Grace Theological
Joumal12.2 (1991) 245-261.
[Copyright © 1991
Grace Theological Seminary; cited with permission;
digitally prepared for use at
Gordon and
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7
RICHARD D. PATTERSON
PERHAPS
the most persistent problem with regard to the unity and
composition of the book of Daniel has been the
relation of its first
six chapters to its latter half.1
Although several divergent views have
been held (particularly as to the age and provenance
of chapters 1 and
72,
these may presently be reduced to a widely held consensus: "The
first six chapters of the book contain material which
is older than the
later chapters, and this material has been re-edited
in Maccabean times
to attain a redactional
unity with the apocalyptic visions of chs. 7-12.”3
This
study will suggest that chapter 7 functions not only as a hinge
chapter that provides unity to the two primary
literary genres in Daniel,
but plays a key role in the understanding of
biblical eschatology.4
1 For a sample of diverse opinions, see O.
Eissfeldt, The Old Testament An
Intro-
duction (New York: Harper and
Row, 1965) 512-19.
2 Some have argued for these chapters as
distinctive compositions, chapter 1 being
composed as an introduction to the court tales of
2-6, and chapter 7 being viewed as an
independent forerunner to the apocalypses of 8-12.
For details, see R. K. Harrison, In-
troduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1969) 1106-10; J. A. Mont-
gomery, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (ICC;
Edinburgh:
T.
& T. Clark, 1927) 88-99; W. L. Humphreys, "A Life Style for Diaspora:
A Study of
the Tales of Esther and Daniel," JBL 92 (1973): 211-23.
3 J. J. Collins, "The Court-tales in
Daniel and the Development of Apocalyptic,"
JBL 94 (1975): 218; see
also P. R. Davies, "Eschatology in the Book of Daniel," JSOT
17
(1980): 33-53. Scholars continue to debate whether one author (see, e.g., H. H.
Row-
ley, in The Servant
of the Lord and Other Essays on the Old Testament [Rev. ed.; Ox-
ford: Blackwell, 1965J 249-80) or multiple
authorship (see, e.g., H. L. Ginsberg, "The
Composition
of the Book of Daniel," VT 4
[1954J: 246-75; M. L. Delcor, Le Livre de
Daniel [SB; Paris: Gabalda, 1971] 10-13) can best account for the final form
of the
book. A compromise position has recently been put
forward by A. A. Di LelIa
(in L. P.
Hartman
and A. A. Di LelIa, The Book of Daniel [AB; Garden City:
Doubleday, 1978]
16)
who suggests that an editor-compiler (= the writer of
the core apocalypse of chapter
9),
utilizing the work of "several like-minded authors" was responsible for the book's
final collection. Although the original edition was
written in Aramaic, a translator may
be assumed to have rendered 1:1-2:4a; 8-12 into
Hebrew and subsequently published
the "work in its present form as a single
book. The date would be ca. 140 B. C."
4 For discussion of hinging in the Scriptures, see R. D. Patterson, "Of Bookends,
Hinges,
and Hooks: Literary Clues to the Arrangement of Jeremiah's Prophecies," WTJ
51
(1989): 116-17. For Daniel 7 as a hinge chapter, see J. E. Goldingay,
Daniel (WBC;
246
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THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF DANIEL 7 TO THE STRUCTURE OF DANIEL
The narrative of Daniel 7, though full of
complex details, is simply
told. At the onset of the reign of Belshazzar, Nabonidus' son,5 Daniel
has a dream consisting of a series of nocturnal
visions.6 Daniel sees a
great sea being driven and tossed by the four winds
of heaven.7 As he
looks, four great beasts come up out of the sea, the
fourth of which is a
frightful appearing animal with iron teeth. It
also has ten horns among
which ultimately another little horn arises, breaking
off three of the
existing horns. This little horn on the fearsome
and dreadful beast has
eyes and a mouth like a man and speaks great
boastful words. As he
looks further, Daniel catches a glimpse of the
Ancient of Days seated on
his throne before the assembled courts of heaven.
