Discovering the Overall Thematic Structure of the Book of Daniel, Part I
Introduction
In my previous article in this series on Daniel, The Utility of the Chiastic Structure of Daniel Chapter1, we learned that the book of Daniel has usually been organized in one of two fashions. The traditional approach is based on the overall subject flow, particularly, the prophecy is about whom? When this is the dominant consideration, the book divides as shown below:
The Traditional Approach
Daniel 1-6—Historical narratives
Daniel 7-12—Prophetic narratives
The other popular approach is the linguistic approach, which rests upon the fact that the book of Daniel was written in two languages, Aramaic and Hebrew. When this is the primary factor, the book arrangement is as follows:
The Linguistic Approach
Daniel 1:1–2:4a—Hebrew
Daniel 2:4b–7:28—Aramaic
Daniel 8:1–12:13—Hebrew
Please notice the pattern set up by the linguistic view. Does it look familiar? What is being hinted at by the linguistic view above? Hint—notice how the Hebrew language is used in the beginning of the prophecy and at the end, while the Aramaic portion is sandwiched in between. It looks like the beginning framework for a . . . a . . . come on . . .! Great! You guessed it—a chiastic structure!
If the book of Daniel is arranged chiastically, it could fit the pattern below:
Therefore, we would expect matching themes at the beginning and ending of Daniel. For example, if the book of Daniel is chiastic, perhaps it may look something like this:
My first attempt at discovering whether Daniel was arranged chiastically or not involved looking for matching themes connecting Daniel 1 to Daniel 12, Daniel 2 to Daniel 11, etc. In my studies of the chiastic nature of large portions of Scripture, such as an entire book, I have found that the connections between elements in the two halves typically take one of two forms.
Form 1—There Will Be Many Matching Themes, But the Themes Will Not Conform to Any Particular Pattern
Sometimes, there are many, many connections in the matching elements of a chiastic structure, but those many connections are not organized in any particular order. This seems to be the case for elements A and A’, Daniel 1 and Daniel 12. There are so many connections, it’s obvious that Daniel 1 and 12 are intimately thematically connected. Here are thirteen themes connecting Daniel 1 to Daniel 12. I will list each of them. The theme titles will consist of words that emphasize how the theme in Daniel 1 matches the theme in Daniel 12. Then, I will list the passages from Daniel 1 and the corresponding passage from Daniel 12 so you can see how the themes match.
Theme 1—Israel oppressed by her enemies (Daniel 1) versus Israel suffering under the rule of the anti-messiah (Daniel 12)
Daniel 1:1-2 – In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. 2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god.
Daniel 12:1b and 11 – . . . And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time . . . 11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.”
Theme 2—Emphasis on the end of a time period; three years or ten days (Daniel 1) versus the end of days (Daniel 12)
Daniel 1:5, 15 and 18 – And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king. 15 And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. 18 Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
Daniel 12:4, 9 and 13 – “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” 9 And he said, “Go your way,
Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” 13 “But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.”
Theme 3—Adonai gave the young men wisdom and understanding of the Chaldean literature (Daniel 1) versus A) Adonai preventing Daniel from understanding the words of the Scriptures [Hebrew literature] as well, and B) preventing the wicked from understanding (Daniel 12)
Daniel 1:4a, 17 and 20 – young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand . . . 17 As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. 20 And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.
Daniel 12:4, 9 and 10 – “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” 9 And he said, “Go your way,
Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.”2
Theme 4—Daniel acted to prevent defilement (Daniel 1) versus the many who will be purified from defilements (Daniel 12)
Daniel 1:8 – But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.
Daniel 12:10 – Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly . . .
Theme 5—The daily portion of food for the young men taken away (Daniel 1) versus the anti-messiah removing Adonai’s daily food [the daily offering] (Daniel 12)
Daniel 1:5 – And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king.
Daniel 12:11 – “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.”3
Theme 6—Being tested for a specific period of time (Daniel 1) versus a specific period of testing for Adonai’s people (Daniel 12)
Daniel 1:5, 12 and 18 – And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king. 12 “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.” 18 Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
Daniel 12:7, 11-12 – Then I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time . . . 11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.”
Theme 7—Success after a period of testing
Daniel 1:15 and 18-20 – And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies. 18 Now at the end of the days, when the king had said that they should be brought in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.
19 Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore
they served before the king. 20 And in all matters of wisdom and
understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.Daniel 12:1b and 12 – And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book. 12 Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.
Theme 8—Ashpenaz the master over the eunuchs (Daniel 1) versus Michael, the prince over Israel (Daniel 12)
Daniel 1:3 – Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles.
