We’re changing it up this week a little bit on the blog and podcast. Below you’ll find a detailed outline I used when I taught an overview of the Book of Daniel. The podcast will be a teaching discussion of this outline, so feel free to read the outline as if it were a blog post, but the most beneficial would undoubtedly be to hear the podcast discussion on this one. Many blessings!
WRITER:
The authorship and dating of Daniel are highly controversial, with folks (even Bible-believing Christians) holding various opinions. One primary reason for this is the stunning prophetic accuracy, although many argue on the basis that it appears to include linguistic details from a later time period. The early date (held by most conservative scholars) is the 6th century BC, which would place the book having been written in the time period in which it is set (a reasonable idea). The later date is in the 2nd century BC, roughly 400 years later. The latter view would also entail that Daniel himself was not the writer, but perhaps some anonymous Jew writing under the pseudonym, Daniel.
KEY VERSE:
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. (Daniel 2:44)
INTERESTING FACTS:
- His name means “God is my judge.”
- Daniel’s life and ministry span the entire seventy-year period of Babylonian Captivity.
- Daniel was deported to Babylon (some 900 miles away) when he was sixteen years old.
- He was selected for special service in Babylon, and was given three years of training in the best of Babylon’s schools.
- He was given a Babylonian name – Belteshazzar, meaning “Bel Protect his Life.”
- Bel was a title assigned to various Mesopotamian gods.
- 9 out of the 12 chapters in Daniel revolve around dreams.
- Of the 2,930 Bible characters, Daniel is one of the few well known characters about whom nothing negative is ever written. Joseph is yet another.
- Daniel’s life was characterized by:
- Faith
- Prayer
- Courage
- Consistency
- Lack of compromise
- The Book of Daniel has been called the “Apocalypse of the Old Testament.” – It was written in the genre of Jewish apocalyptic literature.
- The Book of Daniel was written to offer encouragement to the Jewish exiles by revealing God’s sovereign will for Israel after the period of Gentile domination.
- Daniel is the only book in the Hebrew Bible that directly attests belief in bodily resurrection (Dan 12:2–3).
THE RELIABILITY OF DANIEL:
- Daniel can be thought of as self-authenticating, due to its highly accurate prophetic messaging. More on this below.
- Jesus himself affirms direct authorship by Daniel, with special respect to future prophecy (Matthew 24:15, Mark 13:14, Matthew 26:64, etc.).
- The book’s author is named within, has features consistent with the time period it purports to be written in, and seems to accurately deal with events around the time of writing as well as events in both the near and distant future.
- The Prophet Ezekiel, who lived contemporaneously with Daniel, mentions Daniel three times (14:14, 20; 28:3).
- The Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament and quite literally “The Bible” for many NT writers) contains a copy of Daniel, which seems VERY unlikely on the “critical,” 2nd century view. This is because it is likely the books of the Septuagint were all translated at the same time, which would mean Daniel had been accepted as canon and carried over 300 miles away to Alexandra a mere 30 years after its writing.
- Because Daniel is written both in Hebrew and Aramaic, and some of the Aramaic features seem to be from the 2nd century, this leads some (even evangelical) scholars to accept the late date. However, this is a moot point. The reality is there are ways to explain the language we have present from either the critical late date or conservative early date perspective. Thus, there is no reason to reject the latter.
KEY THEMES:
- Prayer
- Daniel 6:10 gives a subtle yet powerful insight into Daniel’s life: It was a life of faithful prayer.
- Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
- This suggests that Daniel’s life was marked by prayer. He loved God, trusted God, and relied on God for everything.
- God reveals the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams to him in a vision. Verse 17 strongly underscores the importance of prayer to Daniel. He and his friends urged Yahweh to give Daniel the interpretation so they would not be destroyed with Babylon’s wise men.
- Power
- Daniel’s integrity and faithfulness to God was without compromise. Notice his rejection of the king’s delicacies in Daniel 1:8.
- John MacArthur notes, “Those enticing morsels and vintage wines—perks of the king’s service—had been ritually dedicated to Babylon’s false gods. What’s more, eating food prepared to Babylonian standards was likely to put the young exiles in violation of God’s laws concernin...