Daniel Apocalyptic?
Daniel means “God is judge.” Archer observes: “The basic theme of this work is the overruling sovereignty of the one true God, who condemns and destroys the rebellious world power and faithfully delivers His covenant people according to their steadfast faith in Him.”[1] Walvoord says Daniel is “the key to prophetic revelation.”[2] It is classified by scholars as apocalyptic literature. This type of literature is common in later Judaism. However, this type of literature is difficult to define.[3] It centers around eschatology. What does the genre apocalyptic contain? What are its features? There are five characteristics of apocalyptic literature.[4]
- It is revelatory. The revelation came not by the Word of God or a prophet, but entirely though dreams, visions, and heavenly journeys. Discovered or revealed are hidden secrets, the solution to the evil, and the coming of the kingdom through these visions.
- It is imaginative or visionary. While prophets spoke of their own experiences, the apocalyptic writers did not. In this genre, visionary experiences are looked upon as imaginative literary devices, not genuine experiences.
- It is pseudonymous. While some prophets did write anonymously, none are seen as pseudonymous. They used their real names. In Jewish apocalyptic literature, they attributed their works to already established prophets—Adam, Moses, Isaiah, Baruch, Solomon, and Ezra.
- It is symbolic. Apocalyptic writers built off the symbolism of the Old Testament prophets and goes beyond them to greatly elaborated apocalypses. Symbolism does play a major role in this genre. “Symbolism became pervasive, extreme, and even grotesque” in the apocalyptic writings.[5] This further expands the imaginative element of apocalyptic literature.
- It is pseudo-predictive. The prophet stood in the present and proclaimed future historical and eschatological events as revealed by God. Apocalyptic literature is always eschatological, and foretells future events that arise, not out of the present situation, but breaks into the present.[6] The prophecy was ex eventu, after the fact.
While this genre is dualistic—good versus
evil—God wins in the end. Two other features must be pointed out.
First, Jewish apocalyptic writings are pessimistic
concerning the present time. It has a sense of despair, that nothing but evil
reigned in the present. It lost all sense of God’s activity in the present or
in history. The sense of hope is lost. They became unconcerned about the
connection of the present history with eschatology.
Second, it was ethically passive. There was no sense of
sinfulness, nor need of repentance. To “the
apocalyptists the present age is evil and without meaning” observes Mounce.[7] They
saw Israel as righteous before God and were interested in consoling and
sustaining the remnant, rather than judging the nominally religious.
Differences
abound between Biblical and Jewish apocalyptic
literature including:
- Lack of pseudonym. Daniel was written by a living author who identified himself and was known by his audience.
- Lack of pessimism. Daniel is optimistic. Why? Swanson answers: In Daniel, the critical point in history is coming. This point is historical. God’s people conquer Satan and the problem of evil ‘by the blood of the Lamb (cf. Rev. 12:11). Victory is provided in history and is worked out by the obedient suffering of God’s people Hope rules the day in Daniel. God is working in history, He is active, and gives hope to the present by means of the gospel. God is not waiting to interject His kingdom into history but is activity working His plan for history, of which the earthly kingdom is the climax.
- The strong presence of ethical demands. While the apocalyptic genre centers upon comfort, it does not give a sense of ethical living in the present. Revelation however greatly differs and places strong ethical demands on God’s people. Repentance is a key note of chapters 2-3 (2:5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19). People are called to evangelize others that they may drink of the water of life (22:17).
Based on these
differences I would not call it full apocalyptic literature. It is limited apocalyptic literature at
best.[8] We need to keep in mind
that Daniel “is in many ways an
enigma.”[9] However, there is no question that he deals with prophetic truths,
both near and far. It is true that apocalyptic literature “is the child of prophecy, yet diverse from
prophecy.”[10] Daniel does have early
signs of apocalyptic literature, but not the development of that type of
literature. Those who propagate the apocalyptic view “often oppose to supernatural revelation in
symbolic form, tends to deprecate apocalyptic books in the Bible and equate
them with the sometimes incoherent and extreme symbolism of the pseudepigrapha,
there is really no justification for this” comments Walvoord.[11] He goes on to warn: “The fact that a book is apocalyptic does not
necessarily mean that its revelation is obscure or uncertain, and conservative
scholars has recognized the legitimacy of apocalyptic revelation as genuine
means of divine communication… apocalyptic books can yield solid results to the
0atient exegete.”[12]
[1] Gleason L.
Archer, Jr., A SURVEY OF OLD TESTAMENT INTRODUCTION, [Chicago IL, Moody Press,
1964], 365,
[2] John F. Walvoord, DANIEL: THE KEY TO
PROPHETIC REVELATION, [Chicago IL, Moody Press, 1971]
[3] Richard A. Taylor,
INTERPRETING APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE, [Grand Rapids MI, Kregel, 2016], 27. C.
Hassell Bullock, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS [Chicago IL,
Moody Press, 1986], 292.
[4] Erik W. Swanson, THE GENRE OF REVELATION,
(www. Theological Studies. Org), 7-10.
[5] Ibid, 10.
[7] Ibid, 7.
[8] C. Hassell Bullock calls apocalyptic
literature of the prophets and being in its “elementary” stages. AN
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETIC BOOKS, 236.
[9] Ernest C. Lucas, AOTC: DANIEL, [Downers Grove
IL, InterVarsity Press, 2002], 18.
[10] Ibid, 311.
[11] John Walvood, DANIEL, 14.
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