3 He served in the courts of kings He prophesied much about Gentile nations He was the only Old Testament prophet whose book is classified as apocalyptic His book is the key to the interpretation of all other biblical prophecies of the last days IV THE BOOK OF DANIEL A AUTHENTICITY The Daniel referred to by Ezekiel (Ezek 14:14, 20; 28:3) and by Jesus (Matt 24:15; Mark 13:14) is the author of this book From 7:2 onward, the book uses the autobiographical rst person; and, considering the unity of the book, God’s words to Daniel in 12:4 imply authorship of the entire book by Daniel Liberal critics have denied its genuineness, mainly because of (1) its fantastic miracles (e.g., Daniel’s deliverance from the lions); (2) its explicit prophecies (many of which were ful lled in the centuries before Christ); and (3) alleged historical inaccuracies Despite such objections, the book’s authenticity has endured through the centuries B PLACE IN THE CANON In our English Bibles, Daniel appears as the last of the ve major prophetical books (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel) In the Hebrew Bibles, Daniel is not grouped with the prophetical books, but appears as a historical book in the Hebrew section called Writings That it was not included among the prophetical books is explained by the fact that while Daniel had the gift and function of prophet (cf Matt 24:15), his position was that of a government o cial That his book was placed in the Writings as a historical book can be explained by its content, with its apocalyptic visions of world history C DATE WRITTEN Daniel probably wrote his book soon after the last dated event occurred (10:1; 536 B.C.) An approximate date would be 530 B.C., or when the prophet was around ninety years of age D TYPE OF LITERATURE Daniel is an apocalyptic book, the only Old Testament book so classi ed.5 Revelation is the one New Testament Apocalypse.6 The word apocalypse in its Greek form is translated as “revelation” in Revelation 1:1 Apocalypse is a revelation, an unveiling of secret purposes of God not known before that unveiling Those purposes concern particularly world events leading up to the Messianic Kingdom and the consummation of things in the end of the world The manner in which these events are unveiled is mainly by visions, where imagery and symbolism appear throughout In Daniel the word “vision” appears twentytwo times; and “visions,” ten times Usually apocalyptic literature is written as prose, but because so much picture language is involved, the prose at places looks very much like poetry In the Westminster Study ...IV THE BOOK OF DANIEL A AUTHENTICITY The Daniel referred to by Ezekiel (Ezek 14:14, 20; 28:3) and by Jesus (Matt 24:15; Mark 13:14) is the author of this book From 7:2 onward, the book uses the. .. around ninety years of age D TYPE OF LITERATURE Daniel is an apocalyptic book, the only Old Testament book so classi ed.5 Revelation is the one New Testament Apocalypse.6 The word apocalypse... unveiling of secret purposes of God not known before that unveiling Those purposes concern particularly world events leading up to the Messianic Kingdom and the consummation of things in the end of the