Books of the Bible

The Book of Daniel

Old Testament · Major Prophets · Genre: Narrative and prophecy · Author: Traditionally the prophet Daniel · Chapters: 12

Daniel tells of faithful men who served God with courage in the courts of Babylon, and of visions of God's coming kingdom. From the fiery furnace to the lions' den, it shows that the Most High rules over all earthly powers and preserves those who trust in him.

Start reading: Daniel chapter 1

A key verse

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.Daniel 3:17 (KJV)

The setting and background of Daniel

Daniel is grouped with the Major Prophets in the Christian Old Testament, though it is as much a book of narrative as of prophecy. It is set among the exiles in the courts of Babylon and Persia in the sixth century before Christ, and it is traditionally ascribed to Daniel himself, a Jewish captive raised to high office, though the date of its composition is debated among scholars.

The book falls into two halves of different character. The first six chapters are stirring stories of faith under pressure, the fiery furnace, the writing on the wall, the lions' den, in which God preserves his servants and humbles proud kings. The second six chapters are apocalyptic visions of successive kingdoms and of a coming time of trouble and triumph, centered on the vision of one like a son of man given an everlasting kingdom.

Daniel was written to strengthen God's people to remain faithful under hostile powers, assuring them that no empire is the last word and that the God of heaven rules over all history. Its stories have encouraged persecuted believers for millennia. In the sweep of Scripture, its vision of the son of man and the everlasting kingdom is taken up by Jesus, who claims that title for himself, and by the book of Revelation.

The story and structure of Daniel

Daniel and his companions were carried into exile as young men and taken into the royal court of Babylon to be trained for the king's service. From the start they resolve to remain faithful to God, refusing to defile themselves with the king's food, and God gives them wisdom and favor. The book is set among the greatest empires of the ancient world, yet it insists that a higher throne rules them all.

The first half of the book is a series of gripping stories of faith under pressure. Daniel interprets the dreams that trouble the kings, revealing that empires rise and fall but the kingdom of God will outlast them all. His three friends refuse to bow to a golden image and are cast into a blazing furnace, where a fourth figure walks with them and they emerge unharmed.

The kings themselves are humbled before the Most High. Proud Nebuchadnezzar is brought low until he acknowledges that heaven rules, and Belshazzar sees a hand write his doom on the wall in the night his kingdom falls. Later Daniel, an old man of unwavering prayer, is thrown to the lions for praying to his God, and God shuts the lions' mouths and delivers him.

The second half of the book turns to Daniel's own visions of the future, unveiling a succession of kingdoms and a time of great trouble, but always with the assurance that God's kingdom will triumph. Central among them is the vision of one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, to whom is given an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away.

Through both its stories and its visions, Daniel lifts the reader's eyes above every empire to the reign of God. It was written to strengthen God's people to stay faithful under hostile powers, assuring them that no kingdom of this world is the last word, and that the God who rules history will bring in a kingdom that will never be destroyed.

The great themes of Daniel

Key passages in Daniel

Daniel in the sweep of Scripture

Daniel stands among the prophets as a book of faith under empire and of hope beyond history. Its stories have strengthened persecuted believers for millennia, and its visions of successive kingdoms and of the son of man shaped the expectation of God's coming reign. Its imagery and its phrase son of man run directly into the Gospels and the book of Revelation, feeding the New Testament's vision of the kingdom of God breaking into the world.

Where Christ is in Daniel

Daniel's vision of one like a son of man, given an everlasting kingdom, is a title Jesus takes for himself again and again in the Gospels, pointing to his eternal reign over all the earth. The fourth figure in the furnace and the God who shuts the lions' mouths reveal a Lord who is present with and delivers his faithful ones, the same Lord who conquered death and brought in the kingdom that will never be destroyed.

How to read Daniel well

Read Daniel for courage in a culture that pressures you to compromise, letting the resolve of Daniel and his friends strengthen your own. Let its stories of deliverance assure you that God is able to preserve those who trust him, whether he rescues from the fire or walks with his people through it. Lift your eyes, as its visions do, above every earthly power to the son of man and the kingdom of God, and take heart that no empire is the last word.

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