in order to flourish on their ruins forever (chap. ii. 37-4-5).*

* [Keil ( Commentary on Daniel, Clarke's tr., p. S4) ingeniously traces the logical position of the chapters in this
ttistorical portion as follows. He regards chaps. ii.-iii. as comprising, after the introductory chap, i., xheflr»t part of the
book, containing " the development of the world-power,"' and remarks that " this part contains in six chapters as many
reports regarding the successive forms and the natural character of the world-powers. It be^ns (chap, ii.) and ends (chap,
vii.) with a revelation from God regarding its historical unfolding in four great world-kingdoms following each other, and
their final overthrow by the kingdom of God. which shall continue for ever. Between these chapters (ii, and vii.) there
are inserted four events belonging to the times of the first and .second world-kingdoms, which partly reveal the attempts
of the rulers of the world to compel the worshippers of the true God to pray to their idols and their gods, together with
the failure of this attempt (chaps, iii. and vi. ), and partly the humiliations of the rulers of the world, who were boastful of
their power, under the judgments of God (chaps. iv. and v.), and bring under our consideration the relation of the rulers of
This world to the Almighty God of henven and earth and to the true fearers of His name. The narratives of these four
events follow each other in chronological order, because they are in actual relation t)ound together, and therefore also the
occurrences (chaps, v. and vi.) which belong to the time subsequent to the vision in chap. vii. are placed before thia
vision, so that the two revelations regarding the development of the world-power form the frame within which is con-
tained the historical section which describes the character of tha world-power." The second part of the entire book, as
distributed by Keil (chaps, viii.-xii.). is designated by him as "the development of the kingdom of God" — thus con-
tra.sted with the world power of the former section. This latter part Keil analyzes as follows ; "This part confciins three
revelations which Daniel received during the reigns of Belshazzar. Darius the Mede, and Cyrus the Persian, regarding
the development of the kingdom of God. After de,«:ribing in the first part the development of the world-power and ite
relation to the people and kingdom of God from the days of Nebuchadnezzar, its founder, down to the time of its final
destruction by the perfected kingdom of God, in this second part it is revealed to the prophet how the kingdom of God
entered against the power and enmity of the rulers of the world, and amid severe oppressions, is carried forward to final
victory, and is perfected. The first vision, chap, viii., represents what will happen to the people of God during the
developments of the second and third world-kingdoms ; the second revelation, chap, ix , gives to the prophet, in an.swer to
his penitential prayer for the restoration of the ruined holy city and the desolated sanctuary, disclosures regarding the
whole development of the kingdom of God, from the close of the Babylonian exile to the final accomplishment of God's
plan of salvation. In the last vision, in the third year of Cyrus, chap, x.-xii., he received yet further and more special
revelations regarding the severe persecutions which await the people of God for their purification, in the nearer futnrf
under Antiochus Epiphanes, and in the time of the end under the last fi-te, the Antichrist" (p. 28-3).]



I4 INTRODIJCTION TO THE PEOPHET DANIEL.

Tliis prophecy, which is interwoven with the first or historical part, is closely related to the
first prediction of the prophetical part (chap, vii.), and indeed is identical with it in purport.
This latter prophecy is also a dream-vision with a succeeding Divinely- disclosed inteqjreta-
' tion, but revealed originally and solely to Daniel. The succession of the four woi-ld-kingdoms
â– which began with that of Nebuchadnezzar, is in this instance represented by four beasts
which rise in succession from the sea : a lion with eagle's wings and the heart of a man, a
bear with three ribs in its ravenous jaws, a leopard with four wings and four heads, and a
fourth terrible monster with iron teeth and ten horns, three of which were plucked up by the
roots, and re])laced by " another little horn " with human eyes and a mouth that spoke pre-
sumptuous blasphemies (chap. vii. 2-8). The fourth of these kingdoms is now descriljed
somewliat differently, and more particularly, as a fearful reign of tyranny, which devoured
the earth and destroyed and ruined all things, and from which should proceed in succession
ten kings, who are symbolized by the ten horns. Three of these kings are to be superseded
by the final monarch, who is represented by the " little horn," and whose madness and blas-
phemous presum2)tion exceed that of all who have preceded him, so that he speaks blasphemy
against the Highest, makes war upon the saints of God, and aims to set aside the law and the
holy seasons. The sufferings of the people of God at the hands of this tyrant are limited to
three and a half years, at the end of which Divine judgments shall be visited on him thiough
one like the Son of man, who comes with the clouds of heaven, and to whom is committed
an everlasting dominion over all nations.

