Daniel (biblical figure)

Daniel

Daniel's Answer to the King by Briton Rivière
Prophet
Born 7th Century BC
Died 6th Century BC
Susa (Iran)
Venerated in Judaism
Christianity
Islam[1]
Bahai Faith
Major shrine Tomb of Daniel, Susa, Iran
Feast July 21: Roman Catholicism
December 17: Greek Orthodoxy
Attributes Often depicted in the den of the lions

Daniel (Hebrew: דָּנִיֵּאל, Modern Daniyyel, Tiberian Dāniyyêl ; Greek: Δανιήλ, Hebrew "God is my Judge" is the fictional hero of the Bible's Book of Daniel (the consensus of modern scholars is that Daniel never existed).[2]

Daniel, a youth from Jerusalem, is taken into captivity in Babylon where he is brought up at the royal court and learns the arts of the mage and excels the Babylonian magicians, before being given a series of apocalyptic visions concerning the liberation of the Jewish people. The book contains some of the best-known stories from the Old Testament.[3]

Occurrences

The best known Daniel is the hero of the Book of Daniel who interprets dreams and receives apocalyptic visions. The consensus of modern scholars is that this Daniel never existed.[2] The Bible also briefly mentions three other individuals named Daniel:

  1. The Book of Ezekiel (14:14, 14:20 and 28:3) refers to a legendary Daniel famed for wisdom and righteousness. In chapter 20, Ezekiel says of the sinful land that "even if these three, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness." In chapter 28, Ezekiel taunts the king of Tyre, asking rhetorically, "art thou wiser than Daniel?"[2]
  2. Ezra 8:2 mentions a priest named Daniel who went from Babylon to Jerusalem with Ezra.[2]
  3. Daniel is a son of David mentioned at 1 Chronicles 3:1.

Origins

Daniel's name means "God (El) is my judge".[4] The name appears in the 6th century Book of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 14:14 and 20 and again at 28:3), where he is mentioned with Noah and Job as paragon of virtue.[4] It is possible that the author of the Book of Daniel chose the name Daniel for his hero because of his reputation.[4] "The legendary Daniel, known from long ago but still remembered as an exemplary character ... serves as the principal human hero in the biblical book that now bears his name."[5]

Daniel (Dn'il, or Danel) is also the name of a figure in the Aqhat legend from Ugarit.[2] (Ugarit was a Canaanite city destroyed around 1200 BCE–the tablet containing the story is dated c.1360 BCE).[6] This legendary Daniel is known for his righteousness and wisdom and a follower of the god El (hence his name), who made his will known through dreams and visions.[7] It is unlikely that Ezekiel knew the far older Canaanite legend, but it seems reasonable to suppose that some connection exists between the two.[8] The authors of the tales in the first half the Book of Daniel were likely also unaware of the Ugaritic Daniel and probably took the name of their hero from Ezekiel;[8] the author of the visions in the second half in turn took his hero's name from the tales.

Daniel in the Book of Daniel

Daniel refusing to eat at the King's table, early 1900s Bible illustration

Overview

The Book of Daniel begins with an introduction telling how Daniel and his companions came to be in Babylon, followed by a set of tales set in the Babylonian and Persian courts, followed in turn by a set of visions in which Daniel sees the remote future of the world and of Israel.[9] The tales in chapters 1-6 can be dated to the 3rd or early 2nd centuries BCE, and while there is an element of fantasy involved in their picture of the honour in which Daniel and his companions are held, it is not impossible that they reflect the milieu of upper-class Jews in Mesopotamia of the time.[10] It is generally accepted that these were expanded by the addition of the visions in chapters 8-12 between 167 and 164 BCE.[11]

Introduction: Daniel's induction into Babylon

The introductory verses tell how, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim (606 BCE), Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were among the young Jewish nobility carried off to Babylon following the city's capture by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.[5] (This, incidentally, is the first of a string of historical errors in the Book of Daniel which have led scholars to see its hero as a fictional character, since the meticulous Babylonian chronicles make no mention of an attack on Jerusalem before 598 BCE).[5] Daniel and his three friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are chosen for their intellect and beauty to be trained in the Babylonian court, and to this end they are given new names: Daniel is given the Babylonian name Belteshazzar, while his companions are given the Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

The tales (chapters 1-6)

