The Book of Daniel

Okay, last time, I hinted that we would finally get to Michael the Archangel. And, quel surprise! It is actually going to happen without my launching off into a lovely 40 page digression on something wholly irrelevant. (Will wonders never cease?)

Anyway, you’ll recall that I said that Israel-Judah endured some very hard times between, roughly, 300 BCE and late antiquity. One of the nastier episodes during this period occurred when Antiochus IV attempted to force the Judean people to become Hellenized. That led, of course, to a revolution and the Maccabees.

But, during this period, we suddenly get the Book of Daniel.* Or the second part of it, anyway.

The Book of Daniel is weird. It’s divided into two main sections. Chapters 1–6 are set in Babylon and are the adventures of Daniel and his friends (the famous Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) as they navigate the dangerous world of Babylonian Court politics. It’s here, for instance, that we have the fiery furnace into which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are tossed, but which they survive, and the Lion’s Den, which Daniel similarly survives. These are romantic tales and have as their moral the that Jews can survive and even flourish, as Jews, in exile. And, some scholars suspect that the chapters, or at the stories told in them, actually date back to the Captivity. That is to say, back to 500 BCE, or there’s about.

About the image: Here we have Daniel in the Lion’s Den. You’ll recall that in the story Daniel has been cast into a den of lions due to the machinations of his enemies. However, God causes the lions to be tame and not to harm the prophet, something which will actually increase Daniel’s standing with King Darius. This particular painting of incident, “Daniel's Answer to the King,” is Birton Riviére and dates from 1890. It is believed to be in the public domain. (See: Briton Rivière - intaglio-fine-art.com, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12164199)

But then...we get to Chapters 7–12. This is much younger, dating to 167–164 BCE, or (again) right in the middle of the Maccabean Revolution.

It is also very, very different from the rest of the book. No longer do we have Daniel and his friends experiencing life in a Babylonian palace. Rather, we have Daniel receiving visions...and they are terrifying.

It begins in Chapter 7. Without preamble, with no explanation, we simply read that “In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed.”

And what a dream it is! He sees a great world ocean, from which four horrific beasts arise. One is like a Lion with an Eagle’s wings, one is like a Bear, one is like a Leopard with four wings and four heads, and one...the most horrible...is simply The Beast, “...dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth...” Each of the lesser beasts is overthrown, and only the Great Beast remains.

Then, in his vision, Daniel sees “The Ancient of Days,” in effect, God, who is magnificent beyond words,

His throne was flaming with fire,

and its wheels were all ablaze.

A river of fire was flowing,

coming out from before him.

Thousands upon thousands attended him;

ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. (Daniel 7:9-10)

The Great Beast is then destroyed and thrown into the “Blazing fire.” After that, a mysterious figure, “The Son Of Man,” enters the scene and is given authority over the whole world.

Needless to say, poor Daniel is a bit puzzled by all of this. But, a mysterious angel (not named, but assumed to be Gabriel) appears and explains. The four beasts are, respectively, Babylon, Persia, Alexander the Great and Greece, and, finally, a nation which is more powerful and more corrupt than all that came before, not named but probably is either Seleucid Syria or, maybe more likely, Rome.

In the end, though, the Angel assures Daniel, the Great Beast will be destroyed by the Ancient of Days and the world will be ruled by the benevolent Son Of Man.

In the next chapter, Daniel 8, he again has more visions, and again they are mysterious and strange. And, once more, there is a wicked prince. Again, an angel appears to tell what he is seeing. But, now, the angel is named. He is Gabriel -- the first angel ever *named* in the Bible.

In chapter nine, we find more of the same. Again, Daniel sees visions of the End, and again Gabriel explains what’s going on.

But, then...in chapter 10...Daniel will mourn, Gabriel will be delayed, and, Michael...

At last...

Will appear.

Footnote:

* I ought to preface by saying that here we have one of the places where Biblical Literalists and Biblical scholars disagree. According to many Literalists, the whole of Daniel was written during the Babylonian Captivity or shortly thereafter, and relates the true story of the Prophet Daniel and his companions while in Babylon during the Captivity. As such, they say, it was probably written as early 600 BC, and certainly not much later than that.

Most scholars, on the other hand, feel that the Book (or at the very least, the second part of it) was written no later than the 2nd Century BCE.

To keep everyone happy, let’s say that the Court stories in the first part of the Book of Daniel may, indeed, have been told or first recorded during or shortly after the Babylonian Captivity, but that the second Book of Daniel as we know it was written or at least edited much later, perhaps during the reign of Antiochus IV.

***

Care to help out?

I provide these blog postings for free. That’s fine and I’m happy to do so. But, long ago and far away, I was told that if you give away your material, that means you don’t really think it has any value.

So, to get beyond that, I’ve decided to make it possible for you to leave me a “tip” for my posts.

If you like what I write or the videos I produce, and feel you could make a small contribution to support my efforts, please go here:

https://michaeljaytucker.gumroad.com/l/lzumj

That will take you to a Gumroad page where you’ll have the option of leaving me a few pence by way of encouragement.

Again, I don’t mind if you don’t. I just want to provide you with the option so that I won’t feel quite so much like I’m just tossing my works into the wind.

Either way, thanks hugely for dropping by the blog :-)

~mjt

#StampOutEnnui #MichaelJayTucker #MarthaTucker #MarthaAndMichaelChronicles #StompEnnuiLikeItWasABug #explosive_cargo #Xcargo #StampOutEnnui #MichaelJayTucker #MarthaTucker #MarthaAndMichaelChronicles #StompEnnuiLikeItWasABug #explosive_cargo #Xcargo #Saint_Michael #Michael_The_Archangel #Angels #The_Bible #Bible #Biblical_Archaeology #Book_of_Daniel #Angelology #Apocalyptic_Literature #Ancient_Religion #Ancient_Israel #Israelite_Religion #Religion #Church_History #Religious_History #Folk_Religion #Popular_Religion #Archangel #Archangels #Christianity #Judaism #Jewish_History #Theology #Resheph #Hasmoneans #Maccabees #Daniel #Book_of_Daniel