KINGDOM WORK

INTRODUCTION

TO THE BIBLE BOOK OF DANIEL

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The book of Daniel is an amazing prophetic book of the Bible. Within its pages, nations, events and even individual people were foretold ... often decades or hundreds of years before they actually stepped out upon the scene of human history. It is the apocalyptic book of the Old Testament as Revelation is the apocalyptic book of the New Testament. The word, Apocalyptic comes from the word apocalypse, referring to disasters or doom or ... as is the case of Daniel and Revelation ... speaking about the end of the world. So, Daniel and Revelation predict many of the same events and personalities that are predicted to come in world history. Therefore, they go hand in glove together and are both essential in arriving at a complete picture of the Bible’s presentation of end times (eschatology).

The Greek word translated Revelation in Rev. 1:1, is Ἀποκάλυψις (apocalupses). It means unveiling or uncovering ... a pulling back of the curtain, so to speak, in order to reveal things that were previously unknown. It involves the following elements:

    1.  A revelation that comes about through a dream or vision. The book of Zachariah also falls into this category, recording several such visions.

    2.  A revelation that comes through the use of symbols. If the reader is unfamiliar with the Bible, it can be difficult to determine which is symbolic and which is not.

    3.  Revelations of the future of God's chosen people. With great specificity, Daniel predicts many things that will happen to God's chosen people (the Jews). Many of Daniel's predictions have already come to pass ... just as Daniel prophesied ... and others that are still yet to come.

    4.  Predictions written in a prose style ... rather than a poetic style.

As a youth, Daniel was taken as a captive out of Jerusalem by the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. This took place in the first deportation of the Jews around the year 606 BC. There were two more invasions and deportations by king Nebuchadnezzar when Jews who were left in Palestine attempted to rebel. The third time Nebuchadnezzar had to return to put down a rebellion at Jerusalem, he was so angry at the Jews that he completely destroyed the city and literally plowed the ground before he returned home again.

Jesus called Daniel a prophet in Matthew 24:15, and so he was. His writings are filled with prophecy. However, during his lifetime, Daniel never held official office or title of prophet as did, for example, Isaiah or Amos. The distinction is that Daniel was not actually a spokesman for God to God's people, the Jews. Rather, he was God's spokesman to the Gentiles (non-Jews). All his adult life, he was a statesman in a Gentile court. Therefore, the book of Daniel was not placed among the "prophetic" books by the Jews, but was placed among the "historic" books.

Daniel lived during the time of two great world empires ... Babylon and Persia (including Medo-Persia). Under those kingdoms, he served under several kings ... beginning with Nebuchadnezzar in 606 BC, and ending with the reign of Cyrus around 536 BC. He was well known among the Jewish people. Ezekiel mentions him in his prophecy in Ezekiel 14:14, 20 and 28:3.

Daniel wrote his book using two languages. The lion's share is in Hebrew but there is a good amount of Aramaic. He goes from Hebrew to Aramaic and then back to Hebrew again. The use of these two languages provide a neat separation for outlining the book as follows:

          1.  1-2:4a (in Hebrew) ... containing Daniel’s account of Nebuchadnezzar's expedition and Daniel and his friends' subsequent experiences in Nebuchadnezzar's court in Babylon. Logically, this was written in Daniel's native tongue of Hebrew.   

          2.  2:4b-7:28 (in Aramaic) ... containing Daniel’s prophecies concerning the great Gentile empires that were to come and impact the Jewish people and accentuates their character, relations, successions and destinies. Thus the language used is the Gentile tongue of Aramaic.

           3.  8:1-12:13 (in Hebrew) ... containing Daniel’s prophecies of God's future program for his Jewish people. Consequently, the language reverts back to Hebrew.

Early records confirm that the book was indeed written by Daniel. As far as can be determined, every Jew and early Christian attributed the book to Daniel. Even Josephus, the secular Roman historian of the first century, does so. The authorship and date of the book was first challenged around AD 300, by the anti-Christian philosopher, Porphyry. Porphyry saw that the book of Daniel foretold many historical events that occurred between 600 BC and AD 70  ... especially things during the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, the "Madman". Thus, Porphyry concluded that the book of Daniel must then have been written after the events it recorded saying that it was merely written to comfort the Jews in their suffering and as a prop for their religion. His reasoning was, After all, no one can foretell the future! This is a stubborn view that is still held by secularists and theological liberals who deny the historicity, prophecies and miracles of the Bible. I will not go into detail about the arguments put forward by these critics who wish to relegate this beautiful and historic prophecy to just another Jewish apocalyptic fantasy. If the reader would like to do further study in this area, I would highly recommend the book, In and Around the Book of Daniel by Charles Boutflower. He takes these critics "head on" and does a masterful job of laying out the case for the historicity and authorship of Daniel. Dr. Herbert Lockyer says of his book, ...there is no other that can compare with Boutflower's masterly work for a right understanding of the historical background of Daniel's prophecy.

Another great defender of the authorship of Daniel was the studious Jerome, translator of the Latin Vulgate.

Modern archeology has put to rest many of the critic's objections to the book of Daniel by uncovering records that show the uncanny historical accuracy of Daniel's prophecies. The East India House Inscription at the British Museum, is an example. This stone block, covered with finely carved cuneiform, was found in the ruins of Babylon sometime before 1801 and was given to the representative of the East India Company in Baghdad (hence its modern name). It records Nebuchadnezzar's desire to glorify his god, Marduk, by his many construction projects in his capital, Babylon, and the nearby city of Borsippa.

Let me repeat … Jesus referred to Daniel's authorship in Matthew 24:15. His stamp of authenticity is proof enough for me. How about you? Someone has said, If I cannot believe Christ, it doesn't make much difference what I believe about Daniel! I might add, or anything else for that matter!

Finally, throughout Kingdom Work, Daniel's text, along with any other scriptures that are referred to are printed out for you. Everything is right there at the reader's finger tips. You will not need to look anything up or necessarily even have a Bible in your hand. I use the New King James Version of the Bible here in King's Work and I have taken the liberty to underline and bold print it for added emphasis. For what it is worth, I have also consulted the NIV but, it being an equivalent translation rather than a literal one, I concluded that the NKJV was the better text to use for study. When interpreting prophecy, each and every word is of vital importance, you see. One needs to know exactly what God said, not roughly what he said, as would be the case if we were using the NIV or any other equivalent version.  

     Also, throughout Kingdom Work, where the latest Greek scholarship throws new light on the biblical text, the reader will find the designation "NU" which refers to two classic updated works on the original language and manuscripts of the New Testament. The N stands for the twenty-sixth edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament and the U stands for the third edition of the United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament, The New Testament Text. So, the reader of Kingdom Work will be able to see where the latest Greek scholarship has clarified or improved on the translation of the New King James Version. This is in accordance with another sound principle of hermeneutics, by the way. It is the rule of the priority of the original languages. This rule states that when one is handling a translation from one language to another and doubt or questions arise, the only reliable way to discover the author's true meaning is to look to the original language he was writing in to find the answer. That would be Greek in the New Testament and Hebrew and a smattering of Aramaic in the Old Testament. NU helps us a great deal in that regard. 

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