An interesting historical fact is that the Jewish and Christian canons differ concerning the Book of Daniel. The Church included this book among the prophetic books, while the Synagogue does not regard it as such, assigning it to the third part of the Jewish canon, the Writings. Indeed, it belongs not so much to the genre of prophecy as to...
An interesting historical fact is that the Jewish and Christian canons differ concerning the Book of Daniel. The Church included this book among the prophetic books, while the Synagogue does not regard it as such, assigning it to the third part of the Jewish canon, the Writings. Indeed, it belongs not so much to the genre of prophecy as to that of apocalyptic texts. According to the generally accepted opinion of biblical scholars, it was written around the middle of the second century BC, during the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabean wars that followed in response. Accordingly, virtually all the events described in Daniel's visions belong not to the future but to the past, presenting not a prospect but a retrospect. The sole exception is the messianic prophecy in which the Messiah appears as the Son of Man, brought before the Ancient of Days seated on the throne; when Jesus calls Himself the Son of Man, He has precisely this image from the Book of Daniel in mind.
What, then, does this mean? The image of the Ancient of Days seated on the throne is entirely traditional, with roots going back to the pre-exilic period and to those visions of the Throne of glory of which Isaiah of Jerusalem's Temple vision was a remarkable example. Even then, visionaries perceived the One seated on the throne in the context of the revelation of the Kingdom given to the later prophets of the pre-exilic period. It was revealed to them not as a religious and political reality, as the early prophets had seen the Kingdom, but as a spiritual reality descending into the world from the throne of God. The Messiah was to become the centre of this Kingdom, its righteous Ruler and God's perfect Servant.
It is easy to see that the messianic vision of the Book of Daniel continues this tradition. Unlike the angels surrounding the Throne, the Messiah belongs to the human race, which is why He is called the Son of Man. He approaches, or rather is led by the angels, the spirits who serve at the Throne, to God seated on the throne and receives from Him authority over the world, bringing into it the Kingdom of which the pre-exilic prophets had already spoken. Then the former history, the history of earthly kingdoms that exist by the laws and rely on the power of the untransformed world, comes to an end, and the history of a new Kingdom begins, living by the breath and power of God and governed by the Messiah whom He sent into the world.
7 We come now to the prophetical part of Daniel, in which are many things hard to be understood. In this chapter we have, The vision of the four beasts, Dan 7:1-8.
The vision of God's throne of government and judgment, Dan 7:9-14.
The interpretation of those visions, Dan 7:15-28.
7:9 The thrones - The kingdoms of this world were destroyed by God the king, and judge of all, called the Ancient of days, because of his eternal deity.