“He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.”Read the surrounding chapter
Time, place, and setting
- Time
- The narrated events begin in Jehoiakim’s third year and name Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius the Mede and Cyrus. Vision headings return to earlier reigns rather than continuing one simple chronological sequence. Daniel 1:1; 5:30 to 6:1; 7:1; 8:1; 9:1; 10:1. 1
- Place
- Judah’s captives and temple vessels are brought to Babylon in the land of Shinar. The narratives take place in royal settings; later visions name Shushan beside the Ulai and the great river Hiddekel. Jerusalem and its sanctuary remain central to prayer and hope. Daniel 1:1 to 7; 8:1 to 2; 9:1 to 19; 10:4. 1
- Setting
- Court narratives describe Jewish faithfulness, royal power, dreams and deliverance. Visions portray oppressive kingdoms, heavenly judgment, sanctuary crisis and resurrection hope. The interpretations and the seer’s responses accompany the images throughout the book. Daniel 1 to 12. 1
Like a son of man, or like a human being. The lexicon identifies enash as man or mankind and cites this phrase in Daniel 7:13. 2
The humanlike figure comes to the Ancient of Days and receives dominion. The accompanying interpretation speaks of the holy people receiving the kingdom. Identity and later Christian reception require those surrounding scenes as well as the words themselves. Daniel 7:9 to 27. 1
Displaced young people serve in a foreign court
Daniel begins with loss: Judah’s king and sacred vessels pass into Babylonian hands, and selected young people enter royal training. Renaming and the king’s table place identity under imperial pressure. 8 Daniel responds through a respectful request concerning food, while the official fears the consequences of an unfavourable result. God gives the four knowledge and skill; Daniel receives understanding in dreams and visions. The narrative combines displacement, negotiation, learning and divine provision before it reaches the better known scenes of deliverance. Daniel 1. 1
The named court setting and the book’s composition are distinct questions. Proposals contrast earlier Daniel traditions with an Antiochene final composition. 13 The identification of Darius also remains historically disputed. 20 These questions deserve honest attention alongside the narrated sequence. The book itself gives reign headings and changes of voice, while the later visions return to Belshazzar’s reign after the court stories have reached Darius and Cyrus. Daniel 1:1; 5:30 to 6:28; 7:1; 8:1; 9:1; 10:1. 1
Revelation belongs to God rather than the court’s expertise
Nebuchadnezzar’s demand places all Babylon’s wise men under threat. Daniel asks for time and joins his companions in seeking mercy from the God of heaven. His interpretation credits divine revelation rather than exceptional personal wisdom. 5 The failed experts and the threatened king also invite an ironic reading. 7 Daniel’s thanksgiving celebrates the God who changes times, gives wisdom and knows what is hidden. His first response after the revelation is to ask that the other wise men be spared. Daniel 2:1 to 30. 1
The statue’s successive materials portray kingdoms, and a stone cut without hands becomes a mountain filling the earth. Proposed sources for the metal scheme remain uncertain. 15 The stated interpretation identifies Nebuchadnezzar with the head of gold and announces God’s enduring kingdom. Specific parallels also connect Daniel’s court wisdom with Joseph’s. 18 Genesis 41 provides a companion narrative of an imprisoned Hebrew brought before a ruler, crediting God for interpretation and receiving responsibility within a foreign land. Genesis 41; Daniel 2:31 to 49. 1
Faithfulness faces coercion and receives remarkable deliverance
The golden image turns royal command into a demand for worship. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego affirm God’s ability to deliver while declaring that their allegiance will remain even if he does not. Bound men become unbound within the furnace. 4 The king sees a fourth figure and later speaks of God sending his angel. Deliverance exposes the limit of royal coercion, but the companions’ prior commitment is equally central: the outcome has not yet been seen when they answer the king. Daniel 3:1 to 30. 1
The lions’ den gives a related conflict a different setting. Daniel’s reliable service leaves his rivals searching for an accusation concerning his God. A royal decree restricts petition, yet he continues his established prayer toward Jerusalem. Animal scenes also contribute to the book’s political imagery. 9 God closes the lions’ mouths, and the king acknowledges divine rule. The harsh punishment of the accusers’ families belongs to this king’s action in the story, alongside the narrative’s testimony to Daniel’s innocence and rescue. Daniel 6. 1
Two royal stories distinguish warning received and warning ignored
Nebuchadnezzar’s flourishing tree is cut down, leaving a stump. Daniel interprets the dream and urges righteousness and mercy toward the poor. The king’s proud claim over Babylon precedes his humiliation, while restored understanding leads to praise. Belshazzar’s feast then deliberately recalls this history. The paired chapters contrast response to a known divine warning. 14 Belshazzar has not humbled his heart despite knowing what happened before, and the writing announces the numbering, weighing and division of his kingdom. Daniel 4 to 5. 1
The sacred vessels connect the opening loss with the feast’s profanation. Daniel’s refusal of offered rewards keeps the judgment from becoming a purchased court service. The words on the wall are interpreted within the narrative itself. That stated explanation makes the king’s conduct and God’s authority the centre of the scene. The kingdom changes hands that night, preparing the following account of Daniel’s service under a new ruler. Royal success, fear, humiliation and judgment therefore belong to one sustained account of accountable human power. Daniel 1:2; 5:1 to 31. 1
