Summary: The book of Daniel predicts the destiny of two
opposing powers: The Kingdom of Men and the Kingdom of God, stressing that "the
Most High rules in the Kingdom of Men". Daniel's prophecies generally deal with
the nations that control Israel, from Daniel's day until the return of Christ.
Key verse: "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will
set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another
people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will
itself endure for ever" (Dan 2:44).
Outline
1. Prologue: the setting: Dan 1
a) Daniel and his friends taken captive: Dan
1:1-7
b) The young men are faithful: Dan 1:8-16
c) The young men are elevated to high positions: Dan
1:17-21
2. The destinies of the nations that rule Israel: Dan
2-7
a) Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a large statue: Dan 2
b) Nebuchadnezzar's gold image: Dan 3
c) Nebuchadnezzar's dream of an enormous tree: Dan 4
d) Belshazzar's and Babylon's downfall: Dan 5
e) Daniel's deliverance: Dan 6
f) Daniel's dream of four beasts: Dan 7
3. The destiny of the nation of Israel: Dan
8-12
a) Daniel's vision of a ram and a goat: Dan 8
b) Daniel's prayer and his vision of the 70 "sevens": Dan
9
c) Daniel's vision of a man: Dan 10:1-11:1
d) Daniel's vision of the kings of the south and the north:
Dan 11:2-45
e) The end times: Dan 12
*****
Background
In 605 BC Prince Nebuchadnezzar led the Babylonian army of his
father Nabopolassar against the allied forces of Assyria and Egypt. He defeated
them at Carchemish near the top of the Fertile Crescent. This victory gave
Babylon supremacy in the ancient Near East. With Babylon's victory, Egypt's
vassals, including Judah, passed under Babylonian control. Shortly thereafter
that same year Nabopolassar died, and Nebuchadnezzar succeeded him as king.
Nebuchadnezzar then moved south and invaded Judah, also in 605 BC. He took some
royal and noble captives to Babylon including Daniel, whose name means "God is
my judge" or "God is judging" or "God will judge" (Dan 1:1-3), plus some of the
vessels from Solomon's temple (2Ch 36:7). This was the first of Judah's three
deportations in which the Babylonians took groups of Judahites to Babylon. The
king of Judah at that time was Jehoiakim (2Ki 24:1-4).
Jehoiakim's son Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah and Coniah)
succeeded him in 598 BC. Jehoiachin reigned only three months and 10 days (2Ch
36:9). Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah again. At the turn of the year, in 597 BC,
he took Jehoiachin to Babylon along with most of Judah's remaining leaders and
the rest of the national treasures including young Ezekiel (2Ki 24:10-17; 2Ch
36:10).
A third and final deportation took place approximately 11
years later, in 586 BC. Jehoiakim's younger brother Zedekiah, whose name
Nebuchadnezzar had changed to Mattaniah, was then Judah's puppet king. He
rebelled against Babylon's sovereignty by secretly making a treaty with Pharaoh
Hophra under pressure from Jewish nationalists (Jer 37; 38). After a two-year
siege, Jerusalem fell. Nebuchadnezzar returned to Jerusalem, burned the temple,
broke down the city walls, and took all but the poorest of the Jews captive to
Babylon. He also took Zedekiah prisoner to Babylon after he executed his sons
and put out the king's eyes at Riblah in Aramea (modern Syria; 2Ki 24:18 --
25:24).
Scope
Daniel, the main character from whom this book gets its name,
was probably only a teenager when he arrived in Babylon in 605 BC. The Hebrew
words used to describe him, the internal evidence of Dan 1, and the length of
his ministry seem to make this clear. He continued in office as a public servant
at least until 538 BC (Dan 1:21) and as a prophet at least until 536 BC (Dan
10:1). Thus the record of his ministry spans 70 years, the entire duration of
the Babylonian Captivity. He probably lived to be at least 85 years old and
perhaps older.
Writer
There is little doubt among conservative scholars that Daniel
himself wrote this book under the Holy Spirit's guidance. Probably he did so
late in his life, which could have been about 530 BC or a few years later.
Several Persian-derived governmental terms appear in the book. The presence of
these words suggests that the book received its final polishing after Persian
had become the official language of government. This would have been late in
Daniel's life. What makes Daniel's authorship quite clear is both internal and
external evidence.
Internally the book claims in several places that Daniel was
its writer (Dan 8:1; 9:2,20; 10:2). References to Daniel in the third person do
not indicate that someone else wrote about him. It was customary for ancient
authors of historical memoirs to write of themselves this way (cf Exo
20:2,7).
Language
Daniel is written in two languages, not just one. The Book is
written in Hebrew and in Aramaic:
* Dan 1:1 through 2:4a: Hebrew language
* Dan 2:4b through 7:28: Aramaic language
* Dan 8:1 through 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.