Daniel: The Path of the Gentiles

Daniel is often approached as though its principal purpose were to provide a chart of future events. The prophetic portions of the book certainly matter, and Daniel provides indispensable vocabulary for later biblical eschatology. Yet beginning with chronology alone risks missing the question that gives the book its theological urgency.

Daniel addresses the crisis created when the people of God find themselves living under the authority of Gentile kingdoms that appear to possess the power to determine history. Jerusalem has been subjected to foreign rule. The Temple has been violated. Judean young men have been carried into Babylon. Pagan kings command armies, control institutions, rename conquered peoples, and claim authority over the known world.

Under such circumstances, the deeper questions are: Has the God of Israel lost control? Does covenant judgment mean that His promises have failed? Can His people remain faithful when they no longer control the culture surrounding them? Who determines the rise and fall of kingdoms? And will the kingdoms of men ultimately give way to the kingdom of God?

Daniel answers those questions through court narratives, dreams, symbolic visions, angelic interpretation, prayer, and prophetic revelation. The book repeatedly pulls back the visible surface of history and allows the reader to see that earthly events are occurring within a larger heavenly government.