals God's ultimate purposes fulfilled through a divine manifestation that breaks up the historic order. Most important, the Messianic element looms large in apocalypse.
The Book of Daniel became during the intertestamental period and for more than a century within the Christian era the model and stimulus for an amazing number of apocalyptic writings. None of these was ever admitted into the canon of scripture, for they lack the essential marks of inspiration that Daniel possesses. But they do reveal the longings and hopes of God's people in times of intense trial.2
A. PLACE IN THE CANON
Daniel's place in the canon of the Old Testament scriptures has never been seriously challenged. Among the Jews as well as among Christians through all the centuries this book has been highly regarded. It bears within itself the marks of divine inspiration and the superior qualities demanded of those writings acknowledged as scripture. It carries the message of God and clearly brings to bear the revelation of God upon life and upon history. It has the quality of timelessness as well as timeliness engrained within it.
In the Hebrew Bible, Daniel is placed, not among the Prophets (Nebhiim), but among the Writings (Kethubhiim). Some have complained that this was done to lessen the authority of Daniel because of the prominent witness which the book gives to the Messiah. But such a reason seems not quite plausible in view of the place of authority which the book received in the sacred canon. If there had been a serious intent to lessen Daniel's authority, it would have been kept out of the canon altogether. Pusey explains that Daniel himself indeed was not technically nor professionally a prophet, but a statesman. He did not hold the prophetic office. So he was not listed in the Hebrew scriptures among the prophets.3 But Daniel did fulfill the prophetic function. So his book is in the canon of Holy Scriptures and his message is recognized in the Scriptures themselves as prophecy. Young follows much the same line of reasoning respecting the placement of Daniel in the Hebrew scriptures.4
B. AUTHORSHIP
Through the centuries both among the Jews and among Christians, the book has been traditionally credited to Daniel as its author. The writing identifies itself in important sections as being directly from Daniel. The first person singular, “I Daniel,” is used repeatedly. Chapter 7 begins with the statement, “Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters” (Dan. 7:1).
But for the past century and a half authorship of the Book of Daniel has been a major battleground. It has become the habit to credit the book to an unknown writer living in the times of Antiochus Epiphanes, 175-169 B.C. Consistent with this view it is assumed that the Book of Daniel is an allegory written somewhat in code to undergird and inspire the Jews who were suffering under the tyrannies and persecutions of Antiochus. The stories of the book therefore were not to be taken literally but symbolically. The book would be placed in the category of pseudepigrapha (later writings presented in the names of great men of an earlier day), which had certain resemblances to it.
To those who view divine inspiration from the supernaturalistic standpoint there is no valid reason to deny the traditional Christian belief in the integrity of the Book of Daniel. To search for reasons why Daniel could not have written this book ascribed to his name would itself be unreasonable. To take the book at face value, after all the questions have been raised against it, is far more than credulity. It is faith. This faith would be still and listen to what God has to say to us in our day about the firm purpose which He has established within time and for the ages to come.
Daniel does not stand alone and undefended within the Bible itself. Without question the most striking and authoritative reference is to Dan. 9:27 in Jesus' own apocalyptic message: “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet …” (Matt. 24:15; cf. also Mark 13:14). Jesus seems clearly here to give His endorsement both to the validity of Daniel as a prophet and to the genuineness of his message.
Inferential references to Daniel's prophecy are also quite numerous in other teachings of Jesus, particularly in His use of the phrase “Son of man.” In Matt. 24:30, we read: “They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” These words seem a clear echo of Dan. 7:13-14, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven…And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom” (cf. Matt. 16:27-28).
When Paul writes of “that man of sin…the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped” (II Thess. 2:3-4), he is clearly referring to Dan. 11:36, “He shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods.”
References from Daniel reflected in the Book of Revelation are sufficiently numerous to justify the inference that the authority of this New Testament book supports the integrity of its Old Testament counterpart.
