Daniel

DANIEL, the prophet of the Lord, was descended from the royal family of David, and carried captive to Babylon, when he was yet very young, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim king of Judah, in the year of the world 3398, before Jesus Christ 602, before the Vulgar Æra 606. He was chosen with his three companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to continue in Nebuchadnezzar’sDan. i. 2, 3, 4, &c. court; and such an education was given them, as was suitable to the employments for which they were design’d. Daniel and his companions made very great progress in all the sciences of the Chaldæans, and never would consent to pollute themselves, by eating such provision as was served up at the king’s table.

Dan. xiii.The first occasion on which Daniel made an eminent discovery of his wisdom, was in the deliverance of Susanna, who was accused unjustly, and condemned to die. He made her innocence appear, and laid open the slander of the Elders, her accusers, See the article SUSANNA. Some time after, Nebuchadnezzar having in a dream seen a large statue, composed of several metals, Dan. ii.which was beaten to pieces by a stone cut off from the mountain, had a mind to have his dream explained to him. But as he had forgotten it, he insisted, that the Magians should not only interpret it, but should likewise recall it to his memory. As this was what they could not possibly do, they were all condemned to death. Daniel being informed of what passed, divined, and explained the dream, and thereupon was established Governour of the province of Babylon, and chief of all the Magians and Diviners in that country.

At another time Nebuchadnezzar having in a dream seen a large tree, which was In the year of the World 3434. before J.C. 566. before the Vulgar Æra 570. Dan. iv. 1, 2, 3, &c.hewn down and cut in pieces, but so notwithstanding, that its root remained; Daniel foretold to him, that he would be soon reduced to the condition of beasts, and should be driven from his palace. The event immediately follow’d the interpretation, and this prince was struck with madness, and imagined that he was become an Ox. He continued seven years in this sad state, after which he re-ascended the throne, and reigned as before.

Dan. iii. 1, 2, 3, &c.Some time after he set up a golden statue, and made publick proclamation, that all men, when they heard the sound of musical instruments, should fall down and worship the statue which he had erected. Daniel in all probability was at that time absent from Babylon. But his three companions having In the year of the World 3444. before J.C. 556. before the Vulgar Æra 560.disobey’d the king’s order, were thrown into a fiery furnace, out of which they came without receiving any hurt. The greatness and evidence of this miracle engaged Nebuchadnezzar to put out an edict in favour of the Jewish religion. He died a little after; and Evilmerodach succeeded him. Daniel under this prince maintained all that credit, which he had possess’d under the king his father.

Belshazzar succeeded Evilmerodach; and in his reign Daniel had the famous visions of the four beasts, which came out of Dan. vii.the sea, and represented the four great Empires of the Chaldæans, Persians, Greeks and Romans, or rather of the Seleucidæ and Lagidæ. After this, in the same vision, God discovered to Daniel the Persecutions which the Jews were to suffer under Antiochus Epiphanes; the vengeance of God upon him for so oppressing them; and the victories which the Maccabees would obtain over him. In the following chapter, God shewed Dan. viii.to Daniel a ram and an he-goat, pushing at each other with their horns. By the he-goat was meant Alexander the Great, and by the ram Darius Codomannus, the last of the Persian kings, who were the successors of Cyrus. The ram was overcome, and the he-goat became extremely powerful. The prophet described the successors of Alexander, particularly Antiochus Epiphanes, under the representation of horns rising above the head of the he-goat. This was all explained to Daniel in the same vision by the Angel Gabriel.

Belshazzar king of Chaldæa, being killed the very night, wherein he had profaned Dan. v. 1, 2, 3. In the year of the World 3445. before J.C. 555. before the Vulgar Æra 559. Dan. ix. In the year of the World 3448. before J.C. 552. before the Vulgar Æra 556. Dan. vi. 1, 2, &c. In the year of the World 3448. before J.C. 552. before the Vulgar Æra 556. Dan. x. Dan. xi.the sacred vessels of God’s Temple, Darius the Mede, his great-uncle by the mother’s side, succeeded him. This prince having established an hundred and twenty governours over the provinces of his Dominions. raised Daniel above all of them, and designed to give him the general administration of the whole kingdom; which having excited the envy of the other grandees, they engaged the king to make an Edict, forbidding every man to ask any thing of God, or of any other besides the king. The Edict was published, and observed by all the people. But Daniel continued to put up his prayers to God regularly three times a day, with his face turned towards Jerusalem. His enemies immediately gave the king notice of it, who was obliged to order, that he should be thrown into the lion’s den. The next day early in the morning Darius went thither, and finding Daniel to be there in perfect health, commanded him to be taken out, and his accusers with their wives and families to be thrown into the same place in his room.