The record books of
judgment are opened and the awful beast with the
boastful little horn is
destroyed. Then Daniel sees "One like a Son
of Man coming with the
clouds of heaven" (v. 13--NIV), to whom the
Ancient of Days grants an
everlasting kingdom and authority, and before whom
all men worship.
As the account continues, Daniel, who in the
previous court narra-
tives serves as the divine
interpreter to the Babylonian court (see
45;
some vision and asks one of the attending angels as
to the true meaning
of what he has seen. He learns that the four
beasts represent a succession
of earthly kingdoms that ultimately will be
succeeded by that inaugu-
rated by the Most High. Upon further inquiry
concerning the fourth
beast and the little horn that spoke so boastfully,
he learns that these rep-
resent the culmination of earthly powers as
concentrated in the hands of
an evil ruler. This one will gain power through
violent means and per-
secute the saints, enacting
oppressive measures aimed at subverting all
remarks: "Chapter 7 is a
sense, the material before as well as the material
which follows pivots upon the detailed
revelation of this chapter."
5 The existence and importance of Belshazzar, once universally denounced by crit-
ics as unhistorical, can no
longer be doubted. For details, see J. P. Free, Archaeology and
Bible History (Rev. ed.; Wheaton:
Scripture Press, 1962) 233-35; G. Archer, A Survey of
Old Testament
Introduction (Rev.
ed.; Chicago: Moody, 1974) 382-83. E. Yamauchi
("The
Archaeological Background of Daniel," BS
137 [1980]: 6) remarks: "A recent re-
examination of all the relevant cuneiform data has
helped clarify the chronology. . . the
coregency of Nabonidus
and Belshazzar should be dated as early as 550 and
not just be-
fore the fall of
6 E. J. Young (The Prophecy of Daniel [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1977] 141) terms
it "a divinely imposed dream."
7 The term "great sea" is normally
assigned to the
tures: see Goldingay, Daniel,
160; L. Wood, A Commentary on Daniel
(
Zondervan,
1973) 180.
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 247
forms of traditional law and order. His time of rule,
however, will be
terminated at the sovereign direction of God who
will then institute his
rule in the midst of "the people of the Most
High" (v. 27--NIV).
The account lays great stress on the dream
itself with its fourfold
periodization of "beastly"
nations and on the culmination of that suc-
cession in the activities of a powerful and
sinister figure whose defeat
brings the process to its consummation in the blessed
rule of God
amidst his followers. The structure of the narrative
may be conve-
niently outlined as follows:
introductory setting (1), vision (2-14),
response (15), interpretation (16-27), response
(28).8
Chapter 7 has rightly been closely linked with
the following mate-
rial in chapters 8-12 for at
least two reasons. (1) Like those chapters,
chapter 7, while a dream, is also visionary in
character, thus adding to
a group of texts comprising a unit of
"vision reports.”9 Such prophetic
pieces often partake of the more frequent
"announcements of judg-
ment”10 and "kingdom oracles" dealing
with universal judgment and
promises of ultimate blessing.11 Their
distinctive feature, however, is
that they are cast in the form of a vision. Such
oracles frequently
embellish the customary Old Testament
eschatological perspective of
God's
superintending culmination of earth's history with an emphasis
on cosmic scope and supernatural beings who play
an important part,
and on the presence of a heavenly
mediator/interpreter who furnishes
needed information or interpretation.12 (2)
Much of the material that is
sketched in preliminary form in chapter 7 is
filled out in the succeeding
8 E. M. Good ("Apocalyptic as Comedy:
The Book of Daniel," Semeia 32 [1984]:
57)
suggests a chiastic structure to the main material in
the vision: A-four beasts (v. 3),
B-first
three beasts (vv. 4-6), C-fourth beast described (vv. 7-8), D-Ancient of
Days
+ court scene (vv. 9-10), C'-fourth beast killed (v. 11)-, B'-first three
beasts pro-
longed (v. 12), A'-human figure comes with clouds (vv.
13-14).
9 On the nature of Old Testament prophecy, see my remarks in A Literary Guide to
the Bible, eds. Leland Ryken and Tremper Longman III (
forthcoming) .
