Daniel

Overview

Daniel is portrayed in the biblical book bearing his name as a young Judean of noble or royal background taken to Babylon, trained for imperial service, and renamed Belteshazzar. In the narratives of Daniel 1–6 he embodies wisdom, integrity, prayer, and refusal of idolatrous compromise while serving foreign courts from Nebuchadnezzar to the Persian period. In Daniel 7–12 he receives symbolic visions concerning empires, persecution, judgment, resurrection, and the kingdom of God. The figure named “Daniel” in Ezekiel 14:14, 20 and 28:3 has often been identified in Jewish and Christian tradition with the biblical Daniel, though many modern scholars argue that Ezekiel’s spelling and context may refer instead to an older legendary righteous sage, often compared with the Ugaritic Danel.

Biblical shape

Judean exile, court wise man, interpreter of dreams, faithful worshiper of Israel’s God, and apocalyptic seer. Exile, court training, and refusal of royal food: Daniel and his companions are taken to Babylon, given Babylonian names, educated for court service, and vindicated after refusing the king’s food in order to remain faithful to their God. Interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue: Daniel reveals and interprets the king’s dream of successive kingdoms and the stone cut without hands, declaring that God gives wisdom and rules over earthly empires. Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great tree: Daniel interprets the dream as a warning that the king will be humbled until he acknowledges that the Most High rules the kingdom of mortals. The writing on the wall: Daniel interprets the mysterious inscription at Belshazzar’s feast as divine judgment on the king and the imminent fall of Babylon. The lions’ den: Daniel continues his practice of prayer despite royal prohibition, is cast into the lions’ den, and is delivered by God.

Key passages

• Ezekiel 14:14
• Ezekiel 14:20
• Ezekiel 28:3
• Daniel 1
• Daniel 2
• Daniel 4
• Daniel 5
• Daniel 6
• Daniel 7
• Daniel 8

Theological significance

In the biblical narratives of Daniel 1–6, Daniel is a Judean exile renamed Belteshazzar, trained for court service, distinguished by wisdom, prayer, and refusal of idolatry; in Daniel 7–12 he becomes the recipient of symbolic visions of successive empires, oppression, judgment, and the final kingdom of God. Second-Temple Judaism intensified his apocalyptic profile: the Greek Daniel circulated with additions such as Susanna and Bel and the Dragon, while later Jewish interpretation treated him as a paradigmatic sage and seer. Christian writers quickly read him christologically and ecclesiologically. Origen, in his Homilies on Daniel, and Jerome, in his commentary, treated the lions’ den and the fiery furnace as patterns of faithful endurance and divine deliverance; Athanasius and Augustine used Daniel’s visions to frame providence, eschatology, and the rise and fall of kingdoms. Roman Catholic: Roman Catholic tradition receives Daniel as canonical Scripture in its longer Greek form, including Susanna, the Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men, and Bel and the Dragon. Eastern Orthodox: Eastern Orthodox tradition receives Daniel in the Greek textual tradition and treats the Three Holy Youths, the fiery furnace, and Daniel’s visions as central witnesses to fidelity, deliverance, and eschatological hope. Lutheran: Lutheran tradition receives the Hebrew-Aramaic Daniel as canonical and the Greek additions as apocryphal writings useful to read but not equal to Scripture. Reformed: Reformed tradition reads Daniel as a major testimony to the sovereignty of God over empires, providence, and the perseverance of the saints under persecution.

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