Daniel Background

Daniel Background

Authorship
The book of Daniel is written in first person by Daniel which many verses in the book indicate (8:15, 9:2, 10:2, 12:4, 5).   The name Daniel means “God is my judge”. He lived around the seventh to sixth centuries B.C and is also to be distinguished from the Daniels mentioned in First Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah.   There is even proof in the New Testament that the authorship belongs to Daniel when Jesus referred to him as the author in Matt. 24:15.   Daniel spent the majority of his life in Babylon after being kidnapped somewhere around the age of 15 from his family in Judah.   He was kidnapped in order to be brainwashed into the Babylonian culture so he could help with the imprisoned Jews. I think that we can say that Daniel made the most of his exile by exalting God with his character and his service. Not long after his arrival in Babylon he took on the role of statesmen by official royal appointment.   He was also a confidant of kings and a prophet in two world empires (Babylonian, Medo-Persian). (MacArthur)
Some critical scholars of the last two centuries have rejected that an author from the sixth-century could have written accounts of events centuries into the future.   These scholars propose that an unknown writer from the Maccabean era composed large parts of the book.   This kind of critical thinking would suggest the scholars do not believe that the Bible contains true predictive prophecy. (Holman) This liberal thought process behind the authorship of the book of Daniel most likely stemmed from Porphyry, a man who declared that the book was a forgery written in the second century. (McGee)   Going back to the book of Matthew when Christ appointed authorship to Daniel, I believe that God’s word is always proven accurate.   I would also suggest that any Bible student that believes that God gave prophets visions of future times and events should have no reason to doubt that Daniel is the author of the book.
Date
Obviously your opinion of who the...