Daniel 1
| Daniel 1 | |
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Daniel refusing to eat at the King's table, early 1900s Bible illustration
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| Book | Book of Daniel |
| Bible part | Old Testament |
| Order in the Bible part | 27 |
| Category | Ketuvim |
Daniel 1 (the first chapter of the Book of Daniel) tells how Daniel and his three companions were among captives by Nebuchadnezzar from Jerusalem to Babylon to be trained in Babylonian wisdom. There they refused to take food and wine from the king and were given knowledge and insight into dreams and visions by God, and at the end of their training they proved ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in the kingdom.
The overall theme of Daniel is God's sovereignty over history. Chapter 1 introduces God as the figure in control of all that happens, the possessor of sovereign will and power: it is he who gives Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar's hands and Takes Daniel and his friends into Babylonian exile, he gives Daniel "grace and mercies," and gives the four young Jews their "knowledge and skill."
The Book of Daniel is "a composite text of dubious historicity from various genres," and Daniel himself is a legendary figure. The book of which he is the hero divides into two parts, a set of tales in chapters 1–6 from no earlier than the Hellenistic period, and series of visions in chapters 7–12 from the Maccabean era (the mid-2nd century BCE). Chapter 1 was apparently added as an introduction to the tales when they were collected around the end of the 3rd century.
In the third year of king Jehoiakim of Judah God let the kingdom fall into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who carried off some of the Temple vessels and some young Jews of royal and noble blood to be taught the literature and language of Babylon for three years, at the end of which they would be placed in the royal court. Among these young men were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who were given new names (Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah became Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, while Daniel's Babylonian name was Belteshazzar) and allocated rations of food and wine. But Daniel resolved not to defile himself, and refused the royal food and wine, thriving instead on vegetables and water. God gave them knowledge and skill, and to Daniel he gave insight into visions and dreams, and when the three years of training were completed none were found to compare with them in wisdom and understanding.
The Book of Daniel originated as a collection of folktales among the Jewish community in Babylon and Mesopotamia in the Persian and early Hellenistic periods (5th to 3rd centuries BCE), before being expanded in the Maccabean era (mid-2nd century) by the addition of the visions in chapters 7-12. Some modern scholars, from 1984, argrue that Daniel is a legendary figure. It is possible that Daniel was chosen for its hero because of his reputation as a wise seer in Hebrew tradition. The tales are in the voice of an anonymous narrator, except for chapter 4 which is in the form of a letter from king Nebuchadnezzar. Chapters 2-7 are in the form of a chiasmus, a poetic structure in which the main point or message of a passage is placed in the centre and framed by further repetitions on either side:
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