Today’s
Scripture Reading (April 23, 2020): Daniel 1
I have in my
library a book that actually belongs to my mother. She received it, according
to the typed inscription inside the front cover, as a prize for a “Proficiency
Award” in 1956. The book is written by the early 19th-century poet
named Charles Lamb with the assistance of his sister Mary. The title of the
book is “Tales from Shakespeare,” and it contains a retelling of the
Shakespearean tales, including Hamlet, Othello, and Romeo and Juliet, in a more
simplified prose form. The purpose of the book was likely to make the Shakespearean
tales more accessible to younger readers. Still, it is a treasure for any who desire
to experience the stories and imagination of William Shakespeare but are tripped
up by the poetic language. Charles Lamb retells the stories, but there can be
no doubt that they originated from the genius of William Shakespeare.
I think of
this little book every time I get into an argument about dating the books of
the Bible. We often seem to get tripped up by the language used by the biblical
writers. Maybe we forget or minimize the fact that we do not possess any of the
autographs for the biblical books, manuscripts written by the original authors.
What we have are copies of the books, painfully recreated by other unknown scholars
writing in a period of history sometimes after the original documents had been written.
Sometimes those copies are precise recreations of what was penned by the original
authors. But sometimes, no doubt, editorial corrections creep in that reveal the
later understanding of the one doing the copying. (Although I don’t believe any
are as massively rewritten as Charles Lamb’s “Tales from Shakespeare.”)
Daniel is no
exception. The opening words of Daniel’s prophecy, and the stories told in the
first few chapters of the book, anchor the writing of the book at a particular
point in time. The date was 605 B.C.E. Aesop, the fabulist, was still a teenager
living in Greece, as was Daniel, living in Jerusalem. It was the year that
Babylon made its first of three visits to Jerusalem, and the year that the first
of the exiles were taken back to Babylon, including Daniel.
But often,
the date of the writing of Daniel is questioned. It is argued that the language
of the book finds itself more at home in the second century B.C.E than it does
late in the seventh century B.C.E. But that could be attributable to changes
made by copyists, rather than evidence of a late authorship for the book.
I believe that
Daniel was written in the sixth century B.C.E. by the prophet, who was taken from
his home in 605 B.C.E. My belief is based on three factors. The first is that Jesus
confirms that Daniel was the author of the book that bears his name (Matthew
24:15 and Mark 13:14). The second, and this is sometimes used by those who
believe that an unknown second-century author wrote Daniel, is that Daniel mentions
this incursion into Jerusalem, even though the author of Kings makes no mention
of a siege of Jerusalem in 605 B.C.E. But the Babylonian historian Berossus
agrees that there were three attacks of the city of Jerusalem, (which we would
date to 605, 597, and 587 B.C.E.). And a siege of Jerusalem in 605 B.C.E. makes
sense as the Babylonians chased the Egyptians south after their clash in
Northern Syria, which took place the same year. But third, Daniel offers us an
alternate view of Nebuchadnezzar II, one that is not written anywhere else, and
one that sounds like it comes from someone in a close relationship with the
Babylonian king, such as Daniel has in the story. Maybe there are some
linguistic problems, but it seems more likely that any of those problems belong
to later copyists. The heart of the story belongs to a very real sixth-century
prophet names Daniel.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Daniel 2
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