Book of Daniel in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
LITERATURE
I. Name.
The Book of Daniel is rightly so called, whether we consider
Daniel as the author of it, or as the principal person
mentioned in it.
II. Place in the Canon.
In the English Bible, Daniel is placed among the Major
Prophets, immediately after Ezk, thus following the order of
the Septuagint and of the Latin Vulgate (Jerome's Bible,
390-405 A.D.) In the Hebrew Bible, however, it is placed in
the third division of the Canon, called the Kethuvim or
writings, by the Hebrews, and the hagiographa, or holy
writings, by the Seventy. It has been claimed, that Daniel
was placed by the Jews in the third part of the Canon,
either because they thought the inspiration of its author to
be of a lower kind than was that of the other prophets, or
because the book was written after the second or prophetical
part of the Canon had been closed. It is more probable, that
the book was placed in this part of the Hebrew Canon,
because Daniel is not called a nabhi' ("prophet"), but was
rather a chozeh ("seer") and a chakham ("wise man"). None
but the works of the nebhi'im were put in the second part of
the Jewish Canon, the third being reserved for the
heterogeneous works of seers, wise men, and priests, or for
those that do not mention the name or work of a prophet, or
that are poetical in form. A confusion has arisen, because
the Greek word prophet is used to render the two Hebrew
words nabhi' and chozeh. In the Scriptures, God is said to
speak to the former, whereas the latter see visions and
dream dreams. Some have attempted to explain the position of
Daniel by assuming that he had the prophetic gift without
holding the prophetic office. It must be kept in mind that
all reasons given to account for the order and place of many
of the books in the Canon are purely conjectural, since we
have no historical evidence bearing upon the subject earlier
than the time of Jesus ben Sirach, who wrote probably about
180 BC.
III. Divisions of the Book.
According to its subject-matter, the book falls naturally
into two great divisions, each consisting of six chapters,
the first portion containing the historical sections, and
the second the apocalyptic, or predictive, portions; though
the former is not devoid of predictions, nor the latter of
historical statements. More specifically, the first chapter
is introductory to the whole book; Dan 2 through 6 describe
some...
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