10 See the various discussions in C. Westermann, Basic
Forms of Prophetic Speech,
translated by H. C. White (Louisville: Westminster/John
Knox, 1991) 129-98.
11 See G. Vos, Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1948) 307-18.
C.
Westermann terms such prophecies "salvation
oracles"; see, e.g., Prophetic
Oracles
of Salvation in the Old Testament, translated by Keith Crim (
John Knox, 1991).
12 The decision as to whether Daniel 7-12
can also be called apocalyptic is not an
easy one. Thus,
omission of such typical apocalyptic elements as
cosmic imagery, great battle scenes, lu-
rid descriptions of the fate of the wicked
Gentiles, and highly colored pictures of a final
kingdom, a golden age of peace, righteousness,
and prosperity centered around a strong
Messianic leader. Noting the almost total
absence of such typical apocalyptic themes,
teachings found in such apocalyptic pieces as I
Enoch, the Sibylline Oracles, the As-
sumption of Moses, and 2 Esdras, Heaton remarks; "What we find in the present
work
248
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chapters, thus making it an integral part of the
latter half of Daniel.
These
data are conveniently displayed in Table 1.
Chapter 7 has also been linked closely by some
with the court nar-
ratives13 of chapters 1-6.14
That such a procedure is justified may be
[Daniel]
. . . is not a formal apocalyptic tradition but, rather, a miscellaneous body
of
prophetic teaching and imagery about the coming
Likewise, Davies ("Eschatology," 34)
feels that "the word 'apocalyptic' has been
detrimental to the Book of Daniel," not only
because the genre itself is ill-defined but be-
cause Daniel reflects the eschatological perspective
of the court tales of chapters 1-6 as
applied to the Maccabean
crisis.
On the other hand, scholars such as A. B. Mickelsen (Daniel and
Revelation: Rid-
dles or Realities? [
Imagination [
tic" to large portions of Daniel. Citing the
importance of angelic activity and heavenly
mediatorship of revelation in
Daniel, as well as the explicit hope of resurrection in chap-
ter 12, Collins
("Apocalyptic Genre and Mythic Allusions in Daniel," JSOT 21 [1981]
89)
suggests that Daniel "has been hindered more
fundamentally by the failure of schol-
arship to examine individual
works like Daniel in the context of the genre constituted by
the corpus of apocalypses."
Both schools of interpretation can make their
point. Certainly current definitions and
descriptions of apocalypse do allow
distinctive portions of Daniel 7-12 to be viewed as
apocalyptic. If, however, one searches for the
over-emphasis on cosmic themes, cataclys-
mic changes in the physical
world and the extreme language so characteristic of later
Jewish
apocalyptic fervor, it is evident that Daniel uses such things sparingly. In
any
case, Daniel is more closely tied to mainstream
eschatology with its emphasis on a sov-
ereign God's active
superintendence of the details of history so as to bring them to his
final purposes. Daniel may, then, perhaps be better
set beside such Old Testament pas-
sages as Zeph. 1:14-18 as
"emergent apocalyptic." See further my discussion in Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah (WEC; Chicago: Moody,
1991) 285-88.
13 Chapters 1-6 are customarily termed
"court tales." Such stories have as their cen-
tral plot an account of the
heroic exploits of a godly exile in a foreign court. This person's
godly walk and wisdom prove his worth in various
tests. He then rises to such personal
prominence that he is able to improve the
well-being of his people or even effect their
deliverance.
These narratives customarily include such
elements as: (1) a specific test involving
faith, morality, or compromise of covenantal
standards, (2) the friendliness of some resident
court official, (3) besting the foreigners in
contests or conflict, and (4) an unexpected ex-
traordinary resolution to a
besetting problem. Typical biblical examples include Daniel
(Dan 1-6), Joseph (Gen 37-50), Esther, and, to
some extent, Ezra and Nehemiah. Extra-
biblical examples may be cited in the apocryphal
stories concerning Zerubbabel (I Esdras
3-4),
Tobit, and Judith, as well as the Aramaic story of Ahiqar and the Egyptian Tale of
Sinuhe.
