Book of Daniel 3

7/28/2019 Book of Daniel 3

1/10

The Book of Daniel as Apocalyptic Literature

Teresa Frohock

Although there are apocalyptic passages in both the former and latter prophetic books of

the Old Testament, 1 the book of Daniel stands alone as the sole example of apocalyptic literature

retained in the canonical Tanak. Apocalyptic literature differentiates from the prophetic literature

not only in literary genre but also in theme. 2 Hebrew prophecy and Hebrew apocalypticism

maintain several differences in form, because prophecy was primarily preached and, like the

Greek oracles, existed as a poetic message whereas apocalypses were literary and presented in

prose.3

Thematic differences between the eschatologies of prophecy and apocalypticism areformed because prophecy is concerned primarily with the fate of the nation and apocalypticism is

concerned with the ultimate fate of the individual. Daniel provides an excellent example of

Jewish historical apocalyptic literature and also serves to demonstrate the psychological shift of

the eschatology of the individuals soul as separate from that of the fate of the Hebrew nation,

which becomes divided in their loyalties between their religion and Hellenism.

Apocalyptic Literature

The difficulty in assessing ancient Jewish literature as apocalyptic is the diversity of

scholarly opinions as to which characteristics define apocalyptic literature. The term apokalypsis ,

which is a Greek word meaning revelation, was not used as a genre label until after the period of

Christianity. 4 In 1979, the Biblical Literature Genres Project attempted to clarify the category of

1. Everett Ferguson. Backgrounds of early Christianity . 3 rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B.Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003), 477.

2. Ibid .

3. Ibid .

4. John J. Collins. The apocalyptic imagination: an introduction to Jewish apocalyptic


2/10

Frohock 1

apocalyptic literature by defining an apocalypse as: a genre of revelatory literature with a

narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an otherworldly being to a human

recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages

eschatological salvation, and spatial insofar as it involves another, supernatural world .5

Apocalyptic literature then falls within two more categories, that of otherworldly journeys and

that of historical apocalypses with Daniel falling in the latter category as a historical

apocalypse. Daniel contains an elaborate review of history, presen ted in the form of a prophecy

and culminating in a time of crisis and eschatological upheaval 6 for the Jewish nation as they

cope with the forced assimilation into Hellenistic culture by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Daniel 1-6

Chapters 1-6 of Daniel introduces the characters of Daniel and his companions who,

while living in exile at the Babylonian court of Nebuchadnezzar, manage to conduct themselves

as devout Jews. Retaining their Jewish rites and respect for Yahweh in spite of disapproval and

persecution, Daniel and his companions maintain not only the favor of Nebuchadnezzar, but

more importantly, the favor of Yahweh who protects them. These early chapters present the life-

style that could be possible for enlightened Hellenistic Jews who assimilate outwardly into

society while inwardly observing the Mosaic covenants with Yahweh. Each of the first six

chapters of Daniel revolves around several challenges to Daniel and his companions who must

preserve their Jewish heritage and religion in the face of adversity.

literature . 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998), 3.

5. Collins, The apocalyptic imagination , 4-5.

6. Collins, The apocalyptic imagination , 6.


3/10

Frohock 2

Chapter 1 details how Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah adhere to the dietary laws

involving kosher meat by avoiding meat altogether, because God allowed Daniel to receive

favor and compassion from the palace master. 7 In Chapter 2, Daniel is established as a wise

man when Yahweh reveals the meaning of Nebuchadnezzars dream to Daniel in a night vision, 8

and Daniel blesses the God of heaven keeping the covenant of placing God first. 9 Daniels

companions, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are placed in a fiery furnace in Chapter 3 for

failing to fall down and worship Nebuchadnezzars golden idol, because they refuse to bow

down and worship idols. 10 Yahweh sends an angel to keep them safe from the flames, and

Nebuchadnezzar holds these men in high esteem, because they yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. 11 Chapter 4 once more shows Daniels

wisdom as an interpreter of dreams and Yahwehs power over mortal kings with

Nebuchadnezzars madness before Chapter 5 delineates Belshazzars desecration of the temple

vessels and Daniels interpretation of the handwriting on the wall. Yahweh destroys Belshazzars

kingdom and he suffers a disabling madness similar to Nebuchadnezzars for defiling the temple

vessels. In Chap ter 6, Daniel continues to pray to Yahweh in spite of King Darius edict

forbidding prayers to any gods other than the King, and Daniel survives the lions den in the

same manner that his companions survived the fiery furnace.

