Daniel 1

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

Daniel 1 (the first chapter of the Book of Daniel) tells how Daniel and his four companions were taken from Jerusalem to Babylon to be trained in Babylonian wisdom. There they refused to take food and wine from the king and were given knowledge and insight into dreams and visions by God, and at the end of their training they proved ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in the kingdom.[1]

The overall theme of Daniel is God's sovereignty over history.[2] Chapter 1 introduces God as the figure in control of all that happens, the possessor of sovereign will and power: it is he who gives Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar's hands and Takes Daniel and his friends into Babylonian exile, he gives Daniel "grace and mercies," and gives the four young Jews their "knowledge and skill."[3]

The book is "a composite text of dubious historicity from various genres."[4] Daniel himself is a legendary figure, and the book of which he is the hero divides into two parts, a set of tales in chapters 1–6 from no earlier than the Hellenistic period, and series of visions in chapters 7–12 from the Maccabean era (the mid-2nd century BCE).[5] Chapter 1 was apparently added as an introduction to the tales when they were collected around the end of the 3rd century.[6]

Summary

In the third year of king Jehoiakim of Judah God let the kingdom fall into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who carried off some of the Temple vessels and some young Jews of royal and noble blood to be taught the literature and language of Babylon for three years, at the end of which they would be placed in the royal court. Among these young men were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who were given new names (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah became Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, while Daniel's Babylonian name was Belteshazzar) and allocated rations of food and wine. But Daniel resolved not to defile himself, and refused the royal food and wine, thriving instead on vegetables and water. God gave them knowledge and skill, and to Daniel he gave insight into visions and dreams, and when the three years of training were completed none were found to compare with them in wisdom and understanding.[1]

Composition and structure

It is generally accepted that the Book of Daniel originated as a collection of folktales among the Jewish community in Babylon and Mesopotamia in the Persian and early Hellenistic periods (5th to 3rd centuries BCE), expanded in the Maccabean era (mid-2nd century) by the visions in chapters 7-12.[7] Modern scholarship agrees that Daniel is a legendary figure;[8] it is possible that this name was chosen for the hero of the book because of his reputation as a wise seer in Hebrew tradition.[9] The tales are in the voice of an anonymous narrator, except for chapter 4 which is in the form of a letter from king Nebuchadnezzar.[10] Chapters 2-7 are in the form of a chiasmus, a poetic structure in which the main point or message of a passage is placed in the centre and framed by further repetitions on either side:[11]

Daniel 1 serves as an introduction to both the tales and to the book as a whole, setting out the question of how God can continue to function in history when history seems to have failed (i.e., how God can stand by his people when they are in a foreign land and subject to an alien power).[12] An interesting feature of the book is that the tales of chapters 2-6 are in Aramaic (after the first few lines of chapter 2 in Hebrew,) while the visions of chapters 7-12 are in Hebrew, as is the introduction, chapter 1.[11]

Genre and themes

Genre

The Book of Daniel is an apocalypse, a literary genre in which a heavenly reality is revealed to a human recipient; such works are characterized by visions, symbolism, an other-worldly mediator, an emphasis on cosmic events, angels and demons, and pseudonymity (false authorship).[13] Apocalypses were common from 300 BCE to 100 CE, not only among Jews and Christians, but Greeks, Romans, Persians and Egyptians.[14] Daniel, the book's hero, is a representative apocalyptic seer, the recipient of the divine revelation: has learned the wisdom of the Babylonian magicians and surpassed them, because his God is the true source of knowledge; he is one of the maskil, the wise, whose task is to teach righteousness.[14] The book is also an eschatology, meaning a divine revelation concerning the end of the present age, a moment in which God will intervene in history to usher in the final kingdom.[15]

Themes

The overall theme of the Book of Daniel is God's sovereignty over history,[2] and the theme of the tales in chapters 1-6 is that God is sovereign over all earthly kings.[16] Daniel 1 introduces the fundamental question that runs through the entire book, how God may continue to work his plans when all seems lost.[12] Chapter 1 introduces God as the figure in control of all that happens, the possessor of sovereign will and power: he "gives" Jehoiachim into Nebuchadnezzar's hands, he "gives" Daniel "grace and mercies," and it is he who gives the four young Jews their "knowledge and skill."[12] It was God who took Daniel and his friends into Babylonian exile, and it is God who is the source of their gifts and salvation.[3]

