By Ariella Casey
The last article: Who was the Daniel of the Bible? by Guest Author Deb Freeland, raises a lot of questions, especially for those who are born and bread as Bible thumpers. Daniel in the lions’ den, in many of our minds, is one of the big stories of faithfulness and Divine deliverance. Why would anyone want to discredit it?
In my recent approach to the Bible, I have begun to question anything that has no real historical basis. This was not always so for me. In the past, I often argued against history if it somehow didn’t line up with the Bible. Many believe that Scripture is God-breathed. And yet when we begin to dig, many of the bible stories are just that, stories!
When, recently, I examined the fact that Daniel, according to the book by his name, existed for several centuries, actually being passed from king to king as advisor throughout the Babylonian Persian and Median monarchies. How did Daniel avoid being slain in the take-over of these kingdoms? And how did he live so long? Do the math! From Nebuchadnezzar, until Darius with all the kingdoms in between, we come up to more than 200, perhaps 300 years. According to typical longevity at the time, people were not living that long. King David is recorded as 70 years old when he died and David lived a long time before Babylon took over.
So the years do not add up, nor does his presence in at least 5 of the kingdoms, make any sense. Ok, some will say that he was able to continue because of Divine miracles. But where else do we see anything like this in history? The prophets often fell in the same overwhelming take-over of kingdoms.
Another point, if Daniel was so dedicated to the return of the captives to Jerusalem under Cyrus, why didn’t he accompany them? And if he did, why is he not listed? Also why is he not mentioned in other biblical books other than a couple of obscure references in the book of Ezekiel? There are basically a lot of things to factor in, and since history is mute about Daniel–as far as I know, he is not mentioned in the records kept during the lives of the different kings, we have to question the entire book and perhaps, ask ourselves what is it’s purpose? Does it somehow show that a Jew can be faithful even in the exile? Does it show that kings will deliver the Jews and that they can rise to power at times as second to the king?
When we look at the different prophecies in Daniel 2 and 7, we see that the outline of the takeover of kingdoms is fairly accurate. But since we know that Daniel did not live to see these kingdoms, we can well ask, was something written in later to make the story accurate? And when Daniel 9 is factored in, we find a very deep mathematical puzzle which Christians have used to prove the event of Jesus and his death centuries later. Yet the matter of weeks adding up to days and then becoming years which count down to the event of Jesus, makes for a confusing story at the best.
It seems also that the absence of a date for the death of Daniel, is significant? Was he a real person? I don’t believe he was, at least not the same person that figured throughout the book. I guess where history is silent, maybe we should be as well.
So, I want to thank Deb for her brief article on this subject.
I want to state that I do believe there is still much to be valued in Torah and Tenakh that we should not be discouraged, and begin to doubt everything that is written.
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Another factor for the historicity of Daniel, Esther and Mordechai, and Ezra-Nehemiah is their status as books in the Hebrew canon. These books along with Chronicles, Psalms, Job, Proverbs, Lamentations, Song of Songs, and Kohelet [Ecclesiastes], are in the back of the Hebrew bible in the section called The Writings. The rabbis of the Mishna Talmud acknowledged the lower status of these books as being written in the post biblical period of the Torah and the Prophets after the first temple and prophecy ceased in Israel.
These were written in the Jewish exile and do not hold the status of Moses the Servant of YHVH, Joshua ben Nun, and the books of the Prophets: Judges through Malachi. In other words, these books are not books of Torah nor are they books of the Prophets, the servants of the Covenant Maker, the Holy One of Israel.
The Jewish people acknowledge that their exile, now 2500 years long, is a time of darkness and groping like blind men on the mountains of the nations under different masters. The Holy One of Israel is hidden from the world as the people of the Covenant languish and linger in the nations. The concept is Hester Panim in Hebrew, the hiddenness of the Divine Presence.
This means two things in the context of the characters we have in those books of the Writings. 1. they were not prophets, they did not prophecy our Covenant future, and they did not give Israel any incentive, purpose or meaning for returning to Israel and build a Holy Nation with the House of YHVH as given to Ezekiel, and 2. the only way home to our Holy One is to seek the ancient paths and remember our Covenant as given to Moses at Sinai and the authentic Oral Tradition that gives the Jewish people the blueprint to come home and seek the Face of our God, YHVH Elohenu Tzv’aoth.
The historicity of the heroes of the exile is actually irrelevant to the Holy Future that waits for Israel. When we shed the exile heroes and the exile with its burdensome masters, then and only then will we be free from the House of Bondage in the nations. Then we can become Covenant Israel in our inherited homeland.
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