Grace Theological
Joumal12.2 (1991) 245-261.
[Copyright © 1991
Grace Theological Seminary; cited with permission;
digitally prepared for use at
Gordon and
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7
RICHARD D. PATTERSON
PERHAPS
the most persistent problem with regard to the unity and
composition of the book of Daniel has been the
relation of its first
six chapters to its latter half.1
Although several divergent views have
been held (particularly as to the age and provenance
of chapters 1 and
72,
these may presently be reduced to a widely held consensus: "The
first six chapters of the book contain material which
is older than the
later chapters, and this material has been re-edited
in Maccabean times
to attain a redactional
unity with the apocalyptic visions of chs. 7-12.3
This
study will suggest that chapter 7 functions not only as a hinge
chapter that provides unity to the two primary
literary genres in Daniel,
but plays a key role in the understanding of
biblical eschatology.4
1 For a sample of diverse opinions, see O.
Eissfeldt, The Old Testament An
Intro-
duction (New York: Harper and
Row, 1965) 512-19.
2 Some have argued for these chapters as
distinctive compositions, chapter 1 being
composed as an introduction to the court tales of
2-6, and chapter 7 being viewed as an
independent forerunner to the apocalypses of 8-12.
For details, see R. K. Harrison, In-
troduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1969) 1106-10; J. A. Mont-
gomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (ICC;
Edinburgh:
T.
& T. Clark, 1927) 88-99; W. L. Humphreys, "A Life Style for Diaspora:
A Study of
the Tales of Esther and Daniel," JBL 92 (1973): 211-23.
3 J. J. Collins, "The Court-tales in
Daniel and the Development of Apocalyptic,"
JBL 94 (1975): 218; see
also P. R. Davies, "Eschatology in the Book of Daniel," JSOT
17
(1980): 33-53. Scholars continue to debate whether one author (see, e.g., H. H.
Row-
ley, in The Servant
of the Lord and Other Essays on the Old Testament [Rev. ed.; Ox-
ford: Blackwell, 1965J 249-80) or multiple
authorship (see, e.g., H. L. Ginsberg, "The
Composition
of the Book of Daniel," VT 4
[1954J: 246-75; M. L. Delcor, Le Livre de
Daniel [SB; Paris: Gabalda, 1971] 10-13) can best account for the final form
of the
book. A compromise position has recently been put
forward by A. A. Di LelIa
(in L. P.
Hartman
and A. A. Di LelIa, The Book of Daniel [AB; Garden City:
Doubleday, 1978]
16)
who suggests that an editor-compiler (= the writer of
the core apocalypse of chapter
9),
utilizing the work of "several like-minded authors" was responsible for the book's
final collection. Although the original edition was
written in Aramaic, a translator may
be assumed to have rendered 1:1-2:4a; 8-12 into
Hebrew and subsequently published
the "work in its present form as a single
book. The date would be ca. 140 B. C."
4 For discussion of hinging in the Scriptures, see R. D. Patterson, "Of Bookends,
Hinges,
and Hooks: Literary Clues to the Arrangement of Jeremiah's Prophecies," WTJ
51
(1989): 116-17. For Daniel 7 as a hinge chapter, see J. E. Goldingay,
Daniel (WBC;
246
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THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF DANIEL 7 TO THE STRUCTURE OF DANIEL
The narrative of Daniel 7, though full of
complex details, is simply
told. At the onset of the reign of Belshazzar, Nabonidus' son,5 Daniel
has a dream consisting of a series of nocturnal
visions.6 Daniel sees a
great sea being driven and tossed by the four winds
of heaven.7 As he
looks, four great beasts come up out of the sea, the
fourth of which is a
frightful appearing animal with iron teeth. It
also has ten horns among
which ultimately another little horn arises, breaking
off three of the
existing horns. This little horn on the fearsome
and dreadful beast has
eyes and a mouth like a man and speaks great
boastful words. As he
looks further, Daniel catches a glimpse of the
Ancient of Days seated on
his throne before the assembled courts of heaven.
The record books of
judgment are opened and the awful beast with the
boastful little horn is
destroyed. Then Daniel sees "One like a Son
of Man coming with the
clouds of heaven" (v. 13--NIV), to whom the
Ancient of Days grants an
everlasting kingdom and authority, and before whom
all men worship.
As the account continues, Daniel, who in the
previous court narra-
tives serves as the divine
interpreter to the Babylonian court (see
45;
some vision and asks one of the attending angels as
to the true meaning
of what he has seen. He learns that the four
beasts represent a succession
of earthly kingdoms that ultimately will be
succeeded by that inaugu-
rated by the Most High. Upon further inquiry
concerning the fourth
beast and the little horn that spoke so boastfully,
he learns that these rep-
resent the culmination of earthly powers as
concentrated in the hands of
an evil ruler. This one will gain power through
violent means and per-
secute the saints, enacting
oppressive measures aimed at subverting all
remarks: "Chapter 7 is a
sense, the material before as well as the material
which follows pivots upon the detailed
revelation of this chapter."
