great Babylonian monarch himself (in the prophecy’s simplest meaning). (Dan. 4:20-22) Nebuchadnezzar would be insane for seven years and then would regain his sanity and his kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar testifies to this actually having happened to him at God’s hand by seeing fit to publicize the occurrence throughout the realm.—Dan. 4:1, 2.

Visions

Daniel received two visions (chaps. 7 and 8), during the first and third years of Belshazzar, in which various animals represented successive world powers, leading to the time when these would be forcefully broken up and the heavenly rulership would be given to “someone like a son of man.” (Dan. 7:11-14) Whether Daniel was actually in Shushan when he received the vision recorded in chapter 8, or saw himself there in vision, is not certain. It appears, sometime after Nebuchadnezzar’s death, that Daniel was used little, if at all, as counselor for many years, so that the queen (likely the queen mother Nitocris) had to recall him to Belshazzar when none of the wise men were able to interpret the ominous handwriting on the palace wall at the time of Belshazzar’s riotous and blasphemous feast. As promised, Daniel received the honor of being third ruler in the kingdom, Nabonidus being first ruler and his son, Belshazzar, being second. That same night the city fell to the Medes and Persians and Belshazzar was slain.—Dan. 5:1, 10-31.

UNDER MEDO-PERSIAN RULE

During the short reign of Darius the Mede, Daniel was one of the three high officials appointed over the 120 satraps who were to rule the kingdom. Excelling greatly in governmental service because of divine favor, Daniel was about to be elevated over all the kingdom when envy and jealousy caused the other officials to scheme for his execution. The law that they induced the king to enact would have to be in connection with Daniel’s worship of God, as they could find no fault with him otherwise. The king acted reluctantly to carry out the law, which, according to custom, could not be changed, and cast Daniel into the pit of the lions. For Daniel’s firm integrity and faith, Jehovah sent his angel to deliver him from the lions’ mouths Darius then executed justice on the conspirators, having them destroyed by the same lions.—Dan. chap. 6.

In the first year of Darius Daniel discerned the nearness of the end of the seventy years of desolation of Jerusalem, according to the writings of Jeremiah. (Jer. 25:11, 12) Humbly Daniel acknowledged the sins of his people and prayed that Jehovah would cause his face to shine upon the desolated sanctuary in Jerusalem. (Dan. 9:1, 2, 17) He was favored with a revelation from Gabriel, who gave him the prophecy of the seventy weeks, pinpointing the year of Messiah’s arrival. In his old age and toward the close of his long career, during the third year of Cyrus (c. 536 B.C.E.), Daniel was given a vision by an angel who, in his mission to visit Daniel, had to contend with the prince of Persia. The angel spoke to reveal what was to “befall [Daniel’s] people in the final part of the days, because it is a vision yet for the days to come.” (Dan. 10:14) Starting with the kings of Persia, he recorded history in advance. The prophecy revealed that the world scene would come to be dominated by two main opposing political powers, named “the king of the north” and “the king of the south,” which situation would prevail until the standing up of Michael, with a great time of distress to follow.—Dan. chaps. 11, 12.

Daniel happily lived to see the return of the Jews under Zerubbabel in 537 B.C.E., but it is not stated that he accompanied them. He may not have lived much beyond that date. If he was a teen-ager at the time of being brought to Babylon, in 617 B.C.E., he would be almost a hundred years old when he received his last vision, in Cyrus’ third year. The angel’s statement to Daniel, “As for you yourself, go toward the end; and you will rest, but you will stand up for your lot at the end of the days,” seems to imply that his life was nearing its close, with assurance of a resurrection for him.—Dan. 12:13.

DANIEL’S WRITERSHIP

Daniel is referred to by Christ (Matt. 24:15) and alluded to at Hebrews 11:33. It cannot be demonstrated successfully by the critics that one or more later writers of Maccabean times had to do with the writing of all or parts of the canonical book of Daniel. However, three additions called the “Song of the Three Holy Children,” “Susanna and the Elders” and “Destruction of Bel and the Dragon” are apocryphal and are by a later hand. These and other writings claiming Daniel as the writer or setting forth unusual feats or teachings by him are more in the realm of fable revolving around the great fame of Daniel and are not reliable.—See APOCRYPHA; also DANIEL, BOOK OF.