7. Dan. 1:9.

8. Dan. 2:19

9. Exod. 20:2.

10. Exod. 20:4-6.

11. Dan. 3:28.


4/10

Frohock 3

These six chapters outline transgressions of factual and fictitious Gentile kings against

Yahweh and His chosen people that could be a litany of Antiochus IV Epiphanes policies

against the Jews and Yahweh by his despoiling of the temple (1:2), menacing Jews with the

threat of death (2:12-13), erecting idols (3:1), suffering from madness (4:30), sacrilegiously

profaning Jewish religion (5:2), and prohibiting religious practices and usurping divine

prerogatives (6:8- 10). 12

The author of Daniel sets the stage for the passive rebellion against Gentile kings such as

Epiphanes, who set socio-cultural policies adversarial to Jews; rather than submit to laws that

conflict with their religion, wise Jews keep the Mosaic laws with Yahwehs help. Daniel 1 -6gives pious Jews the psychological tools by which to survive the cultural apocalypse through the

examples set by Daniel and his three companions.

Daniel 7-12

The apocalyptic visions in Daniel do not actually begin until Daniel 7 when Daniel is no

longer interpreting dreams for Gentile kings. Instead, he is the dreamer himself and in need of

angelic interpretation. Daniels dream of the four beasts in Chapter 7 and reiterated in Chapter 8

culminates with the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke arrogantly, and that seemed

greater than the others; 13 which is taken by scholars to symbolically represent Antiochus IV

Epiphanes, although he is mentioned nowhere by name in Daniel. Daniel 7 shifts from the earlier

demonstrations of Yahwehs might to Gentile kings who may be potential servants of Yahweh to

12. Paul Niskanen. Daniels Portrait of Antiochus IV: Echoes of a Persian King. Catholic Biblical Quarterly 66, no. 3 (July 2004): 379, Academic Search Premier , EBSCO host (accessed February 21, 2008).http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=14019092&site=ehost-live.

13. Dan. 7:20.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=14019092&site=ehost-livehttp://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=14019092&site=ehost-livehttp://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=14019092&site=ehost-livehttp://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=14019092&site=ehost-live


5/10

Frohock 4

the Seleucid conqueror, Epiphanes, and his vicious persecution of Jews in 168 or 167 B.C.E. 14

This arrogant little horn is mentioned again in Daniel 8:9-12 in a second vision interpretation that

the angel Gabriel precedes with the words, Under stand, O mortal, that the vision is for the time

of the end; 15 an indication of Epiphanes rule as signifying the end of the world.

The arrival of Antiochus IV Epiphanes as a Hellenistic ruler creates the crisis that leads

to an eschatological upheaval in the remaining chapters of Daniel, because here is a Seleucid

king who, from the Jewish viewpoint, is determined to eradicate Jewish culture by destroying

their belief system. In approximately 168 or 167 B.C.E., Antiochus prohibited the practice of the

Jewish religion, specifically by ordering the destruction of the Scriptures, issuing laws againsthonoring the Sabbath and other Jewish festivals, abolishing the food laws and banning

circumcision. 16 Although Epiphanes is depicted in 2 Maccabees as a wild beast 17 in his hatred

of Jerusalem, the Seleucid rulers actions against Jerusalem were part of a more expansive

military campaign. While his policies against the Jews were appalling, Epiphanes act ions were

part of a larger program of cultural unification for the entire kingdom. 18

Regardless of their actual intent, the Antiochene oppression of the Jewish people and

their traditions brought about a change in the Jewish social situation that very well could have

been the catalyst that prompted the apocalyptic re -interpretation of their traditions 19 in Daniel