5 The existence and importance of Belshazzar, once universally denounced by crit-
ics as unhistorical, can no
longer be doubted. For details, see J. P. Free, Archaeology and
Bible History (Rev. ed.; Wheaton:
Scripture Press, 1962) 233-35; G. Archer, A Survey of
Old Testament
Introduction (Rev.
ed.; Chicago: Moody, 1974) 382-83. E. Yamauchi
("The
Archaeological Background of Daniel," BS
137 [1980]: 6) remarks: "A recent re-
examination of all the relevant cuneiform data has
helped clarify the chronology. . . the
coregency of Nabonidus
and Belshazzar should be dated as early as 550 and
not just be-
fore the fall of
6 E. J. Young (The Prophecy of Daniel [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1977] 141) terms
it "a divinely imposed dream."
7 The term "great sea" is normally
assigned to the
tures: see Goldingay, Daniel,
160; L. Wood, A Commentary on Daniel
(
Zondervan,
1973) 180.
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 247
forms of traditional law and order. His time of rule,
however, will be
terminated at the sovereign direction of God who
will then institute his
rule in the midst of "the people of the Most
High" (v. 27--NIV).
The account lays great stress on the dream
itself with its fourfold
periodization of "beastly"
nations and on the culmination of that suc-
cession in the activities of a powerful and
sinister figure whose defeat
brings the process to its consummation in the blessed
rule of God
amidst his followers. The structure of the narrative
may be conve-
niently outlined as follows:
introductory setting (1), vision (2-14),
response (15), interpretation (16-27), response
(28).8
Chapter 7 has rightly been closely linked with
the following mate-
rial in chapters 8-12 for at
least two reasons. (1) Like those chapters,
chapter 7, while a dream, is also visionary in
character, thus adding to
a group of texts comprising a unit of
"vision reports.9 Such prophetic
pieces often partake of the more frequent
"announcements of judg-
ment10 and "kingdom oracles" dealing
with universal judgment and
promises of ultimate blessing.11 Their
distinctive feature, however, is
that they are cast in the form of a vision. Such
oracles frequently
embellish the customary Old Testament
eschatological perspective of
God's
superintending culmination of earth's history with an emphasis
on cosmic scope and supernatural beings who play
an important part,
and on the presence of a heavenly
mediator/interpreter who furnishes
needed information or interpretation.12 (2)
Much of the material that is
sketched in preliminary form in chapter 7 is
filled out in the succeeding
8 E. M. Good ("Apocalyptic as Comedy:
The Book of Daniel," Semeia 32 [1984]:
57)
suggests a chiastic structure to the main material in
the vision: A-four beasts (v. 3),
B-first
three beasts (vv. 4-6), C-fourth beast described (vv. 7-8), D-Ancient of
Days
+ court scene (vv. 9-10), C'-fourth beast killed (v. 11)-, B'-first three
beasts pro-
longed (v. 12), A'-human figure comes with clouds (vv.
13-14).
9 On the nature of Old Testament prophecy, see my remarks in A Literary Guide to
the Bible, eds. Leland Ryken and Tremper Longman III (
forthcoming) .
10 See the various discussions in C. Westermann, Basic
Forms of Prophetic Speech,
translated by H. C. White (Louisville: Westminster/John
Knox, 1991) 129-98.
11 See G. Vos, Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948) 307-18.
C.
Westermann terms such prophecies "salvation
oracles"; see, e.g., Prophetic
Oracles
of Salvation in the Old Testament, translated by Keith Crim (
John Knox, 1991).
12 The decision as to whether Daniel 7-12
can also be called apocalyptic is not an
easy one. Thus,
omission of such typical apocalyptic elements as
cosmic imagery, great battle scenes, lu-
rid descriptions of the fate of the wicked
Gentiles, and highly colored pictures of a final
kingdom, a golden age of peace, righteousness,
and prosperity centered around a strong
Messianic leader. Noting the almost total
absence of such typical apocalyptic themes,
teachings found in such apocalyptic pieces as I
Enoch, the Sibylline Oracles, the As-
sumption of Moses, and 2 Esdras, Heaton remarks; "What we find in the present
work
248
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
chapters, thus making it an integral part of the
latter half of Daniel.
These
data are conveniently displayed in Table 1.
Chapter 7 has also been linked closely by some
with the court nar-
ratives13 of chapters 1-6.14
That such a procedure is justified may be
[Daniel]
. . . is not a formal apocalyptic tradition but, rather, a miscellaneous body
of
prophetic teaching and imagery about the coming
Likewise, Davies ("Eschatology," 34)
feels that "the word 'apocalyptic' has been
detrimental to the Book of Daniel," not only
because the genre itself is ill-defined but be-
cause Daniel reflects the eschatological perspective
of the court tales of chapters 1-6 as
applied to the Maccabean
crisis.
