The book of Daniel stands among the most striking books of the Old Testament, weaving together vivid court narratives and soaring apocalyptic visions. It tells of a young Judean exile who, with his companions, remains faithful to the God of Israel in the heart of a pagan empire, and to whom God reveals the unfolding of history and the certainty of his coming kingdom.
Author, Date, and Audience
The book presents Daniel himself, a Jewish exile carried to Babylon around 605 BC, as its central figure and the recipient and recorder of its later visions (Daniel 7-12 are largely written in the first person). The traditional view, affirmed across the historic church, is that Daniel authored the book in the sixth century BC during and after the Babylonian exile. Many critical scholars, by contrast, date the book to the second century BC, treating its detailed prophecies (especially in chapter 11) as history written after the fact during the persecutions of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Conservative interpreters answer that this reasoning rests largely on a prior denial that genuine predictive prophecy is possible, and they note that Jesus himself spoke of "the prophet Daniel" (Matthew 24:15). The book's original audience was the covenant people of God living under foreign domination, far from the temple and tempted to despair.
Occasion and Purpose
Daniel was written to a people who had lost their land, their king, and their temple, and who needed to know that the God of the covenant had not lost his throne. Its purpose is to assure the faithful that the LORD remains sovereign over the rise and fall of empires, that he preserves his people in the fire and the lions' den, and that he will ultimately overthrow every earthly kingdom and establish his own everlasting reign. It is a summons to faithful, courageous living in exile while waiting on God.
Major Themes
The towering theme of Daniel is the sovereignty of God: "the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will" (Daniel 4:25). Closely joined to it are the call to faithful endurance and uncompromising worship under pressure, the contrast between fragile human empires and God's indestructible kingdom, and the assurance of resurrection and final judgment (Daniel 12:2)—one of the clearest such statements in the Old Testament.
Structure
The book divides naturally into two halves. Chapters 1-6 are court narratives—Daniel and his friends in Babylon, the fiery furnace, Nebuchadnezzar's humbling, the writing on the wall, and the lions' den. Chapters 7-12 record four apocalyptic visions of beasts, kingdoms, and the end of history. A notable feature is its two languages: 2:4b-7:28 are written in Aramaic (the international tongue, fitting its message about the nations), framed by Hebrew sections at the beginning and end.
Daniel and Christ
Daniel's visions reach their climax in "one like a son of man" who comes with the clouds of heaven to receive an everlasting, indestructible kingdom from the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:13-14). Jesus made "the Son of Man" his favorite self-designation, claiming this very prophecy as his own (Mark 14:62). The kingdom that the God of heaven sets up, the stone "cut without hands" that shatters all earthly empires and fills the earth (Daniel 2:34-35, 44), is the kingdom inaugurated in Christ and consummated at his return. Thus Daniel anchors the believer's hope: amid hostile powers and uncertain times, the saints belong to a King and a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and the dead will rise to everlasting life.