A LION ATE GRASS LIKE AN OX: NEBUCHADNEZZAR AND EMPIRE TRANSFORMATION IN DANIEL FOUR (original) (raw)

How To Categorize The King: Daniel 4 in Light Of Mesopotamian Divine-Human-Animal Boundaries

Advances in Ancient Biblical and Near Eastern Research, 2023

The narrative in Daniel 4 invariably seems to raise questions about the relationship and distinction between humans, animals, and divine beings. This can be seen firstly in how the human king Nebuchadnezzar appears to offend the Most High God, and then latterly in how he receives an animalising affliction. While the basic categories of divine, human, and animal therefore seem to be important, the boundaries between them may also to be troubled by the narrative’s events. The Danielic narrative does not itself exactly determine what constitutes these boundaries, instead they appear to be left quite ill-defined. However, as scholarship on Dan 4 has recently benefitted from utilising comparative Mesopotamian material to explain aspects of the chapter, this article will look at how such divine-human-animal boundaries are constructed in such ancient Near Eastern texts. Drawing on previous studies, the key indicators of these boundaries within Mesopotamian material will be isolated, before then attempting to read Dan 4 in light of them. This article will therefore argue that the portrayal of Nebuchadnezzar in Dan 4 utilises similar divine-human-animal boundaries to those found in such Mesopotamian texts, and that the king’s position relies upon his relationship with both wisdom and immortality. Furthermore, this study of Dan 4 also aims to use this particular biblical narrative to form a basis by which future scholarship can consider similar boundaries to be at work in other Second Temple texts.

Letting Nebuchadnezzar Speak: The Purpose of the First-Person Narrative in Daniel 4

Old Testament Essays

This article proposes that the use of first-person narration in the unusual literary structure of Dan 4 creates the most meaningful message for the diaspora audience of the book because of who Nebuchadnezzar was and when the events were purported to occur. It discusses the larger literary context of the chapter and its narrative structure, analyses the text and identifies important elements highlighted by the use of different narrative voices, and considers how the structure shapes the message of the chapter. Nebuchadnezzar was the king who defeated Israel's God (Dan 1:1-2) and changed life forever for God's people, yet at the peak of Nebuchadnezzar's power, that same God humbled him such that he came to acknowledge the superior sovereignty of Israel's God. By framing the account of this transformation as a proclamation in Nebuchadnezzar's own words to the entire world, the author of Daniel vindicates the God of Israel before the whole world and transforms the king who embodied opposition to God into the paradigm of what a gentile king ought to be.

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).

The Source of Daniel’s Animal Imagery

Tyndale Bulletin

It is proposed to evaluate a number of suggestions concerning the source of the animal imagery in Daniel 7-8 viz. Mesopotamian iconography, Enuma Eliš, VAT 10057, Shumma Izbu, astrological geography and the OT, and then consider the implications the conclusions have for the authorship, date and provenance of these chapters. I. Mesopotamian Iconography The only modern scholar to make a detailed case for iconography as the background for the animal imagery of Daniel 7 is Noth. 2 His own comments make clear the weakness of the case he argues. Speaking of the second beast, he says that the bear, is but rarely depicted in the plastic arts of the ancient orient.. . It was seen only in the mountains, and the few reproductions of bears that are known come therefore from the Iranian mountains and their immediate vicinity. Of the third beast he says, 'The image as it stands, however, is not authenticated among examples of the ancient oriental plastic arts; here the seer's power of imagination is given full rein'. There is then little precedent in the plastic arts for the second beast, and none for the third. In view of this it is not surprising that no recent commentator or study of Daniel 7 has taken up Noth's position, beyond pointing out the prominence of winged beasts, some with many heads, especially lions, in Mesopotamian iconography. Moreover, iconography cannot account for the sequence of lion, bear, panther, that is found in Daniel 7. __________________________ 1 This paper is taken from the author's Ph.D. thesis, Akkadian Prophecies, Omens and Myths as Background for Daniel Chapters 7-12 (University of Liverpool, March 1989). The author wishes to thank the Tyndale House Council for grant support whilst carrying out research for the thesis.

The Identity of the “Mad King” of Daniel 4 in the Light of Ancient Near Eastern Sources

Christianesimo nella storia, 2012

The fourth chapter of the book of Daniel recounts a story of a Babylonian king who has a frightening dream, which only a Jewish exile is able to interpret for him. In his dream, and in the subsequent narrative, he is transformed into an animal-like being who lives away from human society for a period of seven years. Ultimately both his wits and his throne are restored to him and he praises the God of the Jews. The bizarre events of this passage make it one of the most puzzling in the entire Hebrew Bible. For generations, scholars have struggled to link Daniel 4 with historical evidence from the reign of the Neo-Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BCE), with whom it is explicitly associated. However, with the discovery and publication of numerous cuneiform sources from the ancient Near East, many scholars have reconsidered this passage in Daniel, looking instead to the events of the reign of the last Neo-Babylonian king, Nabonidus (556-539 BCE). 1 In this paper I show how the editors of Daniel reworked this Nabonidus tradition, attributing it to Nebuchadnezzar in order to promote their theological ideals. I begin by looking at the background of Daniel 4, examining descriptions of both Nebuchadnezzar's and Nabonidus's reigns. Next I survey the connections between the events of Daniel 4 and other sources, including a stela discovered at Harran 1 See, for example, the works of J.J. Collins, Daniel. A Commentary on the Book of Daniel, Minneapolis 1993; several articles in Judah and the Judeans in the Neo-

Millenarism, God's Reign, and Daniel as the Bar-Enosh

To Break Every Yoke: Essays in Honor of Marvin L. Chaney, edited by Robert B. Coote and Norman K. Gottwald (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2007)

The Book of Daniel presents a conjunction of resistance stories as the context of the prophetic dream-visions of a seer in the royal courts of the Babylonian and Persian monarchs. The resistance stories of chapters 1-6 are told by an omniscient narrator, and they accentuate the spiritual integrity of Daniel and his compatriots by their rejection of idolatry and religious syncretism. The dream-visions of chapters 7-10, however, are recited by Daniel in the first person, and, his previously established integrity lends conviction and authority to their projection of the future. Already at the beginning of his career in exile, Daniel, along with his compatriots, is distinguished with immense prestige. He is characterized as an Israelite "of the royal family and of the nobility … who is "versed in every branch of wisdom, endowed with knowledge and insight, and competent to serve in the king's palace." The measure of his worth increases, as he appears before the Babylonian and Persian kings to serve them as the interpreter of their dreams.

A New Perspective on Daniel Chapter 7

Commentators frequently lean on literal and historical interpretation of Daniel's visions. However, this approach falls short of revealing the divine mind expressed in the forms of symbols and figurative language. This article focuses on Daniel Chapter 7 and uses an interpretive method that prioritizes the symbolic and figurative. Furthermore, to show the dream's end-time significance, the analysis draws parallels between the dream and modern-day political realities.