The second prophecy of the second part (chap, viii.) also stands connected in its subject
and purport with the image of the monarchies, whose middle and lower parts it develops and
illustrates more fully. Under the figure of a contest between a ram and a he-goat, it describes
the overthrow of the third by the fourth world-kingdom, together with succeeding events
down to the Slessianic judgment. A ram with two horns, of which the taller appeared last,
pushes fiercely towards the four quarters of the earth, until a he-goat with a notable horn,
coming from the west, smites him to the ground, and breaks his two homs. Next, the great
horn of the victorious goat is broken, and rejjlaced by four other notable ones, toward the
four wiiids of heaven. Out of one of these comes forth a little horn, which increases mightily
toward the south, the east, and Judrea, grows even to the host of heaven and its prince,
desecrates the sanctuary, and interrupts the offering of the daily sacrifice during a period of
2,300 evenings and mornings (i.e. 1,150 days, or three and a half years), vers. 3-14. The
angel Gabriel interprets this vision to the prophet, and applies it to the Medo-Persian empire,
which should be overthrown by the fourth world-power, founded by the king of Grsccia
(Alexander the Great), and also to the four more important kingdoms of the Diadochi, which
should arise out of the Greek world-monarchy, on the early death of its founder. One of
these latter kingdoms (that of the Seleucidse) should become especially hurtful to the people
of God and His sanctuary, through the craft and audacity of one of its rulers, until finally
the breaking of tliis offender " without hand," i. e., by the interference of a superior power
should come to pass. [For a comparative table of all these prophecies see § 10, Note 3; and
for a refutation of the " year-day " hypothesis on which the application of the fourth king-
dom exclusively to Papal Rome rests, see § 10, Note 4.]

A third vision (chap, ix.) is vouchsafed to the prophet in connection with his meditating on
the meaning of the seventy years, which Jeremiah had predicted should elapse before the
rebuilding of Jerusalem. While addressing Jehovah in fervent penitential prayer, in con-
nection with his meditations, and beseeching Him to forgive the sins of His people, and to
turn away His fury from Jerusalem (vers. 3-19), the angel Gabriel discloses to him the mean-
ing of Jeremiah's prophecy. The soventy years are to be understood as seventy weeks of
Tears. Four hundred and ninety years were detennined, in order to atone fully for the sins
of the people, and to reanoint tlie Most Holy of His temple. The first seven of the seventy
weeks of years were to include tlie period between the utterance of Jeremiah's prophecy and
the " anointed prince" (Cyrus) ; in th^ course of the sixty-two weeks of years that should
follow, the city (Jerusalem) was to bj rebuilt, but in troublous times. The last, or seventieth,
week of years should begin with the " cutting off of an anointed one," after which the peoplf



CONTENTS AND FORM OF DANIEL'S PROPHECIES. 15

and their sanctuary were to be devastated by the armies of a tyrant, and the customary offer
ing of the sacred sacritices and oljlations to be interrupted during the half of a week (evidently
during the latter half of this final 'week of years), until, in the end, ruin should overtake thr
destroyer * (vers. 21-27;.

T\xe^ filial vision (chaps, x.-xii.) contains the most thorough and detailed description of the
developments of the future. After three weeks of fasting and mourning, an angel, whose
clothing and appearance were wonderful (chajj. x. 5-11), appeared to the prophet on the
banks of the Tigris, and gave him an account of tlie contests which he was compelled tc
enter into with the " princes," or angelical protectors of Persia and Grsecia, and in which he
â– was aided only by Michael, the angel of God's people (chap. x. 12-xi. 1). To this account he
added a representation, full of life and minute detail, of the immediate future, and extending
to the time of the tyrannical oppressor of God's people, who has already been frequently
described. In this connection he dwells especially upon the conflicts of the kings of a
Bouthern kingdom (Egypt) and a northern kingdom (Syria), which were to constitute the
principal states that should arise from the ruins of the fourth (Greek or Macedonian) world-
power (chap. xi. 2-20), and more than all, on the insolent, audacious, and blasphemous
deportment of the last king of the northera realm, who should ultimately come to a terrible
end, after inflicting the most horrible abominations on the holy nation, their sacred city, and
its sanctuary (chap. xi. 21-45). After unparallelled tribulation and afBiction, deliverance
and salvation should come to Daniel's nation, in connection with the resurrection of the dead,
which should lead to tlie exaltation of the righteous, but consign the ungodly to everlasting
punishment (chap. xii. 1-3). f After the angel has directed the prophet to seal the prophecy
to the time of the end (ver. 4), he supplements it by a final revelation in regard to the dura-
tion of the period of severe affliction before the introduction of Messiah's kingdom, which is
fixed at 1,290, or, conditionally, at 1,335 days (vs. 7-12). The whole closes with the
counsel of the angel to tlie prophet, to wait patientlj- until the end of all things, and until
his resurrection to eternal life.

