_THE THEOLOGY OF THE BOOK OF DANIEL_
As regards the religious views of the Book of Daniel some of them at
any rate are in full accordance with the belief in the late origin of
the Book to which we are led by so many indications.[143]
I. Thus in Dan. xii. 2 (for we may here so far anticipate the
examination of the second section of the Book) we meet, for the first
time in Scripture, with a distinct recognition of the resurrection
of the individual dead.[144] This, as all know, is a doctrine of
which we only find the faintest indication in the earlier books of
the Canon. Although the doctrine is still but dimly formulated, it is
clearer in this respect than Isa. xxv. 8, xxvi. 19.
II. Still more remarkable is the special prominence of angels. It is
not God who goes forth to war (Judg. v. 13, 23), or takes personal
part in the deliverance or punishment of nations (Isa. v. 26, vii.
18). Throned in isolated and unapproachable transcendence, He uses
the agency of intermediate beings (Dan. iv. 14).[145]
In full accordance with late developments of Jewish opinion angels
are mentioned by special names, and appear as Princes and Protectors
of special lands.[146] In no other book in the Old Testament have
we any names given to angels, or any distinction between their
dignities, or any trace of their being in mutual rivalry as Princes
or Patrons of different nationalities. These remarkable features of
angelology only occur in the later epoch, and in the apocalyptic
literature to which this Book belongs. Thus they are found in the
LXX. translations of Deut. xxxii. 8 and Isa. xxx. 4, and in such
post-Maccabean books as those of Enoch and Esdras.[147]
III. Again, we have the fixed custom of three daily formal prayers,
uttered towards the Kibleh of Jerusalem. This may, possibly, have
begun during the Exile. It became a normal rule for later ages.[148]
The Book, however, like that of Jonah, is, as a whole, remarkably
free from any extravagant estimate of Levitical minutiæ.
IV. Once more, for the first time in Jewish story, we find extreme
importance attached to the Levitical distinction of clean and unclean
meats, which also comes into prominence in the age of the Maccabees,
as it afterwards constituted a most prominent element in the ideal
of Talmudic religionism.[149] Daniel and the Three Children are
vegetarians, like the Pharisees after the destruction of the Second
Temple, mentioned in _Baba Bathra_, f. 60, 2.
V. We have already noticed the avoidance of the sacred name "Jehovah"
even in passages addressed to Jews (Dan. ii. 18), though we find
"Jehovah" in 2 Chron. xxxvi. 7. Jehovah only occurs in reference to
Jer. xxv. 8-11, and in the prayer of the ninth chapter, where we also
find _Adonai_ and _Elohîm_.
Periphrases for God, like "the Ancient of Days," become normal in
Talmudic literature.
VI. Again, the doctrine of the Messiah, like these other doctrines,
is, as Professor Driver says, "taught with greater distinctness and in
a more developed form than elsewhere in the Old Testament, and with
features approximating to, though not identical with, those met with
in the earlier parts of the Book of Enoch (B.C. 100). In one or two
instances these developments may have been partially moulded by foreign
influences.[150] They undoubtedly mark a later phase of revelation
than that which is set before us in other books of the Old Testament.
And the conclusion indicated by these _special_ features in the Book
is confirmed by the _general_ atmosphere which we breathe throughout
it. The atmosphere and tone are not those of any other writings
belonging to the Jews of the Exile; it is rather that of the Maccabean
_Chasidîm_." How far the Messianic _Bar Enosh_ (vii. 13) is meant to be
_a person_ will be considered in the comment on that passage.
We shall see in later pages that the supreme value and importance
of the Book of Daniel, rightly understood, consists in this--that
"it is the first attempt at a Philosophy, or rather at a Theology of
History."[151] Its main object was to teach the crushed and afflicted
to place unshaken confidence in God.
FOOTNOTES:
[143] The description of God as "the Ancient of Days" with garments
white as snow, and of His throne of flames on burning wheels, is
found again in the Book of Enoch, written about B.C. 141 (Enoch xiv.).
[144] See Dan. xii. 2. Comp. Jos., _B. J._, II. viii. 14; Enoch xxii.
13, lx. 1-5, etc.
[145] Comp. Smend, _Alttest. Relig. Gesch._, p. 530. For references
to angels in Old Testament see Job i. 6, xxxviii. 7; Jer. xxiii. 18;
Psalm lxxxix. 7; Josh. v. 13-15; Zech. i. 12, iii. 1. See further
Behrmann, _Dan._, p. xxiii.
[146] Dan. iv. 14, ix. 21, x. 13, 20.
[147] See Enoch lxxi. 17, lxviii. 10, and the six archangels Uriel,
Raphael, Reguel, Michael, Saragael, and Gabriel in Enoch xx.-xxxvi.
See _Rosh Hashanah_, f. 56, 1; _Bereshîth Rabba_, c. 48; Hamburger,
i. 305-312.
[148] _Berachôth_, f. 31; Dan. vi. 11. Comp. Psalm lv. 18; 1 Kings
viii. 38-48.
[149] 1 Macc. i. 62; Dan. i. 8; 2 Macc. v. 27, vi. 18-vii. 42.
[150] Introd., p. 477. Comp. 2 Esdras xiii. 41-45, and _passim_;
Enoch xl., xlv., xlvi., xlix., and _passim_; Hamburger,
_Real-Encycl._, ii. 267 ff. With "the time of the end" and the
numerical calculations comp. 2 Esdras vi. 6, 7.
[151] Roszmann, _Die Makkabäische Erhebung_, p. 45. See Wellhausen,
_Die Pharis. u. d. Sadd._, 77 ff.