Daniel 12:1a – “At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people”
Theme 9—Israel taken into captivity (Daniel 1) versus being delivered from oppression (Daniel 12)
Daniel 1:2 and 3-4 – And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God . . . 3 Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles, 4 young men in whom there was no blemish, but good-looking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand, who had ability to serve in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans.
Daniel 12:1 – . . . And at that time your people shall be delivered [rescued] . . .
Theme 10—A period of testing to prove oneself
Daniel 1:5, 12, 14 and 19 – And the king appointed for them a daily provision of the king’s delicacies and of the wine which he drank, and three years of training for them, so that at the end of that time they might serve before the king. 12 “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.” 14 So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days. 19 Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king.
Daniel 12:10 – Many shall be purified, made white, and refined . . .
Theme 11—The appearance of the righteous (Daniel 1) versus the appearance of the righteous (Daniel 12)
Daniel 1:15 – And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies.
Daniel 12:3 – Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
Theme 12—Chaldean literature (Daniel 1) versus Bible literature (Daniel 12)
Daniel 1: 4 – . . . and whom they might teach the language and literature of the Chaldeans.
Daniel 12:1 – . . . Every one who is found written in the book.
Theme 13—The pagan wisdom of the astrologers of Babylon (Daniel 1) versus the outstanding wisdom of the Jews (Daniel 12)
Daniel 1: 20 – And astrologers who were in all his realm.
Daniel 12:3 – Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
As you can see, even though Daniel chapters 1 and 12 are very short chapters they have an abundance of thematic connections! Is it not obvious that these two passages are purposefully thematically connected? And the reason they are so heavily connected is so that the one can shed light on the interpretation of the other. Therefore, the manner in which Daniel 1 is connected to Daniel 12 is a perfect example of Form 1—There Will Be Many Matching Themes, But the Themes Will Not Conform to Any Particular Pattern. At this point, let’s look at the second pattern I’ve found that describes the chiastic nature of large portions of Scripture.
Form 2—There Will Be Many Matching Themes and Those Themes Will Establish Their Own Chiastic Pattern
Sometimes, in a large chiastic structure, the matching themes in the two halves will not just be a random collection of similar themes (Form 1) as we found in Daniel 1 and 12. Sometimes the themes will be highly organized into a chiastic pattern of their own! For example, continuing with the notion that perhaps Daniel 1-12 is one large chiasm, let’s see how Daniel 2 relates to Daniel 11! It just so happens that the matching themes in Daniel 2 and Daniel 11 are arranged chiastically as shown below. As is true with all genuine chiasms, you will be able to compare A to A’, B to B’, etc., and this comparison will reveal the theme that connects the two passages. The themes will be noted with bold, italicized fonts.
Hopefully, you too will find this pattern truly amazing! Here we have two totally distinct stories, yet as we progress chronologically through them, we notice that they have similar themes at each point in our comparison.
Thus far, it would seem that Daniel 1-12 is one large chiasm. However, as I began to try to make connections between Daniel 3 and Daniel 10, or Daniel 4 and Daniel 9, my efforts fell short. I could see no clear connections between them. Then, I began to look to my outline I had originally generated. Here is the outline of Daniel 1-12 consisting only of the major topics/subject changes.4
Daniel 1:1-12 – The Testing and Exaltation of the Four Jewish Exiles
Daniel 2:1-49 – Four Gentile Nations Supplanted by Adonai’s Eternal Kingdom
Daniel 3:1-30 – Jealous Chaldeans Have the Three Jewish Exiles Thrown into a Fiery Furnace
Daniel 4:1-37 – The Humbling of King Nebuchadnezzar
Daniel 5:1-31 – The Humbling of King Belshazzar
Daniel 6:1-28 – Jealous Chaldeans Have Daniel Thrown into a Lion’s Den
Daniel 7:1-28 – Four Gentile Nations Supplanted by the Jewish Nation
Daniel 8:1-27 – The Vision of the Ram and Goat
Daniel 9:1-27 – Daniel’s Seventy Weeks
Daniel 10:1-21 – Daniel’s Fasting and Visions
Daniel 11:1-45 – Warring Kingdoms Supplanting Each Other
Daniel 12:1-13 – The Testing and Exaltation of the Jewish Nation in the End-Times
Here is where I noticed a different pattern. Please look at these connections I’m about to share in the outline above. First, Daniel 2, the story of how four Gentile kingdoms where supplanted by Adonai’s kingdom, has many thematic connections to Daniel 7, a vision about how the dominion of four Gentile kingdoms was taken from them and given to the Jewish nation. Note the following small sampling of connections between Daniel 2 and Daniel 7:
In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that needed interpretation. In Daniel 7, Daniel had a dream that required interpretation.