3. A priest of the Levite house of Ithamar who accompanied Ezra to Jerusalem in 468 B.C.E. (Ezra 8:2) Possibly the same priest, or his descendant, signed the confession contract during Nehemiah’s governorship (Neh. 10:6), but not the same person as the prophet Daniel, who was of the tribe of Judah.—Dan. 1:6.

DANIEL, BOOK OF

SETTING AND TIME OF WRITING

The setting of the book is in Babylon, with one of its visions in Shushan by the river Ulai. Whether Daniel was in Shushan actually or in a visionary way is not clear. The writing was completed in about 536 B.C.E. and the book covers the period from 618 to about 536 B.C.E.—Dan. 8:1, 2.

WRITER

That Daniel was the writer is made evident by the book itself. It reports: “In the first year of Belshazzar the king of Babylon, Daniel himself beheld a dream and visions of his head upon his bed. At that time he wrote down the dream itself. The complete account of the matters he told.” (Dan. 7:1) His being the writer is also apparent from the fact that chapters seven to twelve are written in the first person.

Chapters one to six are written in the third person, but this does not argue against Daniel’s writership. He took the position of an observer who was reporting what was happening to himself and others. Another Bible writer, Jeremiah, does this frequently. (See Jeremiah 20:1-6; 21:1-3 and chapters 26 and 36.) Again, Jeremiah writes in the first person.—Jer. chaps. 1, 13, 15, 18.

PLACE IN THE CANON

In the English Bible Daniel is placed among the major prophets, immediately after Ezekiel. This is the order followed in the Septuagint and in the Latin Vulgate. In the Hebrew canon Daniel is placed in the “Writings” or “Hagiographa.”

AUTHENTICITY

Some critics question the authenticity of Daniel, although learned and able scholars have written conclusive refutations of their theories, which theories are all based on supposition. The critics of the authenticity of the book assume the position taken by a third-century heathen philosopher and enemy of Christianity, Porphyry, who contended that the book of Daniel was forged by a Palestinian Jew of the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. This forger, he theorized, took past events and made them appear to be prophecies. The genuineness of the book of Daniel was not seriously questioned, however, from that day until the early part of the eighteenth century. Although the knowledge of the critics of historical events and details of Babylonian life in the sixth century B.C.E. is meager, they presume to be able to pass judgment on the accuracy of Daniel. As archaeological discoveries increase man’s knowledge about this period, the book of Daniel is vindicated and the critics are proved wrong. Jesus Christ’s own acceptance of Daniel’s prophecy, however, is an even more significant evidence of its authenticity.—Matt. 24:15; Dan. 11:31.

HISTORICAL

Three manuscripts of parts of the book of Daniel and many fragments of it were found in the Dead Sea caves. These scrolls date from the first or second century B.C.E.; the book of Daniel was an accepted part of the Scriptures in that time and was so well known to the Jews that many copies had already been made of it. That it was recognized as a canonical book of that time is supported by the writer of the apocryphal, but historical, book of First Maccabees (2:59, 60), which made reference to Daniel’s deliverance from the den of lions, and that of the three Hebrews from the fiery furnace.

We have also the testimony of the Jewish historian Josephus, who states that the prophecies of Daniel were shown to Alexander the Great when he entered Jerusalem. This occurred before 323 B.C.E., more than 150 years before the Maccabean period. Josephus says of the event: “When the book of Daniel was showed him, wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended.” (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI, chap. VIII, par. 5) History also recounts that Alexander bestowed great favors on the Jews, and this is believed to be because of what Daniel said about him in prophecy.

Critics, to support the above-mentioned theory of a second-century forgery, claim that the book was full of historical blunders. But among those who possessed a good number of copies of the book and who accepted it as canonical were educated Jews of the Maccabean period, who had access to the historical writings of such men as Herodotus, Ctesias, Berossus and others, and thus were acquainted with history. The Persian Empire was overthrown only about 150 years before their time. These Jews, therefore, lived close enough to the Persian period to be acquainted with the names of the Persian rulers, yet they found no historical blunders in the book regarding these rulers, as the critics today who are living more than 2,200 years from that period claim there are. If the book of Daniel had been full of historical errors, the Jews of the Maccabean period would undoubtedly have rejected it as they did the apocryphal writings, such as Maccabees, Tobit and Judith.