On the other hand, scholars such as A. B. Mickelsen (Daniel and
Revelation: Rid-
dles or Realities? [
Imagination [
tic" to large portions of Daniel. Citing the
importance of angelic activity and heavenly
mediatorship of revelation in
Daniel, as well as the explicit hope of resurrection in chap-
ter 12, Collins
("Apocalyptic Genre and Mythic Allusions in Daniel," JSOT 21 [1981]
89)
suggests that Daniel "has been hindered more
fundamentally by the failure of schol-
arship to examine individual
works like Daniel in the context of the genre constituted by
the corpus of apocalypses."
Both schools of interpretation can make their
point. Certainly current definitions and
descriptions of apocalypse do allow
distinctive portions of Daniel 7-12 to be viewed as
apocalyptic. If, however, one searches for the
over-emphasis on cosmic themes, cataclys-
mic changes in the physical
world and the extreme language so characteristic of later
Jewish
apocalyptic fervor, it is evident that Daniel uses such things sparingly. In
any
case, Daniel is more closely tied to mainstream
eschatology with its emphasis on a sov-
ereign God's active
superintendence of the details of history so as to bring them to his
final purposes. Daniel may, then, perhaps be better
set beside such Old Testament pas-
sages as Zeph. 1:14-18 as
"emergent apocalyptic." See further my discussion in Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC; Chicago: Moody,
1991) 285-88.
13 Chapters 1-6 are customarily termed
"court tales." Such stories have as their cen-
tral plot an account of the
heroic exploits of a godly exile in a foreign court. This person's
godly walk and wisdom prove his worth in various
tests. He then rises to such personal
prominence that he is able to improve the
well-being of his people or even effect their
deliverance.
These narratives customarily include such
elements as: (1) a specific test involving
faith, morality, or compromise of covenantal
standards, (2) the friendliness of some resident
court official, (3) besting the foreigners in
contests or conflict, and (4) an unexpected ex-
traordinary resolution to a
besetting problem. Typical biblical examples include Daniel
(Dan 1-6), Joseph (Gen 37-50), Esther, and, to
some extent, Ezra and Nehemiah. Extra-
biblical examples may be cited in the apocryphal
stories concerning Zerubbabel (I Esdras
3-4),
Tobit, and Judith, as well as the Aramaic story of Ahiqar and the Egyptian Tale of
Sinuhe.
For details, see Collins,
"Court-Tales," 218-34; J. G. Gammie,
"On the Intention and
Sources
of Daniel I-VI," VT 31 (1981):
282-92; Heaton, Daniel, 33-53; and
Humphreys,
"Life Style," 211-23. Humphreys divides such
stories into two types: the court contest, in
which the hero provides the interpretation to a
seemingly insoluble problem and the court
conflict, in which the hero's purity is rewarded
with deliverance. Humphreys' twofold cat-
egorization is perhaps the simplest
way to view the court narratives. According to this ar-
rangement, Daniel 2, 4-5 belong
with the first type and Daniel 3, 6, with the second.
14 See, for example, A. Lenglet,
"La structure litteraire de Daniel 2-7," Biblica 53
(1972):
169-90; J. Baldwin, Daniel (TOTC;
Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1978) 59-63.
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 249
250
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
seen not only in the fact that chapter 7 shares the
same language (Ara-
maic) with 2:4b-6:28, but
that, as Lenglet observes, Daniel 2-7
"est. . . ecrit
d'une maniere concentrique.15
Indeed, its structure is
finely balanced, forming a neat chiastic arrangement
of material, chap-
ters 2 and 7 presenting
visions of a fourfold periodization of earth's
historical and political succession, chapters 3 and
6 depicting specific
adventures (told in characteristic "U
shaped" plot) that test the faith of
Daniel
and his three friends, and chapters 4 and 5 (the centerpiece of
the chiasmus) relating details illustrating divine
dealings aimed at try-
ing the character of two
Babylonian kings.
Structural patterning may also be observed in
the balanced pro-
gression within the two halves
(2-4; 5-7) of the chiasmus. Thus,
chapters 2 and 5 relate Daniel's testing in the
midst of the Babylonian
wise men, chapters 3 and 6 detail the personal
trials of Daniel's three
friends, and chapters 4 and 7 involve elements
of personal testimony
with regard to the reception and understanding of
revelatory dreams. In
addition, the close relationship of chapters 4
and 5 with their stress on
royal discipline, the fifth chapter utilizing
elements narrated in the
fourth, has often been noted.16 Further,
the structure of chapter 7 can
be seen to bear close affinities with the
preceding court narratives, par-
ticularly those in chapters 2, 4,
and 5. A still further unifying element
can be seen in that chapter 7, like chapters 1-6,
features a court scene
(vv. 9-10, 13-14,26-27), this one, however, presided over by
a Heav-
enly Sovereign. These data
are illustrated in Table 2.
