This article refers to people in the Bible named Daniel.

For other uses of this term, see Daniel (disambiguation) and Daniel (name).

Daniel (Hebrew: דָּנִיֵּאל; transliterated as Daniyyel in Standard Hebrew and Dāniyyêl in Tiberian Hebrew) is the name of at least three people from the Hebrew Bible:

1. A Jewish exile in Babylon, the subject of the Book of Daniel and the most well-known of the three Daniels.
2. David's second son, "born unto him in Hebron, of Abigail the Carmelitess" (1 Chronicles 3:1). He is called also Chileab (2 Samuel 3:3).
3. A legendary figure known for his wisdom and righteousness (see section Reference in Ezekiel)

The name means "My judge is Elohim," or "Elohim has judged."

Daniel - a prophet?

Christians regard Daniel as a prophet, and Jesus is quoted as referring to him as "Daniel the prophet" in and Mark 13:14. It appears he is also referred to as "Daniel the prophet" in the Dead Sea Scrolls ^*. In the context of the books of the Bible, Christians refer to Daniel as one of the "four great prophets"; as the Book of Daniel appears in most Christian editions of the Bible, after the other three "great prophets" (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel).

Judaism does not consider Daniel to be a prophet. He is not once spoken of in the Old Testament as a prophet. In the Christian Old Testament (apparently following the Septuagint Greek translation ^*) Daniel appears in the "Prophets" section; but in the Jewish Tanach, he appears in "Writings." There are two reasons Jews do not consider Daniel to have been a prophet:

1. Daniel never spoke directly to God. According to the Torah, prophets (navis) speak to God, not to intermediaries like angels. Daniel saw angels and never spoke to God. This is the primary reason Daniel is not considered a prophet.
2. In Judaism a prophet (navi) speaks to his or her generation, not to future generations. The Prophets in the Jewish Tanach (e.g., Isaiah, Ezekiel) spoke primarily to their generation, but their message was also pertinent to the future. Daniel's visions were for the future, not for his generation. The Men of the Great Assembly (Sanhedrin) who codified the Jewish Bible (Tanach) argued about including Daniel in the Bible and placed him in Writings, not Prophets.

• In Rashi's commentary to the Talmud (1st Chapter of megillah) he brings down that to be qualified as a prophet, one needs to spread the message one hears. Daniels prophecy are relveant for the future, for they cryptically state what will be in days to come. However, Daniel's prophecies were not spread to the population as implied by the text itself.

Some reasons which may be given for believing that Daniel was a prophet include:

• that according to the Talmud and the Hebrew Scriptures, Daniel received and interpreted dreams and visions, similar to many other Jewish prophets; as well as messages from angels or arch-angels. Indeed, according to the Christian version, Moses himself received the written Torah from the hand of "the Angel of the Lord" (who spoke to Moses out of the 'burning bush'). Daniel himself denied that his ability was because of any human wisdom of his own (Daniel 2:29).
• Daniel recorded his visions (which became prophecies) for future as well as present use; including prophecies about the exact date of the coming of the Jewish Messiah into Jerusalem, many other prophetic events which later transpired in history, and prophecies which are regarded by some (perhaps mainly premillennialist) Christians as referring to a terrible, as-yet unfulfilled, future time of the Tribulation. Accurate prediction of the future is repeatedly given as a mark of a true prophet as opposed to a false one, both in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the Talmud.

The feast day of Daniel the Prophet in the Greek Orthodox Church is December 17.

Reference in Ezekiel

The prophet Ezekiel, with whom Daniel was a contemporary, describes one Danel as a "pattern of righteousness (14:14, 20) and wisdom" (28:3).

Some scholars have identified this person with the Daniel of the Book of Daniel, while others look upon him as another figure who has now been forgotten. Some scholars regard the references in Ezekiel as a Danel known from Ugaritic literature (such as the Epic of Aqhat and Anat), whose reputation for wisdom and righteousness had made him legendary. The Hebrew spelling itself suggests a person other than the prophet Daniel.

See also

• Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon
• Book of Daniel (book of the Bible)
• List of names referring to El

References

Considerable additions/alterations have been made since the material from the Easton's article was inserted here.

External links

• Daniel at Bible Gateway
• Judaism 101: Prophets and Prophecy
• Daniel by Rob Bradshaw Detailed dictionary-style article.
• Making Sense of Daniel
• Who is Ezekiel's Daniel? : The Ugaritic Danel

623 BC births | Tanakh people | Christian prophets | Year of death missing

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