14. Collins, The apocalyptic imagination , 98.

15. Dan. 8:17.

16. Ferguson, Backgrounds of early Christianity , 406.

17. Niskanen, Daniels Portrait of Antiochus IV, 382.

18. Niskanen, Daniels Portrait of Antiochus IV, 383.

19. E.C. Lucas. Daniel: Resolving the Enigma. Vetus Testamentus 50, no. 1 (January 2000):79, Academic Search Premier , EBSCO host (accessed February 21, 2008).


6/10

Frohock 5

7-12. Yahweh no longer intercedes directly to rescue the nation of Israel but now intervenes on a

personal basis for the individuals who chose to keep the covenants. The Jewish people are

divided in their allegiances in Daniel 10-12 from those who follow Hellenistic laws, to those who

offer passive resistance, to those such as Judas Maccabee of the Hasmoneans who violently

opposed Hellenistic rule.

Daniel 11-12 makes a clear delineation of eschatological salvation for pious Jews who

stand in the face of adversity compared to those who are flattered into the seduction of violating

the covenant, a clear reference to Hellenistic Jews. However, the righteous are not promised the

invulnerability of Daniel and his companions in Chapters 1-6. The righteous will suffer casualties, captivity, and plunder, and the wise shall fall, so that they may be refined, purified,

and cleansed, until the time of the end .20 Those who maintain their covenant with Yahweh are

promised by Yahweh through the angel, Michael in Daniel 12:2 that . . . those who sleep in the

dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting

contempt.

Here is the thematic eschatological shift that separates prophecy from apocalyptic

literature. Eschatology, the doctrine of a future life after death, as dictated by the prophetic books

of the Old Testament concerns the destiny of Israel as a nation whereas the eschatology of

apocalyptic literature such as Daniel concerns the individual .21 The Hebrew nation is split

between Hellenism, the Maccabees, and passive rebellion against Epiphanes cultural war on the

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=4205445&site=ehost-live.

20. Dan. 11:35.

21. R.H. Charles. Eschatology: the doctrine of a future life in Israel, Judaism, and Christianity acritical history . (New York: Schoken Books, 1963), 178.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=4205445&site=ehost-livehttp://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=4205445&site=ehost-live


7/10

Frohock 6

Jews, so only the individual can bring about the necessary changes to save themselves and their

culture.

From the time of Moses toward the time of the prophets, Yahweh is presented as the head

of the nation of Israel, and the future lives of the individuals within Israel are directly tied to the

fate of the nation, because all stress was laid upon the nature of His activities within the

nation .22 The eschatology of the prophets deals only with the future of Israel and the Gentile

nations; but the prophets gave the individual no comfort of the thought of an afterlife beyond the

grave. 23 Daniel, however, as apocalyptic literature focuses on the eschatological salvation of the

individual, promising hardship in the mortal life as a way to strengthen the individual and readythem for everlasting glory in the af terlife. Sheol, the unblessed abode of shades 24 is now

eclipsed by everlasting life 25 for those who maintain the Mosaic covenant and everlasting

shame 26 for those who follow Hellenistic society and turn away from the Mosaic covenant as

Yahwehs chosen. Daniel promises eternal life for those who are wise shall shine like the

brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and

ever 27 with the theme of purification and cleansing repeated in Daniel 12:10.

