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Daniel (, meaning "My judge [is] God") is the central protagonist of the Book of Daniel. According to the biblical book, at a young age Daniel was carried off to Babylon where he became famous for interpreting dreams and rose to become one of the most important figures in the court.
Daniel's life.
The following is a summary of the biblical Book of Daniel
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim (BC 606), Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were among the young Jewish nobility carried off to Babylon. The four were chosen for their intellect and beauty to be trained as advisors to the Babylonian court,() Daniel was given the name Belteshazzar, i.e., prince of Bel, or Bel protect the king!(not to be confused with the neo-Babylonian king, Belshazzar). Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were given the Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, respectively. This marks a change in the narrative from Daniel interpreting to messengers of God interpreting for Daniel. Daniel dreams of four beasts that come out of the sea: a lion with eagles wings, a bear with three tusks, a leopard with four wings and four heads, and a beast with iron teeth, ten horns and one little horn and human eyes.() These beasts are all present at a convening of the divine counsel. Presiding over the counsel is the Ancient of Days, which may, in fact, be the Israelite God. The Ancient One proceeds to put to death the beast with the one little horn. () Daniel also describes the fates of the other beasts saying that while their dominion was taken away, their lives were prolonged. () This introduction leads into a series of dreams and visions where these events are expressed in greater detail.
Scholars argue that each of these beasts represents an emperor or kingdom that ruled over the Israelites. The first being Babylon, then Media, then Persia, and finally the Greeks. The horns of the last beast may be symbolic of the rulers that replaced Alexander the Great upon his death, culminating with the little horn, or Antiochus IV. There are additional details in the text that allude to Antiochus IV, including some form of desecration to the temple () and persecution (). The final message of the second half of Daniel is that God will deliver the people from oppression, the latest of which is Antiochus IV.
Ezekiel
The prophet
Ezekiel, with whom Daniel was a contemporary, describes a Daniel as a "pattern of righteousness (14:14, 20) and wisdom" (28:3). In the Book of Daniel, the name is spelled with a middle letter suggesting the
i of that name — but this letter is not included in Ezekiel, suggesting that the reference there may be to another person, possibly the "
Danel" ("Judgement of God") known from Caananite
Ugaritic literature (such as the
Epic of Aqhat and Anat), whose reputation for wisdom and righteousness had made him legendary. (Vowel-points were not added to the consonantal Hebrew text before well into the Common Era, and the scribes may then have slipped in a vowel-point for "i" as a middle syllable.)
Habakkuk
In the
Deuterocanonical portion of Daniel known as
Bel and the Dragon, the prophet
Habakkuk is miraculously transported by an angel to take a meal to Daniel while he is in the lions' den. In response, Daniel prays, "Thou hast remembered me, O God; neither hast thou forsaken them that seek Thee and love Thee".
Tomb
,
Iran.]]
There are six different locations claiming to be the site of the tomb of the biblical figure Daniel:
Babylon,
Kirkuk and
Muqdadiyah in
Iraq,
Susa and
Malamir in
Iran, and
Samarkand in
Uzbekistan.
Liturgical commemorations
On the
Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, the feast days celebrating St. Daniel the Prophet together with the
Three Young Men, falls on
December 17 (during the
Nativity Fast), on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (the Sunday which falls between 11 and 17 December), and on the Sunday before Nativity. Daniel's prophesy regarding the stone which smashed the idol () is often used in Orthodox hymns as a metaphor for the
Incarnation: the "stone cut out" being symbolic of the
Logos (Christ), and the fact that it was cut "without hands" being symbolic of the
virgin birth. Thus the hymns will refer to the
Theotokos (Virgin Mary) as the "uncut mountain"
In the West, the Roman Catholic Church commemorates Daniel on July 21.
He is commemorated as a prophet in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod together with the Three Young Men (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego), on December 17.
He is commemorated as a prophet in the Coptic Church on the 23rd day of the Coptic month of Baramhat.
Rabbinic literature
Modern Usage
Daniel is a very common and popular name nowadays in a variety of countries, notably those with a Judeo-Christian heritage. Usually used as a first name, it is followed by a last name.
Daniel in Islam
Muslims traditionally consider Daniel (
Arabic: دانيال, Danyal) as an
Islamic prophet, alongside the other
major prophets of the Old Testament, namely
Isaiah,
Jeremiah and
Ezekiel. Although he is not mentioned in the
Qur'an, there are a few
Hadith which bear his name and which refer to his time spent in the den of the lions. There are debates, however, that go on about Daniel's time of preaching and some Muslims believe that he was not a prophet but a saintly man.
See also
Islamic view of Daniel
Tanakh
Prophecy
Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon
Book of Daniel (book of the Bible)
List of names referring to El
Persian Jews
References
External links
Translated Inscriptions of Nabonidus (ANET)
Book of Daniel (Biblical Passage)
Daniel by Rob Bradshaw Detailed dictionary-style article.
Daniel in the TaNaKh Detailed authorized Jewish translation of the original
Who is Ezekiel's Daniel? : The Ugaritic Danel
An exposition of the book of Daniel
Daniel 11 in Context Overview of the allusions to the Syrian Wars in Daniel 11
Category:Hebrew Bible people
Category:Jewish writers
Category:People celebrated in the Lutheran liturgical calendar
Category:Prophets in Christianity
Category:Prophets of Islam
Category:Year of death missing
Category:Book of Daniel