Nebuchadnezzar's dream

In the narrative of Daniel Chapter 2, it was the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar and the king was distressed by his dreams,[v.1] so he summoned his interpreters.[v.2] However, they were unable to relay or interpret the dreams.[v.10-11] The king was furious and demanded the execution of all the wise men in Babylon.[v.12] When Daniel learned of the king's order, he asked the captain of the guard, Arioch, to let him see the king.[v.13-16] Daniel prayed for God's mercy to receive a revelation from the king's dream.[v.15-18] God then revealed the mystery to Daniel in a vision that same night.[v.19] Daniel praised God with a doxology.[v.20-23] After meeting with Arioch again, Daniel was granted access to the king,[v.24-30] and relayed the description of the dream,[v.31-36] followed by its interpretation.[v.37-45] With Daniel's successful interpretation of the dream, the king expressed homage,[v.46] followed by his own doxology that affirmed that Daniel's God is God of gods for revealing this mystery of his dream.[v.47] Daniel was then promoted to chief governor over the whole province of Babylon.[v.48] At Daniel's request, his companions were also promoted, so that they remained at the king's court.[v.49][12]

Nebuchadnezzar's madness

Nebuchadnezzar recounted his dream of a huge tree that was suddenly cut down at the command of a heavenly messenger. Daniel was summoned and interpreted the dream. The tree was Nebuchadnezzar himself, who for seven years, due to his pride lost his mind and became like a wild beast. All of this came to pass until, at the end of the specified time, Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that "the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men"[4:25] and his sanity and kingdom were restored to him.

Belshazzar's Feast: The writing on the wall

Daniel in the Lion's den protected by an angel by François Verdier

In Daniel's later years, king Belshazzar held a great feast for all his nobles. In a drunken state, the king called for the sacred vessels captured from the Jerusalem temple and profanely drank from them. Suddenly, the fingers of a man's hand appeared before the king and wrote on the wall of the palace.[5:1–5] When none of his wise men were able to interpret the message, Daniel was called in at the suggestion of the queen.[5:10–15] After reprimanding the king for his impiety, Daniel interpreted the words "MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN"[5:25] to mean that Belshazzar was about to lose his kingdom to the Medes and the Persians. For successfully reading the cryptic handwriting, Daniel was rewarded with a purple robe and proclaimed that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.[5:17–29] "In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. 31 And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old." (Daniel 5:1–31) (The description of Belshazzar as king of Babylon is another example of the historical errors in the book's description of the history of the 6th century: Belshazzar was co-regent with his father, not king in his own right).[13]

Daniel in the lions' den

After the Persian conquest of Babylon, Daniel was the first of three presidents over parts of the kingdom during the reign of Darius the Mede.[6:1–2] When the king decided to set Daniel over the whole kingdom, the other officials plotted his downfall. Unable to uncover any corruption, they used Daniel's religious devotion to try to defeat him. The officials tricked the king into issuing an irrevocable decree that "whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions."[6:3–7] When Daniel continued to pray three times a day toward Jerusalem, he was thrown into a lions den, much to the distress of Darius.[6:8–17] After an angel shut the lions' mouths, Daniel was delivered, and Daniel's accusers, with their wives and children, were thrown into the den and they were devoured. (Daniel 6:18–24)

The visions (chapters 7-12)

Engraving of Daniel's vision in chapter 7 by Matthäus Merian, 1630.

The second half of the Book of Daniel (chapters 7 to 12) are a series of apocalyptic visions of which Daniel is the supposed recipient.[14] This marks a change in the narrative from Daniel interpreting to messengers of God interpreting for Daniel. Daniel dreamed of four beasts that came out of the sea: a lion with eagle's wings, a bear with three tusks, a leopard with four wings and four heads, and a beast with iron teeth, ten horns and one little horn and human eyes.(Daniel 7:4-8) These beasts are all present at a convening of the divine counsel. Presiding over the counsel is the Ancient of Days. The Ancient One proceeds to put to death the beast with the one little horn. (Daniel 7:9-11) Daniel also describes the fates of the other beasts saying that while their dominion was taken away, their lives were prolonged. (Daniel 7:12) This introduction leads into a series of dreams and visions where these events are expressed in greater detail.