The arrangement of the four prophecies of the second part is strictly chronological, so that
the order of their succession is parallel with that of the actual events in Daniel's life, as
recorded in the first part. The first vision appeared to him "in the first year of Belshazzar"
the king, in the form of a dream, which he at once recorded in writing (chap. vii. 1) ; the
second, in the third year of the same reign, "in the palace of Sliushaii, in the province of
Elam, by the river of Ulai," — wliere the jjrophet in his exaltation at least believed himself to
be (chap. viii. 1, 2) ; the third, in the first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, hence soon
after the overthrow of Belshazzar (chap. ix. 1, 2; cf. v. 30; vi. 1); and the fourth, " in the
third year of Cyrus, king of Persia,'' on the 24th day of the first month, while the prophet was
on the banks of the Tigris, after completing his fast of three weeks (chap. x. 1-4 ; cf. xii 5,
6). The first vision is included in the Aramaic portion of the book ; the three others, like
chap. i. and the opening verses of chap. ii. (vers. l-4a), are recorded in Hebrew.

In a formal point of view, the marked difference Ijetween the prophecies of the second part
and those of the first is to be noticed, namely, that in the latter instance the interpretation of
the wonderful and prophetic appearance of the vision in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (chap, ii.),
and of the mysterious writing, !Mene, Mene, Tekel, etc., at the banquet of Belshazzar (chap, v.),
was imparted to tlie prophet immediately through tlie Divine Spirit, and without the agency
of angels ; while in each of tlie four prophecies of tlie second part angels are employed, eitlier
to reveal the purport of the visions seen by Daniel while awake or dreaming (as in the case of
the first two, chap. vii. and viii.), or to convey direct disclosures relating to the future,
without any pre^^ous symbolical vision (as with the final prophecies, chap. ix. and x.-xii.).
The prophet, however, is the only narrator, even when he recapitulates (as is the case especially
in chap. X. 20-xii. 4) the extended remarks of the angel, his celestial teachers and inter-
preters. The epistolary form of narration which occurs once in the first part, chap. iii. 31-iv.

* Id Bitpport of this statement of the contents of chap. ix. 22-27, and especially of the verse last mentioned, com^«n
the exegetical renftrks on that pas.sage. [For counter arguments, see the additions thereto.]
t [See, however, the exegetical remarlE8 on this last particular.]



16 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHET DANIEL.

34 (but which is not rigidly adhered to in that connection, sin:e Nebuchadnezzar, the writei
of the letter under our notice, is referred to in the third person, in chap. iv. 25-30), is not
found in the second part.

Note. — In opposition to the division of the contents of this book into historical and
prophetico-visional parts, which we have adopted, Auberlen (p. <58), and ir. connection with
him Keil {Eiiil. ins A. T., 2d ed., p. 389 et seq.), and also Kranichfeld {Uns Buck Daniel, p. 2
et seq.), contends that chap. vii. should be included in the tirst part. The reasons adduced
by the last mentioned exegete, as '" material " in contrast with ours as merely " formal," are,
first, the prophetico-visional elements which enter also into the first part, and particularly into
chap, ii., and secondly, the identity of language in chap. vii. with chapters ii.-v., which
forbids a â– n'idcr separation between chapters vi. and vii. as contrary to the intention of the
author. But the visional constituents of the first part are extremely meagre when compared
with the far greater proportion of the narrative elements in this division ; and the chrono-
logical diifcrence between chapters vi. and vii. is decidedly more important than the affinities
of language between chap. vii. and the five chapters that precede it. The dream-vision
recorded in chapter vii. dates back to the reign of Belshazzar, the last (or one of the last) of
the Baliylonian kings, wliile the historical contents of the preceding chajiter belong to the
Medo-Persiau jjcriod ; hence the time of chapter vii. and also of chap. viii. corresponds to
that of chapter v., while chapter vi. is contemj)orary with chapter ix. Since the general
arrangement, both of the pre-eminently historical chajjters of the first part, and of the chiefly
visional contents of the second, is strictly chronological, the distribution of the entire book
into the categories of history and prophecy seems to have been the leading idea by which its
editor (whom we regard as identical with its author) was governed, while the identity of
language in chapter vii. and the preceding chapters sinks into a merely accidental feature.
The following section may serve to show the most probable explanation of this feature. For
the 2>re3eut, we are only concerned to show that the arrangement adopted hy us, even if 't
were based more on a formal than a material principle, conforms fully to the idea and design
of the writer, and is therefore with justice retained by a majority of modem expositors— even
by Zundel (p. 39 et seq.), Reusch (Eiitl. ins A. T., 3d ed., p. 109), and others.

