Program / Course 6: Old Testament Theology and History / Lesson 5.3
What you will learn
- Define apocalyptic writing and list its common features.
- Outline the two halves of the book of Daniel: the court stories and the visions.
- State the main arguments for the sixth-century and the second-century dating of Daniel.
- Explain how apocalyptic differs from prophecy and why it arises in times of persecution.
The big idea
Apocalyptic writing uses visions, symbols and heavenly guides to say that God will end the rule of evil and vindicate the faithful. The book of Daniel is the chief example in the Old Testament. It tells stories of faithful Jews in foreign courts and then reports visions of beasts, kingdoms and a final judgment. Scholars disagree about whether it was written in the sixth century BC or in the persecution under Antiochus IV in the second century BC, and each date affects how its visions are read.
Key terms
- Apocalypse
- A Greek word meaning unveiling or revelation. It names a kind of writing and the last book of the New Testament.
- Apocalyptic
- The outlook and literature that expect God’s decisive end to evil, usually presented through visions and symbols.
- Eschatology
- Teaching about the last things: the end of history, judgment, resurrection and the new age.
- Antiochus IV Epiphanes
- The Seleucid king who ruled Judea in the second century BC and banned Jewish practice, provoking the Maccabean revolt.
- Son of man
- In Hebrew and Aramaic, a way of saying a human being. In Daniel 7:13 it names a figure like a human who receives rule from the Ancient of Days.
- Court tale
- A story of a faithful person serving in a foreign royal court, as in Daniel 1 to 6 and in Esther.
- Pseudonymous
- Written in the name of an earlier figure. Many apocalypses outside the Bible are pseudonymous, and scholars debate whether Daniel is.
Background
Daniel is placed among the Writings in the Hebrew Bible and among the prophets in Christian Bibles. Its first half (chapters 1 to 6) tells how Daniel and his friends serve at the court of Babylon and Persia and refuse to compromise their faith. They survive a fiery furnace and a den of lions. In Daniel 2 the king dreams of a statue with a head of gold, chest of silver, belly of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron and clay, which is struck by a stone and shattered. The second half (chapters 7 to 12) records Daniel’s visions.
The book is written in two languages. It begins in Hebrew, switches to Aramaic from 2:4 to the end of chapter 7, and returns to Hebrew for chapters 8 to 12. The reason is not known. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles also contain additional Greek passages: the Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three, the story of Susanna, and the story of Bel and the Dragon.
Apocalyptic writing appears in Judaism from about the third century BC, though its roots lie in earlier prophets such as Ezekiel and Zechariah and in Isaiah 24 to 27. Outside the Bible, books such as 1 Enoch belong to the same family. The New Testament book of Revelation draws heavily on Daniel.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: The marks of the genre
Apocalypses share several features. They report a revelation, often in dreams or visions, mediated by an angel who interprets the images. They use symbols, such as beasts for kingdoms and horns for kings. They survey history in sections, often in sets of four kingdoms or ages. They describe a decisive intervention by God, judgment of the wicked and reward of the faithful, sometimes including resurrection. They are usually written for people under pressure, to assure them that the evil they see will not last.
Apocalyptic differs from older prophecy in several ways. Prophets typically address the nation in a historical crisis with a call to repent, while apocalypses view history as a whole, expect a radical break, and rely on heavenly mediators. The two overlap, and scholars regard apocalyptic as growing out of prophecy.
Step 2: The visions of Daniel
In Daniel 7, the prophet sees four beasts rise from the sea. The fourth is terrible and has ten horns, and a little horn speaks arrogantly. Then thrones are set up, the Ancient of Days takes his seat, the books are opened, and the beast is destroyed. One like the son of man comes with the clouds of heaven and receives everlasting dominion (Daniel 7:13 and 14). The interpreting angel says that the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom.
In chapter 8, a ram with two horns, identified as Media and Persia, is defeated by a goat, identified as Greece, whose great horn breaks into four. In chapter 9, Daniel prays for Jerusalem and is told of seventy weeks decreed for the city, a passage that has received many interpretations. Chapters 10 to 12 describe conflicts between kings of the north and south in great detail, and conclude with a promise that many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame (Daniel 12:2). This is one of the clearest statements of resurrection in the Old Testament.
Step 3: The debate over date
The traditional view places Daniel in the sixth century BC, written by Daniel himself in the exile. Supporters point to the book’s own setting, the sequence of Babylonian and Persian kings, the Aramaic of the book, which they compare with fifth-century Aramaic, and the claim that God can reveal the future in detail.
Most critical scholars place the final form of the book in the 160s BC, during the persecution under Antiochus IV. They point to the detailed and accurate account of the Greek kings in chapter 11 up to Antiochus, which ends with a prediction of his death that does not match what happened. They also note some errors about Babylonian history in the stories, the presence of Greek loanwords in the instruments of chapter 3, the placing of the book among the Writings, and the absence of Daniel from the praise of famous men in Sirach 44 to 50. The ancient pagan writer Porphyry argued for a second-century date already in the third century AD, and the church father Jerome replied to him.
A student can note that the dating is argued with real evidence on each side. Believers hold either view and affirm the book’s inspiration. The date affects whether the visions are read as long-range prediction or as a message of hope to those under Antiochus.
Step 4: What the book was for
Under Antiochus, according to 1 Maccabees, the temple was defiled, Torah observance was banned and some Jews were killed for refusing to eat unclean food. Daniel 1 to 6 offers models of faithful resistance, and chapters 7 to 12 promise that God will end the persecution and vindicate the faithful, even those who die. This message shaped Jewish hope for resurrection and the new age.
