DANIEL, BOOK OF. A composition of about the year me. 165, written by a Jewish patriot as an exhortation and encouragement to the Jews. who at the time were sorely oppressed and hin dered in the free exercise of their religion by Antiochus 1V., surnamed Eitiplianc4. The book, comprising twelve chapters, consists of several distinct parts, and no less than ten detached sec tions may be distinguished. These sections may lie considered as falling into three groups: (1) Introduction, ehapters i.-ii.. containing two sec tions; (2) chapters iii.-vi., containing four nar ratives; (3) chapters emnprising four prophetic visions. The first section relates how Daniel was brought to Babylon by Nehnehadnez zar in the third year of Jehoiakim (u.c. 605). With Daniel are three other youths of noble de scent—Hananiah, Mishael. and Azariali. Baby lonian names are given to them in place of their 11(threw ones, Daniel being called Belteshazzar, the other three are called Shadrach, Me shaell, and Abednego. They are portrayed as being in the royal service, but also as steadfast in their fidelity to their God, declining to par take of the food provided for them for fear of polluting themselves. God rewards them for this. and when brought before the King they are found ten times superior to the Babylonian ma gicians, Daniel excelling every one in the matter of visions and dreams. In the second section proofs are given of Daniel's supernatural wis dom; he saves the lives of the magicians as well as his own by his ability not only to inter pret a dream Nebuchadnezzar had had, but also to tell him what the dream was. The King had a seen a great image with its head of gold. and other parts of the bodyof silver, brass, and iron. The gold is interpreted to refer to the Babylo nian Empire, the other three metals to the king doms that are to follow the Babylonian. The image is destroyed by a stone quarried without human intervention out of a mountain, and this destruction symbolizes the disappearance of all the kingdoms. The third section (elmp. iii.) tells of the fiery furnace into which the three friends of Daniel are thrown because of their refusal to worship the golden image which Nebuchadnezzar had set up, and how they came out of the fur nace unscathed. In the fourth section (chap. iv.) Nebuchadnezzar issues a proclamation to all peoples of the world, declaring, in conse quence of Daniel's success in interpreting an other of his dreams, his intention of glorifying the King of Heaven, i.e. Jehovah. The dream
itself consists of a vision of the uprooting of a great tree with its numerous branches, under which all birds have shelter and which feeds all mankind. The vision, as interpreted by Daniel, forebodes the downfall of the kingdom, and the King himself is humbled by being bereft for a time of his reason and conducting himself like an animal. The fifth section (chap. v.) re counts a great feast arranged by Belshazzar (9.v.), during which the mysterious writing ap pears on the wall as a punishment for the King's desecration of the sacred vessels of .Jerusalem, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought to Babylon (chap. i. 2). Daniel succeeds in reading and interpreting the handwriting, which predicts the overthrow of Belshazzar, who indeed is slain that very night. The crown passes to Darius the Mede. The sixth section (chap. vi.) introduces King Darius, who, at the instance of his nobles, issued a decree forbidding any one for the space of a month to pray to or ask a petition from any one except Darius. Daniel, as a pious Jew, accustomed to pray thrice daily, disobeys and is thrown into a den of lions. By di vine protection Daniel escapes the fate of being torn to pieces. He is taken out of the den and his accusers are thrown into it, and at once are torn to pieces by the lions. The last four sec tions contain visions of Daniel: (I ) Of the four beasts. the last having ten horns, from each of which in turn supremacy is taken away (chap. vii.) • (2) of the ram pushing in all directions with its two horns, which are eventually broken through a he-goat with a notable horn between its eyes. In time the kingdom of the he-goat is broken, and in its place four other horns arise, and out of one of these comes forth a little horn which exalts itself even against the host. of heaven and against. God Himself, destroying His sanctuary and interrupting the daily service for 2:300 evenings and mornings lehap. viii.) : (3) Gabriel appears to Daniel and explains that the seventy years of desolation prophesied by .Iere rviah it ; xxix. 10) will he only seventy weeks, after which time the guilt of the people will be atoned for (chap. ix.). In the last vision, in the third year of Cyrus, an angel re veals to Daniel glimpses of the future. Under veiled names the doings and fate of various kings are described; after the last disappears the Mes sianic age arrives, heralded by the Archangel Michael.