Discovering the Overall Thematic Structure of the Book of Daniel, Part 2
Introduction
My goal in these first two articles on the thematic structure of the book of Daniel is to discover the thematic pattern/structure of the entire book, just as we discovered the structure and pattern of the book of Revelation. Hopefully, you will recall that the book of Revelation is arranged as a chiastic structure, with chapter 12 being the central axis of the entire book. However, we must not lose sight of the importance of why one should focus on discovering the thematic patterns in a book! The reason we search diligently to discover the thematic pattern of a book is so that we have a better understanding of how to interpret the book! The thematic structure of a Biblical narrative is a Holy Spirit-inspired map of how each portion is connected or thematically related to the other. Once we know how each passage in a book is related to another, we use those connections/relationships to help guide our interpretations! In other words, the thematically-connected passages help us with Scripture interpretation because each sheds light on the other.
As you may recall from Part I, we discovered how Daniel chapters 1–2 relate to Daniel chapters 11–12.
Furthermore, we also that Daniel chapters 2–7 were related chiastically.
This leaves Daniel chapters 8–10. At first, I thought Daniel chapters 8–10 would be related either chiastically or as a parallelism. However, as I began studying Daniel 7–12, I noticed how the phrase time, times and a half time was mentioned twice in Daniel’s prophecy; once in chapter 7 and once in chapter 12. Whenever I’m trying to determine the thematic construction of a passage and I see one connection, I always look for other connections. In other words, I had seen one connection between Daniel chapters 7 and 12. So the question was, “Are there more thematic connections connecting those two chapters?”
The Thematic Structure of Daniel 7–12
As I compared and contrasted Daniel 7 with Daniel 12, I found a number of connections! Below you will find at least eight thematic connections between Daniel 7:1-28 and Daniel 12:1-13. As you look at the connections below, compare and contrast themes 1, 2, 3, etc., in Daniel 7:1-28 with themes 1, 2, 3, etc., in Daniel 12:1-13, and you will easily be able to understand how these two passages are thematically connected.
As you can see, it is quite obvious that the Holy Spirit had Daniel write these two passages in a thematic pattern! Thus, it seems that although Daniel chapter 7 is already involved in the chiastic pattern of Daniel 2–7, it is also involved in a thematic pattern extending from Daniel chapter 7–12! The connection between Daniel 7 and 12 suggests that the second half of the book of Daniel pertains to a larger structure encompassing Daniel 7–12, not Daniel 8–12. Let’s dig a little further and see if there are other connections within this larger portion of Scripture that are chiastically related as shown in the pattern below.
I analyzed all these chapters by first creating an outline of the flow of events. For example, I read through Daniel 8 looking for major themes. I noticed how Daniel 8 contained the following four major themes. I have supplied a generic title that captures the overall theme pertaining to what each section is about.
1. Daniel 8:1-2 – Introduction to the Prophecy
2. Daniel 8:3-8 – Kingdoms of Medo-Persia/Greece and Their Wars
3. Daniel 8:9-19 – Antiochus Epiphanes
4. Daniel 8:23-27 – The End-Times Anti-messiah
The third theme entitled, Antiochus Epiphanes, is clearly a prophecy about the ruthless reign of Antiochus Epiphanes over the Jewish nation. The prophecy in Daniel 8:23-27 is obviously a prophecy of the end times, events that will occur in the book of Revelation, where it states that “He shall even rise against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without human means,” a clear reference to the destruction of the anti-messiah by Yeshua in Revelation 19:19-20.
And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. 20 Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
If Daniel 8:1-27 is thematically connected to Daniel 11:1-45 by chiasm, then we should expect to find matching themes. And that’s exactly what we find. When we divide Daniel chapter 11 into major thematic sections, again, we find four major thematic sections as we did in Daniel chapter 7 in the exact same chronological order! These are listed below:
1. Daniel 11:1-2a – Introduction to the Prophecy
2. Daniel 11:2b-20 – Kingdoms of Medo-Persia/Greece and Their Wars
3. Daniel 11:21-35 – Antiochus Epiphanes
4. Daniel 11:36-45 – The End-Times Anti-messiah
Notice how Daniel 11 is a thematic mirror image of Daniel 8! One of the beauties of this correlation is that it helps us realize how to interpret Daniel 11. Again, it is easy to see that Daniel 11:21-35 is a prophecy of the despotic rule of Antiochus Epiphanes. Therefore, the Scripture is inviting us to see that Daniel 11:36-45 is a prophecy of the end times (book of Revelation) just as is Daniel 8:23-27, which is the passage Daniel 11:36-45 is thematically connected to. Therefore, as one endeavors to interpret Daniel 8, it must be done in the light of Daniel 11 and vice versa. Each passage has more information to help you more fully interpret the other.
But the beauty of the connection between Daniel 8 and 11 does not stop here. When you dive into the details of each passage, we can see even more minute details connecting them. These are listed below. You’ll notice that each of our four major themes can be further divided into smaller matching themes! For example, compare section 1 in Daniel 8 to section 1 in Daniel 11 and so on.
At this point, it is clear to see that Daniel 7–11 is a large chiastic structure, shaping up to look like this:
A) Daniel 7:1-28 – The Establishment of God’s Kingdom
B) Daniel 8:1-27 – Wars and Rumors of Wars
?
B) Daniel 11:1-45 – Wars and Rumors of Wars
A) Daniel 12:1-13 – The Establishment of God’s Kingdom
The question that remains is whether or not Daniel 9 and 10 comprise the last connections or if they will be divided even further. When I outlined Daniel 9 and 10, I found that they shared nine similar themes as follows:
1 Remember, chapter divisions in the Bible are not inspired!
With this addition we can now fully elucidate the thematic structure of Daniel 7-12! It is a chiastic structure of the form:
Concluding Remarks
At this point we have looked at the entire book of Daniel and determined its overall thematic structure. In other words, we can see the big picture for the book. There are many other smaller thematic structures in the book which we will study at a later date. But for now, these last two articles have presented to you an overall structure for the entire book of Daniel. For me, these structures are the starting point for really understanding Adonai’s prophetic message for the end times, which will be our task for the next series of articles in this series on Daniel. Please find below the entire chiastic structure for Daniel 7-12. As with all chiastic structures, compare element A to A’, B to B’, etc.
