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    Daniel: Until the Last Thirty Days
    Daniel: Until the Last Thirty Days
    Daniel: Until the Last Thirty Days
    Ebook140 pages2 hours

    Daniel: Until the Last Thirty Days

    By Geok Hock Tan

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    About this ebook

    Most readers of the bible book of Daniel confine themselves to the inspiring stories in the first half. Those who go on to read the visions in the second half find them difficult to understand let alone reconcilable with the prophecies in the book of Revelation. This short commentary seeks to show that both goals are achievable. Not only that, it warns us that we may be living in the last thirty days of the church age. Only when we realise this will we truly appreciate the value of the stories in the first half.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGeok Hock Tan
    Release dateAug 24, 2016
    ISBN9781540110381
    Daniel: Until the Last Thirty Days

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      Book preview

      Daniel - Geok Hock Tan

      DANIEL

      Until the Last Thirty Days

      By Tan Geok Hock

      Text Copyright © 2016 by Tan Geok Hock

      Email: [email protected]

      All Rights Reserved.

      No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

      In memory of my father

      Tan Pitt Cheng

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      Ch 1: Dare to be Different

      Ch 2: First Among Equals

      Ch 3: With Friends Like These

      Ch 4: Once is Not Enough

      Ch 5: More Than Meets the Eye

      Ch 6: Happily Ever After

      Ch 7: The Mother of All Dreams

      Ch 8: Same, Same but Different

      Ch 9: The City That Never Learns

      Ch 10: Not So Fast This Time

      Ch 11: History Repeats Itself

      Ch 12: Until the Last Thirty Days

      Useful Reading

      About the Author

      Preface

      This book started out as a companion volume to my earlier book, Revelation: A Mid-Tribulation View. In the latter I argued that we should read Revelation as a self-contained and internally-consistent work without being unduly influenced by other end-time prophecies, particularly those in the Old Testament. This approach was instrumental in helping me formulate my views on the end time.

      Not that we ignore the other end-time prophecies but I feel we should start with Revelation because it is the latest and therefore likely to be the most complete work on this subject. After putting together our view of the end time based on Revelation alone, we can then use it to help us understand the other prophecies. This book represents that second step.

      Apart from Revelation, Daniel is generally seen as the bible book which majors on the end time. It is important that our reading of Revelation can be reconciled with the message of Daniel. I am happy to report it can. Indeed, some things in Daniel are difficult to understand without having first read Revelation. This should not surprise us since a later work on the same topic usually tries to clarify confusion left over from an earlier work. The gospels are a good example.

      One of those clarifications involve the different time periods in Daniel’s visions. Whereas Revelation consistently speaks of a 3 ½ year period, Daniel also mentions 2,300 evenings and mornings, 1,290 days and 1,335 days. It is by comparing Daniel and Revelation that I am convinced we are in the last thirty days of the church age. Hence the title of this book.

      Although an interest in the end days means most of us read Daniel for the visions in the second half of the book, we ignore the teaching in the first half to our loss. Those earlier chapters contain much practical advice to help us prepare ourselves in the event we go through the end days. The book of Revelation offers less of it.

      In the end, the first half turned out to be as eye-opening for me as the second half. This was partly due to the view I took with regard to the authorship of Daniel. It is an unconventional view but it explains the choice of stories in the first half. And it helps me to enjoy and appreciate the value of this strange Old Testament book. My hope is that it will do the same for readers.

      Praise to the Most High God.

      Kuala Lumpur,

      August 2016.

      Introduction

      Back to ToC

      The book of Daniel can be divided neatly into two halves. The first six chapters contain stories about Daniel. The remaining six contain his visions. The question we must ask is: what are the first six chapters for? Why not start immediately with the visions, like Isaiah and Ezekiel do? And since the first six chapters extend over a period of about 70 years —which means there must have been many other significant events during Daniel’s life—why these six stories?

      These questions lead us to the main background debate over the book, i.e. who wrote it? The traditional view is that it was Daniel himself. This is partly because the author uses the first person pronoun in chapters 7-12. Most OT prophetic books are written in the first person.

      However, it is significant that chapters 1-6 refer to Daniel in the third person. Of course this does not mean the book must be written by someone else. Some OT prophets, e.g. Jonah, do write in the third person and we do not doubt the works were theirs.

