Daniel Daniel
Daniel
Introduction
At a Glance
Author: Unknown, but probably Daniel in part
Audience: Universal—Daniel speaks to all those who face conflicting and complex moral decisions
Date: Israel in exile—605 BC and following
Type of Literature: Heroic literature and apocalyptic literature
Major Themes: Faithfulness in a hostile culture, Yahweh’s sovereignty over all kings and empires, Yahweh’s preservation of his people, an apocalyptic key to current and future geopolitical events
Outlines: The book of Daniel can be divided in several ways:
• Genre Divisions:
• Heroic Morality Stories — 1:1–6:28
• Apocalyptic Visions — 7:1–12:13
• Linguistic Divisions:
• Hebrew — 1:1–2:4a
• Aramaic — 2:4b–7:28
• Hebrew — 8:1–12:13
• Chiastic Structure: # This chiastic structure is based on Paul Redditt’s work. See Paul L. Redditt, Introduction to the Prophets (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008).
A: 2:4b–49 A dream of four kingdoms replaced by a fifth
B: 3:1–30 Daniel’s three friends in the fiery furnace
C: 4:1–37 Daniel interprets a dream for Nebuchadnezzar
C1: 5:1–31 Daniel interprets the handwriting on the wall for Belshazzar
B1: 6:1–28 Daniel in the lions’ den
A1: 7:1–28 A vision of four world kingdoms replaced by a fifth
About Daniel
The book of Daniel brings major ethical and spiritual themes into sharp focus. It is literally timeless. One can picture such colorful morality tales being told around campfires for countless centuries before Daniel ever lived. Powerful narrative stories (e.g., Jesus’ parables) do more to shape our souls than any list of sterile rules; they stir the heart and transform behavior. Every so often, someone in history emerges who embodies these timeless values in a way that can only be described as inspired. These heroes absorb these perennial narrative themes and amplify them, and the tales of their exploits reverberate for millennia, empowering the moral compass of all who hear the stories.
Enter Daniel. Precocious and wise beyond his years, this young Israelite man was taken away to Babylon, the oppressor’s seat of power. Jerusalem was headed for destruction, and conquering empires seemed to have more authority than the “defeated” God of Israel.
Daniel’s life and renown prevailed across several “continental divides.” The first generation of exiles spoke Hebrew, but their children preferred the language of the conquerors, Aramaic, which, in the middle of Daniel’s life, overwhelmed the ancient language of King David and the Psalms. Hebrew was never to be widely heard again in normal public conversation until the modern Zionist movement of contemporary Israel revived it. The book of Daniel is the only truly bilingual book of the Old Testament, with several chapters written in Hebrew and the rest written in Aramaic. Interestingly, Jesus spoke Aramaic at home, the language of the Babylonian conquerors. Hebrew, by his time, was reserved for study and the synagogue.
Daniel also survived and thrived during the clash of massive imperial cultures, floating to the top of society among the Babylonian conquerors (the destroyers of Jerusalem in 587 BC) and then to that of their conquerors, the Persians. If Daniel were alive today, he would rise to his rightful place in any society as the adviser to leaders of empires.
The second half of the book is written in the apocalyptic genre. “Apocalyptic” has taken on a disastrous and negative tone in modern English, a tone that would have been foreign to the original readers. This Greek word means, literally, “un-hidden” or “revealed.” Events have no meaning in themselves; it is the narrative (story) that gives significance to facts and understanding to the reader. Apocalyptic literature does exactly that. It uses vivid imagery to help explain what is happening all around the reader. Much like prophecy, which is God speaking truth into a present situation that also has future implications, apocalyptic literature can help us discern what is going on all around us, even thousands of years later.
Purpose
The compilers of this book (it is hotly debated among scholars who they were and when they edited) wanted to preserve, in permanent form, the exploits and insights of Daniel for the benefit of all who find themselves in challenging surroundings.
For Daniel, it was never “choose God over the enemy” or “collaborate with the enemy and forget God.” Rather, it was all about finding clever and creative ways, led by Yahweh’s direct guidance backing up Daniel’s positive and unshakable faith, to honor the complex and seemingly contradictory demands of his position without bowing to the culture’s moral pressures.
We all face such pressures as adults. The morals that we were taught in church, the values of much of our society, the pressures of government and media, and our own inner compass often conflict. Can we bend the rules? Will God provide a way out when we are in a jam (1 Cor. 10:13)? Can we stay loyal to a boss, to a company and its goals, while maintaining the integrity of Spirit-led believers? Heroically, Daniel always found a way, without compromising, to balance competing value systems and even worldviews, languages, and cultures. Daniel was always a “both/and” thinker in a world of “either/or” choices. And he did it all without ever being unfaithful to the God of Israel.