Building on these findings and adding a
consideration of the first
chapter, an overall view of the structure of the
book emerges that
yields a distinctive
A. Historical Introduction (1) [Hebrew]
B. Historical Information (2-7) [Aramaic]
A. Future Information (7, 8-12) [Hebrew]17
The
importance of this ancient format (observable as early as the Code
of Hammurapi18) to the unity and
composition of Daniel is duly noted
by C. H. Gordon:
15 Lenglet, La structure, 188.
16 Gammie
(Intention and Sources, 283) calls attention as well to the extremely
important element of prophecy fulfilled . . . in
chapters iv and v.
17 Note that 12:4-13 forms not only a
conclusion to the vision report begun in 10:1
but also a concluding summary with instructions
that serve, together with chapter 1, to
bookend the entire prophecy.
18 The rendering of the
name of the great Mesopotamian lawgiver with a p rather
than a be is now certain, the ambiguous Akkadian syllable sign (**)(= bi or pi) being
uniformly treated in this name as a p in Ugaritic (**).
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 251
252
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Hammurapi's Code has a
comprehensive literary form. The pro-
logue and epilogue are in
poetry, whose form is parallelistic and whose
language is archaic. The laws in
the middle, however, are in prose, so
that the whole composition
has a pattern, which we call
poetry, B being prose. This
has an important bearing upon other oriental
compositions including the Bible: . .
. Similarly the biblical Book of
Daniel begins and ends in Hebrew, though the
middle is in Aramaic. The
possibility of an intentional
ation and should deter us
from hastily dissecting the text.19
Gordon's
remark as to intentionality in the
impression gained by noting the book's structural
refinements. The
cumulative effect has important implications for
the unity and compo-
sition of Daniel. Rather than
pointing to the unifying work of a late
redactor/compiler who stands at the end
of a long line of editorial
activity, Daniel is best explained as supporting
Gooding's contention
that "we must take seriously the book's
internal proportions, as having
been deliberately planned by the author.20
The key role of chapter 7 to the book of Daniel
is thus readily
apparent. Its central location and close
correspondence with the two
major portions make it evident that Daniel 7 is in
many respects the
key that unlocks the door to the problem of the
unity, as well as the
understanding, of the book.
the Aramaic section this chapter constitutes the
climax, and it is the
part of the picture and concentrate on some
particular aspect of it.21
19 C. H. Gordon, The Ancient Near East (3d ed.;
W.
G. E. Watson, Classical Hebrew Poetry
(JSOTS 26;
20 W. Gooding, "The Literary Structure
of the Book of Daniel and Its Implica-
tions," TB 32 (1981): 68. Gooding's analysis,
however, proceeds along more thematic,
rather than literary, lines so that his suggested
structural arrangement differs significantly
from the consensus of Old Testament scholarship.
Authorial intention in the
ther by the witness of
complete Daniel was originally written in Aramaic
with sections subsequently translated
into Hebrew, manuscripts from both Cave One and Cave
Four validate the change from
Hebrew
to Aramaic at 2:4b and the change from Aramaic to Hebrew at 8:1. Thus, G. Ha-
sel ("New Light on the
Book of Daniel from the Dead Sea Scrolls," Archaeology and
Biblical Research 5 [1992]: 50) remarks:
"The Hebrew/Aramaic Masoretic text of the
book of Daniel now has stronger support than at any
other time in the history of the in-
terpretation of the book of
Daniel."
21 Baldwin, Daniel, 137.
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 253
THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF DANIEL 7 TO DANIEL'S ESCHATOLOGY
The strategic structural position of chapter 7
provides a key not
only to the form of the book but to the
understanding of Daniel's
eschatology. Together with the bookending
chapter of its first part
(chapter 2), it gives a picture of earth's political future
from Daniel's
day onward. As noted above, that prophesied future
falls into a four-
fold periodization that
begins with
with generally deteriorating political cohesiveness
but increasing
ferocity through two more kingdoms to a fourth
era, toward the end of
which a fearsome leader arises.22 During
his time, the saints will be
sorely oppressed but God will accomplish his defeat
and rule through
his designated leader who will reign in the midst
of the saints forever
(7:13-14,18-27).
This general overview undergirds
and circumscribes the further
complementary revelations that follow
in chapters 8-12.23 Particularly
troublesome to harmonizing the data of those
chapters with the basic
format of chapters 7 and 2 is the twofold problem of
(1) the identifica-
tion of those kingdoms/eras
that succeed
standing of the discussions concerning the little
horn and the willful
king that figure so prominently in chapters 8 and
11.
As for the former problem, chapter 8, which is set in the third year
of Belshazzar, would
appear to describe two kingdoms that will suc-
ceed
(vv. 20-21). The vision of this chapter also tells of the
rise and fall of
out of his kingdom after his demise, and the
subsequent rise and
destruction of a wicked king (= Antiochus Epiphanes) who opposes
God's people (vv. 8-12, 22-25).
