Introduction to the Book of Daniel

Ernst-August Bremicker

The Book of Daniel gives us astonishing revelations about the history of the four great kingdoms of prophecy. It speaks about the coming of the Messiah, His rejection and His future reign. Many of its predictions have already come true, while others are yet to be fulfilled. 

Daniel’s prophecies are therefore of fundamental importance. They help us to get an overall picture of biblical prophecy. Many statements that the New Testament makes about future events can only be understood in the light of Daniel. This applies, for example, to the great end-time discourse of our Lord in Matthew 24 and 25, 2 Thessalonians 1 and 2, and large parts of Revelation. 

However, the reader of the book will immediately realise that it also contains many practical lessons for the daily lives of believers. Daniel is a man of God who is a bright example to us in many regards — both in his youth and in his old age. His life was like the shining light that shines more and more unto the perfect day (Prov. 4:18). 

The author

The Book of Daniel reveals a great deal about its author. He was of the royal lineage of Judah but had been carried off to Babylon as a young man. He spent the entire 70-year period of the Jewish captivity there. Accordingly, the record of his life provides practical guidance for younger and older Christians alike. Among other things, he was characterised by great practical righteousness, consistency, fearlessness, faithfulness, devotion, faith and wisdom. Another distinctive feature was his prayer life. 

Daniel understood from the start what it means to separate oneself from the world and turn to God. As a young man, he refused to defile himself with the king’s delicate food, preferring to live off vegetables and water. Later, when Belshazzar held his lavish feast and many eminent persons were present, Daniel was absent. He understood that his place was not there. God distinguishes him at the end of his life by calling him a ‘greatly beloved’ man three times (Dan. 9:23; 10:11, 19). 

The political and historical background to the book

To fully understand Daniel’s prophecies, it is necessary to know their political and historical background. Daniel was among those taken into exile in Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. With the final destruction of Jerusalem (587/586 BC) under its king, Zedekiah, David’s royal line ceased to reign for the time being. God had transferred government into the hands of the Gentiles. So began a period the Lord Jesus calls ‘the times of the Gentiles’ (Luke 21:24). We live in these times now and they will continue until the Lord Jesus returns to this earth in power and glory and takes over the government Himself.

When God ‘gives up’ His throne (His government) in Jerusalem, so to speak, and His glory leaves the city (Ezek. 11:23), everything changes. Now Israel is no longer the centre and focus of His dealings with the earth. In Isaiah 54:5, He calls Himself ‘the God of the whole earth’, but at the beginning of Daniel, He is introduced under a different title: ‘the God of the heavens’. This expression is key to this book (it occurs four times in chapter 2: vs. 18, 19, 37, 44) and to the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which deal with the time after the captivity. In addition, He is referred to as ‘the King of the heavens’ (4:37) and ‘theLord of the heavens’ (5:23). The throne of God, so to speak, is now in heaven. From there God indirectly (i.e. through providential means) controls the course of events on this earth but He has handed over power and responsibility for human government to the rulers of the Gentiles. Their kingdoms compete for supremacy and succeed one another without reference to His earthly people. 

The times of the Gentiles therefore constitute a period characterised by God temporarily placing government in this world in the hands of one Gentile power at a time. In total, four kingdoms succeed one another. They are:

1. The Babylonian Empire (circa. 609–539 BC)
2. The Medo-Persian Empire (circa. 539–330 BC)
3. The Greek Empire (circa. 330–146 BC)
4. The Roman Empire (circa. 146 BC–AD 476 — so far)

From our point of view, the first three kingdoms have ceased and the Roman Empire has a past but also a future (Rev. 17:8). God determined the beginning of the times of the Gentiles, and He has also determined their end, when Christ takes over the reins of government as ‘King of kings, and Lord of lords’ (Rev. 19:16). Then Israel will again be recognised as the people of God. 

The special character of the Book of Daniel

The fact that Daniel writes about a period in which we live makes his book very important for us. As we have seen it is a period when governmental power is in the hands of the Gentiles and God’s earthly people (Israel) are no longer recognised as His people.

Two important questions follow from this:

1. How will the Gentiles deal with the power that has been entrusted to them? We learn that they do not recognise that it has been given to them by ‘the God of the heavens’ and consequently abuse it. It is only then (the millennium) that there will be no more abuse of governmental power. 
2. What happens to Israel during this time when they are subject to the Gentiles, and what about the promises God had made to them? We learn that although they have been dispersed around the world for many centuries, they will be regathered to enjoy a glorious future when Christ comes to reign over His kingdom. All God’s promises to Israel will be fulfilled literally in the millennium. 

