Book of Daniel

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

First six chapters historic. Chapters 7-12 contain the earliest model of apocalyptic literature. Largely acknowledged in N. T. (Matt. 24:15; Luke 1:19,26; Heb. 11:33-34). “The Song of the Three Holy Children,” “History of Susanna,” and “History of Bel and the Dragon,” are apocryphal additions to Daniel’s writings.

Concise Bible Dictionary:

This book holds a peculiar place among the prophecies: its subject is the “Times of the Gentiles.” It is not an appeal to Israelites, but is mostly taken up with prophecies concerning the Gentile powers. The times of Gentile domination had begun by Nebuchadnezzar taking Jerusalem and being called king of kings, to whom God had given a kingdom, and made him ruler over all the children of men. God’s personal dealings with this monarch are recorded and the kingdoms that would follow are revealed.

The book divides itself into two portions: the first six chapters give Daniel’s interaction with the great monarchs; and the latter six chapters the visions and revelations made to Daniel himself. For the personal history of the prophet see DANIEL. The prophetical aspect of the first division begins with Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

Daniel 2. Under the figure of the Great Image are described the four Gentile empires that were to succeed each other, further particulars of which were afterward revealed to Daniel. It is plainly manifested that these empires would depreciate. The first is compared to gold, the second to silver, the third to brass, and the fourth to iron and clay which would not mingle together. It is noteworthy that, notwithstanding this declaration, the great effort of many in modern days is to endeavor to unite the iron and clay, and others strive to make the clay (the mass of the people) the ruling power. The fourth empire will be resuscitated, for the Lord Jesus at His first coming did not set up His kingdom—He was rejected; but during the future renewal of the Roman empire God will set up a kingdom that shall subdue all others. The “stone” is Christ who will break in pieces all that oppose, and will reign supreme. This prophecy presents the moral deterioration of Gentile power, until it is supplanted by the kingdom of God.

Daniel 3. It is here uniformity of religion, established by the king, not by God—the principle of Church and State. Nebuchadnezzar commanded all to worship the image he had set up; but three faithful ones refused to obey, and were thrown into the fiery furnace. The king had to learn that the God of the Jews was the Most High God, who was able to set him and all his powers at defiance. The king acknowledged God’s power and sent a proclamation to that effect throughout his kingdom; though his subsequent history proves that he was not humbled. In the last days the faithful Jews will be in the furnace of tribulation for not complying with the Imperial religion. They will be delivered, and God will be glorified by the nations (compare Rev. 13). Thus is seen that the first characteristic of Gentile supremacy is idolatry.

Daniel 4. The dream and the interpretation shows that Nebuchadnezzar himself was the great tree to be cut down, and the prophet exhorted him to renounce his sins and reform his ways, and peradventure the judgment might be postponed. But his pride was not subdued, for at the end of the year he boasted of the great city which he had built by the might of his power and for the honor of his majesty; but not a word about God. He was driven among the cattle for seven years. It is a solemn thing to have to do with the living God; but God had mercy on the king, his reason returned, and the kingdom was restored to him. Now he could say, “I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and His ways judgment: and those that walk in pride He is able to abase.” He had learned God’s lesson, and we hear of him no more. In the last days the Gentile rulers, after having used their power as “beasts,” will acknowledge God as the source of all authority, and be brought into blessing in connection with Israel. The second characteristic which marked Gentile rule is that, refusing to own God, it descends to the level of a beast.

Daniel 5. About twenty-five years later Belshazzar was reigning at Babylon. The monuments have revealed that he was son of Nabonadius, or Labynetus, and was reigning with his father. Nabonadius was defending the kingdom outside in the open country, and though defeated was not slain; his son was besieged inside, and was slain that night while holding a festival to the gods. This accounts for Belshazzar promising that Daniel should be the third ruler in the kingdom. Thus the monuments have now cleared away that which with respect to this king had seemed to make scripture and the historians discordant, for previously the name of Belshazzar had not been discovered. Daniel faithfully reminded Belshazzar of how God had dealt with his father (or rather his grandfather) Nebuchadnezzar for his pride; adding that though the king knew all this he had lifted up himself against the God of heaven, and had desecrated the vessels of God’s house by drinking wine in them to his gods, and foretells his destruction. Type of the judgment on the Gentile world at the coming of Christ (compare Rev. 18). The third characteristic of imperial power is, that it is infidel and profane.