As for the latter problem, since the prediction
concerning the
wicked king (= the little horn that grew up on the he
goat) at first sight
seems to parallel that of the wicked king (= the
little horn that grew up
on the fearful beast) of chapter 7 (vv. 19-25),
the question arises as to
whether these two chapters are speaking of the
same person. The
difficulty in deciding affirmatively for such an
identification is that the
22 The allocating of prophetic history into
episodic schemes is well known in the
ancient Near East, being attested in the
Sibylline Oracles (
as in Greek, Roman, Persian, and Mesopotamian
traditions. For details, see J. Baldwin,
"Some
Literary Affinities in the Book of Daniel," TB 30 (1979): 90-92; Daniel,
55;
Goldingay, Daniel,
40-41; Di LelIa, Daniel, 29-33; and J. H. Charlesworth (ed.), The
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (2 vols.; Garden City:
Doubleday, 1983) 1:382.
23 For the juxtapositioning
of complementary revelations as a feature of apocalyptic
literature, see Collins, Apocalyptic Imagination, 85-86.
254
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
little horn of chapter 7 arises in the era of the
fourth kingdom, while
that in chapter 8 apparently belongs to the third.
To solve that problem,
many expositors suggest that the two-horned ram in
the vision of chap-
ter 8, representing Media
and
four kingdom sequence of chapter 7 by taking the ram
as symbolizing
two successive kingdoms. The resultant four kingdom
sequence can
therefore be understood as
Di Lella remarks:
Whereas in ch. 2 and ch. 7 there is one symbol for the kingdom of
the Medes and another for
that of the Persians (
there is a single symbol, the
ram, for both these kingdoms (8:3-4, 20).
But this does not mean that the author of ch. 8 is ignorant of the "four
kingdom" concept of the
rest of the book. On the one hand, both ch. 6
and the Book of Esther
treat the Medes and the Persians as kindred peo-
ples in a coalition (Dan 6:9,
13; Esther 1:3;
other hand, ch. 8, in which each of the two large horns of the ram sym-
bolizes a separate kingdom (cf.
vs. 20), makes a distinction between the
"longer and more
recent" horn,
Such a decision, however, runs counter to
Daniel's consistent
symbolic scheme. For elsewhere each animal
depicts a given kingdom/
era and, while the parts of an animal may signify
different persons/
events/segments within a particular
kingdom/era, they never appear to
be able to be understood of entirely different
kingdom/eras. Further,
within the last vision (chapters 10-12), set in the
days of the second or
Persian
kingdom (10:1), attention is focused once again on only the
two kingdoms of
that while chapter 7 (combined with chapter 2)
provides the basic four
epoch prophetic framework for the future, the visions
of chapters 8 and
11
amplify details relative to the nearer historical scene in the days of
the second and third kingdoms.
24 Di
LelIa, Daniel,
234; see also 212-14. Actually, those who decide for the first
and fourth kingdoms as referring to
imous as to the identity of
the second and third kingdoms. Goldingay (Daniel, 175, 176),
sensing the inherent difficulty in the problem
and having surveyed various solutions to it,
concludes: "It is as certain an exegetical
judgment as most that the contextual meaning
of Dan 7 is that the first empire is
Nebuchadnezzar's
There
is less certainly about the identity of the second and third kingdoms. . . . There
is
little evidence to go on in identifying the second and
third kingdoms, and each interpre-
tation gives a slightly
artificial result. This reflects two facts. First, Daniel is not really
interested in the second and third kingdoms, and
perhaps had no opinion regarding their
identity. Second, the four-empire scheme as a
whole is more important than the identifi-
cation of its parts. Dan 7 is
applying a well-known scheme to a period that has to begin
with the exile and end with the Antiochene
crisis."
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 255
The result of these considerations is that the
twofold problem can
be solved by concluding that (1) the proper
identification in the four
kingdom periods is
fourth kingdom/era, and (2) the little horn of chapter
8 must "be distin-
guished from the little horn of
chapter 7, which came up among the ten
horns of the indescribable beast. Though they have a
superficial simi-
larity, there are many
differences between them and they do not belong
to the same era.25
It may be added that the fourth of these
kingdoms/eras most likely
began with
The
appearance of the figure of a little horn in both the third and fourth
kingdoms indicates that the person involved in
the third (unanimously
identified as Antiochus Epiphanes)
stands either as a type or prophetic
precursor to his antitype in the fourth kingdom.
Thus, chapter 8 can be
viewed as "historically fulfilled in Antiochus,
but to varying degrees
foreshadowing typically the future
world ruler who would dominate
the situation at the end of the times of the
Gentiles27 or by seeing
chapter 8 as prophetic fulfillment without
consummation. Consistency
of approach also predisposes one to treat chapter
11 in similar fashion.
