Chapter 3
The Structure and Message of Daniel
Whenever we study a passage in a book, it is important to keep in mind the structure of the book as a whole and where that passage fits into the message of the book. Daniel has twelve chapters telling six stories in the first half of the book and four visions in the second half. Though different in many ways, the six stories and four visions have one central message: In spite of present difficulties, God is in control and he will have the final victory!
The first six chapters of the book of Daniel tell stories about Daniel and his three companions as they are forced to leave their homes and go live in Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar forced Judah and Jerusalem to become a province of his vast empire (Daniel 1:1–3). Each chapter is a separate story, but all of them show how these four men remained faithful to their God while living in a context that threatened their faith.
Those stories are some of the best known in the Old Testament. After an account of their deportation and training to become wise men in Babylon (Daniel 1), Daniel then tells the king the contents and interpretation of his dream of a hybrid–metal statue (Daniel 2). Then the three friends get thrown into a fiery furnace after refusing to bow to an immense golden statue that he erected in the plain of Dura (Daniel 3). Nebuchadnezzar then has another dream which Nebuchadnezzar interprets as a warning against pride, but that does not keep the king from boasting. The rest of the chapter (Daniel 4) tells the story of the proud king’s humbling as he acts like a beast until he repents and God restores him. Chapter 5 takes us to the reign of an arrogant king named Belshazzar, who sees the very first “writing on the wall” as he blasphemously drinks from the sacred goblets stolen from God’s temple. Daniel interprets the writing as spelling out the end of Babylon, which happens when the Persians defeat the city. But that is not the end of Daniel’s troubles. In the final story (Daniel 6), Daniel is thrown into the lions’ den after his Persian colleagues frame him for praying to his God. The story ends when God rescues him from the pit and vindicates the aging prophet to king Darius.
The second half of the book (Daniel 7–12) contains four visions that Daniel receives along with their interpretations. In his first vision (Daniel 7), Daniel sees four horrifying beasts rising up out of a chaotic sea. In the second half of the vision, the scene shifts to a heavenly courtroom where the Ancient of Days—God himself—is ready to give judgment, and into his presence comes “one like a son of man,” riding a cloud. An angel then gives Daniel the interpretation that explains that the beasts are kings, representing evil human kingdoms. Focus then shifts to a little horn that grows out of the fourth beast, who wages war against God’s people. The horn—a symbol of dominating power—was successful until God rendered judgment and restored his people to their kingdom. This kingdom is God’s and “will be an everlasting kingdom and all rulers will worship and obey him” (Daniel 7:27).
The second vision (Daniel 8) also features animals that represent kingdoms. In this case the interpreting angel identifies the kingdoms by name. A ram with two horns—one longer than another—fights a goat with a prominent horn. Later the angel identifies the ram with Persia (the two horns then represent the two parts of Persia: the Medes and the Persians themselves). The goat is Greece, meaning that the prominent single horn represents its imperialistic ruler, Alexander the Great. The goat beats the ram like Greece defeated Persia, but the horn is broken off (Alexander dies) and is replaced by four other horns (his kingdom was divided up among his four generals). But then another horn grows out of one of the four and causes great trouble in the Beautiful Land (Judah). Most horrible, he desecrates the worship at the temple. This period is then said to last 2,300 evenings and mornings after which the temple will be reconsecrated. Looking back in history, we can identify that final horn as Antiochus Epiphanes, who controlled Jerusalem in the mid–second century BC and indeed did desecrate and disrupt temple worship for a short period of time.
Daniel 9 is not a vision as much as it tells the story of an answer to prayer. The chapter begins with Daniel reading Scripture—the prophet Jeremiah to be exact—where he reads that “the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years” (see Jeremiah 25:12–14; 29:10). That moves Daniel to turn to the Lord and, on behalf of the community, confess their collective sin with the hope that God will restore them. While he prays, the angel Gabriel comes to him with an answer. Daniel had prayed that the seventy years of punishment might come to an end, but Gabriel responds that, no, “‘seventy sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision an prophecy and to anoint the Most Holy Place” (Daniel 9:24). In the following verses, Gabriel goes on to describe three periods of time within the seventy weeks (seven sevens, sixty–two sevens, and final seven). If this sounds mysterious, that’s because it is supposed to be.