In this prince’s reign, Daniel having read in the prophet Jeremiah, that seventy years would be accomplished in the desolation of Jerusalem, he pray’d earnestly to God, and fasted, in order to receive the explanation of them: when he had thus devoutly pray’d, the angel Gabriel appeared to him, and revealed something else of much greater importance, which was the death and sacrifice of the Messiah, which was to happen at the end of seventy weeks, composed each of seven years, and which altogether make the sum of four hundred and ninety years. In the third year of Cyrus’s reign in Persia, which falls in with the first of Darius at Babylon, Daniel had another remarkable vision, wherein the angel Gabriel told him, that Michael had assisted him to overcome the king of Persia. that is to say, Cyrus. After this, the angel discovered to him in a manner almost as clear, as if he had related an history, whatever was to happen in Persia, after Cyrus: The coming of Alexander the Great, his conquests, the overthrow of the Persian empire, the erecting that of the Greeks; the long and continued wars between the kingdoms of Syria and Egypt; the persecutions of the saints by Antiochus Epiphanes, the destruction of this persecuting prince; and the victory and happiness of the saints.

Dan. xii. In the year of the World 3456. before J.C. 544. before the Vulgar Æra 548.After the death of Darius the Mede, Cyrus ascended the throne of the Persians and Medes. Daniel had always great authority in his dominions. We refer the history of Bel and the Dragon, who were worshipped by the Babylonians, to the reign of this prince. Bel was a brazen Idol, to which there were offered every day twelve measures of fine flour, forty sheep, Dan. xiv.and six large vessels of wine. The Idol was believed to be alive, and to consume all this that was presented to it. Daniel hereupon undertook to undeceive the king. He told him, that not Bel, but others for him, eat what was put before him. The truth was, that there were seventy priests belonging to Bel, without reckoning their wives and children, who were supported this way, and entered by night into the Temple through subterraneous passages, without any one’s perceiving it. Daniel therefore coming to the Temple with the king, directed the ordinary quantity of meat, bread, and wine, to be placed upon the altar; then obliging the priests to retire, he spread ashes upon the pavement of the Temple, and going out, shut the door close, and put the king’s signet upon it.

In the night time the priests came, as usual, with their wives and children, and eat up the provisions on the altar. The next morning the king came with Daniel, and finding the door shut close, and the seals to be entire, they opened the door, and the king observing that there was nothing remaining of what was left upon the altar the evening before, cried out, Great art thou, O Bel, and with thee is no deceit at all. Daniel hereupon began to laugh, and holding the king to prevent his going any farther, said to him, See this pavement, whose footsteps are these? The king said, I see the footsteps of men, women, and children; and he was extremely angry. He commanded therefore the priests, their wives and children to be seized, and they shewed him the private little doors through which they entred, and eat whatever was put upon the table: the king therefore commanded them to be put to death, and delivered the idol Bel into Daniel’s power, who destroy’d him and his temple.

There was a great Dragon in the same city, which the Babylonians worshipped. The king said to Daniel, You cannot say now but this is a god, therefore adore him. Daniel reply’d, I adore the Lord my God; but this is nothing like a deity. Let me have your permission, and I will slay him Dan. xiv. 22, 23, &c. In the year of the World 3457. before J. C. 543. before the Vulgar Æra 547.without making use either of staff or sword. The king permitting him, Daniel took pitch, fat, and hair, and seething them together, made lumps thereof; these he put into the dragon’s mouth, and the dragon burst asunder. The Babylonians being strangely provoked with this, came to the king and told him, that unless he delivered Daniel to them, they would destroy him and his family. The king therefore was compell’d to put Daniel into their hands, and they cast him into the lion’s den, where he remained six days. Now there were seven lions in the den, and every day they gave them the bodies of two men, and two sheep, which then were not given them, to the intent they might devour Daniel.

At that time, the prophet Habbacuc, who was in Judæa, having made provision for his reapers, the Angel of the Lord directed him to carry the dinner which he had prepared, to Babylon, and give it to Daniel, who was in the lion’s den. Habbacuc answered, I never was at Babylon, and know not where the den is. Then the Angel of the Lord took him by the crown of the head, and holding him by the hair, carried him through the air to Babylon; there setting him upon the den, he gave Daniel his dinner, and the Angel immediately convey’d Habbacuc back to the place from whence he had taken him.

