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Tereo:How Old is Daniel?
by Mike Frandson (Mike's bio)
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Let me make a prediction . . .
England will become a world power. The monarchy's influence will be felt around the world by the turn of the 20th Century; however, external conflicts and an evil Ruler from Germany will make war against England near the middle of the century and nearly topple the government. The United States will come to the aid of her motherland England, will rebuke the evil ruler from Germany, and replace England as one of the dominant political and economic forces in the world.
Not much of a 'prediction', was it? It's already happened. Predictions are easy about the past. Like Yogi Berra says: Predictions are tough, especially when they are about the future!
Bible critics since the third century (Porphyry) have reasoned that the highly prophetic book of Daniel was written 'after the fact'. Daniel specifically predicted the rise and fall of each of 4 great empires starting with the Babylonian and extending through the Persian, Greek, and then an empire closely resembling the Roman Empire. If traditional Bible scholarship is followed, he predicted these events several hundred years ahead of their actual happening. If you believe the critics, Daniel was written during the Maccabbean era (roughly 164 -168 BC), thus eliminating all but the Roman Empire as being predictive. (critics split the Persian empire into two: Median and a Persian empire, making the Greek Empire the 4th of Daniel's prophecy. There was, however, no Median Empire as such). Critics say Daniel was a 'ghost writer' and a 'post event prophet'!
If you want to believe the critics, that is . . .
First, this argument assumes that learned Bible scribes and rabbis would believe some 'charlatan' pseudo-Daniel, writing and prophesying about 'past events' during the Macabbean era. I honestly don't think a 'farce' like that would last long. In a culture steeped in truth, generations of strictly following law, and judgment for 'false prophecy, I think this imaginary Daniel would end up stoned on the outside of the walls of Jerusalem rather than have his words immortalized in scripture.
But that is just my opinion. What do archeological facts or evidence show for the authenticity of Daniel? And do the Dead Sea Scrolls have any evidence for an earlier dating of Daniel?
With the exception of Isaiah, the book of Daniel has the second most copies found at Qumran (20 fragments from 8 different copies). Daniel has a 'Macabbean' aura about it (apocalyptic in nature, servitude in background and setting) and the Qumran sect had their beginnings around the Macabbean era so there has been a strong propensity to lean on the fact that the sect members themselves wrote Daniel to coincide with their own intuitions regarding the 'deliverer' or 'Messiah'. It would have been very easy to predict the Babylonian Empire, the Persians, and the Greeks, etc. since they had already taken place. Since so many copies of Daniel were found amongst the scroll fragments and since it 'favors' their religious beliefs, it has been speculated that the sect members themselves wrote the book, or at least the prophetic sections.
So then, do lots of copies of Daniel lying around the cave mean that the Qumran sect wrote them? Could it be that the sect had great reverence for the writings of Daniel, used them, in part, as a foundation for their beliefs, and had accumulated many copies of Daniel out of religious reverence? Think about books around your home. Do you have several copies of the Bible; between your bookshelf, the bed stand, and fireplace mantel. More copies than say, "Of Mice And Men"? Did you write the Bible? Do you have the Lord's Prayer up on your wall? Or the 23rd Psalm? Did you write it or do you just hold it in special reverence and desire to have a copy of it in view?
Paleography (the study and decipherment of ancient writings) alone dates the copies of Daniel at no earlier than 125 BC, so the Roman Empire predictions of Daniel are safe (Rome invaded Judea around 60 BC). Plus you have to add some time for the copies to have been in circulation and for the 'pesher's and commentaries of Daniel to have been written (which are amongst the Qumran's writing on or about Daniel that have been found also). Some scholars say at least a century for the development of the current copies of Daniel found at Qumran. Linguistic comparisons within other Qumran documents dated from the 2nd to 3rd century BC are strikingly similar to the Daniel manuscripts. Yet Daniel has been 'selected' by scholars to have been written some 150 years later!
In all fairness, a lot of the critics formed their opinion prior to the publishing of the Elephantine Papyri, from Upper Egypt. This document has been dated to the 5th century BC and is written stylistically and syntactically like the Aramaic of Daniel. British Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen demonstrated that 90% of Daniel's Aramaic vocabulary was dated to the 5th century BC and that 'loan words' from the Greek and Persian languages were all 'old' variations and could not be dated any earlier than the 5th century BC. In addition, some syntactical forms found in Daniel have not been found to have SURVIVED in writings past the 5th century BC!
So 'suddenly' these old forms of writing reappeared in 125 BC for the benefit of the Qumran sect? I think not . . .
One other little tidbit: The Hebrew and Aramaic sections of Daniel were written WITHOUT the Greek word expansions that 'crept' into manuscripts AFTER the Septuagint . . . And the LXX (Septuagint) was written around 200 BC.
There are many more reasons to trust the earlier dating of Daniel than there are reasons to trust literary 'speculation'. So let me spring another prediction on you: There will continue to be skeptics and critics of the Bible and God will continue to reveal Himself indelibly to those who seek Him with an open heart.
Oh, Yogi, some predictions about the future are easy!
Copyright 2002, Mike Frandson. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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About Mike Frandson:
By day he mulls over engineering drawings, molding presses, and automobile parts as a Quality Control Technician! But by night, he spends his time tickling the literary muse, writing hit songs, raising his children, and Praising his Lord. A layman who was nearly turned away from Christianity by false arguments, Mike now has set out to study the truth about Christianity, and to share these truths with all who are curious about seeking the kingdom of God. |
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