The End of the Scroll. Herold Weiss

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СКАЧАТЬ same is true of the story of “all the presidents of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps, the counselors and the governors” who were envious of the king’s desire to set Daniel over the whole kingdom, and asked Darius the Mede to decree that “whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions” (Dan. 6:7). Unlike Nebuchadnezzar, who takes seriously the charge of those anonymous Chaldeans, Darius realizes that he has fallen into a trap set up by envious courtiers. He knows that once he has issued a decree “according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked” (Dan. 6:8), he should let events run their course. Still, he seeks for a way to avoid the application of the law, but fails. Once Daniel is in the lions’ den, the king spends a restless night and in the morning is anxious to find out what happened to Daniel. When he comes to the den, Daniel tells him that the lions had not hurt him, and when he was out of the den it was determined that “no kind of hurt was found in him, because he had trusted in his God” (Dan. 6:22-23). Again, this was a direct message to the author’s contemporaries who faced martyrdom. Unlike Nebuchadnezzar who pronounced a blessing, Darius the Mede “wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: ‘Peace be multiplied to you. I made a decree, that in all my royal dominion men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring for ever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end” (Dan. 6:25-26). Obviously, apocalyptic writers never pass by an opportunity to stress that foreign kings recognize the absolute power of their God. After all, for them the issue is whether God is all-powerful and just. To have foreign kings recognize the power of the God of the Israelites was one of the two items in the agenda of Ezekiel.

      While the first pair of stories in chapters 3 and 6 inculcate the power of God to protect his chosen ones from death, the second pair in chapters 4 and 5 demonstrate that proud kings who pretend to have more power than any god are brought down by the Almighty God of the Jews. The third pair of stories are found chiastically in chapters 2 and 7, which adopt the very well known ancient pattern of the four kingdoms. In its traditional form the four are: Assyria, Media, Persia and Macedonia. They are found in Hesiod’s Works and Days, 106-201. The Greek poet argued that mankind, which had a glorious past, now finds itself in a descending slope, and represents it with metals of declining value: gold, silver, bronze and iron. While the presentation by the same metals in chapter 2 comes from the West, the schema of four kingdoms, or four historical stages, including Assyrians and Medes, appears to have originated in the East because the Assyrians and the Medes never had a foothold in the West. Most likely, Herodotus, who also uses the schema, learned it during his travels in the East. The author of Daniel introduced Babylon as a replacement for Assyria, and invented Darius the Mede to flesh out the rule of Media. Thus the series of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius the Mede and Cyrus, though not historically correct, restates the schema of the four kingdoms found in chapter 2. To be noticed, also is that chapter 7 reverts back to the reign of Belshazzar, thus two kings represent Babylon. The four kingdoms sequence is then retaken with Darius the Mede in chapter 8 and Cyrus the Persian in chapter 10, where reference is made to the divinely appointed rise of Greece after Persia (Dan. 10:20).

      In both chapter 2 and chapter 7 the four kingdoms appear and disappear together. This is the clue to their function in the book. Since the audience surely had some notions of the past history of the Jews under Babylonian, Median, Persian and Hellenistic rule, the listing of the four kingdoms is not intended to tell them what they do not know, but to let them know that God is in charge of the affairs of nations. The court tales emphasize that not only pagan kings but all “the living” must learn that the God of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah (named as Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego by the Babylonians) “rules the kingdom of men, and gives it to whom he will, and sets over it the lowliest of men” (Dan. 4:17). This most certainly means that those suffering persecution and death at the hands of Antiochus must understand that their historical circumstances are also controlled by the Most High, and their deliverance is certain to come just as swiftly as the punishment of proud kings had come in the past. Of the future of Antiochus IV, Epiphanes, Daniel predicts, “the king shall do according to his will; he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He shall prosper until the indignation is accomplished; for what is determined shall be done” (Dan. 11:36). Thus, Daniel follows the tradition established already by Ezekiel and Zechariah. The course of history has already been determined, the only wise course of action in this world is to persevere with patient endurance until the (also predetermined) time of the end arrives. Then those who have remained faithful to God’s purpose will be delivered from their sufferings.

      The apocalyptic visions

      Chapter 7 serves as a link between the court tales and the visions by its use of the schema of the four kingdoms, but its agenda is to set up the stage for the fourth beast. In the vision, Daniel says, “I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrible, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze; and which devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up and before which three of them fell, the horn which had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and which seemed greater than its fellows” (Dan. 7:19-20). At the telling of the vision, the speech of the rising greater horn, Daniel says, “I looked then because of the sound of the great words which the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time” (Dan. 7:11-12). When the interpreting angel answers Daniel’s desire to know about the fourth beast, he interprets the speech of the greater horn, saying, “He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, two times, and a half time. But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end” (Dan. 7:25-26).

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