      What is unusual in Daniel is that the author switches from third person to first person midway through the book. Other OT prophets normally keep to one style. It is as if the author writes about Daniel in chapters 1-6 and then switches to the first person in chapters 7-12 as he quotes Daniel, perhaps using material from the latter’s diary.

      One can understand why the author may want to make such a switch—it assures readers that the visions in chapters 7-12 are presented in their original form. Given the fantastic nature of those visions, any editorial work may give readers reason to doubt their accuracy. On the other hand, it is more difficult to explain why the first half is not also in the first person if Daniel is himself the author.

      The contents of chapters 1-6 reinforce the suspicion that the author is someone other than Daniel. They tell us about Daniel’s exploits, i.e. how God used him in marvellous ways in various situations. If Daniel was the author, would he not be boasting? Then as he tells his visions in the second half of the book, he will effectively be saying, Hey, not only did God do those fantastic things through me but he also gave me these wonderful visions. Won’t it be more boasting?

      Some may say Daniel is simply giving glory to God. However, bible authors do not have our modern mentality. They seldom mention their exploits unless it is really necessary. For example, Paul was very reluctant to talk about his visions of heaven but he did so only to support his argument against the false teachers (2 Cor. 12:11).

      Instead, when bible authors talk about themselves they tend to highlight their own weaknesses. Isaiah acknowledged his own sinfulness (Is. 6:5). Both Moses and Jonah confessed they were initially reluctant to obey God. On the other hand, our author says in 2:14 that Daniel spoke to the king’s official Arioch with wisdom and tact. It is difficult to believe Daniel would write this about himself. (Just as many think Esther 10:3 renders it unlikely Mordecai wrote that book.) Compare it with the way he talks about himself in 2:30.

      More likely the book was compiled by an author using material he obtained from sources, e.g. Daniel’s diary and maybe those of his contemporaries. Therefore the contents are true and the events did take place. The author probably lived one or two generations after Daniel. It would then have made sense for him to recall Daniel’s exploits if his readers were no longer familiar with Daniel. They might have been like the generation after Joshua which quickly forgot what the Lord had done for Israel (Judges 2:10). Perhaps only sketchy accounts of Daniel remained in circulation. Therefore our author had to introduce Daniel to his generation.

      Readers should not confuse this view with another current among scholars. They argue that the author lived in the second century BC, i.e. a long time after Daniel. I do not subscribe to the view. There are serious difficulties with it and we will discuss them as we examine the book.

      My guess is the author was Ezra who lived in the fifth century BC, within two generations after Daniel. The book of Ezra also switches between first and third persons. Another common feature is that both books contain Hebrew and Aramaic segments. Daniel 2:4 up to the end of chapter 7 is written in Aramaic whereas the rest of the book is in Hebrew. However, whether the author was actually Ezra or one of his contemporaries is not crucial to our interpretation.

      Had the author published Daniel’s visions on their own, his bemused readers would likely have asked, Why should we believe this Daniel? Who is he? Are these weird visions from God or are they a product of Daniel’s own imagination? To allay potential scepticism, our author includes the stories in chapters 1-6. They act as Daniel’s curriculum vitae.

      The author wants to show that Daniel could interpret visions which no one else could understand. He wants readers to be impressed enough with the man Daniel to take seriously the visions in the second half. That, in a nutshell, is the purpose of the stories in the first half.

      If Daniel were the author, he would not have needed to include these stories because his original audience would have been his contemporaries. He did not need to recall his exploits because they must have been the talk of the town. None of the other OT prophets introduced themselves with a long account of their achievements. Neither did John the author of Revelation who wrote to seven churches which probably knew him personally. Only a later author would need to introduce Daniel in this way.

      Is this question of authorship relevant? Does it affect our interpretation? I think it does. If the main purpose of these stories is to draw attention to Daniel and his special ability, there is no need to read much into the way God dealt with the other characters, e.g. the different kings. Those characters exist primarily to testify to Daniel’s ability.

      Furthermore if chapters 1-6 are written by a later author to act as Daniel’s curriculum vitae, these stories are probably the most spectacular that he could find to display Daniel’s qualities. Thus they are likely to be discrete stories and we should treat them as such. There is no need to look for close linkages or flow in thought between one story and the next.

      Therefore we can divide the book of Daniel as follows:

      Chapters 1-6: Daniel’s Exploits.

      Chapters 7-12: Daniel’s Visions.

      ARE THE STORIES TRUE?

      Because the stories in the first half are meant to support Daniel’s credentials as a prophet, critical readers may wonder whether they are invented for the

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