Daniel
Daniel and his friends serve in Babylon and Persia, and receive visions of the kingdoms of the world and God’s kingdom.
What the sources say, and how sure we are
- The text says
The book is set in Babylon from 605 BC to the third year of Cyrus. Chapters 2:4b–7:28 are in Aramaic and the rest in Hebrew. Daniel is told to seal the book until the time of the end.Dan 1:1; Dan 10:1; Dan 12:4
- Outside evidence
The Nabonidus Chronicle and other Babylonian texts show that Belshazzar governed Babylon as crown prince while his father Nabonidus was away in Arabia. This fits Daniel 5, where Belshazzar offers to make someone “third ruler.” No outside record names Darius the Mede, and his identity is debated.Nabonidus Chronicle; Dan 5:16; Dan 6:1
- Outside evidence
Copies of Daniel found at Qumran date from the late second century BC.4QDana; 4QDanc
- Debated
Traditionally the book was written by Daniel in the 6th century BC. Many scholars date it to about 167–164 BC, during Antiochus IV’s persecution, because chapter 11 describes the Seleucid and Ptolemaic kings in detail, and because of historical questions about Belshazzar and Darius the Mede. Defenders of the early date argue that the book predicts these events and that those questions have answers. In the Hebrew Bible, Daniel stands among the Writings, not the Prophets.Dan 11
- Debated
The identity of the fourth kingdom in chapters 2 and 7 (Rome or Greece), and the meaning of the “seventy weeks” in chapter 9, are interpreted in several ways.Dan 2; Dan 7; Dan 9:24–27
- Christian conclusion
Jesus calls himself the Son of Man, language that echoes Daniel 7:13–14.Dan 7:13–14; Mark 14:62