At a glance
| Name meaning | "judgment of God; God my judge" (Hitchcock's); Easton gives "God is my judge, or judge of God" |
| Era / period | The Babylonian Exile and the Return, serving under Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius the Mede, and Cyrus (6th c. BC) |
| Role | Exiled Jewish noble, court official, interpreter of dreams + visions, and seer; reckoned among the four major prophets |
| Key books | Daniel; also named in Ezekiel 14 + 28 |
| One-line significance | The faithful exile who served pagan courts without compromise and received the apocalyptic visions (Daniel 7–12) that shape biblical end-times expectation; Jesus cites him by name (Matthew 24:15) |
Who Daniel was
Daniel (id H1840G, with the Aramaic form H1841H; his Babylonian name Belteshazzar is H1095 / Aramaic H1096; Greek G1158) was a young nobleman of Judah carried to Babylon among the first deportation under Nebuchadnezzar. The people catalog catalogs 36 occurrences of his name. Easton notes he was descended from one of Judah's noble families (Daniel 1:3), probably born in Jerusalem about 623 BC during Josiah's reign, and taken to Babylon after Nebuchadnezzar's victory at Carchemish, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Easton: c. 606 BC).
In Babylon he was given the Chaldean name Belteshazzar and trained in the wisdom and learning of the Chaldeans (Daniel 1:4-7). Easton records his reputation for piety and strict observance of the Mosaic law (Daniel 1:8-16), and his rise to "chief of the governors" over the wise men of Babylon. He is unusual among the prophets in that, as Easton observes, the Old Testament never explicitly titles him a "prophet", yet Ezekiel, his contemporary, names him alongside Noah and Job as a byword for righteousness (Ezekiel 14:14, Ezekiel 14:20) and for wisdom (Ezekiel 28:3), and Jesus refers to "Daniel the prophet" (Matthew 24:15).
Story arc (life, chronological + cited)
- Deportation + the king's table, taken to Babylon and enrolled in royal training, Daniel and his three friends refuse the king's food and wine and are vindicated after a ten-day test (Daniel 1:8-16); God gives them learning and gives Daniel understanding in visions and dreams (Daniel 1:17).
- Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statue, Daniel alone reveals and interprets the dream of the great image, is promoted to ruler over the province of Babylon, and secures positions for his friends (Daniel 2, esp. Daniel 2:48-49).
- The fiery furnace (his three friends), Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are thrown into the furnace for refusing to worship Nebuchadnezzar's golden image and are delivered unharmed (Daniel 3); Daniel himself is not named in this episode.
- Interpreting Nebuchadnezzar's madness, Daniel interprets the dream of the great tree and the king's seven-year humbling (Daniel 4).
- The writing on the wall, at Belshazzar's feast Daniel reads the mysterious inscription and is made "third ruler" the very night Babylon falls (Daniel 5).
- The lions' den, under Darius, jealous officials trap Daniel with a 30-day decree banning prayer to anyone but the king; Daniel keeps praying toward Jerusalem three times a day "as he did before" (Daniel 6:10), is cast to the lions, and is delivered because "my God has sent his angel, and has shut the lions' mouths" (Daniel 6:22). Darius then decrees reverence for "the God of Daniel" (Daniel 6:26).
- The visions (chs. 7–12), Daniel receives apocalyptic visions: the four beasts and the "Ancient of Days" + "one like a son of man" (Daniel 7); the ram and the goat (Daniel 8); after reading Jeremiah's seventy years, he prays a great confession and receives the prophecy of the "seventy weeks" (Daniel 9); and a final vision of kingdoms, resurrection, and the end (Daniel 10–Daniel 12).
- Death, unrecorded in Scripture; Easton suggests he probably died at Susa, about eighty-five years old.
Role & significance
Daniel is, as Easton puts it, "the historian of the Captivity", his book supplies narrative for the exile period that Kings and Chronicles pass over. Easton divides the book in two: chapters 1–6 are chiefly historical (the court narratives), and chapters 7–12 are chiefly prophetic (the visions). The historical half models faithful, excellent service to a pagan empire without idolatrous compromise; the prophetic half opens a sweeping view of successive world kingdoms and God's ultimate, everlasting kingdom.
