Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)
God is my judge, or judge of God. (1.) David’s second son, “born unto him in Hebron, of Abigail the Carmelitess” (1 Chr. 3:1). He is called also Chileab (2 Sam. 3:3). (2.) One of the four great prophets, although he is not once spoken of in the Old Testament as a prophet. His life and prophecies are recorded in the Book of Daniel. He was descended from one of the noble families of Judah (Dan. 1:3), and was probably born in Jerusalem about
B.C. 623, during the reign of Josiah. At the first deportation of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar (the kingdom of Israel had come to an end nearly a century before), or immediately after his victory over the Egyptians at the second battle of Carchemish, in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim (B.C. 606), Daniel and other three noble youths were carried off to Babylon, along with part of the vessels of the temple. There he was obliged to enter
into the service of the king of Babylon, and in accordance with the custom of the age received the Chaldean name of Belteshazzar, i.e., “prince of Bel,” or “Bel protect the king!” His residence in Babylon was very probably in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar, now identified with a mass of shapeless mounds called the Kasr, on the right bank of the river. His training in the schools of the wise men in Babylon (Dan. 1:4) was to fit him for
service to the empire. He was distinguished during this period for his piety and his stict observance of the Mosaic law (1:8-16), and gained the confidence and esteem of those who were over him. His habit of attention gained during his education in Jerusalem enabled him soon to master the wisdom and learning of the Chaldeans, and even to excel his compeers. At the close of his three years of discipline and training in the royal schools, Daniel
was distinguished for his proficiency in the “wisdom” of his day, and was brought out into public life. He soon became known for his skill in the interpretation of dreams (1:17; 2:14), and rose to the rank of governor of the province of Babylon, and became “chief of the governors” (Chald. Rab-signin) over all the wise men of Babylon. He made known and also interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream; and many years afterwards, when he was now an
old man, amid the alarm and consternation of the terrible night of Belshazzar’s impious feast, he was called in at the instance of the queen-mother (perhaps Nitocris, the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar) to interpret the mysterious handwriting on the wall. He was rewarded with a purple robe and elevation to the rank of “third ruler.” The place of “second ruler” was held by Belshazzar as associated with his father, Nabonidus, on the throne
(5:16). Daniel interpreted the handwriting, and “in that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.” After the taking of Babylon, Cyrus, who was now master of all Asia from India to the Dardanelles, placed Darius (q.v.), a Median prince, on the throne, during the two years of whose reign Daniel held the office of first of the “three presidents” of the empire, and was thus practically at the head of affairs, no doubt interesting
himself in the prospects of the captive Jews (Dan. 9), whom he had at last the happiness of seeing restored to their own land, although he did not return with them, but remained still in Babylon. His fidelity to God exposed him to persecution, and he was cast into a den of lions, but was miraculously delivered; after which Darius issued a decree enjoining reverence for “the God of Daniel” (6:26). He “prospered in the reign of Darius, and in
the reign of Cyrus the Persian,” whom he probably greatly influenced in the matter of the decree which put an end to the Captivity (B.C. 536). He had a series of prophetic visions vouch-safed to him which opened up the prospect of a glorious future for the people of God, and must have imparted peace and gladness to his spirit in his old age as he waited on at his post till the “end of the days.” The time and circumstances of his death are
not recorded. He probably died at Susa, about eighty-five years of age. Ezekiel, with whom he was contemporary, mentions him as a pattern of righteousness (14:14, 20) and wisdom (28:3). (See NEBUCHADNEZZAR.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1863)
(judgment of God).
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
DANIEL (God is my judge). 1. One of the four greater prophets. He was of noble, perhaps of royal, descent, and probably born at Jerusalem. Dan 1:3; Dan 9:24; comp. Josephus's Antiq. In his early youth he was carried captive by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon, together with three other Hebrew youths of rank, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, b.c. 604. He was there instructed in the language and arts of the Chaldaeans, and, with his three companions,
trained for the royal service in the palace. Dan 1:1-4. The prince of the eunuchs changed all their names, calling them respectively Belteshazzar (i.e. "prince of Bel"), Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These four refused to eat of the king's meat and to drink his wine, but chose "pulse and water." Notwithstanding this diet, they were in better condition than the heathen courtiers. After three years' training, God gave Daniel an opportunity to
display his learning and wisdom. He interpreted a dream which Nebuchadnezzar had forgotten. Dan 2. In reward, he was made "ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon," and in this position so distinguished himself that he won great fame and was mentioned as a model man even by his contemporaries. Eze 14:14, Ruth 4:20; 1 Sam 28:3. On another occasion he faithfully explained to his monarch
the intention of God to punish him for his pride. Dan 4. For Belshazzar, a grandson and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, he performed a similar service, reading the handwriting upon the wall, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin. Dan 5. Under Darius the Mede, Daniel was made the first of the "three presidents " of the empire. His enemies obtained a command from Darius forbidding all prayer save unto the king for 30 days. But Daniel did not stop praying; and
this fact being discovered, he was cast into the den of lions, which was the punishment for a violation of the king's order. But God delivered him, and he was kept in his office. In the reign of Cyrus he likewise prospered, but seems to have left Babylon, as his latest recorded vision, Dan 10:1,Ex 6:4, was by the Hiddekel, in the third year of Cyrus, b.c. 534. When he died, and where, are uncertain. His reputed tomb is shown at Susa, on the
Tigris. Daniel at the court of Babylon resembles Joseph at the court of Pharaoh. Both were involuntary exiles from their country and people; both were great statesmen; both maintained the purity of their religion and their personal character, though surrounded by idolatry and corruption; both rose by their wisdom and integrity from slavery to the highest dignity in a heathen empire; both are shining examples of loyalty to God and to virtue.