The book thus functions as consolation. It does not give a timetable for people to follow. It tells readers that empires rise and fall, and that the Most High rules the kingdom of men.
- What are the main features of an apocalypse?
- How does an apocalypse differ from the sermons of Amos or Jeremiah?
- What do the stories in Daniel 1 to 6 teach about living in a foreign land?
- What are the two main dates proposed for Daniel, and what are the best arguments for each?
- Why is Daniel 12:2 important in the history of belief in resurrection?
- How would the visions have been heard by people under Antiochus?
Examples
The fiery furnace
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to bow to the king’s golden image and are thrown into the furnace. They say that God is able to deliver them, and if not, they will still not serve the king’s gods (Daniel 3:17 and 18). The answer shows faithfulness not dependent on rescue.
The statue of four metals
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream describes a statue of four materials. Daniel explains the head of gold as Babylon. Traditional interpreters often take the other parts as Persia, Greece and Rome, while many critical scholars take them as Media, Persia, Greece and a divided Greek successor. Both readings see God’s kingdom replacing human empires.
The little horn
The little horn in Daniel 7 and 8 is taken by most critical scholars to be Antiochus IV. Many traditional readers take the little horn in chapter 7 as a later figure, such as Rome or an end-time ruler. The difference affects the whole reading of the book.
Different perspectives
Jewish readers
Traditional Jewish interpreters ascribe Daniel to the exile, while recognizing its place among the Writings. Medieval commentators debated the identification of the kingdoms. Modern Jewish scholars commonly accept the second-century date. The book is the source of Jewish belief in resurrection and the age to come.
Catholic and Orthodox readers
Both include the Greek additions. The Church holds that the book is inspired and allows scholarly dating. Daniel’s vision of the son of man is read in the light of Christ’s use of the title, and the story of Susanna is read in Lent.
Protestant readers
Many conservative Protestants defend the sixth-century date and read the visions as foretelling the Roman Empire and the end of the age. Many mainline Protestants and some evangelicals accept the second-century date. The seventy weeks of chapter 9 are read in several ways, and dispensationalists give them a central role.
Scholarly views
The prevailing critical view is that chapters 1 to 6 are older tales gathered and that chapters 7 to 12 were composed or completed in the Maccabean crisis. Dissenting scholars argue for an earlier date and a unified composition.
Why it matters
Daniel and its descendants have shaped Jewish and Christian hope more than almost any other book. Revelation, the language of resurrection and many ideas about history’s end take their images from it. Knowing what kind of writing it is, and what situation it addressed, helps a reader avoid both dismissing it and treating it as a code for current events.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Apocalyptic writing is a way of predicting the future date by date.
Correction: It is a form of consolation under pressure that uses symbol to say that God rules history. Attempts to calculate exact dates have repeatedly failed.
Misunderstanding: Daniel is placed with the prophets in every Bible.
Correction: In the Hebrew Bible it is among the Writings. Christian Bibles put it among the prophets.
Misunderstanding: A late date for Daniel means it is a forgery with no value.
Correction: Many believers who accept the later date regard the book as inspired literature in an ancient form. Others hold the earlier date. Both groups hold the book’s message as Scripture.
Knowledge check
What is apocalyptic writing?
It is a form of writing that reports a revelation, often a vision explained by an angel, and uses symbols to show that God will end the rule of evil and reward the faithful. It surveys history in stages, expects a decisive break and often includes resurrection. It arises among people under pressure, and Daniel is the main example in the Old Testament.
What are the two parts of the book of Daniel?
Chapters 1 to 6 are stories about Daniel and his friends in the courts of Babylon and Persia, including the furnace and the lions’ den, written about Daniel in the third person. Chapters 7 to 12 report visions that Daniel sees in the first person, of beasts, a ram and goat, seventy weeks and conflicts among kings, ending with promises of resurrection.
Why do many scholars date Daniel to the second century BC?
Chapter 11 describes Greek kings in great detail up to Antiochus IV and then predicts his death in a way that does not match history, which suggests the writer lived in his time. There are Greek loanwords, some historical errors about Babylon, and the book’s place among the Writings and absence from Sirach’s list. Defenders of the earlier date answer each of these.
What does Daniel 12:2 say, and why does it matter?
It says that many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. It is among the clearest statements of resurrection in the Hebrew Bible, and it shaped Jewish hope in the Second Temple period and the New Testament’s teaching.
Think it through
- Why might people under persecution need a vision of the end of history?
- What does the scene of the furnace say about faith that does not depend on rescue?
- How does the date of a book change the way you read it?
- What are the dangers of reading symbolic visions as a timetable?
Independent assignment
Daniel 7 in two settings
In your own notebook, read Daniel 7. Write 150 to 250 words describing how the vision would be heard by exiles in the sixth century, and 150 to 250 words describing how it would be heard by Jews under Antiochus. Then add 100 words naming what remains common to both. Keep it for yourself.
Further study
- Jewish Publication Society, The Hebrew Bible in English (JPS translation) Read Daniel 1 through 3, 7 and 12.
- Bruce M. Metzger, The Canon of the New Testament Read for the placement of Daniel and the Greek additions in the canons.
- Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth Read the chapter on the prophets and the discussion of apocalyptic.
- Daniel 3 The furnace.
- Daniel 7 The four beasts and one like the son of man.
- Daniel 12 The promise of resurrection.
- Revelation 1 The New Testament apocalypse.