Visions place violent power before heavenly judgment
Four beasts rise from the sea, then the scene turns to the Ancient of Days and a figure in human form. The figure and the holy people are linked by the interpretation. 3 Oppression is real before judgment removes the persecuting dominion and grants an enduring kingdom. In chapter 8 the ram and goat receive explicit identifications involving Media, Persia and Greece. The attack upon the sanctuary troubles Daniel profoundly. Greek translation readings emphasise the seer’s vulnerability in these encounters. 16 Daniel 7 to 8; 10:1 to 19. 1
The final revelation develops conflict among rulers, broken agreements, desecration and suffering teachers. Interpretations differ over the terminal ruler and events. 17 The chapter’s named Persia and Greece, political directions and sanctuary concern give interpretation its starting points. Daniel is repeatedly strengthened for what he hears, yet the revelations retain difficult questions about time. The promise of awakening in chapter 12 answers a horizon in which even faithful teachers can fall by sword, flame, captivity and spoil. Daniel 10 to 12. 1
Confession and hope belong inside the apocalyptic section
Daniel reads Jeremiah and turns toward prayer for Jerusalem. Confession and angelic revelation are joined within the chapter. 6 The named Law of Moses gives the confession a covenant setting. 10 Its language also recalls Israel’s earlier penitential poetry. 11 Daniel appeals to God’s mercy rather than the people’s merits, and Gabriel responds with the seventy weeks concerning the people and holy city. Distinct chronological approaches debate their precision and starting point. 19 Daniel 9; Jeremiah 25:1 to 14; 29:1 to 14; Psalm 106. 1
Ancient readers also reapplied the hope beyond one immediate crisis. 12 Christian connections arise explicitly in Jesus’ use of Daniel’s desolation language and the clouds of the Son of man, and in John’s account of resurrection and judgment. Pentecostal readers can join this hope with the church’s prayer for bold witness, healing and signs in Acts. Hebrews remembers both rescue from fire and lions and faithful people who suffered death. Such companions place trust, spiritual empowerment and endurance together. Mark 13; 14:53 to 65; John 5:19 to 29; Acts 4:23 to 31; Hebrews 11:32 to 40. 1
Sources
Numbered references support the material above. Scripture quotations use the KJV.
- The Holy Bible, King James VersionKJV translators · 1611
Daniel 1 to 12; 2 Kings 24 to 25; Jeremiah 25:1 to 14 and 29:1 to 14; Genesis 41; Deuteronomy 30:1 to 10; Ezra 1; Psalm 106; Mark 13 and 14:53 to 65; Matthew 21:33 to 46 and 24; John 5:19 to 29; Hebrews 11:32 to 40; Revelation 1:9 to 20,13 and 20; Acts 2:22 to 36 and 4:23 to 31; 1 Corinthians 12; James 5:13 to 18; Aramaic Daniel 7:1 to 28
View the source - A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old TestamentFrancis Brown, S. R. Driver and Charles A. Briggs · 1906
Historical Aramaic enash entry, including Daniel 7:13
View the source - The Book of Daniel With Introduction and Notes, Cambridge Bible for Schools and CollegesS. R. Driver · 1900
Daniel 7:7 to 9 and 7:13 with the additional note
View the source - Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: DanielC. F. Keil
Daniel 3:22 to 28 commentary
View the source - The Court Stories of Joseph and Daniel in Canonical Context: A Theological Paradigm for God’s Work Among the NationsWendy L. Widder · 2014
Old Testament Essays 27.3, pages 1118 to 1122
View the source - Daniel 9 as Part of an Apocalyptic Book?Marius Nel · 2013
Verbum et Ecclesia 34.1, pages 2 to 3 and 7 to 8
View the source - Daniel 2 as SatireMarius Nel · 2012
HTS Theological Studies 68.1, pages 3 to 4
View the source - Rereading Daniel 1 Through the Lens of TraumaInchol Yang · 2025
HTS Theological Studies 81.1, pages 2 to 3 and 5 to 6
View the source - Yahweh, the Animal Tamer: Jungles, Wild Animals and Yahweh’s Sovereignty in the Apocalyptic Space of Daniel 7:1 to 28Matthew Michael · 2020
Political Wild Space and Yahweh’s Sovereignty sections
View the source - Moses in the Book of DanielHans van Deventer · 2017
Scriptura 116, literary penitential comparison and historical context sections
View the source - Suffering, Psalms and Allusion in Daniel 9H. J. M. van Deventer · 2012
Old Testament Essays 25.1, pages 219 to 221
View the source - How Early Judaism Read Daniel 9:24 to 27Dean R. Ulrich · 2014
Old Testament Essays 27.3, sections 1 e to 1 f and 2
View the source - Early Traces of the Book of DanielRoger Beckwith · 2002
Tyndale Bulletin 53.1, pages 75 and 78 to 79
View the source - The Literary Structure of the Book of Daniel and Its ImplicationsDavid W. Gooding · 1981
Tyndale Bulletin 32, pages 54 to 56
View the source - The Origin of Daniel’s Four Empires Scheme ReexaminedErnest C. Lucas · 1989
Tyndale Bulletin 40.2, pages 195 to 197
View the source - Son of Man, Pitiable Man, Rejected Man: Equivalent Expressions in the Old Greek of DanielEugene E. Lemcio · 2005
Tyndale Bulletin 56.1, pages 48 to 50
View the source - Desolation of the Temple and Messianic Enthronement in Daniel 11:36 to 12:3Jason Thomas Parry · 2011
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 54.3, pages 485 to 486 and 491 to 492
View the source - Was Joseph a Type of Daniel? Typological Correspondence in Genesis 37 to 50 and Daniel 1 to 6Joshua M. Philpot · 2018
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 61.4, pages 685 to 686
View the source - Approximate Fulfillment as the Key to Reconsidering the Decree of Cyrus as the Beginning Point of Daniel’s 70 WeeksDavid Larson · 2022
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 65.3, pages 500 to 501
View the source - Notes on Some Problems in the Book of DanielD. J. Wiseman, T. C. Mitchell, R. Joyce, W. J. Martin and K. A. Kitchen · 1965
Wiseman contribution, Some Historical Problems in the Book of Daniel, pages 15 to 17
View the source