What follows is the most detailed sustained prophecy in the entire Bible, roughly three hundred and sixty-five years of history laid out in advance, king by king, marriage by marriage, betrayal by betrayal, war by war. It is so precise, so exact in its matching of events that had not yet happened when Daniel lived, that for two centuries skeptics have looked at it and concluded there is no way it could be prophecy. It has to be history, they say, written after the fact and disguised as prediction. We are going to face that challenge head on, because it is the single most important objection ever raised against the book of Daniel, and this is the chapter that raises it.
It's very interesting that a fragment of Daniel was found at Qumran dating to the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. That definitely witnesses to an early authorship.
I appreciate how you broke down this chapter. I interpret it like you: Daniel 11 speaks of Antiochus to a point, and then transitions to the Anti-messiah. This is a pattern that we frequently see in biblical prophecy. And honestly, it is the only interpretation that, in my opinion, works with the final chapter of Daniel as well as Messiah's warning in Matthew 24 and the Book of Revelation.
The heavenly books are also fascinating. The more I study extra-biblical literature, the more heavenly books I come across that I didn't know existed. These books hold tremendous power, and most of us have never given them a thought.
Thank you for this series. I'm looking forward to the final chapter.
I would agree with that opinion. And I apply it to a lot of Scripture.
I see a lot of people get hung up (especially with Revelation) on the question of if it already happened or if it points to something yet future. And I think the most natural reading, especially with the sheer Jewishness of the book, is that it's both.
It's very interesting that a fragment of Daniel was found at Qumran dating to the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. That definitely witnesses to an early authorship.
I appreciate how you broke down this chapter. I interpret it like you: Daniel 11 speaks of Antiochus to a point, and then transitions to the Anti-messiah. This is a pattern that we frequently see in biblical prophecy. And honestly, it is the only interpretation that, in my opinion, works with the final chapter of Daniel as well as Messiah's warning in Matthew 24 and the Book of Revelation.
The heavenly books are also fascinating. The more I study extra-biblical literature, the more heavenly books I come across that I didn't know existed. These books hold tremendous power, and most of us have never given them a thought.
Thank you for this series. I'm looking forward to the final chapter.
I would agree with that opinion. And I apply it to a lot of Scripture.
I see a lot of people get hung up (especially with Revelation) on the question of if it already happened or if it points to something yet future. And I think the most natural reading, especially with the sheer Jewishness of the book, is that it's both.