For details, see Collins,
"Court-Tales," 218-34; J. G. Gammie,
"On the Intention and
Sources
of Daniel I-VI," VT 31 (1981):
282-92; Heaton, Daniel, 33-53; and
Humphreys,
"Life Style," 211-23. Humphreys divides such
stories into two types: the court contest, in
which the hero provides the interpretation to a
seemingly insoluble problem and the court
conflict, in which the hero's purity is rewarded
with deliverance. Humphreys' twofold cat-
egorization is perhaps the simplest
way to view the court narratives. According to this ar-
rangement, Daniel 2, 4-5 belong
with the first type and Daniel 3, 6, with the second.
14 See, for example, A. Lenglet,
"La structure litteraire de Daniel 2-7," Biblica 53
(1972):
169-90; J. Baldwin, Daniel (TOTC;
Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1978) 59-63.
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 249
250
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
seen not only in the fact that chapter 7 shares the
same language (Ara-
maic) with 2:4b-6:28, but
that, as Lenglet observes, Daniel 2-7
"est. . . ecrit
d'une maniere concentrique.”15
Indeed, its structure is
finely balanced, forming a neat chiastic arrangement
of material, chap-
ters 2 and 7 presenting
visions of a fourfold periodization of earth's
historical and political succession, chapters 3 and
6 depicting specific
adventures (told in characteristic "U
shaped" plot) that test the faith of
Daniel
and his three friends, and chapters 4 and 5 (the centerpiece of
the chiasmus) relating details illustrating divine
dealings aimed at try-
ing the character of two
Babylonian kings.
Structural patterning may also be observed in
the balanced pro-
gression within the two halves
(2-4; 5-7) of the chiasmus. Thus,
chapters 2 and 5 relate Daniel's testing in the
midst of the Babylonian
wise men, chapters 3 and 6 detail the personal
trials of Daniel's three
friends, and chapters 4 and 7 involve elements
of personal testimony
with regard to the reception and understanding of
revelatory dreams. In
addition, the close relationship of chapters 4
and 5 with their stress on
royal discipline, the fifth chapter utilizing
elements narrated in the
fourth, has often been noted.16 Further,
the structure of chapter 7 can
be seen to bear close affinities with the
preceding court narratives, par-
ticularly those in chapters 2, 4,
and 5. A still further unifying element
can be seen in that chapter 7, like chapters 1-6,
features a court scene
(vv. 9-10, 13-14,26-27), this one, however, presided over by
a Heav-
enly Sovereign. These data
are illustrated in Table 2.
Building on these findings and adding a
consideration of the first
chapter, an overall view of the structure of the
book emerges that
yields a distinctive
A. Historical Introduction (1) [Hebrew]
B. Historical Information (2-7) [Aramaic]
A. Future Information (7, 8-12) [Hebrew]17
The
importance of this ancient format (observable as early as the Code
of Hammurapi18) to the unity and
composition of Daniel is duly noted
by C. H. Gordon:
15 Lenglet, “La structure,” 188.
16 Gammie
(“Intention and Sources,” 283) calls attention as well to “the extremely
important element of ‘prophecy fulfilled’ . . . in
chapters iv and v.”
17 Note that 12:4-13 forms not only a
conclusion to the vision report begun in 10:1
but also a concluding summary with instructions
that serve, together with chapter 1, to
bookend the entire prophecy.
18 The rendering of the
name of the great Mesopotamian lawgiver with a “p” rather
than a “be” is now certain, the ambiguous Akkadian syllable sign (**)(= bi or pi) being
uniformly treated in this name as a p in Ugaritic (**).
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 251
252
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Hammurapi's Code has a
comprehensive literary form. The pro-
logue and epilogue are in
poetry, whose form is parallelistic and whose
language is archaic. The laws in
the middle, however, are in prose, so
that the whole composition
has a pattern, which we call
poetry, B being prose. This
has an important bearing upon other oriental
compositions including the Bible: . .