Many readers throughout history have identified the seventy weeks as a literal prophecy setting out the time leading up to the coming of the Messiah. In this case, the sixty–nine “weeks” of years (483 years) correspond with the period from the decree to return from Babylon up to the coming of the Messiah and his sacrifice for sins. The seventieth year is either treated as part of this period or is put off to the distant future—the seven year period known as the tribulation. Other interpreters argue that such computations are subjective and unconvincing. That these numbers were meant to be understood symbolically, not to be put on a calendar. Nevertheless, there is a clear message here: While in one sense the exile is over (in the year or two before this event Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem), in another sense it is going to go on into the future. But there will be an end to it. There indeed will come a time when “everlasting righteousness” will be established, but not yet. The book of Revelation will give us an even clearer picture of that future day.
The report of Daniel’s final vision (10:1–12:3) begins with a behind–the–scenes description of heavenly battle that reflects the battle on earth. Daniel has a dream that disturbs him so much that he can’t eat normally. Three weeks later Gabriel arrives in order to explain his vision to him. What took him three weeks? He and the angel Michael had to fight their way past the spirit prince of Persia. Here we learn that there is a spiritual battle going on in heaven. Not only that, but Gabriel tells Daniel that once he explains the vision to him, they will have to head back to the fight and that the spirit prince of Greece will soon come.
Then Gabriel launches off in a lengthy description of the rise and actions of various “kings of the north” and “kings of the south,” that is after a period of three more kings of Persia and then a king from Greece who will establish a huge empire, which would be broken into four parts.
While there are some questions of detail, the description of the events following the time of Daniel are so exact and accurate that some suspect that the prophecy was fabricated after the events happened. But for people who believe God can reveal the future to his people through a prophet, that is not a problem.
As history unfolds from the time of Daniel, the Persian Empire does indeed fall to a Greek king: Alexander the Great (357–324 BC), who dies young with the result that his vast kingdom is divided into four parts. The kings of the north in the following paragraphs rule one of those four with its capital in Antioch in Syria (the Seleucid Empire) and the kings of the south rule yet another with its capital in Alexandria in Egypt (the Ptolemaic Empire). Right between these two is Jerusalem, and these two empires fight each other for control of that city.
Looking at the description of these kings (11:5–45) in the light of what we know about the history: We can substitute names for these kings and see how those kings do the things that this prophecy mentions.
But here we will simply focus on the final king of the north who is described in Daniel 11:21–35. Without going into detail, this king creates chaos both in the political realm as well as among the faithful. This “contemptible person” (11:21) will “abolish the daily sacrifice” and “set up the abomination that causes desolation” (11:31). Among the faithful—here called the “wise”—many will “fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered.” Looking back in history, we can identify this evil person as Antiochus Epiphanes, the Seleucid king who dominated Jerusalem in the mid–second century BC and whom we already met in Daniel 8—the final horn in the vision described there.
The description of this final king of the north continues in the next paragraph (11:36–45), but his description starts taking on a larger–than–life dimension. He will exalt himself above every god. There is also mention that the action takes place “at the time of the end” (11:40). For this reason, many believe that the final king of the north, Antiochus, is a “type,” or a person who anticipates the coming of someone similar. In this case, the Antichrist who will come at the end but will, like Antiochus, be finally defeated.
This final vision comes to an end with an amazing description—beyond anything else in the Old Testament—of life after death. We read that “multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will wake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (12:3). There is hope for people who suffer at the hands of wicked rulers like Antiochus and others like him.
The book ends with an illuminating conversation between an angel and Daniel. What the angel says to Daniel is something we need to hear ourselves. Daniel is obviously interested in when these things will happen. When will the end come? The answer is again obscure: “It will be for a time, times and half a time” (Daniel 12:7). How long is that? As we have noted before, some interpreters take this to be a literal period. Others claim that this, like many similar statements in apocalyptic literature, is not given so you can put a date on your calendar. Rather it is saying that God knows and, though it looks like evil will be gaining headway (a single time leading to plural times), the brakes will be put on it (half a time) and then it will be done. Daniel—as an apocalyptic book—reveals many things. But an apocalyptic book with a high use of symbolic language—including numbers—does not necessarily intend to reveal exactly when its predictions will take place.
What is Daniel to do with what he has learned from these visions? Prepare for the end? No, he is to get on with life. That is the meaning of the angel’s exhortation to “go your way to the end” (12:13). Daniel can live with confidence in the light of knowing that God is in control and he will have the final victory even in the midst of the struggles of life. And we can too.
You Might Also Like