Upon the seventh day, the king came to bewail Daniel, and as he approach’d near to the den, he saw Daniel sitting among the lions: whereupon he immediately cried with a loud voice, and said, Great art thou, O Lord God of Daniel; and taking him out, he cast those in, who would have destroy’d this prophet, and the lions devoured them in a moment before his face. This is what the Scripture teaches us concerning Daniel: notwithstanding there are some Authors, who maintain, that there were two Daniels, one of David’s family, who is the prophet, of whom we have been speaking; the other of the Tribe of Levi, and of Ithamar’s family, who is said to be the author of the history concerning the deliverance of Susanna, and of that relating to the death of the Dragon, and the destruction of Bel’s Temple. But there is no solid proof of this distinction of two Daniels.

The reputation of Daniel was so great, even in his life-time, that it became a Ezek. xxxiii. 3. Ezek. xiv. 14, 20. Antiq. l. x. c. 12.proverb; Thou art wiser than Daniel, said Ezekiel in an ironical way to the king of Tyre; and in another place of the same prophet, God said, Though these three men Noah, Daniel and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness. Josephus tells us, that God bestowed many favours on him, and that he was advanced to the rank of the most considerable prophets. He enjoy’d the good graces of the princes with whom he lived, and the affection of the people, to his death, after which his reputation was immortal. Some of the Jews¹ shewed an inclination formerly to exclude Daniel from the number of the prophets; but their dislike to this prophet proceeded from hence only, viz. that his predictions were too clear and too express for Jesus Christ, and that he points out the time of his coming too evidently.

It is believed that Daniel died in Chaldæa, and that he did not take the advantage of the permission granted by Cyrus to all Jews, of returning to their country. The great employments which he possessed in the Persian empire, kept him probably among them. St. Epiphanius says he died at Babylon; and herein he is followed by the generality of Historians. Others think he died at Shushan or Susa, where he passed a good part of his life, and had many visions. Benjamin of Tudela relates, that his monument was shewn at Chuzestan, which is the ancient Susa. Josephus says, that in his time Antiq. l. x. c. ult.there was still to be seen at Ecbatane, the Capital of Media, a tower of admirable structure, said to have been built by Daniel. The kings of Persia and Media were buried in it, and the guard of it was committed to a priest of Jewish extraction.

Hieronym. Præf. in Dan. & in Dan. xiii.Among Daniel’s writings, there are some pieces which have at all times constantly been esteemed to be Canonical; and others which have been long contested. Whatsoever is written in Hebrew, or Chaldee, (for some parts of his works are in Chaldee mixed with Hebrew) is all generally acknowledged to be Canonical both by Jews and Christians. But there has been great opposition to those parts, which are written in Greek only, and were never properly admitted to be Canonical, till after the Decree of the Council of Trent. In St. Jerom’s time, the Jews were hereupon divided; some admitted the whole history of Susanna, others rejected it intirely; some again received one part, and rejected another. Josephus the historian has said nothing concerning the story of Susanna, nor that of Bel and the Dragon. But Josephus Ben-Gorion, a Jewish Author, who wrote in Hebrew, relates at full length every thing that has any respect to Bel and the Dragon, and says nothing of Susanna. The reader may see every thing that concerns the canonical Authority of these places treated more at length in our Preface upon Daniel.

The twelve first chapters of Daniel are partly in Hebrew, partly in Chaldee, and the two last in Greek². He speaks Hebrew, where what he delivers is a bare narrative; but he relates in Chaldee, the conversations which he had in this language with the Magians, and the kings Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius the Mede. In the Dan. ii. 4. & seq. iii. v. vi. viii. Dan. ii. & iv. 1, 2, & seq. ad 34. Apud Hieronym. loco citato, Vide Hieronym. Præfat. in Dan.same language he reports Nebuchadnezzar’s Edict, published by him after Daniel had interpreted his dream concerning a great golden Image. This shews the extreme accuracy of this Prophet, who relates the very words of those persons whom he introduces as speaking. The third chap. ver. 24, and following ones, as far as the nineteenth, are in Greek, as well as the two last chapters; and it is a great question among the Criticks, whether they were ever writ in Hebrew. The Greek Version which we have of all Daniel, is Theodotion’s; that of the Septuagint has been long since lost.

Porphyry pretended, that the Prophecies, which we have in Daniel’s name, were falsely ascribed to him; that this work was written by an Impostor, who lived in Judæa, in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, who in order to procure credit, counterfeited an inspired person, and set down those things in a prophetick style, which he had seen with his own eyes, and were transacted in his own time: that if he advanced any thing beyond the time of Epiphanes, he did so by chance, and contrary to truth. This celebrated Enemy of our Religion had observed so much clearness in the prophecies of Daniel, that he took them to be histories. But that Daniel lived at Babylon long before Antiochus Epiphanes, and there wrote the prophecies, which go under his name, is what cannot reasonably be contested. See St. Jerom’s Preface to Daniel, and our Preface to the same Prophet.

