Daniel

Biography

Daniel and his three companions (Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah — known by their Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) were selected as youths for training in the Babylonian court. They refused to defile themselves with the king's food and were given exceptional wisdom by God. Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the four-part statue (ch 2), the fiery furnace scene (ch 3) preserved his three companions, and the dream of the great tree (ch 4) was interpreted as Nebuchadnezzar's humbling. Under Belshazzar, Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall the night Babylon fell to Cyrus (ch 5). Under Darius the Mede, his prayer life led to his being thrown to the lions; the lions did not harm him (ch 6). The apocalyptic visions (ch 7-12) are among the most important in the Hebrew Bible. Chapter 7: the four beasts from the sea; the Ancient of Days; the Son of Man coming on clouds receiving an everlasting dominion. Chapter 8: the ram and the he-goat (Persia and Greece). Chapter 9: the seventy weeks — a prophecy of the coming anointed one cut off. Chapter 10-12: Michael's combat with the prince of Persia; the resurrection of "many who sleep in the dust of the earth" (12:2, the clearest OT resurrection verse). Daniel's "Son of Man" figure (ch 7) becomes Jesus' primary self-designation in the Gospels. The seventy weeks prophecy (ch 9) has generated more eschatological debate than perhaps any other OT passage.