On Reading Daniel
The Message of Daniel for Our Times
John Mark Hicks
Woodmont Hills Church of Christ, Fall 2024
How do faithful servants of Yahweh bear witness to the reign of God surrounded by the intrigues of imperial power? How do the visions in Daniel assure a persecuted and/or exiled people that God still reigns? How might the stories of Daniel and his visions form us and equip us as servants of King Jesus today?
On one hand, the book of Daniel addresses a community living in a pagan, even hostile, environment. How do the people of God resist moral and religious assimilation to the culture in which they live? How do they maintain their faithful witness in a polytheistic, violent, and imperial culture? Whether the original readers were living in post-exilic Judea after the return from Babylonian exile or under the terror of a Seleucid ruler in the 160s BCE, the stories of Daniel and his friends model life in such a culture. And Daniel’s visions offer hope to a despairing and/or discouraged people.
On the other hand, Daniel bridges the Hebrew Bible and the Greek New Testament. The prophets of the Hebrew Bible speak to Israel before, during, and after the exile about their relationship with Yahweh, the God of Israel. In the Hebrew Bible, the book of Daniel is not included among the prophets. Rather, it is placed in “The Writings” (in distinction from the Torah and the Prophets–the three parts of the Hebrew canon). He is a royal counselor, a wise sage, and an interpreter of dreams but not formally a prophet (though the general sense of the term applies to him, cf. Matthew 24:15).
The content of Daniel, more than any other book in the Hebrew Bible, covers the history between the return from the exile to the appearance of Jesus. Daniel has visions that apply to “the end of days” (e.g., Daniel 2:28, whatever that means), a succession of empires over time (including–according to various interpretations–Babylon, Medes, Persians, Greeks, and Romans), and have messianic meaning (e.g., “son of Man” in Daniel 7:14). The book spans history from the time of Babylonian Exile to ministry of Jesus the Messiah.
The openings of the Gospels in the New Testament pick up where Daniel left off. Daniel’s visions describe the rise and fall of empires, and they also offer the hope of their demise at the hand of the reign of God in the world.
Consequently, we listen with both ears. We hear what faithful witness means for people struggling with cultural assimilation to idolatrous practices, and we hear a word of hope about the future when God will reign and deal a death blow to the kingdoms of this world.
Schedule
| Sep 4 | Introduction | On Reading Daniel |
| Sep 11 | Daniel 1 (605-604 BCE) | Daniel & Friends: Faithful Witnesses |
| Sep 18 | Daniel 2 (604-603 BCE) | Daniel: Interpreter of Dreams #1 (The Statue) |
| Sep 25 | Daniel 3 | Daniel’s Friends in the Fiery Furnace |
| Oct 2 | Daniel 4 | Daniel: Interpreter of Dreams #2 (The King) |
| Oct 9 | Daniel 5 (539 BCE) | Daniel in the Lion’s Den |
| Oct 16 | Daniel 6 | Daniel in the Lion’s Den |
| Oct 23 | Daniel 7:1-14 (550 BCE) | Daniel’s Vision #1: Four Beasts |
| Oct 30 | Daniel 7:15-28 (550 BCE) | Interpreting Daniel’s Dream |
| Nov 6 | Daniel 8 (550 BCE) | Daniel’s Vision #2: A Ram & A Goat |
| Nov 13 | Daniel 9:1-19 (539 BCE) | Daniel’s Confession and Petition |
| Nov 20 | Daniel 9:20-27 (539 BCE) | God’s Response: The Seventy Weeks |
| Nov 27 | (Thanksgiving—no class) | |
| Dec 4 | Daniel 10 (536 BCE) | Daniel’s Vision #3: Persia & Greece |
| Dec 11 | Daniel 11 (539 BCE) | Daniels Vision #4: Greece & ??? |
| Dec 18 | Daniel 12 | Daniel’s Vision #4 (Continued) |
Chronological Markers
| Text | Empire | Emperor |
| Daniel 1-4 | Babylon | Nebuchadnezzar (604-562 BCE) |
| Daniel 5 | Babylon | Belshazzar (553-539 BCE) |
| Daniel 6 | Medo-Persia | Darius the Mede (depends on identification) |
| Daniel 7 | Babylon | Belshazzar (553-539 BCE) |
| Daniel 8 | Babylon | Belshazzar (553-539 BCE) |
| Daniel 9 | Medo-Persia | Darius the Mede (depends on identification) |
| Daniel 10 | Medo-Persia | Cyrus the Great (559-530 BCE) |
| Daniel 11-12 | Medo-Persia | Darius the Mede (depends on identification) |
Empires and Dates Potentially Related to Daniel
| Empires | Dates |
| Neo-Babylonian Empire | 604-539 BCE |
| Medo-Persian Empire | 539-332 BCE |
| The Kingdom of the Medes | 612-550 BCE |
| The Kingdom of the Persians | 559-550 BCE |
| Hellenistic (Greek) Period | 332-37 BCE |
| [Hasmonean (Maccabean) Era] | 167-37 BCE (Israel/Judea) |
| Roman Empire | 37 BCE – 476 CE (Western Empire) |
The Structure of Daniel
Based on Genre.
| History: Narrative Prose | Prophecy: Apocalyptic Visions |
| Daniel 1 – Daniel Arrives in Babylon | Daniel 7 – Vision of the Four Kingdoms |
| Daniel 2 – Daniel Interprets Dreams | Daniel 8 – Vision of a Ram & a Goat |
| Daniel 3 – Friends in the Fiery Furnace | Daniel 9 – Vision of the 70 Weeks |
| Daniel 4 – Daniel Interprets Dreams | Daniel 10 – Vision Concerning Persia |
| Daniel 5 – Daniel Interprets a Sign | Daniel 11 – Vision Concerning Greece |
| Daniel 6 – Daniel in the Lion’s Den | Daniel 12 – Visions Concluded |
| Topic: Living in Exile as God’s People | Topic: Kingdoms in Conflict |
Based on Linguistics
| Hebrew | Aramaic | Hebrew |
| Daniel 1:1-2:4a | Daniel 2:4b-7:28 | Daniel 8-12 |
| Introduction to the Book | Heart of the Story | Concluding Visions |
Pattern of Daniel 2:4b-7:28 (The Heart of the Story)
| Daniel 2-4 | Topic | Daniel 5-6 |
| Daniel 2 Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream | Four Kingdoms and the Kingdom of God | Daniel 7 Daniel’s Vision |
| Daniel 3 Friends in the Firey Furnace | Testing and Deliverance of Persecuted Believers | Daniel 6 Daniel in the Lion’s Den |
| Daniel 4 Nebuchadnezzar’s Faith | Kings Respond to the God of Israel | Daniel 5 Belshazzar’s Unbelief |
The Aramaic section tells the story of Daniel’s relationship with the kings of the empires of Babylon and Medo-Persia. Aramaic was the court language in Babylon, and those chapters describe Daniel’s (and his friends) relationship to the Babylonian Court. Daniel is introduced by a Hebrew section from 1:1-2:4a, and Daniel concludes with visions in Hebrew (chapters 8-12) that expand the dreams about the four kingdoms in Daniel 2 & 7.