His apocalyptic visions are foundational to biblical end-times expectation. The "abomination of desolation" he names (Daniel 9:27; Daniel 11:31; Daniel 12:11) is taken up by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14), and the "one like a son of man" who comes with the clouds and receives an everlasting kingdom (Daniel 7:13-14) underlies Jesus' favored self-designation "Son of Man." The seventy-weeks prophecy (Daniel 9:24-27) and the resurrection promise (Daniel 12:2) are among the most-discussed prophetic texts in Scripture.
Key relationships
| Person | Relationship | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah | Companions / fellow exiles (renamed Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego) | Daniel 1:6-7; Daniel 2:17 |
| Nebuchadnezzar | Babylonian king he served + whose dreams he interpreted | Daniel 2; Daniel 4 |
| Belshazzar | Babylonian co-regent at whose feast he read the writing | Daniel 5 |
| Darius the Mede | King under whom he was cast to the lions | Daniel 6 |
| Cyrus the Persian | King under whom he continued to prosper | Daniel 6:28 |
| Gabriel | Angel who interprets his visions | Daniel 8:16; Daniel 9:21 |
| Ezekiel | Contemporary prophet who names him for righteousness + wisdom | Ezekiel 14:14; Ezekiel 28:3 |
Key places
| Place | Significance | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Jerusalem | His homeland; he prays toward it from exile | Daniel 1:1; Daniel 6:10 |
| Babylon | Place of his exile, training, and rise to office | Daniel 1:1-7; Daniel 2:48 |
| The lions' den | Where his faithfulness is vindicated | Daniel 6:16-23 |
| The Ulai + the river (Susa / Tigris) | Settings of his later visions | Daniel 8:2; Daniel 10:4 |
Key passages
| Passage | What happens |
|---|---|
| Daniel 1:8-16 | Daniel resolves not to defile himself with the king's food; the ten-day test |
| Daniel 2 | Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the statue; Daniel reveals + interprets it |
| Daniel 3 | His three friends in the fiery furnace (delivered unharmed) |
| Daniel 5 | The writing on the wall at Belshazzar's feast |
| Daniel 6:10-23 | The lions' den; prayer toward Jerusalem; "My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions" (BSB, Daniel 6:22) |
| Daniel 7:13-14 | The vision of "one like a son of man" given an everlasting kingdom |
| Daniel 9:24-27 | The confession prayer and the "seventy weeks" prophecy |
| Daniel 12:2 | "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake" (WEB), resurrection |
Contested / interpretive points
Dating and historicity of the book. This is the principal scholarly debate over Daniel. Easton's entry defends the book's genuineness; this reference presents the positions side by side.
| View | Position | Held by |
|---|---|---|
| 6th-c. (traditional) | Daniel substantially wrote the book during the exile; the text claims his authorship (Daniel 7:1, Daniel 7:28; Daniel 8:2; Daniel 9:2; Daniel 12:4), Ezekiel attests him, and Jesus calls him "the prophet" (Matthew 24:15) | Traditional Jewish + Christian view; Easton; conservative scholarship |
| 2nd-c. (Maccabean) | The book reached its final form c. 165 BC during the Maccabean crisis; the detailed "prophecy" of Daniel 11 is read as history written after the fact, and Daniel sits among the Writings (Hagiographa), not the Prophets, in the Hebrew Bible | Mainstream critical scholarship |
Easton's arguments for the early date: the testimony of Jesus (Matthew 24:15) and the apostles, the attestation of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 14:14, Ezekiel 14:20; Ezekiel 28:3), the book's fit with exilic circumstances, and its bilingual Hebrew-and-Aramaic character (Daniel 2:4–Daniel 7 is Aramaic). The critical case rests chiefly on the precision of the Hellenistic-era predictions in chapter 11 and on the book's placement in the Writings.
Identity of "Darius the Mede." The Darius of Daniel 6 + 9 is not securely identified with a known Persian-period ruler, and proposals (a throne-name for Cyrus, a viceroy such as Gubaru, or Cyaxares II) remain debated among historians.
Interpreting the prophecies (Daniel 7–12). The four kingdoms, the "seventy weeks" (Daniel 9:24-27), and the figure of Daniel 11's final king are read differently across the major interpretive schools (preterist, historicist, futurist, idealist), the same divergence this reference treats under end-times., this reference states the plain facts of Daniel's life and lays the dating, historicity, and prophecy-interpretation questions out side by side, committing to none of the contested millennial or schematic readings.