Both chapters mention the rulership of four Gentile kingdoms where the fourth kingdom is likened to iron.
Both chapters mention the setting up of a kingdom of rulership by the God of Israel and His people.
Both passages mention the setting up of an eternal kingdom by the God of Israel
There are of course, many other connections. The same type of phenomenon is true when we compare Daniel 3, the story of how the jealous Chaldeans had the three Hebrew exiles thrown into a fiery furnace, with Daniel 6, the story of how the jealous Chaldeans had Daniel thrown into the lion’s den. Note this small sampling of connections between Daniel 3 and Daniel 6.
In Daniel 3, certain Chaldean’s came forward and accused the three Hebrew lads of not bowing to the idol Nebuchadnezzar had made, an infraction punishable by death. In Daniel 6, some of the jealous governors and satraps complained about Daniel praying to someone other than the king. Again, an infringement punishable by death.
In Daniel 3, the three Hebrew lads were thrown into a fiery furnace as punishment, whereas in Daniel 6, Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den.
Daniel 3:17 is thematically connected to Daniel 6:20:
If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king (Daniel 3:17).
And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” (Daniel 6:20).
Those who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego into the fiery furnace were themselves consumed by the furnace. This is thematically connected to the fact that those who accused Daniel before king Darius were thrown into the lion’s den in Daniel’s place.
Note the linguistic parallel between Daniel 3:26 and Daniel 6:19-20.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” 25 “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here.” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came from the midst of the fire. 27 And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
Daniel 6:19-23 – Then the king arose very early in the morning and went in hasteto the den of lions. 20 And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has
your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent His angel and
shut the lions’ mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.” 23 Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.
Lastly, I noted the obvious connection between Daniel 4 and 5. Daniel 5 pertains to the humbling of Nebuchadnezzar, whereas Daniel 5 concerns the humbling of king Belshazzar.
Thus, it became obviously clear that although Daniel 1 is connected to Daniel 12 and Daniel 2 is connected to Daniel 11, a second pattern existed. It seems that Daniel 2-7 form a chiastic pattern as shown below:
For the sake of brevity, let’s only look at how Daniel 2 and 7 relate thematically.5 Daniel 2 and 7 are arranged as a parallelism as follows:
Thus, we have discovered a major portion of the thematic structure of the book of Daniel. Daniel has a combination of structures that can be examined in order to gain a better understanding of its prophetic meaning. First of all, Daniel 1-2 is thematically connected to Daniel 11-12 in a chiastic arrangement as follows:
However, as we’ve seen, Daniel 2-7 is arranged within their own chiastic structure! Therefore, we can see something along the following arrangement:
As you can see, Daniel 2 is part of a chiastic arrangement with Daniel 7 and Daniel 11! Thus is the nature of the spirit of prophecy. Earlier in this article we noted the linguistic division of Daniel’s prophecy:
Daniel 1:1–2:4a—Hebrew
Daniel 2:4b–7:28—Aramaic
Daniel 8:1–12:13—Hebrew
Notice how Daniel chapter 2-7 was written in Aramaic! Now notice how we discovered a chiastic arrangement of Daniel 2-7! As you can see, this should not surprise us. Linguistically, we already knew that Daniel 2-7 was a thematic unit. Now we’ve been able to prove that Daniel 2-7 is not just a linguistic unit. It’s also a thematic unit!
As I’ve stated before, the first step to interpreting a passage is to elucidate its thematic structure. Once the thematic structure has been elucidated, then we can gain a better understanding of how to interpret it by comparing and contrasting the thematically connected units. In other words . . . our work has just begun. For those of you who have read my articles on the book of Revelation, you have already seen how important it is to determine a passage’s thematic structure. It makes all the difference in the world! Therefore, in the next article we will devote ourselves to discovering how Daniel 8-10 fits into the overall thematic scheme of the book.
Although this is sometimes true, I must admit the possibility that there may be a pattern, but I have not been able to discover it!
Sometimes, as in the present situation, matching themes can be opposites! The themes of this third connection are opposites. On the one hand, in Daniel 1, it was Adonai who gave the Hebrew lads wisdom and understanding. On the other hand, in Daniel 12, it was Adonai who prevented Daniel from understanding his visions of the end times!
See Numbers 28:2—“ ‘My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet aroma to Me.’ ” Here, we see that the daily offering is referred to as Adonai’s food!
It is simply fortuitous that the major subject divisions occur at the (uninspired) chapter divisions. This is not usually the case!
Daniel 3/6 and Daniel 4/5 relate to each other also, as suggested by the pattern shown above. The connections between these two pairs will be posted later on my All Things Daniel web page. Eventually, you will be able to find all the structures I’ve found in Daniel there.