The book of Daniel tells the story of a Jew who rises to prominence in a foreign court. It is not a smooth road: he struggles to stay true to his faith; he must interpret the king’s dreams, accurately; he must resist the temptation to adopt the culture and practice of his captors and watch his friends be thrown in a fiery furnace; he must hs own stint in the lion’s den. A book of adventures and extraordinary visions, Daniel is also a complex piece of literature: half in Hebrew and half in Aramaic, the book presents a story set in Babylon, but written from and about the Hellenistic period of the second century BCE.
The youngest book in the Hebrew Bible, Daniel brings together old traditions and oral tales, along with new genres like apocalyptic. This study explores the remarkable depth and breadth of this famous biblical book.