It is of some interest to note that the Covenanters of the Qumran community, who produced the oldest existing biblical manuscripts now known, had a special interest in the Book of Daniel. From the fragments recovered from their caves it is evident that they possessed numbers of copies of this book. Living as they did in the turbulent times following Antiochus and until the destruction of Jerusalem in 71 A.D., they had a deep interest in the apocalyptic hope.5
C. HISTORICAL SETTING
The Book of Daniel itself quite definitely describes the historical setting and times in which it originated. The siege or raid which made Daniel and his princely companions captives occurred in the third year of Jehoiakim. This was in the early days of the rise of the Neo-Babylonian empire. Nabopolassar had thrown off the yoke of Assyria and with his son, Nebuchadnezzar, was bringing into subjection all the lands of the Near East as well as Egypt. Judah was likewise falling under the power of Babylon. From 606 B.C., the year of Daniel's exile, to 536 B.C., the year of Babylon's fall to Cyrus the Persian, the Neo-Babylonian kingdom rose and declined. Most of this time was occupied with the reign of the mighty Nebuchadnezzar, 606 to 561 B.C. Within this period and extending into the early years of the Persian period, Daniel lived and served. It would seem probable that he attained an age past ninety.
The period covered by the time of Daniel's life and service coincided with an age of tremendous international upheaval. Assyria, which had raged for centuries across the lands of the Middle East, had been banished forever by the combined forces of her onetime subjects, the Babylonians, the Medes, and the Scythians. Egypt, which had for a thousand years sought to control not only Africa but the lands of the eastern Mediterranean, had been reduced to subjection. Babylon climbed meteorically into the ascendancy. Under the genius of Nebuchadnezzar, military leader, political organizer, and civic builder, the land of the Chaldeans came into a position of power, wealth, and world leadership beyond anything it had ever known.
But while ancient empires were vanishing and a new empire was writing its brilliant but brief history, Daniel's own people, the people of the promise, were passing through a dark night of trial. Exiled from their homeland of promise, servants in a pagan land, they hanged their harps on the willows and hoped for the dawning of the day.
Although the Book of Daniel contains an outlook that is worldwide in its implications and that reaches to the end of time, its chief focus is in the lands of the Middle East and of the Mediterranean. It leaves entirely out of account the kingdoms and civilizations that preceded Daniel's day. It has nothing to say about the civilizations and the rise and fall of dynasties of the Far East, of China or of India. Its center is the land where the drama of redemption was to be enacted with its goal-event, the coming of Messiah and the consummation of His kingdom.
D. MESSAGE OF THE BOOK
The Book of Daniel is an unveiling of a mystery. And while it unfolds the mystery, at the same time it enfolds it in wonder, leaving much of the mystery of revelation remaining.
Daniel was a man of extraordinary wisdom and insight. Living in the midst of sudden and world-shaking changes, he was able to keep his poise and sanity, viewing what was happening with a steady gaze. He was servant to kings. He was a valued counsellor to governments. But most important, he was an intimate with the God of heaven. He stood with his feet firmly planted on earth among mundane affairs. But his head was in a clearer atmosphere; he lived among the realities of eternal things.
Some truths become clear in Daniel's message revealing God's plan for earth and its inhabitants. First, earthly power and circumstance are exceedingly temporary. The mightiest tyrannies endure but for a little while. Second, God makes the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of it He restrains. Both Nebuchadnezzar, the raging despot, and Cyrus, wise and genial sovereign, attest this truth. Third, God keeps His promise to His people; He will not forget. Fourth, God has His own time to do His work. He will be neither hurried nor delayed. Fifth, the kingdoms of this world are destined to give way to the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. Sixth, while God has an eternal and a cosmic view, He has a loving interest in the minute affairs of a single individual.
The Book of Daniel was a book for Daniel and for the struggling remnant of God's people in the days of long ago. This too is a book for the ages, designed to keep history in perspective. It is as truly a book for us and for our day. Certainly we are nearer the time of consummation of the kingdom of God than any people who have lived before us. Let us, in days of deepest darkness or of most crucial conflict, draw hope and courage from the message given to Daniel.