The MAJOR & MINOR Prophets - The 16 Writing Prophets Of The Hebrew Canon

of the Maccabees, and the book of Daniel was definitely included in that canon with its pre recorded history. $V %D[WHU KDV SRLQWHG RXW ´>7@KH %RRN RI 'DQLHO ZDV LQ WKH 2OG 7HVWDPHQW from the very time that the canon was completed ² long before the time of Antiochus Epiphanes! 7KH ERRN WKHUHIRUH LV XQTXHVWLRQDEO\ JHQXLQH µ $QG KH DGGV ´- osephus (A.D. 90) clearly has Daniel there. So has Melito, bishop of Sardis (A. D. 180), in his carefully ascertained list of the ERRNV LQ WKH -HZLVK FDQRQ µ 5 2. Extraordinary miracles. *RG·V SXUSRVH in putting such miraculous happenings in the opening chapters has a dynamic explanation 7KH FLUFXPVWDQFHV IRU *RG·V SHRSOH ZHUH YHU\ bleak: their temple was gone, they had no king, Jerusalem was devastated and burned, and Israel had become a nation of slaves. All hope seemed gone, and to many it appeared that the God of Israel was no match for the gods of the Babylonians. The exultant, jubilant attitude of the Babylonians weighed heavily on the Jews, for it did not seem that any restoration was possible. The promise given by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 29:10, the captivity would last seventy years) was momentarily forgotten. But, He who neither slumbers nor sleeps was still caring for His own! The people had rejected *RG·V Word through the prophets in Jerusalem, so now God takes a new approach, raising up a supernatural witness to Himself in the Babylonian courts, the heart of the Gentile world government. Daniel, his three Hebrew friends and Ezekiel, became miraculous evidences that God could be as close to His people in exile as He had been in Egypt. He brought the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, and He would bring the Restoration of the Jews from Babylon! 6 3. The Book is written in two languages (Greek and Aramaic). Some critics argue that the book uses a late Aramaic language in chapters 2 through 7, and that the Persian and Greek words included indicate a post-exilic date. Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa respond: Recent discoveries show WKDW 'DQLHO·V $UDPDLF LV DFWXDOO\ D IRUP RI WKH HDUO\ ,PSHULDO Aramaic. 'DQLHO· s use of some Persian words is no argument for a late date since he continued living in the Persian period under Cyrus. The only Greek words are names of musical instruments in chapter 3, and this comes as no surprise since there were Greek mercenaries in the Assyrian and Babylonian armies. Far more Greek words would be expected if the book were written in the second century B. C. 7 Actually, the reason for two languages is simple and logical: the subject matter. The Holman Study Bible FRPPHQWV ´'DQLHO ZURWH LQ $UDPDLF WKH FRPPRQ ODQJXDJH RI WKDW UHJLRQ LQ that period) the parts of the book with universal appeal or special significance for the Gentile QDWLRQV DQG HPSOR\HG +HEUHZ LQ VHFWLRQV PRUH DSSOLFDEOH WR WKH -HZLVK SHRSOH µ 8 Or, as Leon Wood explains:

5 Baxter, pp. 65. 6 While Israel was in captivity, they underwent a profound change. They were taken into captivity because of their helpless, 500 year addiction to idolatry ± brought into Babylon the veritable breeding ground of idolatry. Miracle of miracles! They came out of the captivity cured, now the most rigidly monotheistic people in the world. God knew what He was doing! 7 Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa, Talk Thru The Old Testament , p. 222. 8 The Holman Study Bible, p. 1267.

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