Daniel

About Daniel

Daniel combines famous stories of faithfulness under pressure, like the lions' den and the fiery furnace, with sweeping visions of world empires rising and falling. Its message is steady throughout: human kingdoms come and go, but the God of heaven rules history and will set up a kingdom that never ends. In the Bible's story, Daniel teaches God's people how to stay faithful in a foreign culture and gives the New Testament its language of the Son of Man.

Written by

The book centers on Daniel, a Jewish exile serving in Babylon's royal courts; tradition holds that he wrote it, while many scholars believe it reached its final form much later, and readers still debate this honestly.

When

Its stories are set in the exile of the 500s BC; the traditional view dates the writing to that era, while many scholars date the finished book to the 160s BC during Greek persecution.

Themes

• Faithfulness under pressure
• God rules over empires
• The everlasting kingdom
• Courage in exile
• The Son of Man

Key verses

• Daniel 3:17-18If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
• Daniel 2:44And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
• Daniel 7:13-14I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.