There are reasons for thinking that, although
the chapter finds its
first fulfillment in the
character and reign of Antiochus IV, the matter
does not stop there. Notice
that (i) there are details which do not apply
to Antiochus if our
information about him from other sources is accu-
rate. (ii) The emphasis
throughout is less on the king's deeds than on his
character which prompts his
deeds. (iii) The account keeps returning to
the persecution which will
be directed against the godly people and the
covenant. (iv)
Throughout the book the proud are manifestly brought
low or suddenly cut out of
the picture by death. God's sovereign way of
25 Baldwin, Daniel, 24.
26 The overwhelming consensus of Jewish and
Christian interpreters holds to a four
kingdom sequence culminating in
Commentary on Daniel (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1954) 245-68.
27 Walvoord,
Daniel, 196. Many expositors suggest
that chapter 8 prophesies
events relative to both Antiochus Epiphanes
and the Antichrist. Thus, Wood (Daniel,
223)
"sees the angel Gabriel as now giving the meaning of the vision by
showing, not
only the significance involving Antiochus of ancient
history, but also that of the one
whom Antiochus foreshadowed, the Antichrist of future
history. That is, Antiochus' op-
pression is seen to provide a
partial fulfillment of the prophetic vision, but that of the
Antichrist the complete fulfillment."
An interesting parallel may be seen in D. L.
Turner's conclusion ("The Structure and
Sequence
of Matthew 24:1-41: Interaction with Evangelical Treatments," GTJ 10
[1989]:
16-17) that our Lord's discussion of the interpretation of Daniel's prophecy
con-
cerning the abomination of
desolation (Matt 24:15-28) relates both to the A.D. 70 de-
struction of
256
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bringing this about is a marked
emphasis in the case of Nebuchadrezzar,
Belshazzar,
Alexander and his successors. (v) These rulers become pro-
gressively more anti-God as the
book draws to its conclusion. (vi) The
chapter takes up the point made
in
time of the end.28
One final problem within the book of Daniel has
to do with the rela-
tion of the framework of
chapter 7 to the prophecy of the seventy weeks 11
in
efforts of expositors of all ages. Indeed,
mal
faceted interpretative problems resident in the
passage need not be
rehearsed here. For our purposes, it can simply be
pointed out that by
remembering that
alyptic literature and by
allowing chapter 7 to exercise its full regulatory
constraints on all subsequent chapters in the book,
a satisfactory har-
monization of all the data in
chapters 7-12 (as well as chapter 2) can be
achieved.30 The resultant picture is
demonstrated in Table 3.
28 Baldwin, Daniel, 199-200. Many commentators suggest that the shift from
Anti-
ochus Epiphanes
to the future wicked ruler comes at
270-80;
Wood, Daniel, 304-14; and R. D.
Culver, Daniel and the Latter Days
(New
while I feel that Antiochus' career (chapter 8,
also appears that the prophecy of Antichrist (
Antiochus.
To one acquainted with the technique of the prophets this will not appear
strange. It is one of the commonest of phenomena
to find events of similar nature, but
separated widely in time, united in one prophetic
oracle."
29 Montgomery, Daniel, 400.
passage (372-401) by affirming: "The
trackless wilderness of assumptions and theories
in the efforts to obtain an exact chronology
fitting into the history of Salvation, after
these 2,000 years of infinitely varied interpretations,
would seem to preclude any use of
the 70 Weeks for the determination of a definite
prophetic chronology."
30 The position taken here takes into
account the full weight of the symbolism of
the numbers seventy and seven so prevalent in the
Old Testament and the intertestamen-
tal literature. The
apocalyptic nature of this portion of Daniel lends further expectation
to a symbolic use of numbers here (and in varying
degrees throughout chapters 7-12).
See
M. S. Terry, Biblical Apocalyptics
(Grand Rapids: Baker, 1988 reprint) 20-21; D. S.
Russell,
The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic
(
1964)
195-202; L. Morris, Apocalyptic
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972) 34-37.
The
passage may be conveniently divided into "seven weeks," capped by the
com-
ing of Messiah,
"sixty-two weeks" of Israelite history, and a final "seventieth
week" of
great affliction for
christ, whose godless and
oppressive tactics are terminated when God's decreed end is
levied upon him. For a similar division, of the
seventy weeks, but with different conclu-
sions, see M. Fishbane, Biblical
Interpretation in Ancient Israel (
1985) 482-87.
The approach suggested here has three benefits.
