24. How has the apocryphal book Ecclesiasticus been used against the book of Daniel, and what shows this reasoning to be faulty?

²⁴ Ironically, one of these rejected later works has been used as an argument against the book of Daniel. The apocryphal book Ecclesiasticus, by Jesus Ben Sirach, was evidently composed about 180 B.C.E. Critics like to point out that Daniel is omitted from the book’s long list of righteous men. They reason that Daniel must have been unknown at the time. This argument is widely accepted among scholars. But consider this: The same list omits Ezra and Mordecai (both of whom were great heroes in the eyes of postexilic Jews), good King Jehoshaphat, and the upright man Job; of all the judges, it names only Samuel.d Because such men are omitted from a list that makes no claim to be exhaustive, occurring in a noncanonical book, must we dismiss all of them as fictitious? The very notion is preposterous.