§ 4. Unity of the Book of Daniel.

The integrity of this book may be conclusively shown, despite the occasional attempts
essayed by recent critics to represent it as a compilation of several historical and prophetic
fragments of various origin ; for, as has been shown in § 3, the contents of the two principal
divisions form a harmonious and closely-connected whole, which must have emanated from a
single author. This author is frequently designated as one and the same person — as Daniel —
particularly in chap. vii. 1 ; xiii. 1 ; ix. 3 ; x. 1 ; xii. 4 ; and he is mentioned either in the
third person (chap, vii. 1 ; x. 1) or in the first (chap. vii. 2 et seq. ; x. 2 et seq.). The same
interchange of the first and third persons is found elsewhere in writings of the Old Testament
that have emanated from a single author, e.g., Isa. vii. ; xxxvi.-xxxix., etc. The fact that
Daniel is mentioned exclusively in the third person throughout the first six chapters is suffi-
ciently explained by the historical and descriptive character of this first main division, which
merely reports occasional expressions by Daniel, of greater or less extent (e.g., chap. ii. 15, 20,
23, 30; iv. 16 et seq. ; v. 17 et seq. ; vi. 22 et seq.), but generally represents other persons as
Bpeaking and acting. The absence from this part of the formula, "I, Daniel, saw," or "I,
Daniel, said," could only hold as an argument against the unity of the book, in case other
discrepancies and contradictions of importance existed Ijetween the contents of the two parts.
Such contradictions, however, do not occur. It is not impossible to reconcile chapter i. 21
with chapter x. 1, or chapter vi. 1 with chapters ix. 1 and xi. 1, etc., as the exposition of those
passages will show in detail. The historical part is rather connected with the prophetical in
manifold relations, and their chronological parallelisms especially bear the marks of design
on the part of the composer. The series of remarkable events in his life, which are first
recorded, is designed as a historical introduction, or scaffolding, for the prophetic visions
which follow. But within the historical part itself, chapter i. is intimately connected, as an
introduction, with the five chapters that follow. Daniel's prophetic power and skill in inter-
preting dreams, are remarked in chap. i. 17, 20, evidently with reference to the tests to which
they were to be exposed, chap. ii. 4, 5. The mention of the three friends in chap. L C et seq.



XmiTY OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL. 17

paves the way for the narrative respecting tlieir official stations and confessorship (chap. ii.
49 ; iii. 1 et seq.). The statement that Nebuchadnezzar removed the sacred vessels of the
temple from Jerusalem is a preparation for the history of their desecration by Belshazzar
(chap. ii. 5 et seq.).