Author and Audience
The authorship of this book has baffled scholars since its first reading. Questionable third-language (Greek) segments have been rejected or embraced by different Christian traditions. Jewish and Protestant believers have canonized only the Hebrew and Aramaic portions of Daniel. Roman Catholic and many Eastern Orthodox believers include the Greek portions.
In the first part of the book (chs. 1–6), Daniel appears, at first glance, to be the protagonist and not the author of the book; it reads more like a biography than an autobiography. The second half of Daniel (chs. 7–12) expresses deeply personal revelatory visions, words, and interpretations given directly to Daniel. Thus Daniel played, at the very least, a generative role in the production of the second half of the book.
How the book came to be in its present form is a great mystery. This is compounded by the language problem. The first part of Daniel is written in Hebrew, the middle is in Aramaic, and the last chapters are again in Hebrew. And these linguistic divisions do not correspond—at all—to the chapter divide between chapters 1–6 heroic tales and chapters 7–12 apocalyptic visions. The truth is that most theories about the formation of Daniel are just educated guesses. The important lesson is that we can apply the unparalleled moral and spiritual wisdom of this fantastically unique man to the challenges every human being faces. The book of Daniel is eminently useful.
In any case, the final chiastic form of the book (see “Outlines” above) is truly a literary masterpiece that makes the previous genre and linguistic divisions pale in comparison. Was this sophisticated structure produced by Daniel himself or a brilliant later editor? The evidence is inconclusive, but the result is magnificent and universally helpful even, or perhaps especially, today.
It is best to read Daniel with a warning label: You won’t be able to forget the stories—their spiritual and ethical tensions live on in every human life.
The original audience was the tiny remnant of King David’s once mighty Israel. They had survived captivity in Babylon and Persia and, through the efforts of Ezra, Nehemiah, and others, were bravely attempting to reconstitute and rebuild their nation. They were not masters of their own destiny and continued to have to negotiate with the foreigners who were in charge. The first readers of Daniel were trying to find creative ways to remain faithful to God without needlessly provoking those in authority around them. They also yearned to understand their place in the continuous tug-of-war between the grand empires that marched through on a regular basis.
Major Themes
Faithfulness in a Hostile Culture. Can I work for a boss who is hostile to my Christian faith? How do I behave as a believing student in a secular university? What do I do when invited to events that are at odds with my worldview? How do I interact with people living non-biblical lifestyles?
These kinds of questions are getting more and more attention as much of the developed world is losing touch with its Christian roots. Daniel himself is an outstanding role model for us as we try to find a creative path between the ditches of (1) disengaging from secular society altogether or (2) blending in with the world. Jesus calls us to be salt and light for a world lacking both. There are seasons in history, like ours and Daniel’s, when this can be very challenging. The book of Daniel doesn’t give us simple answers for these dilemmas but rather shows us that, with God’s help and guidance, we can take part in society and remain faithful to the Lord.
Yahweh’s Sovereignty over All Kings and Empires. The book of Daniel asserts this during a time when it was anything but obvious. No one would have thought that the people of God would prevail over the Babylonians and the Persians. But they did. With churches closing all over North America and Europe, it may appear that we are headed for retreat and eventual failure. The truth is, empires and ideologies come and go, but there can only be one Creator God, composing and directing the reality around us.
Yahweh’s Preservation of His People. Jerusalem had been destroyed by the Babylonians. Solomon’s Temple was razed into a rubble heap. In captivity, Israel’s children were starting to prefer Aramaic, the language of the conquerors, over Hebrew, the language of the Torah and the great stories of God’s mighty acts. In fact, we see this linguistic shift happening right in the middle of the book of Daniel. The people of Israel were forced to ask themselves: “Who are we without our temple and our language?” They had to dig deeper and find a path to God that did not depend on either one. If the external supports of our faith (churches, Christian literature, etc.) were stripped away, how would we maintain our faith? How would we teach our faith to our children if they would rather not speak English? Yahweh has a dynamic plan of salvation for the faithful remnant, even if all seems lost.
An Apocalyptic Key to Current and Future Geopolitical Events. The original readers of the book were living in tumultuous times. Mighty empires were battling for supremacy in the ancient Near East. Tiny Israel was just trying to survive. They needed assurance that their God was still on the throne amid all this chaos and that he would make everything right in the end. The purpose of apocalyptic literature, like the second half of Daniel, is to address these kinds of issues. There are timeless truths in these chapters about God’s sovereignty and rule that are just as helpful to us as they were to the original reader.
The book of Daniel asserts, more clearly than any other Old Testament book, that there is an afterlife and a final judgment. The apocalyptic second half of the book illustrates a sorting out of the values that animate our faith in God and our ultimate hope. We begin to see that the highest of these values are perfectly manifested in a Messiah/Son of Man, exemplifying our abstract principles in a tangible person who will live among us and make everything right. The Light that led Daniel to great wisdom in navigating the dangerous waters of a pagan world would, in good time, find its ultimate embodiment in Christ, who lives among us to this day.
Daniel
The Seer
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