But something else becomes clear. During the times of the Gentiles there will be a believing remnant who hold fast to God’s promises and observe His law. This remnant is presented to us in Daniel and his three friends.  We learn that the Gentile kingdoms add to their guilt by adopting a hostile attitude to the believing remnant of the Jews and persecuting them. It is ultimately God who will preserve and save the remnant.

It is precisely in this regard that the book is of great practical value to us. We, like Daniel and his friends, are a remnant in an anti-God environment. We, like them, are responsible to be faithful to our God — a remnant should be pleasing to Him. So on the one hand, the book shows us the evil principles the rulers of this world follow to this day, and where they will lead in the end, and on the other what our behaviour should be despite this.

Division of the book

The book has two main parts. The first six chapters contain history. They record the life of Daniel and his friends in Babylon and the behaviour and dreams of the kings Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar and Darius. God also uses these events to inform us about the development of the four Gentile kingdoms and their essential features as seen in an outward way by men. The second six chapters contain visions and prophecies given directly to Daniel, from which we learn the characteristic features of the kingdoms in the eyes of God including how they will deal with the remnant of the Jews. We can also say that the first chapter is an introduction to the book and the last chapter is a kind of epilogue. 

Part 1: Daniel and his friends in Babylon

Chapter 1. Introduction to the book. Despite the unfaithfulness of God’s earthly people there is a faithful remnant. Even in the time of the Gentiles, He maintains a testimony on this earth. This remnant is filled with the spirit of wisdom and knowledge.

Chapters 2–6. Overview of the development of the times of the Gentiles in their outward and visible form. We learn about the moral characteristics of the four kingdoms and their corruptions: chapter 3 shows us idolatry, chapter 4 self-conceit, chapter 5 blasphemy and chapter 6 total apostasy. The times of the Gentiles ends in the judgment of these kingdoms and the establishment of the kingdom of Christ (2:44).

Part 2: Daniel’s visions and prophecies

Chapter 7. Overview of the development of the times of the Gentiles from God’s point of view. The kingdoms are characterised as wild beasts.

Chapter 8. Description of the second and third kingdoms, the Medo-Persian and Greek empires respectively.

Chapter 9. Daniel’s prayer, God’s answer and the prophecy about the 70 weeks of years with a special reference to the appearance of the Messiah, who is, however, rejected.

Chapters 10–11. Prophecy about the kings of Syria and Egypt (the kings of the north and of the south respectively). [1]

Chapter 12. Summary and prophetic references to the great tribulation and deliverance of the faithful remnant in Israel.

A book that has been relentlessly attacked

Hardly any book of the Old Testament has been attacked like the Book of Daniel. We do not have the space here to go into all the arguments but they all prove to be unsound. As believers, we have no difficulty in recognising that God has written history in advance in the Book of Daniel — as He has done in other parts of His Word. 

One of the clearest proofs of the authenticity of the Book of Daniel is the fact that the Lord Jesus Himself refers to a prophecy from it in Matthew 24:15 and expressly calls Daniel a prophet. Further, in Matthew 24:30 and 26:64, He speaks of the Son of man, being seen coming with the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Unquestionably, this refers to Daniel 7:13. The Apostle John also refers to this passage in Revelation 1:7. Anyone who questions this book is ultimately questioning the Lord Jesus Christ. 

It is striking that the Jews have always regarded the Book of Daniel as a canonical book, but explicitly not as a prophetic book.[2] The predictions about the appearance of the Messiah and the time indications for this in the prophecy about the 70 weeks of years (Dan. 9:25–27) are too clear. To accept Daniel as a prophet is to accept that the promised Messiah already came some 2,000 years ago — something no orthodox Jew would do. 

Conclusion

Reading the book of Daniel is rewarding in every respect. The book gives us a deep insight into prophetic matters and helps us to better understand the prophetic word as a whole. In addition, it shows us by the example of Daniel how to live as a Christian in an alien environment for the glory and pleasure of God. 

[1] Following the death of Alexander the Great, the Greek empire split into four kingdoms. Two of these are known to history as the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires (after two of Alexander’s generals). They were based in Syria and Egypt, to the north and south of the land of Israel respectively. Daniel refers to them as the kings of the north and of the south for that reason. Isaiah and Micah call the future king of the north ‘the Assyrian’, tracing his moral roots back to the godless pride and antagonistic power of Nineveh and its founder Nimrod. God will use him to discipline His earthly people (Isa. 10:5) for resorting to idolatry under antichrist (Isa. 28; Rev. 13:11–18), but punish him for his excesses (Isa. 10:12–15; cf. Dan. 11:45) (eds.).

[2] In the Jewish canon (Tanakh), the Book of Daniel belongs to the ‘writings’ (Ketuvim) and not to the ‘prophets’ (Neviim).

From: Truth and Testimony, 2022