The beasts represent a series of kingdoms that ruled over the Jews, namely Babylon, Media, Persia, and Greece. The horns of the last beast are symbolic of the rulers who floowed Alexander the Great upon his death, culminating with Antiochus IV.[14] There are additional details in the text that allude to Antiochus IV, including some form of desecration to the temple (Daniel 11:31) and persecution (Daniel 11:23).[14] The final message of the second half of Daniel is that God will deliver the people from oppression, the latest of which is Antiochus IV.[14]

Death and tomb of Daniel

Tomb of Daniel at Susa
Main article: Tomb of Daniel

The last mention of Daniel in the Book of Daniel is in the third year of Cyrus (Daniel 10:1). Rabbinic sources suppose that he was still alive during the reign of the Persian king Ahasuerus (better known as Artaxerxes - Babylonian Talmud, Megillah 15a, based on the Book of Esther 4, 5), when he was killed by Haman, the wicked prime minister of Ahasuerus (Targum Sheini on Esther, 4, 11).

Six cities claim the tomb of Daniel: Babylon, Kirkuk and Muqdadiyah in Iraq, Susa and Malamir in Iran, and Samarkand in Uzbekistan.[15] (Some traditions suggest that his remains were removed, perhaps by Tamerlane, from Susa to Samarkand - see "The Ruins of Afrasiab" in the Samarkand article). The most famous is that in Susa, (Shoosh in southern Iran), at a site known as Shush-e Daniyal. According to Jewish tradition the rich and poor of the city quarreled over possession of the body, and the bier was therefore suspended from a chain over the centre of the river. A house of prayer open to all who believed in God was built nearby, and fishing was prohibited for a certain distance up and down the river; fish that swam in that section of the river had heads that glinted like gold, and ungodly persons who entered the sacred precinct would miraculously drown in the river.[16] To this day the tomb is visited by Muslim pilgrims and daily prayers are held at the mausoleum.

Daniel in later tradition

Daniel in the Lion's Den, c 1615 by Pieter Paul Rubens

Judaism

The Jewish rabbis of the first millennium CE wrote down the legends that had grown up around the Biblical books. Daniel was, for them, "the most distinguished member of the Babylonian diaspora," unsurpassed in piety and good deeds, firm in his adherence to the Law despite being surrounded by enemies who sought his ruin.[17]

Daniel's captivity was foretold by the prophet Isaiah to King Hezekiah in these words, "they (Hezekiah's descendants) shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." This misfortune was turned to a blessing when Daniel and his three companions were able to show their mutilated bodies to Nebuchadnezzar and so prove their innocence of charges of leading an unchaste life.[17]

Daniel kept the welfare of Nebuchadnezzar in mind continually, and when the king was condemned by God to live as a beast for a certain period Daniel prayed that the period of punishment should be shortened, and his prayer was granted.[18] When Nebuchadnezzar was dying he wished to include Daniel among his heirs, but Daniel refused the honour, saying that he could not leave the inheritance of his forefathers for that of the uncircumcised.[19]

Daniel proved to Cyrus that the Babylonian priests were tricking him into believing that their idol was eating the food set before it, when in fact the priests were entering the temple at night by an underground passage (Daniel's solution was to spread ashes before the statue so that the priests' footprints could be seen in the morning);[20] Daniel also restored the sight of king Darius, who had wrongly thrown the pious Daniel into prison on false charges, upon which many converted to Judaism.[21]

Christianity

The prophet is commemorated in the Coptic Church on the 23rd day of the Coptic month of Baramhat.[22] On the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, the feast days celebrating St. Daniel the Prophet together with the Three Young Men, falls on December 17 (during the Nativity Fast), on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers[23] (the Sunday which falls between 11 and 17 December), and on the Sunday before Nativity.[24] Daniel's prophesy regarding the stone which smashed the idol (Daniel 2:34-35) is often used in Orthodox hymns as a metaphor for the Incarnation: the "stone cut out" being symbolic of the Logos (Christ), and the fact that it was cut "without hands" being symbolic of the virgin birth. Thus the hymns will refer to the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) as the "uncut mountain"

The Roman Catholic Church commemorates St. Daniel in the Roman Martyrology on July 21.[25] Some local liturgical calendars of dioceses also list his feast, sometimes on July 21 and sometimes on another day. For example, the archdiocese of Gorizia celebrates the feast of St. Daniel, prophet and confessor, on September 11. The reading of the Mass is taken from the Book of Daniel, chapter 14; the Gradual from Psalm 91; the Alleluia verse from the Epistle of James 1; and the Gospel from Matthew 24.[26] The Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod commemorates Daniel, together with the Three Young Men (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), on December 17.[27]