. Similarly the biblical Book of
Daniel begins and ends in Hebrew, though the
middle is in Aramaic. The
possibility of an intentional
ation and should deter us
from hastily dissecting the text.19
Gordon's
remark as to intentionality in the
impression gained by noting the book's structural
refinements. The
cumulative effect has important implications for
the unity and compo-
sition of Daniel. Rather than
pointing to the unifying work of a late
redactor/compiler who stands at the end
of a long line of editorial
activity, Daniel is best explained as supporting
Gooding's contention
that "we must take seriously the book's
internal proportions, as having
been deliberately planned by the author.”20
The key role of chapter 7 to the book of Daniel
is thus readily
apparent. Its central location and close
correspondence with the two
major portions make it evident that Daniel 7 is in
many respects the
key that unlocks the door to the problem of the
unity, as well as the
understanding, of the book.
the Aramaic section this chapter constitutes the
climax, and it is the
part of the picture and concentrate on some
particular aspect of it.”21
19 C. H. Gordon, The Ancient Near East (3d ed.;
W.
G. E. Watson, Classical Hebrew Poetry
(JSOTS 26;
20 W. Gooding, "The Literary Structure
of the Book of Daniel and Its Implica-
tions," TB 32 (1981): 68. Gooding's analysis,
however, proceeds along more thematic,
rather than literary, lines so that his suggested
structural arrangement differs significantly
from the consensus of Old Testament scholarship.
Authorial intention in the
ther by the witness of
complete Daniel was originally written in Aramaic
with sections subsequently translated
into Hebrew, manuscripts from both Cave One and Cave
Four validate the change from
Hebrew
to Aramaic at 2:4b and the change from Aramaic to Hebrew at 8:1. Thus, G. Ha-
sel ("New Light on the
Book of Daniel from the Dead Sea Scrolls," Archaeology and
Biblical Research 5 [1992]: 50) remarks:
"The Hebrew/Aramaic Masoretic text of the
book of Daniel now has stronger support than at any
other time in the history of the in-
terpretation of the book of
Daniel."
21 Baldwin, Daniel, 137.
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 253
THE
SIGNIFICANCE OF DANIEL 7 TO DANIEL'S ESCHATOLOGY
The strategic structural position of chapter 7
provides a key not
only to the form of the book but to the
understanding of Daniel's
eschatology. Together with the bookending
chapter of its first part
(chapter 2), it gives a picture of earth's political future
from Daniel's
day onward. As noted above, that prophesied future
falls into a four-
fold periodization that
begins with
with generally deteriorating political cohesiveness
but increasing
ferocity through two more kingdoms to a fourth
era, toward the end of
which a fearsome leader arises.22 During
his time, the saints will be
sorely oppressed but God will accomplish his defeat
and rule through
his designated leader who will reign in the midst
of the saints forever
(7:13-14,18-27).
This general overview undergirds
and circumscribes the further
complementary revelations that follow
in chapters 8-12.23 Particularly
troublesome to harmonizing the data of those
chapters with the basic
format of chapters 7 and 2 is the twofold problem of
(1) the identifica-
tion of those kingdoms/eras
that succeed
standing of the discussions concerning the little
horn and the willful
king that figure so prominently in chapters 8 and
11.
As for the former problem, chapter 8, which is set in the third year
of Belshazzar, would
appear to describe two kingdoms that will suc-
ceed
(vv. 20-21). The vision of this chapter also tells of the
rise and fall of
out of his kingdom after his demise, and the
subsequent rise and
destruction of a wicked king (= Antiochus Epiphanes) who opposes
God's people (vv. 8-12, 22-25).
As for the latter problem, since the prediction
concerning the
wicked king (= the little horn that grew up on the he
goat) at first sight
seems to parallel that of the wicked king (= the
little horn that grew up
on the fearful beast) of chapter 7 (vv. 19-25),
the question arises as to
whether these two chapters are speaking of the
same person. The
difficulty in deciding affirmatively for such an
identification is that the
22 The allocating of prophetic history into
episodic schemes is well known in the
ancient Near East, being attested in the
Sibylline Oracles (
as in Greek, Roman, Persian, and Mesopotamian
traditions. For details, see J. Baldwin,
"Some
Literary Affinities in the Book of Daniel," TB 30 (1979): 90-92; Daniel,
55;
Goldingay, Daniel,
40-41; Di LelIa, Daniel, 29-33; and J. H. Charlesworth (ed.), The
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (2 vols.; Garden City:
Doubleday, 1983) 1:382.