(1) It avoids the problems inherent
in finding the seventy weeks of years either as
fulfilled in Christ or as punctuated with an
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 257
258
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THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
THE FURTHER SIGNIFICANCE OF DANIEL 7
Because Daniel was an heir to a long tradition
of mainstream pro-
phetic activity, with which he
often interacted (e.g., cf. Jer. 25:8-14;
29:10-14
with Dan. 9), his own prophetic outlook can be taken as nor-
mative when attempting to
determine Hebrew eschatological perspec-
tive near the end of the Old
Testament revelation. Indeed, it must
provide the framework for such important
prophesied events as the
regathering of
teachings concerning the Day of the Lord, the
great final battles of
earth's history, the coming and reign of
Messiah, and the everlasting
felicity of God's people. The key role of chapter
7, so important to the
full teaching of Daniel, thus gains wider
significance as an interpreta-
tive key for Old Testament
eschatology.
The limited corpus of subsequent Old Testament
revelation makes
specific examples of the use of Daniel 7 by later
authors to be scanty at
best. The influence of Daniel 7, however, may
possibly be felt in
Zechariah's
report of a night vision (cf. Dan 7:7, 13 with 2:19) featur-
ing the number four (Dan
7:2-3; Zech 1:8; cf. 6:1-8). It is interesting
to note that much like Daniel's night vision,
which bookends the chias-
tically designed section of
Aramaic court narratives, Zechariah's vision
reports are arranged in chiastic form. Moreover,
much like Daniel (7-
12),
Zechariah makes great use of apocalyptic and groups his vision
reports together anthologically
(1-6, 9-12). Zechariah's editorial deci-
sion may possibly have been
directly influenced by Daniel.31
While the unquestioned instances of the
continued use of Daniel 7
during the intertestamental
era are few (but note such important cases
as I Enoch 69:26-71:17; 90:9-13a, 20-27; Sibylline
Oracles 3:388-
400;
Testament of Joseph 19:6-12; 1QM 17:6-8),32
the fact that this
chapter provides a quarry from which many
exegetical stones have been
hewn by writers of the Christian era demonstrates
that its influence
indeterminable gap between the
sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks for which there is no
exegetical justification. (2) It keeps the Jewish
perspective in focus. (3) It allows the full
weight of biblical evidence and apocalyptic literary
interpretation to be felt. The time
perspective of Daniel is thus one of chronography, not chronology.
31 If the proposed Danielic
influence on Zechariah is allowable, it further strengthens
the contention that apocalyptic had likely already
emerged by the days traditionally asso-
ciated with Daniel, the sixth
century B.C. Having arisen out of eschatological prophecy, the
apocalyptic form was thus an inner-Jewish
development that reached the full status as a
genre in the Intertestamental
Period. Note (though he assigns a late date to Daniel) the
similar concession by D. Aune
(Prophecy in Early Christianity and the
Ancient Mediter-
ranean World [
ally merged into apocalyptic. . . . Apocalyptic is
therefore an inner-Jewish development."
32 Many of the themes and images in Daniel
7 do occur often, such as God's fiery
throne, the "Holy Ones," "One like a
Son of Man," and the ten horns.
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 259
must have continued to have been felt.33
Certainly the Lord Jesus
employs it in his Olivet Discourse (Matt 24:29-31;
cf. Mark
Luke
21:25-28). Referring to Daniel 7:13-14 and linking it with
Zechariah
12:10-12, he points out that these prophecies find their con-
summation as he, the Son of Man, comes in splendor
and power on the
clouds of heaven to gather the elect from all
quarters, much to the con-
sternation of the unbelievers of
earth. In his final appearance before the
Sanhedrin
(Matt 26:64; cf. Mark 14:62; Luke 22:20), Jesus again draws
upon Daniel
uses the Old Testament to emphasize his rightful
place not only as the
expected King Messiah, but as the sovereign
judge.
It is in the Apocalypse, however, that the
weight of Daniel 7 is
more keenly felt. In a thorough study of the
influence of the book of
Daniel
upon the book of Revelation, Beale demonstrates that Daniel 7
is the controlling source for large portions of
Revelation (e.g., 1:4-7,
11-12;
4:1-5:14 [especially 5:2-14]; 13:1-8, 11-18; 17:5-16a).34 It
is particularly important to note the use and
crucial placement of Rev-
elation 13 and 17 in the structure of the book.
After the prologue (1:1-
8)
and section dealing with the seven letter scrolls
(1:9-3:22), the
majority of the book is devoted to a discussion
of the heavenly scroll
(4:1-22:5).
During the course of heavenly worship (4), a sealed
scroll
is seen in God's hand that none is found worthy to
open except the vic-
torious Lamb (5). Before the
scroll can be read, each of the seven seals
is opened (6:1-8:1) and seven trumpets are sounded
(8:2-11:19). Now
the message of the scroll can be received. It is an
awesome message of
the apparent reign of evil for a period of time, an
era in which God's
people will be sorely afflicted. Ultimately, however,
the Messiah King,
Jesus
Christ, descends with his armies to defeat and judge the forces of
evil, reign in triumph for a thousand years, and
then, having put down
a last Satanic insurgency, rules over a new
heaven and earth.