Islam

In the Muslim tradition Daniel is known as Daniyal (Arabic: دانيال, Danyal), one of the Prophets of Islam like the other major prophets of the Old Testament. Although he is not mentioned in the Qur'an, he is listed as a prophet in all major versions of Stories of the Prophets.[28] When the Muslims conquered Alexandria in AD 641, a mosque was immediately built dedicated to Daniel.[29]

Muslim exegesis is based on the tales of the Book of Daniel, including the Greek additions, and on later Jewish legends. Tabari's History of the Prophets and Kings, for example, in a story influenced by Bel and the Dragon, tells how Daniel was carried off to Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar's attack on Jerusalem and was thrown into the den of the lions, where he was aided by the prophet Jeremiah.[30]

All sources, classical and modern, describe Daniel as a saintly and righteous man. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, in his Qur'anic commentary says:

Daniel was a righteous man of princely lineage and lived about 620-538 B.C. He was carried off to Babylon in 605 B.C by Nebuchadnezzar, the Assyrian, but was still living when Assyria was overthrown by the Medes and Persians. In spite of the "captivity" of the Jews, Daniel enjoyed the highest offices of state at Babylon, but he was ever true to Jerusalem. His enemies (under the Persian monarch) got a penal law passed against any one who "asked a petition of any god or man for 30 days" except the Persian King. But Daniel continued true to Jerusalem. "His windows being open in his chambers towards Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime."

Baha'i

Daniel is considered a minor prophet in the teachings of the Baha'i Faith.[32] Some Baha'i converts introduced the principle of reincarnation, specifically that of Daniel and John.[33]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wheeler, B. M. "Daniel". Historical Dictionary of Prophets in Islam and Judaism. Daniel is not mentioned by name in the Qur'an but there are accounts of his prophethood in later Muslim literature...
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Collins 1999, p. 219.
  3. ↑ Reid 2000, p. 314.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Redditt 2008, p. 180.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Seow 2003, p. 4.
  6. ↑ Walton 1994, p. 49.
  7. ↑ Seow 2003, p. 3-4.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Collins 1999, p. 220.
  9. ↑ Wesselius 2002, p. 294.
  10. ↑ Collins 1984, p. 34-35.
  11. ↑ Collins 1984, p. 29-30.
  12. ↑ Collins 1984, p. 47-49.
  13. ↑ Reid 2000, p. 315.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Coogan, Michael. A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
  15. ↑ Jewish Encyclopedia
  16. ↑ Ginzberg 1998, p. 350.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Ginzberg 1998, p. 326.
  18. ↑ Ginzberg 1998, p. 334.
  19. ↑ Ginzberg 1998, p. 339.
  20. ↑ Ginzberg 1998, p. 346.
  21. ↑ Ginzberg 1998, p. 347.
  22. ↑ "The Departure of the great prophet Daniel". Copticchurch.net. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  23. ↑ Sergei Bulgakov, Manual for Church Servers, 2nd ed. (Kharkov, 1900) pp. 453-5. December 11–17: Sunday of the Holy Forefathers Translation: Archpriest Eugene D. Tarris
  24. ↑ Bulgakov, 'Manual for Church Servers', pp. 461-2. December 18–24: Sunday before the Nativity of Christ of the Holy Fathers
  25. ↑ Francis E. Gigot (1889). "Daniel". Catholic Encyclopedia on CD-ROM. New Advent.
  26. ↑ Jewish Encyclopedia
  27. ↑ "Today in History - December 17". Chi.lcms.org. Retrieved 2012-06-30.
  28. ↑ See, for example, Ibn Kathir's Stories of the Prophets: "The Story of Daniel"
  29. ↑ Historical Dictionary of Prophets in Islam and Judaism, B. M. Wheeler, Daniel
  30. ↑ Stories of the Prophets, The Story of Daniel, Part 1. Food in the Lions Den
  31. ↑ Abdullah Yusuf Ali|The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary, Note.150
  32. ↑ May, Dann J (December 1993). The Bahá'í Principle of Religious Unity and the Challenge of Radical Pluralism. University of North Texas, Denton, Texas. p. 102.
  33. ↑ From Iran East and West - Volume 2 - Page 127 and 106, Juan R. I. Cole, Moojan Momen - 1984

Bibliography

Wikisource has the text of the 1897 Easton's Bible Dictionary article Daniel.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Daniel.