LANGUAGE

On the basis of the languages used in Daniel some unfounded criticisms of the book have been made, but there is strong argument supporting the statements in the book of Daniel as to the time of its writing. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, Vol. II, p. 785, says: “We claim, however, that the composite Aramaic of Daniel agrees in almost every particular of orthography, etymology and syntax, with the Aramaic of the North Semitic inscriptions of the 9th, 8th and 7th centuries BC and of the Egyptian papyri of the 5th century BC, and that the vocabulary of Daniel has an admixture of Hebrew, Babylonian and Persian words, similar to that of the papyri of the 5th century BC; whereas, it differs in composition from the Aramaic of the Nabateans, which is devoid of Persian, Hebrew, and Babylonian words, and is full of Arabisms, and also from that of the Palmyrenes, which is full of Greek words, while having but one or two Persian words, and no Hebrew or Babylonian.”

There are some so-called Persian words in Daniel, but in view of the frequent dealings that the Jews had with Babylonians, Medes, Persians and others, this is not unusual. Furthermore, most of the foreign names used by Daniel are names of officials, articles of clothing, legal terms and such, for which the Hebrew or Aramaic of the time apparently had no equally suitable terms. Daniel was writing for his people who were for the most part in Babylonia, and many were scattered in other places at this time. Therefore, he wrote in language that would be understandable to them.

DOCTRINAL

Another objection is that Daniel alludes to the resurrection. (Dan. 12:13) This is assumed by some to be a doctrine later developed or taken from a pagan belief, but the Hebrew Scriptures abound with statements of belief in a resurrection, for example, at Job 14:13, 15; Psalm 16:10. Also, there are actual instances of resurrection. (1 Ki. 17:21, 22; 2 Ki. 4:22-37; 13:20, 21) And on no less authority than the apostle Paul we have the statement that Abraham had faith in the raising up of the dead (Heb. 11:17-19), and also that other faithful servants of God of ancient times looked forward to the resurrection. (Heb. 11:13, 35-40; Rom. 4:16, 17) Jesus himself said: “But that the dead are raised up even Moses disclosed, in the account about the thornbush, when he calls Jehovah ‘the God of Abraham and God of Isaac and God of Jacob.’”—Luke 20:37.

Those who claim that the book is not really prophetic but was written after the events occurred would have to move up the time of writing of the book beyond the days of Jesus’ ministry on earth for the ninth chapter admittedly contains a prophecy concerning the Messiah’s appearance and sacrifice. (Dan. 9:25-27) Also, the prophecy continues on down far beyond then to a period centuries after Antiochus Epiphanes, and recounts the history of the kingdoms that would rule right down to “the time of the end,” when they will be destroyed by the kingdom of God in the hands of his Messiah.—Dan. 7:9-14, 25-27; 2:44; 11:35, 40.

VALUE OF THE BOOK

Daniel is outstanding in his recording of prophetic time periods: The sixty-nine weeks (of years) from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah, the events to take place within the seventieth week and the destruction of Jerusalem to follow soon afterward, the “seven times,” which Jesus called “the appointed times of the nations” and indicated that they were still running at the time that he was on earth, with their conclusion at a much later date; and the periods of 1,290, 1,335 and 2,300 days, also “an appointed time, appointed times and a half,” all of which time prophecies are vital to an understanding of God’s dealings with his people. The angel’s inspired interpretation of the prophecy regarding the beasts as representing world powers (Dan. 8:20, 21) is of great assistance to Bible scholars in understanding the symbolism of the beasts in Revelation.—Dan. 4:25; Luke 21:24.

Daniel also gives details concerning the rise and fall of world powers from the time of ancient Babylon right on down till the time when the kingdom of God crushes them out of existence forever. The prophecy directs attention to the kingdom of God, in the hands of his appointed king and his associate “holy ones,” as the government that will endure forever, for the blessing of all who serve God.—Dan. 2:44; 7:13, 14, 27.

Daniel’s record of the deliverance of his three companions from the fiery furnace for refusing to bow down before Nebuchadnezzar’s great golden image (chap. 3) is an account of the legal establishment of the right of Jehovah’s worshipers to give him exclusive devotion, in the realm of the first world power during the “Gentile times.” It also helps Christians to discern that their subjection to the