In the hebrew bible, and in most recent protestant versions, the book of daniel is limited to its protocanonical portions. The story of daniel motivates faithfulness despite exile in babylon. His visions offer hope that god will bring all nations under his rule. And in fact the book of revelation is largely a christian interpretation of the. The book of daniel is the apocalyptic book of the hebrew bible. Daniel is one of the most controversial books of the bible, yet its message is clear and unmistakable. The book of daniel is a 2ndcentury bc biblical apocalypse combining a prophecy of history with an eschatology cosmic in scope and political in focus. In the septuagint, the vulgate, and many other ancient and modern translations of the bible, it comprises both its proto and its deuterocanonical parts, both of which have an equal right to be considered as inspired, and to be included in a treatment of the book of daniel. Daniels three friends daniels friends shadrach, meshach and abednego served as advisers to king nebuchadnezzar of babylon.
The widely held view that the book of daniel is largely fictional rests mainly on the modern philosophical assumption that longrange predictive prophecy is impossible. The book of daniel is written in hebrewexcept for most of chapter 2 and all of chapters 37. The dates of the three kings mentioned in the book are well known. Cyruss reign over babylon, the scene of the later chapters of daniel began in 539 b.
While bible scholars debate issues like when it was written and whether it is historically accurate, the book of daniel consistently calls gods people of every generation to faithfulness. The book of daniel serves as the major apocalyptic book of the old testament, as chapters 712 foretell the end times. In more mundane language, it is an account of the activities and visions of daniel, a noble jew exiled at babylon, its message being that just as the god of israel saved daniel and his friends from their enemies, so he would save all of israel in their present oppression. The languages are closely related, indeed, but why the shift. Book of daniel from the king james version of the bible. If he is wrong in his interpretation of the book, then he must be less than the omniscient, inerrant god incarnate.
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