The Book of Daniel
A Study in the Biblical Philosophy of History
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In the biblical view, man is given free will and the faculty of reason and is deemed capable of creating an ideal society characterized by justice and righteousness, freedom from oppression and concern for the general well-being. At the same time, God, who is master of the universe and oversees man’s progress, may choose to intervene in the course of history when societies become morally dysfunctional, sometimes destroying them completely as in the case of the Deluge in the time of Noah or Sodom and Gomorrah in the time of Abraham, or through societal disintegration as in the case of the Tower of Babel saga. Alternatively, societies are sometimes allowed to proceed down the slope of moral decay until they become too weak to sustain themselves against assault by a more vigorous antagonist, a theme that is emphasized repeatedly throughout much of the Book of Daniel, which repeatedly emphasizes the idea that God Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that He setteth up over it whomsoever He will (5:21). Put another way, the biblical prophetic concept considers human history to operate on two levels, a divine macro-level and a human micro-level. Aside from making explicit that which was otherwise implicit regarding divine macro-management of history, Daniel also pursues the notion that divine decisions regarding the fate of nations and their rulers are by no means arbitrary, but are based on a consensus reached by a heavenly tribunal convened for the purpose. In the heavenly scheme, guardian angels are appointed to serve as advocates for each nation, a notion first clearly articulated in Daniel, and it is they that argue the case for their nations and rulers before the heavenly tribunal. Finally, Daniel foretells the end of history as we know it with the eventual emergence of an eternal kingdom of God on earth, widely understood as the onset of the messianic era, a notion that has taken on a variety of interpretations that will not be explored in this study. Suffice it to note that the belief in the eventual emergence of an eternal kingdom of God on earth has succored pious men and women through the vicissitudes of Jewish history through the millennia, notwithstanding that the mysterious predictions of Daniel as to when that would take place continue to remain undecipherable, more than likely by deliberate design.
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About the Book
Although there are numerous diverse aspects to Daniel, eschatological, theological, historical, and philological that have long engaged scholars of the work, this study of the text reads it as having a single overarching theme, an exposition of the implicit biblical philosophy of history, which posits the divine role in history as understood from a prophetic perspective. The prophetic idea of history is very different from the secular idea of history as a study of the past that helps explain the present. Prophetic history begins by postulating the end point towards which mankind should strive and records mankind’s successes and failures in that regard. It also takes note of the patterns of past and present behavior that will likely cause further successes or failures in the future. In this respect the prophetic approach to history is truly reflected in the motto engraved on a keystone at the entrance to the National Archives in Washington, “Past is Prologue.”
About the Author
Dr. Martin Sicker is a writer and lecturer on the Middle East and Jewish history and religion. His is the author of 43 previous books including Reading Genesis Politically; The Trials of Abraham; The Ordeals of Isaac and Jacob; Aspects of Jewish Metarational Thought; The Exodus and the Reluctant Prophet; The Convocation at Sinai; The Theopolitical Discourses of Moses; and Pondering the Imponderable.