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Was Daniel a prophet? Not by a literal definition in the context of the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, a prophet is defined as someone whom God has spoken to. So in that context, Jonah, whom God spoke to, would be considered a prophet. So would Moses. What about someone like Daniel who had visions in his dreams? Well, God didn’t speak to him as a person would speak to you, so in a sense, receiving visions doesn’t necessarily count toward being a prophet in the Old Testament.
Daniel is said to be regarded as a prophet in Christianity, and Muslim commentators regard him as a prophet, although, ironically, Daniel is barely mentioned in the New Testament, and he’s not mentioned at all in the Quran.
There are places that claim to have his tomb, but as far as I know, the dead are only allotted one body each.
How do we come to know Daniel, according to the Bible? Well, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered Jerusalem and Judah. One may wonder why the Lord would let His Chosen People be conquered. The answer may be found in the Books of Kings, in which it seems that king after king ‘did evil in the sight of the Lord,’ and that evilness was usually followed by punishment. One might surmise that in Daniel’s time, God had had enough and gave Jerusalem and Judah over to the Babylonians.
King Nebuchadnezzar was aware of the benefits of learning and bestowing this learning on others. The king in Daniel 1:3-4 “commanded [that there be brought to him some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.” Seems that the king wasn’t interested in things like affirmative action and diversity, since the people he desired were greatly narrowed down to a particular elite and patrician group! Anyway, Daniel shined amidst this group.
Later on in the Book of Daniel, after Daniel interprets some dreams the king had in Chapter 2, Daniel has visions in Chapter 7 of coming turbulences in the world, symbolized by “the four winds of Heaven,” followed by “four beasts,” and then “one like the son of man” who explains what these symbolize. The visions continue in Chapter 8 where Daniel sees a ram. This vision is explained by Gabriel. And there is Chapter 9, in which after a period of weeks, the “anointed one” will be cut off. Christian commentators say that this is the prediction of Jesus’ crucifixion.
All in all, the remaining chapters continue the idea of a transformation of the world, culminating in Chapter 12 which, among other things, as described in Verse 2, “And many of those who sleep in ethe dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” The idea of the dead awakening is also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:50-52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17.
The last Chapter of Daniel is a mystery. In Daniel 12:8, Daniel asks “my Lord, what shall be the outcome of these things” that are described heretofore. The answer he gets, in Verse 9, is “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.”
Huh? Well, I guess this advice is consistent, to a certain extent, to Lord Jesus saying in Matthew 6:25-34 to not be anxious about the future but to deal with the present; as Verse 34 says, “Sufficient for the [present] is its own trouble.”
What to get out of Daniel’s visions and the interpretations in the context of the rest of the Bible? We don’t know when the desolations and the raising of the living and dead as described will happen, at this point. Thousands of years have past since the Book of Daniel was written, so it seems it could happen at any time. And when it does, as is described in Chapter 12, the living and dead will all be accountable so there will be those who will have everlasting life and those to everlasting contempt. In terms of good and evil, we know which group each person will end up in.
Daniel is said to be regarded as a prophet in Christianity, and Muslim commentators regard him as a prophet, although, ironically, Daniel is barely mentioned in the New Testament, and he’s not mentioned at all in the Quran.
There are places that claim to have his tomb, but as far as I know, the dead are only allotted one body each.
How do we come to know Daniel, according to the Bible? Well, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon conquered Jerusalem and Judah. One may wonder why the Lord would let His Chosen People be conquered. The answer may be found in the Books of Kings, in which it seems that king after king ‘did evil in the sight of the Lord,’ and that evilness was usually followed by punishment. One might surmise that in Daniel’s time, God had had enough and gave Jerusalem and Judah over to the Babylonians.
King Nebuchadnezzar was aware of the benefits of learning and bestowing this learning on others. The king in Daniel 1:3-4 “commanded [that there be brought to him some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.” Seems that the king wasn’t interested in things like affirmative action and diversity, since the people he desired were greatly narrowed down to a particular elite and patrician group! Anyway, Daniel shined amidst this group.
Later on in the Book of Daniel, after Daniel interprets some dreams the king had in Chapter 2, Daniel has visions in Chapter 7 of coming turbulences in the world, symbolized by “the four winds of Heaven,” followed by “four beasts,” and then “one like the son of man” who explains what these symbolize. The visions continue in Chapter 8 where Daniel sees a ram. This vision is explained by Gabriel. And there is Chapter 9, in which after a period of weeks, the “anointed one” will be cut off. Christian commentators say that this is the prediction of Jesus’ crucifixion.
All in all, the remaining chapters continue the idea of a transformation of the world, culminating in Chapter 12 which, among other things, as described in Verse 2, “And many of those who sleep in ethe dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” The idea of the dead awakening is also mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:50-52 and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17.
The last Chapter of Daniel is a mystery. In Daniel 12:8, Daniel asks “my Lord, what shall be the outcome of these things” that are described heretofore. The answer he gets, in Verse 9, is “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end.”
Huh? Well, I guess this advice is consistent, to a certain extent, to Lord Jesus saying in Matthew 6:25-34 to not be anxious about the future but to deal with the present; as Verse 34 says, “Sufficient for the [present] is its own trouble.”
What to get out of Daniel’s visions and the interpretations in the context of the rest of the Bible? We don’t know when the desolations and the raising of the living and dead as described will happen, at this point. Thousands of years have past since the Book of Daniel was written, so it seems it could happen at any time. And when it does, as is described in Chapter 12, the living and dead will all be accountable so there will be those who will have everlasting life and those to everlasting contempt. In terms of good and evil, we know which group each person will end up in.