God used him mightily through dreams and interpretation of visions. The story of the bible daniel bible history online. Many other critics have tried to discredit the book of daniel, but the bible and history have confirmed that daniel was the author of this book, and therefore was written at the time of the persian empire sixth century bc. The dates of the three kings mentioned in the book are well known. In both the historical and the prophetic sections, daniel presents a strong. This is a crucial event in the history of the religion of israel and would surely warrant a mention from any author of that period. The book of daniel is an apocalyptic of the old testament. The bible is a history book, it tells the pastbut like no other history book it tells the present and future just as clearly. It begins straightforwardly enough, with daniel and his companions facing pressure to assimilate to the pleasures and vices of the babylonian royal court. Meaning, origin and history of the name daniel behind. This is a crucial event in the history of the religion of israel and would surely.
The daniel fast, or perhaps more properly the daniel diet, has also been popularized as a healthy eating regime. The book of daniel is unsealing middle east and prophecy. Daniel was a hebrew prophet whose story is told in the book of daniel in the old testament. Its introduction contended that daniel s apocalyptic messianic prophesies are all most easily explained as referring to the history of the jews from babylonia through the chanukah wars. They fail to grasp the awesome truth that we are still living in biblical days. The book of daniel is a 2ndcentury bc biblical apocalypse combining a prophecy of history with an eschatology a portrayal of end times cosmic in scope and political in focus. According to this gift given to daniel, we find him, in this book, all along employed about dreams and visions, interpreting or entertaining them. Daniel was a man of incredible character and his book is considered one of the most important prophetic books of the old testament. The widely held view that the book of daniel is largely fictional rests mainly on the. A new commentary on the book of daniel begins by retelling the events leading to the destruction of jerusalem in 586 bc. Beginning in verse 5, the struggle between the various kings of the south, that is egypt, and the kings of the north, that is syria, begin and are traced by daniel in this prophecy to the time of antiochus iv epiphanes 175164 b.
Daniel had been the most misinterpreted song that wed ever written explained bernie in the two rooms tribute project. The hero of the book of daniel in the ketuvim section of the bible is one of the jews exiled in babylonia, a soothsayer at the babylonian court under nebuchadnezzar who died in 562 b. Historical history behind daniel, assyrian, babylonian, and judean background information including the date,author, languages,criticisms, and themes. Quotation given in full when space permits corresponding quotations from daniel. The book of daniel was written to offer encouragement to the jewish exiles by revealing gods sovereign will for israel after the period of gentile domination. The book is made up primarily of historical narrative found mainly in chs. These foreign kings had varying responses to their goddelegated authority, and so they also responded to gods people in different ways. The first six chapters are the history section, telling of a jew named daniel of royal descent, who was taken captive along with the rest of the people from the city of jerusalem. The book of daniel covers his life from a teenager to his death as a captive in babylon. As a late teen he was among those deported from jerusalem by the conquering babylonians in about 605 bc. At least two aspects of the book highlight this truth. The book of daniel agrees that nebuchadnezzar did not occupy judah in 605. In this series, im going through chapter by chapter to see what daniel s history got right and if he got anything wrong. The people of babylon even tried to kill daniel and his friends because they would not serve the false gods.
The great theme of the book of daniel are the four world empires which rule and will rule the worlds history from after jerusalems destruction up to christs appearing before the millennium. The book of daniel affirms that god was not done with his people though they would continue to live under foreign kings for much of their existence. Daniel chapter 10 spiritual war chapter 10 of the book of daniel forms an introduction to a prophetic vision, a vision which is further detailed in chapter 11 and finally concluded in daniel chapter 12. The first part of the book of daniel in the bible tells some stories from the life of daniel and his friends. The book of daniel portrays him as the babylonian king in the first year of whose. After three years of formal education in the language and literature of babylon, he became an official in the royal household. When done as a fast, it is intended to be a time of drawing closer to god.