Interpretation

Jehoiakim from Guillaume Rouillé's Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, 1553

Daniel 1 and history: Nebuchadnezzar and Jehoiakim

According to the opening verses of Daniel 1, Daniel's captivity began when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in the third year of King Jehoiakim. For a number of reasons, this is difficult to fit into what is known from the sources for the period:

There have been many attempts to harmonise the data, but verses 1-2 of Daniel appear to be intended as a narrative setting for what follows, with a primarily theological significance.[17] The author has apparently drawn his history from 2 Chronicles 36:5-7, which says that Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiakim to Babylon, and 2 Kings 24:1, which says that Jehoiakim served Nebuchadnezzar three years and then rebelled, while the story of the noble Daniel and his friends being taken off to Babylon may be based on the prophet Isaiah's warning to King Hezekiah that his sons would become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon (Isaiah 39:7).[6]

Daniel's refusal of the royal food

There has been much scholarly discussion of the reasons for Daniel's refusal of the king's ration. The explanation perhaps most commonly found is that Daniel and his friends wished to avoid breaking the Jewish religious laws regarding ritual slaughter (the kosher laws);[18] alternatively, they may have wished to avoid meat and wine as these, unlike vegetables and water, were regularly used in offerings to gods (in this case, the gods of Babylon). In either case, the theological point being made is that the Jewish youths are remaining loyal to the God of Israel while still serving the foreign king.[19]

The authors of the Book of Daniel

The portrayal of Daniel and his companions as noble and educated youths may reflect the circle of the book's authors: the Jewish youths serve a foreign king while remaining true to the Jewish law.[20] This circle are identified later in the book, in chapters 11 and 12, as themaskilim, "the wise", teachers who will "give understanding" and "lead many to righteousness," despite the suffering they will endure in the end-time of persecution.[21] It is these 2nd-century teachers of wisdom who stand behind the fictional Daniel as the real author/editors of the book of Daniel.[21]

Daniel 1 and the chronology of the book of Daniel

Daniel 1 begins with the note that Daniel was taken to Babylon in the third year of Jehoiakim, which was also the first year of Nebuchadnezzar; it concludes by observing that he remained in the service of the Babylonian court until the first year of Cyrus, the Persian king who conquered Babylon in October 539 BCE; Daniel's exile, and the period covered by the court tales of chapters 1-6, therefore lasted 67 years from 606 BCE to 539 BCE. (Cyrus is significant because he released all the Jewish exiles, not just Daniel, from their Babylonian captivity). Chapter 7, the first of Daniel's visions, is set in the third year of Cyrus, making 70 years after his exile. Daniel 1 thus sets the scene for the 70-year apocalyptic timetable of Daniel.[22]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Seow 2003, p. 19-20.
  2. 1 2 Levine 2010, p. 1234.
  3. 1 2 3 Seow 2003, p. 20-21.
  4. ↑ Brettler 2010, p. 213.
  5. ↑ Collins 2002, p. 2,28.
  6. 1 2 Collins 1984, p. 45.
  7. ↑ Collins 1984, p. 29,34-35.
  8. ↑ Collins 1984, p. 28.
  9. ↑ Redditt 2008, p. 176-177,180.
  10. ↑ Wesselius 2002, p. 295.
  11. 1 2 Redditt 2009, p. 177.
  12. 1 2 3 Seow 2003, p. 20.
  13. ↑ Crawford 2000, p. 73.
  14. 1 2 Davies 2006, p. 397-406.
  15. ↑ Carroll 2000, p. 420-421.
  16. ↑ Newsom & Breed 2014, p. 63.
  17. ↑ Seow 2003, p. 21.
  18. ↑ Matthews & Moyer 2012, p. 267.
  19. ↑ Levine 2010, p. 1235 fn1.8-21.
  20. ↑ Collins 1984, p. 45-46.
  21. 1 2 Davies 2001, p. 251-252.
  22. ↑ Nelson 2013, p. unpaginated.

Bibliography

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