Daniel Prophet and Man of God

III. Timeline To 609 to 597bc

609bc Necho, king of Egypt was overlord of Jerusalem/Palastine

II Kings 23:31-34

Josiahs son, King Johoahaz was taken to Egypt and Eliakim, whose name was changed to King Jehoiakim.

Arch. Cuniform text unearthed in Mesopotamia concur with this historical fact. (in British Museum).

606 to

605bc King Nabopolassar sent the crown prince, Nebachadnezzar to Egypt - he conquered Necho and Carchemish and chased him to Palastine/Jerusalem, where he took some prisoners from noble families. Daniel was amoung these taken.

Jer. 25:1,27:19-20, 46:17-22, 52:12-30, II Kings 24:1-7, II Chron. 36:6,7, Daniel 1

Neb. then received news that Nabopolassar had died, and rushed back to Babylon where he became King.

‘Dan. In Critics Den’ pg. 17, appendix 154 - 155

This happened the 3^rd year of Jehoiakim counting in Babylonian style, and the 4^th year using the Mishna style.

Timeline Continued

597bc Johakim revolts and dies by natural causes.

II Kings 24:8-15

Ezek. 1:2

Johoachin takes over as King at the age of 18. He reigns for 3 months and is taken to Babylon, along with Ezekiel and others.

585bc Jeremiah flees to Egypt.

Jer. 52:34

Arch. ‘Bible as History’ page 285 Proof that these events occured as Daniel recorded!

597 to

536 Captivity period continued and the events recorded in the Book of Daniel transpired.

536 Jews freed (3^rd year of Cyrus) and allowed to return to Jerusalem - the 70 year captivity is over.

God’s Word always accomplishes that purpose for which it is intended.

“I declared the former things long ago And they went forth from My mouth, and I proclaimed them. Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass. Because I know that you are obstinate, And your neck is an iron sinew, And your forehead bronze, Therefore I declared them to you long ago, Before they took place I proclaimed them to you, Lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them, And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.’ You have heard; look at all this. And you, will you not declare it? I proclaim to you new things from this time, Even hidden things which you have not known. They are created now and not long ago; And before today you have not heard them, Lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them’” (Isaiah 48:3-7).

“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth, And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So shall My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:10-11).

Critical conclusions:

The critics are opposed to the Book of Daniel because they do not believe in the supernatural. The miracles of the Book of Daniel bring strong reaction from those who have determined that miracles don’t happen. In particular, the critics find Daniel’s prophecies too good to be true. The events of the Maccabbean period too precisely fulfill some of the prophecies of Daniel. The skeptics conclude from this that Daniel must not be prophecy, written before the events which are predicted, but rather history. They believe Daniel was written late, in the first or second century B.C., posing as prophecy and attempting to comfort the Jews at that time with falsified evidences of God’s sovereign preservation and protection of His people. They seek to point out “errors” in Daniel, which they believe help to establish that the book is not really divine prophecy.

Virtually all of the specific examples of “error” in Daniel vaporize under the scrutiny of investigation and in the light of later and more complete information, such as that provided by language study and the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran.

IV. Characteristics of the Book of Daniel

Just as every individual has a unique set of fingerprints, every book of the Bible has its own individual characteristics which enable it to make a particular contribution to the reader. Consider the following characteristics of the Book of Daniel:

(1) The Book of Daniel depicts historical events beginning with the first conquest of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 605 B.C. and ending in the third year of Cyrus (536 B.C.).

(2) The prophecies of the Book of Daniel encompass time from Daniel’s day to the future establishment of the kingdom of God.

(3) Daniel is written in two languages, not just one. The Book is written in Hebrew and in Aramaic:¹³

• 
  Daniel 1:1 - 2:4a-Hebrew language
  
• 
  Daniel 2:4b - 7:28-Aramaic language
  
• 
  Daniel 8:1 - 12:13-Hebrew language
  

There are a number of theories why two languages were used. One reason may be that the Spirit of God was indicating that the message of this book was for both Jews and Gentiles. Thus, the Hebrew portions would get the attention of the Jews, while the Aramaic portion would have the attention of the Gentiles.

Like Ezra, which has four chapters in Aramaic, the text of Daniel is in two languages: Hebrew (chs. 1, 8-12) and Aramaic (chs. 2-7). As we shall see later on, the linguistic evidence from the Qumran documents decisively favors a pre-second-century date for both languages Daniel used. It strongly suggests an interval of centuries before the 160s B.C. in order to account for the much older morphology, grammar, and syntax of Daniel's text, by comparison with the Genesis Apocryphon and the sectarian documents composed in the second century B.C.

But why was the book written in two languages? And what criterion did the author follow in putting half his material into Aramaic and the other half into Hebrew? A careful study of the subject matter yields fairly obvious answers: The Aramaic chapters deal with matters pertaining to the entire citizenry of the Babylonian and the Persian empires, whereas the other six chapters relate to peculiarly Jewish concerns and God's special plans for the future of his covenant people. It would seem to follow that the Aramaic chapters (2-7) were in some sense made available to the Gentile public, since Aramaic was the lingua franca of the period of the Babylonian and Persian empires during the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.

(4) The structure of Daniel is not strictly chronological, making it difficult to neatly categorize.¹⁴ Chapters 1-6 tend to be historical and chronological; chapters 7-12 are prophetic, but not chronological. If there is a chronological sequence in chapters 7-12, it may be in the prophetic scheme of future events laid out in these chapters, rather than in the historical events described in Daniel. The prophecies of Daniel tend to range from events in Daniel’s day onward to eternity.

Consider the following observations comparing the structure in Daniel:

Chapters 1 - 6	Chapters 7 - 12
The days of Daniel	A time future to Daniel
Biographical and historical	Prophetic and apocalyptic
History is chronological	Prophecy is chronological
Written in the third person	Written in the first person
Others have dreams^15	Daniel has dreams
Daniel interprets	Another must interpret

5. 
   There is a deliberate interweaving of history and prophecy, of present and future, of prophetic revelation and practical piety. Chapter 1 deals with an historical event in the lives of Daniel and his three friends. Chapter 2 is an historical account but deals with the interpretation of a dream Daniel explains as prophetic. Chapter 3 returns to the present time and to the decision of Daniel’s three friends who must face the firey furnace for not bowing down to the king’s golden image. The structure of the book encourages us to recognize that personal piety and prophecy go together.