Conclusion

A simple reading of the book of Daniel illustrates that Daniel distinguishes itself as

apocalyptic literature in the most straightforward context as a literary form rather than

22. Charles, Eschatology , 7.

23. Charles, Eschatology , 178.

24. Ibid .

25. Dan. 12:2.

26. Ibid .

27. Dan. 12:3.


8/10

Frohock 7

prophecys poetic forms such as those exp ressed in Isaiah and Ezekiel. In the deeper analysis of

thematic differences, Daniel demonstrates the eschatological disparity between prophecy and the

apocalyptic by stressing the eschatological salvation of the individual rather than that of the

nation. Daniels angelic translators fit squarely within the Bible Literature Genres Projects

definition of revelations arbitrated by otherworldly beings that disclose temporal and spatial

realities involving supernatural worlds. Chapters 1-6 exemplify how pious Jews can maintain

their religion in the face of persecution; and Chapters 7-12 promise eternal life and salvation to

those that keep the covenants in the face of Epiphanes socio -cultural war on Jewish custom so

that Daniel provides clear examples of apocalyptic literature and Jewish culture in 168 B.C.E.

Bibliography

Blasius, Andreas. Antiochus IV Epiphanes and the Ptolemaic Triad: the Three Uprooted Horns

in Dan 7:8, 20 and 24 Reconsidered. Journal for the Study of Judaism: In the Persian

Hellenistic & Roman Period 37, no. 4 (November 2006): 521-547. Academic Search

Premier , EBSCO host (accessed February 22, 2008).

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=23178352&site=ehost

-live.

Charles, R. H. Eschatology: the Doctrine of a Future Life in Israel, Judaism and Christianity a

Critical History . New York: Schocken Books, 1963.

Collins, John J. The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature .

2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1998.

DiTommaso , Lorenzo. Apocalypses and Apocalypticism in antiquity (Part I). Currents in

Biblical Research 5, no. 2 (February 2007): 235-286. Academic Search Premier ,

EBSCO host (accessed February 21, 2008).


9/10

Frohock 8


-live.

Ferguson, Everett. Backgrounds of Early Christianity . 3 rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: William B.

Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2003.

Finitsis, Antonios. Zechariah 1 -8 and Millennialism. Greek Orthodox Theological Review 47,

no. 1-4 (Spring-Winter 2002): 81-100. Academic Search Premier , EBSCO host (accessed

March 24, 2008).


-live.Greenspahn, Frederick E. Why Prophecy Ceased. Journal of Biblical Literature 108, no. 1

(Spring 1989): 37-49. Academic Search Premier , EBSCO host (accessed March 24,

2008).


-live.

Hanson, Paul D. Zechariah 9 and the Recapitulation of an Ancient Ritual Pattern. Journal of

Biblical Literature 92, no. 1 (March 1973): 37-59. Academic Search Premier ,

EBSCO host (accessed March 24, 2008).


-live.

Lucas, E.C. Daniel: Resolving the Enigma. Vetus Testamentum 50, no. 1 (January 2000): 66-

80. Academic Search Premier , EBSCO host (accessed February 21, 2008).


-live.


10/10

Frohock 9

Niskanen, Paul. Daniels Portrait of Antiochus IV: Echoes of a Persian King. Catholic

Biblical Quarterly 66, no. 3 (July 2004): 378-386. Academic Search Premier ,

EBSCO host (accessed February 22, 2008).


-live.

Redditt, Paul L. Daniel 11 and the Sociohistorical Setting of the Book of Daniel. Catholic

Biblical Quarterly 60, no. 3 (July 1998): 463. Academic Search Premier , EBSCO host

(accessed February 26, 2008).

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=1568760&site=ehost-live.

Sweeney, Marvin A. The End of Eschatology in Daniel? Theological and Socio -Political

Ramifications of the Changing Contexts of Interpretation. Biblical Interpretation 9, no.

2 (2001): 123. Academic Search Premier , EBSCO host (accessed January 25, 2008).


-live.

Thomas, M.C. The Book of Daniel: the Apocalypse with a Distinct Charter for Liberative

Praxis and T heological Vision. Asia Journal of Theology 19, no. 2 (October 2005): 284-

308. Academic Search Premier , EBSCO host (accessed February 21, 2008).


-live.

Book of Daniel 3

Documents

Transcript of Book of Daniel 3