The record of events on the scroll itself is
presented in two stages
termed signs, the first depicting general conditions
(12-14) and the
second describing specific events (15:1-22:5). The
material drawn
from Daniel 7 figures prominently under each of the
signs. Chapter 13
tells of the rise and reign of terror of the
Antichrist; chapter 17 iden-
tifies the location of his
base of operations. In these chapters many of
the themes and much of the phraseology of Daniel 7
may be found,
33 In addition to New Testament examples
may be noted Sibylline Oracles 4; Apoc-
alypse of Elijah 2; 5; 2 Esdras 12:10-12; 2 Baruch 39:5-8; 4 Ezra 12:10-39;
13:1-13a;
I Enoch 46-47 (though the date is disputed, much
as the case of 69:26-71:17).
34 G. K. Beale, The Use of Daniel in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature and in the Rev-
elation of
summaries of Beale's research can be found on pp.
170-77; 202-3; 222-28; 244-48;
265-67.
260
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such as the appearance of a dreadful ten horned
beast (Rev 13:1-2;
17:3)
who boasts great things and blasphemes God (Rev 13:2, 7, 25;
17:14)
and opposes the saints (Rev 13:7; 17:6) and who has supreme
authority for three and a half years (Rev 13:5).
Noting these and other
allusions to Daniel 7, Beale remarks:
These parallels demonstrate a close association
between chaps. 13
and 17, and are striking
especially because most are the result of Daniel
7 influence. Our proposal that Daniel 7 is the
controlling pattern for
Revelation 17 receives more support in that
chap. 13 exhibits the clear-
est Danielic
Vorbild in
Revelation (especially in 13:1-8, from which all
but one of the above
parallels are found).35
It is of crucial importance to note that in
detailing the events of
these future end-time days, John draws upon the
material presented
under Daniel's predictions relative to the fourth
kingdom/era. Thus it
may be seen that Daniel's fourth kingdom/era
prophesies not of
(as suggested by many), which, of course, was past by the
time when
John
wrote the Revelation, but of Rome. However, this era stretches
beyond historic
period of the Great Tribulation and beyond. John's use
of the material
and format of Daniel 7 to portray the events of the
future Tribulation
Period
and following reinforces the view which holds that the deeds
first enacted historically under Antiochus Epiphanes will be reenacted
in even more savage degree by the Antichrist. Keil rightly observes:
Antioc hus, in his
conduct towards the Old Testament people of
God, is only the type of Antichrist, who will
arise out of the ten king-
doms of the fourth
world-kingdom (ch. vii.24) and be diverse from
them, arrogate to himself
the omnipotence which is given to Christ, and
in this arrogance will put
himself in the place of God.
The sameness of the
designation given to both of these adversaries
of the people of God, a
"little horn," not only points to the relation of
type and antitype, but also,
as Kliefoth has justly remarked, to "inten-
tional and definite"
" parallelism between the third world-kingdom (the
Macedonian) and the fourth (the Roman).36
The broad use made of Daniel 7 by the
extra-biblical authors as
well by Jesus and John testifies to its continuing
influence and its
importance to future expectations. Daniel 7, then,
provides an impor-
tant setting for biblical
eschatology.
35 Beale, Use of Daniel, 267.
36 Keil, Daniel, 260-62.
261 THE KEY ROLE OF
DANIEL 7
Because all of the
Bible is God's inspired objectively verifiable
revelation, all of it is important. Nevertheless,
it is obvious that certain
verses, passages, and books provide distinctive keys
to the arrange-
ment and understanding of
given portions or of the Scriptures in their
entirety.
The seventh chapter of Daniel takes its place
among these scrip-
tural keys. Not only is it
the key to the structure of the book but it pro-
vides the framework by which the prophecies of Daniel
may be
understood. Further, facets of its eschatology
remained normative for
both subsequent orthodox Judaism and Christianity.
While additional
details beyond Daniel's purview have been added
in the New Testa-
ment revelation, its epochal
orientation and predicted events remain as
basic tenets of biblical eschatology.
It is, then, a key chapter. As such it provides
a meeting place for
Jews
and Christians, although each may differ on matters of soteriol-
ogy. For both look forward
to that day when after the Tribulation that
stands near the end of this age, the Messiah and our
Lord shall reign in
the midst of his people over a refreshed and
glorified earth forever.
I looked, and there
before me was one like a son of man, coming
with the clouds of heaven.
He approached the Ancient of Days and was
led into his presence. He
was given authority, glory and sovereign
power; all peoples, nations
and men of every language worshiped him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion that
will not pass away, and his
kingdom is one that will never
be destroyed.
"The kingdom of the
world has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Christ, and he
will reign for ever and ever.37
37 Daniel 7:13-14; Revelation
This
material is cited with gracious permission from:
Grace
Theological Seminary
www.grace.edu
Please
report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt at:
thildebrandt@gordon.edu