Nor does the diversity of language, as between the Chaldee of chapters ii.-vii. and the
Hebrew of the remaining chapters, involve a multiplicity of authors; for, aside from the fact
that a transition from the Hebrew to the Chaldee, exactly similar to that in Dan. ii. 4, occurs
in Ezra iv. 7, the idea of a variety of authors becomes impossible in view of the intimate
relation of the Hebrew chapter i. to the succeeding Aramaic sections, which has just been
noticed. The last (chap, vii.) of the Aramaic portions, again, is so closely connected in its
leading features with the Heljrew sections that follow — and especially with chapter viii. which
is introduced by the indication of time, in a manner entirely analogous to chap. vii. 1 — that
the discrepancy of language in this case also appears evidently as a feature of secondary
importance. The contrast between the use of the Hebrew in the introductory and the five
closing chapters, and of the Chaldee in chapters ii.-vii. can appear as other than accidental,
only as the latter sections seem to have been reduced to writing at an earlier period than the
former. They were probably recorded during tlio Chalda?an supremacy or immediately after-
ward, whereas the Hebrew sections tliat enclose them were probably added at a considerably
later date, and in the time of the Persian rule. This liypothesis (first assumed l)y Kranich-
feld) of a gradual completion of the book, or of tlie framing of tlie Clialdiuan sections, which
originated during the exile proper, between the Heljrew portions, chaps, i. 1-ii. 4 and viii.-xii.,
that date in the Persian period, is favored by the note in cliap. i. 21, which implies the later
composition of the introduction, but more especially by the circumstance that the Chaldee
fragments, without exception, convey tlie impression that they were recorded in the style of
chronicles, immediately after the events transjiired to which they relate. They also seem to
indicate that the author employed this language for such journalistic minutes, as being more
familiar, in view of his culture (compare § 2), while he adopted the Hebrew at a later
period, perhaps because he had in the meantime acquired a sufficient readiness in its use, or
because the different circumstances of the times subsequent to the captivity might lead him
to regard the sacred language of the law and the earlier prophets as more appropriate for his
purpose of instructing and edifying his theocratic comijatriots. We therefore assert the
integrity of this book with reference to all its leading divisions, and as being the work of a
single author ; but in the closing section of the second part, in the especially detailed piophe-
cies of chapters x.-xii., we detect tlie hand of a later interpolating reviser of the time of
Antioclius Epiphanes, for reasons wliich liave been generally indicated (§ 1, note 2), but the
more detailed elaboration of wliich must be reserved for the exposition (see especially on
chap. xi. vs. 5 and 40, etc.). Such interpolations are apparent more iiarticularly in chapter
xi. 5-39 {e.g., vs. 5, 6, 8, 14, 17, 18, 25, 27, 30-39).

Note 1. — J. D. Michaelis, Bertholdt, and Eichhom (at least in the earlier editions of hia
Einhitung). among those who reject the integrity of this book, find a considerable uunil>er of
independent compositions contained in it, which are said to have been written at different
times and by various authors. Of such compositions Michaelis enumerates eight. Eichliom
ten (in vol. III. of his Hehriiisrhe Projiheten, p. 428 et seq., at least five), and Bertholdt nine.
The latter refers the first (chap, i.) of these " Daniclana," as he calls them, to the time of
Artaxerxes Longimanus ; the second (chap, ii.) to that of Ptolemy Philadelphus ; the third
(chap. iii. 1-30) to a somewhat later date; tlie fourth (iii. 31-iv. 34) to the age of tlie first
Asmon.Tans ; the fiftii. sixth, and seveutli (cliaps. v.-viii.) to tlie same period, under Antiochua
E|)iphaues ; the eiglith fcliaj). ix.) by a priest at Jerusalem, to a date but little later ; and the
ninth (chap, x.-xii.) to a still later time. The composers of the later sections are said gener-
ally to liave known the earlier writers, and to have continued their work, in which effort they
even imitated their predecessors in the use of single words and phrases. But despite tlieir
care numerous contradictions crept into the separate parts, so that, for instance, cliap. i. 21 is
opposed to X. 1 ; chap. i. 1, 5 to ii. 1 ; chap. ii. 48, 49 to v, 11-14, etc. (Bertholdt, Daniel i.
93 et seq.). The impropriety of such a mutilation of Scripture was soon undei-stood, and wa?
pointed out. with convincing arguments, especially liy Bleek (in Schleiermacher's Theol. Zeit-
tehrift, 1822, No. 3, p. 241 et seq.; compare his Kinleitung ins A. T., p. 585 et seq),
2



18 INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHET DANIEL.

Havernick {Eiid. II. 2, p. 443 et seq.), and De Wette {Eirdeitung in das A. T., § 25Cj. Hence
Eichhorn, in the third and fourth editions of his Einleitung, contented himself with the
assumption of merely two authors, of wliom the one composed chap. ii. 4-vi. 29, and the
other, chap, vii-xii., together with the Hebrew introduction, chap. i. 1-ii. 3, in each case
long after the captivity. The two-fold authorship is also asserted by Sack {Christl.
Apohgetik, 1829), Herbst (Histor.-Jcrit. EM., published by Welte, 1840 and later, ii. 2, § 34),
r. S|)eil (Zitr Echtheit des B. Daniel, in the Tub. T/ieol. Qiiartal-Schrift, 1863, p. 194J, Reusch
{Eiid., p. 110), and several others, inasmuch as they regard the visional part of the book,
beginning with chap, vii., as genuine, but claim that the narrative of Daniel's life and of the
circumstances of his time, contained in chap, i.-vi., was added by a later hand, and based