Who Wrote Daniel?
Saturday, May 9, 2009

Daniel's writing thousands of years ago provides euphemisms still in use today (even in secular circles):

Daniel's prophecy and narratives provide many learning opportunities --- not as stories for entertainment, but events which should change our actions.

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. (Daniel 9:24 KJV)

Two things become immediately and obviously clear by even a casual reading of that passage.

  1. It's about the Jews --- "thy people and thy holy city". Daniel's 70 weeks involves Jewish history, not Gentile.
  2. It hasn't happened yet --- finishing transgression, the end of sins, reconciliation for iniquity and everlasting righteousness.
The Jews still have a future yet to be revealed. Right now we're in the period between the 69th and 70th week; while Daniel speaks of all end times, he doesn't give much detail; Revelation details the 70th week.

Daniel means "God is my judge". Daniel began captivity in Babylon in his early teen years under Nebuchadnezzar, spending most of his life in Babylon. As to the date of his writing, critics try to "late-date" the book to the second century BC, and not by Daniel's pen as the clarity (and obviously fulfilled) nature of the prophecies require skeptics doubting the existence of God to insist no man could be so accurate regarding future events; they favor a date about 165 BC, by someone other than Daniel.

Unfortunately, modern research has shown convincingly that the Book of Daniel was written in about 165 BCE (http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t35.html)

Although according to the text the book of Daniel belongs to the 6th century BC, most scholars do not believe the book was written then. They opt for a 2nd-century BC writer, drawing on well-known stories. (Zondervan Handbook to the Bible, page 473)

Notice the use of the terms "believe" and "opt" --- even the terms used hint of their refusal to believe Daniel foretold future events. Since they start with a preconceived bias of doubting God's existence, the only other possibility denies Daniel's authorship, and not during the time the events took place. Is this so-called "modern scholarship" correct? They may have PhD's, fancy titles and sound intelligent, but are they right? They miss two obvious facts.

  1. Alexander the Great visits Jerusalem in 332 BC. The historian Josephus in "Antiquities of the Jews" ("The Works of Josephus" Book 11, chapter 8, section 5) relates a story of Alexander in Jerusalem as they showed him a copy of Daniel. Thus, it had to exist in 332 BC. Alexander dies in 323 BC so even if the Jerusalem date is off a bit, Daniel's writing had to exist before 323 BC.
  2. The completion of the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) occurred about 285-246 BC. Again, scholars debate exact dates, but let's approximate to the middle of the third century and round off to the period 300-200 BC. Since the Old Testament contains Daniel (and included in the Septuagint), it's quite impossible for the writing to be as late as 165 BC.
Both of these historical events shred the "scholarship" stating the book bearing Daniel's name wasn't written as claimed, but much later --- you don't have to examine their arguments (no matter how scholarly sounding) to dismiss them completely. They waste years debating arguments which simply can not be true due to historical events --- events which completely eliminate their theories from rational discussion. By continuing to hold to meritless theories, they discredit themselves from any serious discussion.

If a later forger wrote Daniel, the Septuagint doesn't exist (or at least was done much later), and neither did Alexander's visit to Jerusalem. Interestingly, you can find "scholarship" doubting both events --- not because it makes sense, but because it must be to fit preconceived ideas about Daniel's writing. Be careful with "scholars" sounding sophisticated; they attempt to cause doubt even though they miss obvious facts rendering their scholarship in error. Let's boil it down to what J Vernon McGee said.

These arguments clearly contradict the liberal critics; yet there are those who blindly ignore them. It is not in the purview of these brief comments to enter into useless argument and fight again about that which has already been settled. ... that the man Daniel was not a deceiver and that his book was not a forgery. ("Thru the Bible" page 525)

Let's skip all the pseudo-scholarship and settle the matter once and for all --- in Matthew 24:5 Jesus declares "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet". That statement tells you two things: Daniel authored the book bearing his name, and he was a prophet. If the Bible is the inerrant Word of God it settles the authorship and date of Daniel (if you don't believe Jesus is God then you've got much bigger issues than the authorship of Daniel).

Anyone claiming a forger wrote Daniel in 165 BC tells you one thing --- they deny the inerrancy of God's Word, and don't believe Jesus is God. That doesn't immediately discredit their theories, but it should give you insight into their bias and show you no matter what their scholarship says, they base it on preconceived bias and lack an open mind.

The endorsement of the Lord Jesus Christ is valid and sufficient for every believer, whether or not he has examined the arguments of the critics, and it satisfies the sincere saint without his having to study the answers of conservative scholarship. ("Thru the Bible" page 525)

After all that, Daniel wrote between 605 BC and 537 BC during captivity in Babylon. Carried off as a captive in his early teen years, he lived and wrote during that time. He spent much of his life in service to the government of Babylon, receiving incredible prophecies and revelations from God.

Darrin Yeager has been teaching and writing on the Bible for over 10 years. With a background in Mathematics and Physics, he approaches the Bible from that perspective while not excluding those lacking a science background, focusing on applying the Bible to daily life. His other writings on the Bible and science are available at

posted by go-trojansesx @ 6:03 AM, ,