When was the book of Daniel written?
The book of Daniel dates its own scenes and visions by the reigns of Babylonian and Persian kings, from the fall of Jerusalem to the days of Cyrus. Critics have long argued for a much later hand, roughly the second century BC, and the commentators in this collection answer that claim in detail.
The dates the book gives for itself
Daniel's story starts with a specific deportation, and the writers place it precisely.
Arend RemmersDaniel belonged to those Jews who had been led away captive to Babylon at the first siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in the year 605 BC (compare Dan. 1:1-2 with 2 Kings 24:1 and 2 Chron. 36:6-7)… He was probably not more than 15 to 20 years old when he was taken prisoner.
The last dated moment in the book fixes the other end of that life, and with it the point at which the closing visions were put down.
Arend RemmersThe last indication of a date is the 3rd year of king Cyrus of Persia in Dan. 10:1, which was the year 536/35 BC. Daniel must have been around 85 to 90 years of age when he wrote down his last visions.
Why a much later date is proposed
The late-date theory is not new, and the commentators trace both its origin and its logic.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinIt has been denied that Daniel wrote the book during the Babylonian captivity… These critics follow the wicked assailant of Christianity of the third century, Porphyry, who argued that the book of Daniel is a forgery, that it was written during the time of the Maccabees, after Antiochus Epiphanes, so clearly foretold in this book, had appeared. The whole reasoning method of destructive Bible criticism can be reduced to this: prophecy is impossible, there is no such thing as foretelling events to come. Therefore a book which contains predictions must have been written after the events which are predicted.
The book does not stop where the theory needs it to
If accurate detail proves a writer lived after the events, the argument must be applied to the whole book, not half of it.
J. N. DarbyA statement is made in connection with this, and repeated by all the rationalists, that the alleged prophet stops at Antiochus Epiphanes. This is simply false. He continues… a very detailed account of the state of Palestine in connection with the kings of the north and south, on to the end, where Daniel was to stand in his lot at the end of days. You have only to read Daniel 11:30 to the end, and Daniel 12, to be convinced of it. If their theory is true, Daniel must write the book when he stands in his lot.
Witnesses from outside the book
Several independent lines of evidence are gathered to show the book was known and received long before the Maccabean period.
J. N. DarbyThat Daniel lived in the time of the captivity we have proof from Ezekiel, who names him by name, and who wrote at that period. The book of Daniel, moreover, had its place in the Septuagint translation… Now this translation was probably as early as the beginning of Antiochus's reign, that is, BC 175, Mattathias's revolt being in BC 167. The book of Maccabees, probably dating from its contents about BC 130, refers to Daniel.
The evidence of the two languages
The book is not written in one tongue, and that fact is used as an argument about when and where it came from.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe book of Daniel is written in two languages, in Hebrew and in Aramaic, the language of Chaldea… But chapters 2:4 – 7:28 are written in the Aramaic language. This gives an additional argument for the authenticity of the book. The author was familiar with both languages, an attainment exactly suited to a Hebrew living in exile, but not at all to an author in the Maccabean age, when Hebrew had long since ceased to be a living language and had been replaced by the Aramaic everyday dialect.
What is at stake in the answer
For these writers the question is not merely historical, because Jesus Himself referred to Daniel by name as a prophet.
J. N. DarbyWhen the Lord appeals to Daniel as speaking of the abomination of desolation, and presses on them to give intelligent attention, all this was a mistake, or a wilful deception. Of all prophets, Daniel, they tell us, was the most false and unreal.
Summary
- Sixth century. Daniel was carried to Babylon in 605 BC as a teenager, and the book's last dated vision falls in the third year of Cyrus, 536/35 BC — so it was written during the exile, by a man near ninety.
- The objection. The late date, placed in the Maccabean period, goes back to Porphyry and rests on one assumption: that no one can foretell the future, so a book full of fulfilled predictions must be written afterwards.
- The reply from the text. Daniel does not stop at Antiochus; he runs on to the end of days, which the theory cannot explain without making the writer live then too.
- The reply from history. Ezekiel names Daniel as a contemporary, the Septuagint already contained the book, Maccabees refers to it, and Josephus counts Daniel among the greatest prophets.
- The reply from language. Hebrew and Aramaic side by side fit a Jew in exile, not a writer of the Maccabean age when Hebrew was no longer spoken.