Daniel 6. Darius the Mede had to learn the power of God, his own weakness, and the faithfulness of Daniel the servant of God. Daniel was saved from the lions, and the God of Daniel was proclaimed throughout the empire as the living God. Typically, Darius represents the last Gentile emperor, who will be worshipped; Daniel, the godly Jews who will be saved from the very jaws of destruction; his opposers, the future infidel accusers of God’s people. The fourth characteristic is self-exaltation.

Daniel 7. This begins the second part of the book. It gives the character of the Gentile kings, already noted in Daniel 4, as before God, and their conduct towards those who acknowledge God. The four empires prophesied of in Daniel 2 are here further described under the figure of “great beasts.” The lion is Chaldean; the bear, Medo-Persian; the leopard, Grecian (or Macedonian); and the fourth, which was like no living animal, Roman, distinguished as having ten horns (ten kings) (Dan. 7:24). Out of the last arises a little horn, a power which persecutes the saints for 3 1/2 years; but which is judged by the Ancient of Days, and the saints of the Most High, or rather of the high places, eventually take the kingdom. This power is doubtless the future Roman prince in the West, who will combine with Satan and the Antichrist, as in Revelation 13.

Daniel 8. The second and the third of the four empires are again prophesied of. Out of the third kingdom, the Grecian, after it was divided into four, arose a little horn, which magnified itself; and then follows the ceasing of the daily sacrifice at Jerusalem, “the pleasant land”; but in Daniel 8:11 and part of 12 There is a change from “it” to “he”; and in Daniel 8:17, 19 “the time of the end” is spoken of. Therefore, though the little horn refers to Antiochus Epiphanes (and though he caused the worship at Jerusalem to cease) a later and still future period is evidently referred to, and another king of Syria, who will stand against the Prince of princes, and shall be broken without hand (Dan. 8:25). Daniel 8:23-25 are distinctly future “in the latter time.” (In reference to the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14, see ANTIOCHUS)

Daniel 9. Daniel was a student of prophecy, and learned from Jeremiah that the desolations of Jerusalem were to last 70 years. These were almost accomplished, and Daniel confessed his sins and the sins of his people; he prayed for forgiveness, and for the sanctuary which was lying desolate; he begged God to hearken and do, to defer not for His own sake, because the city and the people were called by His name. While he was yet speaking Gabriel was sent with a communication, which embraced not only the re-building of Jerusalem in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, but the coming of the Messiah, and the action of a prince (head of the Roman power) in the last of the seventy weeks. See SEVENTY WEEKS.

Chapter 10. Daniel mourned three full weeks. This was in the third year of Cyrus; in the first year Cyrus had proclaimed that God had charged him to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1). Some were elated at the small restoration in Ezra 1-3, but Daniel was still before God about His people, the previous chapter having revealed that 70 weeks (of years) would have to run on before blessing; Messiah would be rejected, etc. He did not go back to Jerusalem, but continued to mourn for God’s people and sought to understand the prophecies. One was sent to comfort Daniel, and he revealed the fact that unseen evil powers had delayed his coming the entire three weeks. The messenger said, “I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days....now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come” (Dan. 10:14, 20). This introduces Daniel 11-12 (Daniel 10-12 being one). God’s answer is a revelation extending from the days of Daniel to the final blessing of God’s people. The city and sanctuary are in view in Daniel 9, here the people.

Daniel 11. Daniel 11:1-35 is a history of the contests between the king of the north (Syria) and the king of the south (Egypt)—branches of the Grecian empire—often in the land of Palestine which lay between them. The prophecies are so definite that some critics have said they must have been written after the events. (The correspondence of history with the particulars given in this chapter will be found under ANTIOCHUS.) Daniel 11:21-35 refers to Antiochus Epiphanes, type of the king of the north, or Assyrian of the last days: Compare also Daniel 8.

Daniel 11:36-45. The Spirit here, as elsewhere, passes from the type to the fulfillment at the end of the days, leaping over the present interval. Daniel 11:36-39 is a parenthesis and refers to Antichrist as a king: he will be a Jew and not regard “the God of his fathers,” nor the Messiah as “the desire of women,” nor regard any known god; but will set himself up above all. Yet apparently he will honor the god of war (for which nations are getting ready).

Daniel 11:40-45. This is the final contest between a king of the North and a king of the South. The king of the North (elsewhere spoken of as “the Assyrian,” antitype of Epiphanes) succeeds and passes into “the glorious land,” and is generally victorious (but not against Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon: these are judged later by the instrumentality of Israel (Isa. 11:14). Like Sennacherib’s host of old, he will be smitten by the hand of God.