Daniel is the name of two. or perhaps three, other persons mentioned in the Bible. (a) The second son of David by Abigail the Carmelitess. 1 Chr 3:1. He is, however, called Chileab in 2 Sam 3:3. (b) A priest of the family of Ithamar, mentioned, Ezr 8:2, as having returned with Ezra. He is probably again spoken of in Neh 10:6 among those who sealed the covenant drawn up by Nehemiah, b.c. 445.
Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869)
judgment of God; God my judge
Schaff's Bible Dictionary
DANIEL, BOOK OF. It consists of two distinct parts. Historical, chs. Dan 1-6, containing the interesting narrative given in the preceding section, and with it an account of the attempted burning of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in a fiery furnace because they would not worship the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar set up on the plain of Dura. Apocalyptic, chs. Dan 1:7-12, or the record of Daniel's visions. Ch.Dan 1:1 contains the
introduction,- chs. Dan 1:2-6 present a general view of the progressive history of the powers of the world, and of the principles of the divine government, as seen in events in the life of Daniel; and chs. Dan 1:7-12, the prophecy of the future of the people of God. The book is written in prose, but not in the same language throughout. The introduction, chs. Dan 1:1-2:4, first clause, is written in Hebrew, but from the second clause of the fourth
verse of the second chapter to the end of ch. 7 it is in Aramaic, called Syriac in that verse. From the beginning of ch. 8 to the end, in which part the visions are related in the first person, the language is Hebrew. The interpretation of Daniel requires profound knowledge of ancient history. The book is, in fact, a sort of religious philosophy of history. Its fundamental idea is that all the kingdoms of the world, which pass away, are ruled and
overruled by divine Providence for the kingdom of Christ, which will last for ever. The book of Daniel occupies in the O.T. the same position which the Revelation of John occupies in the New. It views the kingdom of God in its contact and conflicts with the empires of the world, and looks forward to the universal reign of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment. The empires of the world appear first in Nebuchadnezzar's dream,
ch. Lev 10:2, under the figure of a colossal image with a head of gold, a breast and arms of silver, a belly of brass, and legs and feet of iron and clay. These represent respectively (according to the usual orthodox interpretation) the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Macedo-Greek, and the Roman empires; they are overthrown at last by a stone cut out of the mountain without hands and becoming a great mountain, which represents the reign of the
Messiah. The indestructible rock of God's own workmanship breaks to pieces the metal colossus of man's hand. The same succession of monarchies is presented in the seventh chapter, under the form of a vision of four beasts seen by the prophet himself. The fourth beast has ten horns, denoting ten kingdoms, growing out of it, and a little horn (Song of Solomon 7:8, Jud 6:24) springing up among the four fractured horns of the Greek empire.
Interpreters agree as to the first empire, which must be Babylonia, but differ as to the other three. Some combine the Medes and Persians in one empire; others divide them, and regard the Greeks (Alexander the Great and his successors) as representing the fourth empire, and refer the "little horn" to Antiochus Epiphanes. Still others give the prophecy of Daniel a more comprehensive sweep over all the world-empires before and after Christ, as
preparing the way for the ultimate and everlasting reign of Christ. This prophecy of Christ, the most important in the book, is constantly fulfilling before our eyes, and cannot be set aside by any negative criticism. The book of Daniel has been much attacked, but also successfully vindicated by biblical scholars. In the second part Daniel speaks in the first person as the receiver of the divine revelations recorded therein, so that the only
alternative here is between truth and fraud. The very fact that two languages are used renders it extremely unlikely that it should have been forged or written in any later period, but to Daniel, familiar as he was with both Hebrew and Aramaic, it was natural. The book displays familiar acquaintance with Babylonian life and royal manners, and suits throughout the period of the Babylonian exile and the peculiar position of Daniel at the Babylonian
court. The genuineness is sanctioned by the highest authority -that of Christ, Matt 24:15, from which there is no appeal for believers. The attacks upon the book have been in three lines: (1) Its extraordinary events -the golden image, the burning fiery furnace, the dreams, the lions' den, etc.; (2) its minute prophecies; (3) its foreign (Greek) words; (4) its narrative. To these objections it is sufficient to reply:(1) The characteristics of
Babylon, the manners and customs of the East, amply justify the language and prove that the book is genuinely Oriental and Babylonian. (2) The peculiar position of Daniel required an exceptional and startling character for his revelations; his prophecies have been in great part fulfilled. (3) The Greek words are only four in number, and are the names of musical instruments which may have been imported from Greece as early as b.c. 600. (4) Its
historical difficulties. Belshazzar is represented as the last king of Babylon, while the authority there known gave Nabonnedus as the last king. This difficulty was solved by Sir Henry Rawlinson's decipherment of a cylinder among the ruins of Ur in Chaldaea in 1854. Nabonnedus had his eldest son, Belshazzar, as co-regent, and therefore it might well be that while he met the Persians in the field his son ruled in the capital. Thus is explained
how Daniel was made the third ruler in the kingdom. Dan 5:16, 1 Chr 2:29. Apocryphal Additions to Daniel. -These exist in the Greek version, and are: The Song of the Three Holy Children, the History of Susanna, and the Story of Bel and the Dragon. They passed into the Vulgate, and so into modern translations. They embody popular traditions, but never formed part of the Hebrew Bible. The Song of the Three Holy Children purports to be the triumphal
song of the three confessors in the furnace, Dan 3:23, in praise of their miraculous deliverance. The chief part has been used as a hymn (Benedicite) in the Christian Church since the fourth century. The History of Susanna, who was cleared from a charge of adultery by the shrewdness of Daniel. Probably based upon a fact. The History of Bel and the Dragon, a strange exaggeration of the record of the divine deliverance of Daniel, ch. 1 Chr 24:6.