Dreams, Riddles, and Visions: Textual, Contextual, and Intertextual Approaches to the Book of Daniel (original) (raw)
Related papers
2016
The volume contains seven original studies, each of which focuses on a different chapter or central passage in Daniel and offers a new interpretation or reading of the passage in question. The studies span the Danielic tales and apocalypses, offering innovative analyses that often challenge the scholarly consensus regarding the exegesis of this book. The eight chapters relate to Daniel 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, Susanna, and the conception of angelology in Daniel. The studies are all based on careful textual analysis, including comparison between the Hebrew/Aramaic and Greek versions (especially regarding Daniel 4–6), and, in each case, the larger arguments are built upon solid philological foundations. Many of the insights proposed in this volume are based upon the realization that the authors of Daniel were frequently interpreters of earlier biblical books, and that the identification of these intertextual clues can be the key to unlocking the meaning of these texts. In this sense, Daniel is similar to other contemporaneous works, such as Jubilees and Qumran literature, but the extent of this phenomenon has not been fully appreciated by scholars of the book. This volume therefore contributes to the appreciation of Daniel as both the latest book in the Hebrew Bible, and a significant work in the landscape of Second Temple Judaism.
The Use of Scripture in the Book of Daniel
The apocalypse is a form of revelatory literature. Driven like no other genre of early Jewish writing by an intense longing for knowledge about the future, it extends itself beyond the confines of the commonly knowable to catch a glimpse of what lies on the other side of history. The focus is squarely on the future, the eschatological futureso much so that it is easy for the reader to overlook how much the apocalypse, its language and world view are anchored in Israel's past. while the concern for the eschaton is well pronounced and explicit, the connection with the past is, for the most part, implicit and expressed in the choice of literary genres, fictitious setting, and language, all at home in Israel's traditional writings. Apocalyptic authors write in the biblical idiom, particularly in the literary idioms of prophecy and wisdom. To uncover the inner workings of this peculiar genre of early ]ewish literature therefore requires an appreciation not just for the apocalyptic conceptualization of the future but also for the apocalypse's indebtedness to Israel,s literary past.1 As ]ames Kugel has noted in his introduction to this volume, the book of Daniel is somewhat of an exception in the present collection in that it is part of the biblical canon. To inquire into the use of Scripture in Daniel is thus an exercise in inner-biblical interpretation. Since Daniel in its present form dates from the second century B.c.E., however, it fits well within the chronological borders of this companion. Indeed, Daniel has become something of a locus classicus of r.
Review of The Book of Daniel: Composition and Reception
Journal of Biblical Literature, 2002
A review of Collins, John J. and Peter W. Flint, eds. The Book of Daniel: Part 1: Composition and Reception Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 83 Leiden: Brill, 2001. Pp. xx + 290, Cloth, No $85.00, ISBN 9004116753. by David W. Suter, Saint Martin's College published in RBL 9/2002
Three Books of Daniel: Plurality and Fluidity among the Ancient Versions
This essay demonstrates that the book of Daniel is not a fixed but fluid text, a collection of traditions that developed over centuries and locations. The three major extant ancient versions of Daniel, represented by the Hebrew/Aramaic Masoretic Text and the " Old Greek " and " Revised Greek " translations, together participate in a complex dance of genres as they move between legend, folk-tale, prayer and song, vision and apocalypse, novella and saint's life. A greater appreciation of this multiplicity and fluidity complicates our understanding of biblical texts in ways that can enrich interpretation and interfaith dialogue.
The Book of Daniel, An Analysis
The Book of Daniel, An Analysis, 2013
The Book of Daniel is a companion to the Book of Revelation. The following is an overview of the book. Daniel, the author, like Ezekiel, was a captive in Babylon. He was brought before King Nebuchadnezzar while young, and trained in the Chaldean language and sciences. His career resembled that of Joseph. He was promoted to the highest office in the realm. He maintained his spiritual life in the midst of a heathen court. The main theme of the Book is the Sovereignty of God over the affairs of men in all ages. The pagan king’s confessions of this fact constitute the Key Verses of this book. Section I is largely a narrative of personal biography and local history. It contains an account of thrilling events and divine interpositions unsurpassed in the Old Testament. It refers to six moral conflicts in which Daniel and his companions participated. The first conflict is between pagan self-indulgence and conscientious abstinence, in promoting health. We find in chapter one that abstinence wins. The second conflict is between pagan magic and heavenly wisdom in the interpretation of dreams. We find in chapter two that divine wisdoms wins. The third conflict is heathen idolatry arrayed against loyalty to God. In chapter three we find that loyalty to God wins. The fourth conflict is a pagan king’s pride arrayed against Divine Sovereignty. We find in chapter four that God wins and the king is turned out to eat grass. The fifth conflict is impious sacrilege arrayed against reverence for sacred objects. In chapter five we find that reverence wins. We also find the handwriting on the wall and Belshazzar being dethroned. The sixth conflict is between malicious plotting and the providence of God over His saints. In chapter six we find that providence wins with the lions’ mouths being stopped. Section II gives us the visions and prophecies relating to the controlling hand of God moving the scenes in the Panorama of History, chapters 7-12. The Book of Daniel is a companion to the Book of Revelation. Both of these books contain much imagery which appears mysterious. The attempt to fit the the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation into the facts and events of human history has usually produced an endless conflict of opinions. The reason for this is that the true interpretation of the details of the visions is not always clear. There are two facts that are generally acknowledged by most scholars: (1) That the prophecies represent a partly veiled Revelation of Future Events in secular and sacred history. (2) That the visions point to the ultimate triumph of God’s Kingdom over all Satanic and World Powers. In chapter seven, many commentators see the Four Beasts as representing the Four great Empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, followed by a vision of the coming Messiah. In chapter eight, another period of Medo-Persian and Grecian history appears under the figure of a beast. In chapter nine we find Daniel’s prayer and a veiled prophecy of the time of the coming of the Messiah. Chapters ten to twelve contain additional far-reaching predictions and revelations of future events. These three chapters have been the battleground of theological controversy with many varied interpretations. (Adapted from Thompson’s Chain Reference).
From David to Gedaliah: The Book of Kings as Story and History
2007
The ten essays in this volume all deal with various aspects of the interpretation of the Book of Kings. The author tries to set a course between Scylla and Charibdis. Both ‘minimalism’ and ‘maximalism’ are avoided by trying to apply a variety of methods: narratology, historical criticism and theological analysis. This implies that extra-biblical evidence – the Tell Dan inscription, Assyrian royal inscriptions, West Semitic seal inscriptions – are taken into account. Selected texts from this biblical book are read on the basis of a three-dimensional matrix: (1) the narrative character of the story/stories; (2) the value and function of extra-biblical material, be it of an epigraphical or an archaeological character; (3) the art of history-writing both ancient and modern. The essays are arranged according to the order in which the relevant texts or their main characters figure in the Book of Kings. Originally published between 1987 and 2005, they have been updated for publication in t...
The Daniel Narratives (Dan 1-6): Structure and Meaning
The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 19, 2019
This article presents a new structural analysis of the Daniel narratives in Chapters 1–6. This structure is based on a new reading of the Daniel narratives from a perspective that emphasizes the tension between earthly and divine rule. Shifting the limelight from the conflict between the Jew and his environment to the internal identity conflict burdening the Jewish courtier, caught between his loyalty to God and that to the king, sheds new light on the Daniel narratives in general and specifically on the status of Daniel 1.