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Daniel Biography

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DANIEL (Heb., God is my judge). In the Book of Ezekiel (xiv. 14, 20, and xxviii. 3 ) a personage with this name is introduced between Noah and Job as a well-known type of wisdom and righteousness. If these passages were written by Ezekiel, they would seem to show that Daniel was already, before the fall of Jerusalem in 586, regarded as an ancient hero, but some scholars consider them as late interpolations based on acquaintance with the Book of Daniel. There is a reference to Daniel's experience in the lions' den in 1 Mace. ii. 60, but this book was not written before e.100 B.C., and it is held by many interpreters that the speech of Mattathias is the work of the author or has at least been edited by him. Daniel is not mentioned among the famous men whose praise is sung in Ecclus. xliv, ff. It is not necessary, however, to suppose that the author was ignorant of Daniel; as in the case of Ezra, he may have had reasons for leaving him out. In the book that bears his name Daniel is represented as a Jewish captive carried to Babylon in the third year of Jehoiakim (i.e., 606 B.C.), who through his supernaturally imparted wisdom rose to a position as ruler of the Province of Babylon and chief of the wise men of Babylon in the time of Nebuchadnezzar (ii. 48), and as one of the three presidents who were set over the satraps in the reign of Darius the Mede (vi. 2). According to i. 21 his career extended until the first year of Cyrus; according to x. 1 he is said to have had visions as late as the third year of Cyrus, but the oldest Greek version has the first year of Cyrus, and the editorial superscriptions may be late. In Matt. xxiv. 15 and Mark xiii. 14 he is called "Daniel the Prophet." Many scholars entertain grave doubts as to the historic existence of Daniel because of the character of the book that forms our only source.