What on Earth is Daniel on about?

So you've finished reading the story of the lion's den and you fancy reading on to find out what happens to Daniel next. And then wallop! All of a sudden it's like someone's spiked his drink with LSD and the rest of the book's goes crazy. Beasts that look like bears with ribs in their teeth? A shaggy goat with a horn between his eyes? What the heck are we meant to do with all this?

Whilst it seems completely weird to us, the bizarre images that Daniel uses were actually very conventional at the time the book was written. We're only familiar with it from Daniel, Revelation and a couple of other brief bits towards the end of the Old Testament, but actually there were tons of books around in biblical times that spoke in a very similar manner.

Biblical scholars call this style of writing "apocalyptic" writing from the Greek word apocalypsis meaning "to unveil/reveal". Whilst it's somewhat ironic that many of us don't have the foggiest about what exactly is being revealed, we do need to remember that the point of it isn't to hide things from everyone, but to reveal a heavenly perspective on what's going on here on earth.

The point of revealing the heavenly perspective on these events was actually to give encouragement. There are of course many. Many interpretations around about these books, but the approach that seems most plausible to me is that the content of a particular revelation was meant for the people that originally heard it. Usually they were in situations where things were looking pretty bad for them. These dreams / visions were to reassure them that the powers that were oppressing them weren't going to last for ever, and that God was in control and about to act.

"Fair enough" you say, "but how are we meant to interpret these odd symbols?" Well the first thing about the imagery of these books is that they're not just meant to be a detached code. The "symbols" are meant to affect their readers emotionally as well as intellectually. Take the fourth beast from Dan 7. It's described as "terrifying, frightening and very powerful". It has "large iron teeth", "bronze claws" and "ten horns". Hardly the kind of bloke you'd fancy meeting in a dark alley after midnight. And that reaction is an important part of "getting" what Daniel is on about. You can, of course, sit around stroking your beard and say "hmm, the ten horns clearly represent the Greek empire that fought against the Jewish people in the second century B.C.", but it's meant to be scary, because that empire crushed pretty much every tribe and nation that stood in their way.

In terms of Daniel specifically there are two main interpretations. Some people reckon that the book was actually written by Daniel, and that the four beasts represent the four empires of Babylon, Media and Persia, Greece and Rome. Others reckon that Media and Persia should be counted separately and so the four empires are Babylon, Media, Persia and Greece.

The other distinction is that some scholars say the book was written by Daniel, and others saying that although he may have been involved, the version of the book we have today didn't reach it's final form until much, much later (at the time Greece was attempting to invade Judah.

I'll leave you to make your own minds up as to which is the correct option, but most of the rest of the book is a little (!) simpler. The goat and ram of Daniel 8 are about the two smaller empires that emerged from the Greek Empire. The end of Daniel 9 refers to the run up to the Jewish victory over one of those empires. This is also what's in view in Daniel 11. The focus shifts in Daniel 12 to the end of time, and the day of resurrection, and the beginning of the age to come.

Posted by: Matt Page on Thursday Nov 8th, 2007

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