He must speak up to difficult bosses, make moral choices, and deal with. Jehoiakim was able to appease the aggressor by giving him hostages and treasure. Cyruss reign over babylon, the scene of the later chapters of daniel began in 539 b. The big picture of the book of daniel bible commentary. The portrayal of god in daniel is that he is the sovereign, eternal king the king of all kings. The genre of the book of daniel is narrative history, prophetic oracle, and it includes apocalyptic material. He lived during the jewish captivity in babylon, where he served in the court of the king, rising to prominence by interpreting the kings dreams. Jehovah could no longer publicly accept his earthly people israel or judah. The story behind daniel daniel is a the grownup ballad about a dissillusioned vietnam veteran and was inspired by an article bernie had read in newsweek magazine. Book of daniel from the king james version of the bible.
In the final vision, daniel sees a period of history culminating in a struggle between the king of the north and the king of the south in which. I was recently reading a commentary on the book of daniel. The assyrian periodwill be briefly examinedin order toreveal babylons rise topower,for it was inthe p ower struggle betweenassyria andbabylon that judahandhence daniel became involved. The validity of daniel s authorship and prophecies is at stake. Had daniel been a late book, he would no doubt have taken up the later account of berosus. Named after its writer, daniels book is a product of his time in babylon as a jewish. Daniel served in the royal court of nebuchadnezzar and several rulers who followed nebuchadnezzar. The book of daniel records the actions, prophecies, and visions of the prophet daniel. One of the more fascinating books of the bible is the book of daniel. Chronological order of the book of daniel chapters 1 thru 4 captivity and interpretation of dreams and visions. The book of daniel portrays him as the babylonian king in the first year of whose reign daniel has his dream of the four great beasts which come up out of the sea. The first half of the book chapters 16 contains stories in the third person about the experiences of daniel and his friends under kings nebuchadrezzar ii. The book of daniel opens with the backstory of his capture by the babylonians. The first chapter of the book of daniel was most likely composed as early as 450 bce and as late as the 2nd century bce.
The contents of the book may be analyzed further as follows. If he gave a history differing from that current in babylonia, the. Daniel gives us the skeleton of prophecy on which all prophecy is placed. Daniel intro to daniel biblica the international bible society. Daniel 1 commentary matthew henry commentary on the. Book of daniel overview insight for living ministries. Bible commentary produced by tow project the book of daniel can be perplexing. Daniel introduction commentary commentary critical and. This is a comprehensive but rapid overview of the history from the time of the assyrian empire up until the return of christ. In the narrative, the god of the israelites, elohim, let king jehoiakim fall to nebuchadnezzar. Many times the people of babylon tried to make them forget the real god and to serve false gods.
The book of daniel is a 2ndcentury bc biblical apocalypse combining a prophecy of history. This book records the prophecies, visions, and public ministry of daniel who was along with. The first six chapters contain accounts of faith that inspire both young and old b. The last six chapters are filled with apocalyptic visions that.
The first half of the book chapters 16 contains stories in the third person about the experiences. Part of the section of the bible referred to as ketuvim the writings see the torah, it is an apocalyptic book, like the book of revelations in the new testament. It says only that he approached jerusalem and threatened war. The book of daniel is unsealing focus on the middle east and prophecy. A commentary on the book of daniel by cooper abrams. The endtime spiritual warfare of daniel chapter 10, a consideration of daniel mourning three full weeks. Learn how accurately nebuchadnezzars dream in daniel. This period is called the times of the gentiles in the nt luke 21. People today are of the mindset that the events of the old and new testaments all happened back in the biblical days of human history. The book of daniel, also called the prophecy of daniel, a book of the old testament found in the ketuvim writings, the third section of the jewish canon, but placed among the prophets in the christian canon. It served as a book of encouragement to the babylonian exiles, whose hearts were no doubt lightened by daniels predictions of the ultimate triumph of israel over her enemies.
If historical literature is emphasizing a revelation record of the sovereign work of god in history, then daniel certainly applies because the. The widely held view that the book of daniel is largely fictional rests mainly on the modern philosophical assumption that longrange predictive prophecy is impossible. The book of daniel, together with the book of revelation, marvelously unfolds future events as god has ordained them in the program of history. Although prophecy is scattered all through the bible, two books focus almost entirely on symbolic representations. Intro to daniel biblica the international bible society. The daniel fast is a partial fast based on two accounts of the prophet daniel fasting. Daniel thus became the third ruler behind 1 nabonidus and 2 belshazzar. Daniel the selfproclaimed author of the book living during the sixth century b. Daniel was born to the royal family and of noble birth dan. Daniel was a jewish young man, probably of royal descent.