Daniel 12. This is the deliverance and blessing of the Jewish remnant. Michael, their champion in the heavenlies, stands up for them. There is to be a time of great trouble such as never was (compare Jer. 30:7; Matt. 24). Many of Israel that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake: some to millennial blessing, and some to judgment. This is not the resurrection of the dead, but a national rising of all Israel from among the Gentiles, like the rising from the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37: a remnant only will enter the kingdom. Daniel was told to seal up the book to the time of the end (compare Rev. 22:10). He heard one ask, “How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?” The reply is “a time, times, and a half”—3 1/2 years, the last half-week of Daniel’s 70 weeks. Two other periods are given: 1290 days from the time of the daily sacrifice being taken away: this is 30 days beyond the 3 years. Then blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the 1335 days—full blessing. Daniel was told to go: he should stand in his lot at the end of the days.

Much of this remarkable prophecy stands alone, though it has many links that fit exactly with other prophecies. A general knowledge of prophecy wonderfully helps the understanding of any part of it, in this or in any other book. It is important to remember that Daniel’s prophecy embraces the “times of the Gentiles”—running on from the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar to the restoration of the Jews when ruled over by the Son of David. The present governments or states of Europe may be said to be the representatives of Gentile supremacy, but through the depreciation of the Roman empire by the mixture of the iron and clay. The Church and the Gospel have no place in Daniel.

The book is not all written in Hebrew: from Daniel 2:4 to the end of Daniel 8—namely, what concerns the Gentiles—is written in what is there called Syriac, or Aramaic-usually called Chaldee, the Gentiles’ tongue.

Bible Handbook:

607 B.C. – 12 Chapters – 357 Verses

We have a good deal of personal history and biography in the Prophets Jeremiah and Daniel, but so interwoven in the texture of their prophecies as to form an integral part of their prophetic utterances. Daniel was of the seed royal of Judah, and was taken to Babylon when very young — probably 14 or 15 years old. There seems to have been an invasion of Judea, at least of Jerusalem, in the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, the third to last, king of Judah (compare ch. 1:1-2 with 2 Kings 24:1), when part of the temple treasures were removed, and the King, Princes, and members of the royal family were taken captive to Babylon. This first attack upon Jerusalem took place nearly 20 years before the final sack of the city. Daniel, therefore, must have spent the greater part of his life in the Court of the Chaldeans, as he survived that dynasty, for we find him prophesying in the third year of Cyrus, King of Persia (ch. 10:1). The consideration of these circumstances tends to give great weight to the confession of his own and the nation’s sins (ch. 9), for personally he could not have been a sharer, at least to any great extent, of the national guilt.

God did not leave Himself without ample testimony, even to the people whom, in the exercise of righteousness, He had driven from their city, country, and temple. Jeremiah, as we have already seen, prophesied amongst the poor left by the conqueror in the land. Ezekiel spake “the word of the Lord” amongst the captives settled in Mesopotamia, while Daniel interpreted the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and revealed the visions granted to himself, in the immediate region and center of Gentile royalty itself. Thus all were left without excuse, both the conqueror and the conquered.

Attention may here be called to the interesting circumstance that the writing from chapter 2:4 till the close of chapter 7 is in the Syriac or Aramean language, and as that portion of our Prophet divinely sketches the rise, progress, and end of Gentile power, the Babylonians and Assyrians — the two powers used in the captivity of all Israel — had in their own language the mind of God upon that committed to them, the grant of sovereign authority in the world.

The Times of the Gentiles

In this book of Gentile prophecy, “the times of the Gentiles,” which historically commence with the removal of the throne and glory of God from Jerusalem, and the transference of governmental power from Judah to Nebuchadnezzar (the head of gold), are briefly sketched until the entire setting aside of Gentile rule, and the introduction of the world-kingdom of the Son of Man. The revival of the fourth or Latin Empire of the West in a ten-kingdom form, and its connection with apostate Israel in the last days of Gentile supremacy, are leading features of this prophecy. Certainly the distribution of the Empire into ten kingdoms, having a central and directly controlling head, has never taken place; yet it is clear from chapters 2 and 7 of our prophet that such will be its character at the close of this age. This new and hitherto unknown feature necessarily calls for the revival of the Empire; and indeed we know from Revelation 17, that its future revival by Satanic energy awaits fulfilment. It may simplify this important point if we direct, for fuller consideration by the reader, the four following conditions ascribed to the Roman Empire. “The beast that thou sawest was” — that is, its Imperial form as it existed in John’s day — and is not,” — that is, it has no present political existence — ”and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit,” — that is, its future revival by direct Satanic energy — ”and go into perdition,” — that is, its terrible end will be utter, awful ruin (Rev. 17:8). The ten kingdoms and the beast, or fourth imperial power, will be found in direct conflict with the Lamb and His heavenly saints (Rev. 17:12-14) in that awful crisis which will usher in the Kingdom of Christ. Daniel alone of the prophets and the Apocalypse occupy the field covered by “the times of the Gentiles.” The nations, headed by the Assyrian and Gog, express their hatred to the Jews as a people; while the nations of the West, comprised in the empire of or headed by the beast or “little horn” of Daniel 7, express their hatred to the Lamb, while politically favouring the apostate nation, then returned to her land, having received the “Antichrist.” Isaiah, and the prophets generally, treat of the political enemies of restored Judah and Israel, while Daniel and the Revelation treat specially of the last phase of the fourth empire, and its relation to the Jews (subject of the prophet) and to the Lamb (object of the apostle).

