Daniel's Visions and the Writing on the Wall

There is so much going on in these chapters that is over my head, and I am choosing to leave those alone in favor of some aspects of the reading that were within my realm of understanding. that said, you're on your own to analyze the meaning of the four beasts, the ram and goat, and MENE MENE TEKEL PARSIN. The Bible gives an explanation of what each vision means, but there is much scholarly debate about which kingdoms are referred to, and whether or not "horns" refer to specific kings or to kingdoms at large. Prophecy is tricky, and it hurts my head.

What interests me, are the "apologetic" angles dealing with the controversy over the dating of Daniel as well as some of the characters included. Many skeptics challenge the Biblical date of the book (around 530 BC), stating that it must have been written somewhere around 150 to 165 BC. Their reasoning includes the fact that Daniel used many Greek words, which is considered evidence of the prevalence of Greek culture after Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire in 331 BC. However, Daniel uses Greek words only in reference to musical instruments. If the book had been written after the Greek subjugation of Persia, it would be expected to contain a much higher percentage of Greek terminology.

Another element of controversy involves numerous fragments of the book of Daniel found with the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran. Fragments of all but one of the chapters of the book of Daniel have been found at Qumran and dated at approximately 150 to 100 BC. Skeptics believe that this evidence corroborates the later date for Daniel. However, nothing found at Qumran is thought to be an original writing. Therefore, since what was found was a COPY, it cannot be known when the original manuscript was generated. The mere existence of a copy must take into account time for the origination of the text, it's initial distribution, social acceptance, and informal "canonizing", meaning that it had to have been circulated widely enough to be considered a valuable text worth copying. To copy something the length of Daniel at this time in history was an enormous task that would not have been undertaken but for a book of great importance. And since books do not become important overnight, we can assume that considerable time had elapsed before the copies found at Qumran were made. So while there has not yet been found a document that definitively places Daniel in the 6th century BC, common sense must place it much earlier than the 1st century BC date proposed by skeptics.

Now for the disputed character from Daniel... In the opening sentence of chapter seven, Daniel mentions a king by the name of Belshazzar. Until recently, there was no extra-Biblical evidence that Belshazzar existed, which skeptics deemed cause to discredit the book of Daniel. But in 1879, an artifact known as the Nabonidus Cylinder was discovered in a ziggurat in UR, which contained a reference to Belshazzar as Nabonidus's son who reigned in his extended absence. Recall that Belshazzar offered Daniel the third highest position in the kingdom if he could interpret the handwriting on the wall? This makes sense given that Nabonidus had the top position, Belshazzar was his second in command, and the third highest position was the best that Belshazzar could offer to Daniel.

I think findings like this are incredibly exciting. And for a questioning mind like mine, it gives me hope to think that some of the difficulties in the Bible will someday be resolved by archaeological discoveries that will corroborate the Biblical record. At the time of their discovery, the Dead Sea Scrolls predated the earliest known Biblical manuscripts by 1000 years, and by the near-exact match, lent credence to the inerrancy of Scripture transmission over the years. Though we don't hear much about it, archaeology is proving rather than discrediting, the truth of the Bible!

Tomorrow's reading: Daniel 6, 9; 2 Chron. 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-11; 1 Chron. 3:17-19