The Chronology of Daniel we dispose in this order: He was brought to Babylon in the year of the world 3398, at the age perhaps of twelve years. The history of Susanna might have happened in 3401. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of a great statue of gold, in 3402. The same prince’s dream of a great tree, which was cut down to the root, in 3434. The year following, Nebuchadnezzar run mad, and imagined himself to be an ox. In 3443 he ascended the throne again. The same year the history of the golden statue erected by this prince might have happened. Daniel had the vision of the four beasts in the beginning of Belshazzar’s reign, 3446. Two years after, that is to say, in 3448, he had that of the ram and the he-goat, who pushed their horns one against the other. The visions of Daniel set down in the ix. x. xi. and xii. chapters of his prophecy we refer to the year 3449, in the beginning of the reign of Darius the Mede. Lastly, the history of Bel and the Dragon happened in the reign of Cyrus, about the year 3468. The time of Daniel’s death is not known.

The Rabbins, who are out of humour with Daniel, in all probability because his prophecies are too evident proofs, that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah, and that the time of his coming, who is called the desire of all nations, is passed; maintain that he ought not to be ranked among the prophets for two³ reasons: first, because he did not live in the Holy Land, out of which the spirit of prophesy does not reside: secondly because he spent his life in the court of a great king, in the enjoyment of honours and pleasures, and in a manner very different from the other prophets way of living. Some add that he was an Eunuch, which opinion they ground upon the following words of Isaiah 2 Kings ix. 18.to Hezekiah; And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Now the Law excludes all sorts of Eunuchs from the Church or Congregation of the Lord. Non Deut. xxiii. 1.introibit Eunuchus Ecclesiam Domini.

It is true, Abenezra and the generality of the Rabbins purge him from this last defect, but the other accusations remain; and many are content to place his writings among the Hagiographa, which are of much less authority than the canonical Scriptures. They add farther another spiteful remark against this Prophet. They pretend that while his three companions Shadrach, Meshech, and Gemar. Cod. Sanhedr. Coch. Dan. iii.Abednego resisted the impious orders of the king of Babylon, and were thrown into the fiery furnace, Daniel went into Egypt: what to do? to look for hogs, which he convey’d cunningly and by stealth out of this country. But Josephus testifies the great Joseph. Antiq. l. x. c. 12. Ezek. xiv. 4. xxviii. 3. Matth. xxiv. 15.merit of Daniel. The prophet Ezekiel commends him as one of the most illustrious persons of his time; and Jesus Christ in the Gospel clearly acknowledges him to be a Prophet.

Some believed that Daniel returned with Esdras into Judæa; and the eastern people Bibl. Orient. p. 287.declare, that he was sent back thither by Bahaman the son of Asfendias king of Persia. They add, that he returned into Persia, and died in the city of Susa. Josephus⁴ relates, that Daniel built a famous edifice at Ecbatane, in the form of a castle, which was still in being in the time of this Historian, and was so admirable for its workmanship, that it seem’d to have been but just finished, so well did it preserve its first lustre. In this palace the kings of Persia chose to have the place of their interment, and in consideration of its first founder, the guard of it was still in his time committed to one of the Jewish nation.

Others are of opinion, that he dwelt at Babylon or Susa, and that he never returned into Judæa: his great age, his employments, and the want which his brethren had of his protection in the place of their captivity, might probably excuse him from returning into his own country. There were many men who did not think it convenient to leave Chaldæa, where they lived in repose, and had been long settled, to go and seek for an uncertain settlement in a land reduced almost to a wilderness.

Bibl. Orient. p. 709. Raml, & 283 Danial.Some oriental Authors attribute to Daniel the invention of Geomancy, which they call Reml; others ascribe it to Edris, who is the same with the patriarch Enoch. This Geomancy consists in marking many points on tables prepared for this purpose, which they call Raml. These points thus disposed in a certain number in many unequal lines, may likewise be described with a pen on paper; and he who divines by the help of this art is called Rammal.

They likewise make Daniel the author of a volume intitled, Principles relating to the explantion of dreams; and there is another book in the king of France’s library with this title, Odmath-al-mantoul ân Danial alnabi, which contains predictions of the prophet Daniel received by tradition from him. This is a work which abounds with falsities, forged by the Mahometans, and founded on the real prophecies of Daniel. They farther assert, that this Prophet preached the Unity of God throughout all Chaldæa; and that he converted the king of Persia, Lohorasb, and Cyrus. That the latter gave Daniel the government of Syria, and the possession of the city of Damascus.

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