23 For the juxtapositioning
of complementary revelations as a feature of apocalyptic
literature, see Collins, Apocalyptic Imagination, 85-86.
254
GRACE THEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
little horn of chapter 7 arises in the era of the
fourth kingdom, while
that in chapter 8 apparently belongs to the third.
To solve that problem,
many expositors suggest that the two-horned ram in
the vision of chap-
ter 8, representing Media
and
four kingdom sequence of chapter 7 by taking the ram
as symbolizing
two successive kingdoms. The resultant four kingdom
sequence can
therefore be understood as
Di Lella remarks:
Whereas in ch. 2 and ch. 7 there is one symbol for the kingdom of
the Medes and another for
that of the Persians (
there is a single symbol, the
ram, for both these kingdoms (8:3-4, 20).
But this does not mean that the author of ch. 8 is ignorant of the "four
kingdom" concept of the
rest of the book. On the one hand, both ch. 6
and the Book of Esther
treat the Medes and the Persians as kindred peo-
ples in a coalition (Dan 6:9,
13; Esther 1:3;
other hand, ch. 8, in which each of the two large horns of the ram sym-
bolizes a separate kingdom (cf.
vs. 20), makes a distinction between the
"longer and more
recent" horn,
Such a decision, however, runs counter to
Daniel's consistent
symbolic scheme. For elsewhere each animal
depicts a given kingdom/
era and, while the parts of an animal may signify
different persons/
events/segments within a particular
kingdom/era, they never appear to
be able to be understood of entirely different
kingdom/eras. Further,
within the last vision (chapters 10-12), set in the
days of the second or
Persian
kingdom (10:1), attention is focused once again on only the
two kingdoms of
that while chapter 7 (combined with chapter 2)
provides the basic four
epoch prophetic framework for the future, the visions
of chapters 8 and
11
amplify details relative to the nearer historical scene in the days of
the second and third kingdoms.
24 Di
LelIa, Daniel,
234; see also 212-14. Actually, those who decide for the first
and fourth kingdoms as referring to
imous as to the identity of
the second and third kingdoms. Goldingay (Daniel, 175, 176),
sensing the inherent difficulty in the problem
and having surveyed various solutions to it,
concludes: "It is as certain an exegetical
judgment as most that the contextual meaning
of Dan 7 is that the first empire is
Nebuchadnezzar's
There
is less certainly about the identity of the second and third kingdoms. . . . There
is
little evidence to go on in identifying the second and
third kingdoms, and each interpre-
tation gives a slightly
artificial result. This reflects two facts. First, Daniel is not really
interested in the second and third kingdoms, and
perhaps had no opinion regarding their
identity. Second, the four-empire scheme as a
whole is more important than the identifi-
cation of its parts. Dan 7 is
applying a well-known scheme to a period that has to begin
with the exile and end with the Antiochene
crisis."
THE KEY ROLE OF DANIEL 7 255
The result of these considerations is that the
twofold problem can
be solved by concluding that (1) the proper
identification in the four
kingdom periods is
fourth kingdom/era, and (2) the little horn of chapter
8 must "be distin-
guished from the little horn of
chapter 7, which came up among the ten
horns of the indescribable beast. Though they have a
superficial simi-
larity, there are many
differences between them and they do not belong
to the same era.”25
It may be added that the fourth of these
kingdoms/eras most likely
began with
The
appearance of the figure of a little horn in both the third and fourth
kingdoms indicates that the person involved in
the third (unanimously
identified as Antiochus Epiphanes)
stands either as a type or prophetic
precursor to his antitype in the fourth kingdom.
Thus, chapter 8 can be
viewed as "historically fulfilled in Antiochus,
but to varying degrees
foreshadowing typically the future
world ruler who would dominate