The Four Great Gentile Empires

The political history of the four great empires is given us in chapters 2 and 7; the former chapter symbolizing them as metals, and the latter chapter as beasts. First, the Babylonian power, as “head of gold,” highest and purest character of governmental power, and “lion,” the majesty of that power. Second, the Persian empire, as “arms and breast of silver,” inferior character of power to the former, being lodged in the hereditary nobles of the empire, and binding even the sovereign, and “bear,” the grasp it maintained upon its conquered and numerous dependencies. Third, the Grecian Empire, as “belly and thighs of brass,” lower character of power still, being practically in the generals and officers of the army, and “leopard,” the almost marvellous rapidity by which Alexander accomplished his extensive conquests. Fourth, the Roman Empire, as “legs and feet of iron and clay,” the constitutional forms of monarchical government, and “fourth beast,” its extensive and cruel absorption into the empire of near and distant kingdoms and states.

The “little horn” of chapter 7 is the great Gentile leader in the West; the “little horn” of chapter 8 is the distinguished leader in the East. They are distinct personages. The seventy weeks or 490 years, date from the commission granted to Nehemiah (Neh. 2) to restore Jerusalem. The last seven of these years have yet to run. They will commence after the Temple is rebuilt and Jewish worship reinstituted, which of course supposes the Jews restored to their land (ch. 9:27). Chapter 11:1-35 records the conflicts between the kings of the North (Syria) and South (Egypt) — Israel, the object of contention by both powers, lying between. From verse 36 to the end the history is distinctly future. The previous part of the chapter has been historically fulfilled, but its typical bearing upon the coming crisis must not be overlooked. To do so is to make the prophetic word of “private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20-21).

Verse 11 of the last chapter is that referred to by our Lord in His great prophetic discourse on Mount Olivet (Matt. 24:15). Its future application is evident from the Lord’s use of it in that chapter speaking of it to be fulfilled.

General Divisions

Chapters 1 – 6 — The dreams of Nebuchadnezzar and their interpretation by Daniel, unfolding the history of Gentile power from its rise till its close.

Chapters 7-12 — The visions of Daniel, and the connection of the Grecian (chs. 8-11) and Roman Empires with Daniel’s people — the Jews in their latter-day history.

Notes

Chapter 2 — The great image represents Gentile authority or government.

The gold represents the Babylonian empire.

The silver represents the Persian empire.

The brass represents the Grecian empire.

The iron and clay represent constitutional governments.

The stone out of the mountain represents Christ in judgment.

Chapter 7 — The four beasts represent the four universal empires.

The lion represents Babylon.

The bear represents Persia.

The leopard represents Greece.

The four wings represents the fourfold partition of Alexander’s empire.

The fourth beast represents Rome.

The ten horns represents the ten kings of the Roman empire.

The little horn represents the personal head of the empire.

“Till the thrones were cast down,” read “till the thrones were placed or set up.”

Chapter 8 — The ram with two horns represents the Medo-Persian empire.

The goat from the west represents Alexander the Macedonian.

The great horn was broken — Alexander’s empire was broken up on his death.

“Four notable ones” represents the fourfold division of the empire.

Little horn (verse 9) represents Antiochus the Syrian king.

Chapter 11 — The first 33 verses record past fulfilment; from verse 36 to the end, the application is yet future.

The days of Daniel and the Apocalypse are literal, and apply to the time of the end. Horns signify kings; beasts, empires; and heads, the governing powers.

Book of Daniel

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

Concise Bible Dictionary:

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