Question:

Is there any evidence against the theory that the book of Daniel was written by two people or multiple people? Also I assume that you know about the discovery of Daniel’s three friends in a list of Babylonian officials.  I was wondering why Daniel’s name was not found in the list of Babylonian officials, Wouldn’t it be likely that daniel being a high babylonian offficial would be listed in this list?

Answer:

I assume you have read my book on Daniel, “Daniel, Prophet to the Nations.”   If you have not, you should get a copy.  It is available at www.ipibooks.com.

About your question, no I have never heard about a discovery of Daniel’s three friends in a list of Babylonian officials.   I was surprised to hear of this from you, as I tend to keep up pretty well with such things.   I did some looking around and cannot confirm this.  Of course, you are probably right, but I could not find a reference to this discovery.  Where did you hear about it?  Can you give me a reference or a source so I can look it up and evaluate the discovery?   I am afraid I cannot comment on that and cannot comment on the inclusion or lack of inclusion of Daniel in the list, as I have not seen the material.   I believe that Daniel held a different position from Shadrach Meshach and Abednego–probably a significantly higher position than his friends.  Evidence for this is that he was not in the city during the events of Daniel 3.  It is likely he was on a diplomatic or other mission for Nebuchadnezzar at the time.  More evidence is that Nebuchadnezzar clearly thought of him as more important (Ch 4), as did Belshazzar in Daniel 5, and Darius the Mede in Ch. 6.  All the evidence makes it not surprising that if S, M and A were on a list of officials, Daniel would be on a different list, as he was in a considerably different level in the government.

As for the author of Daniel, I believe that it is fairly obvious there are at least two authors of the final version of Daniel.  This is “obvious” to me because in parts, Daniel refers to himself as “I” and at other times he is referred to as “he.”   Of course it is possible for a person to use the third person for himself, but a simple reading has material written by Daniel, as well as historical and editorial comments by another Jewish author.  The existence of Aramaic and Hebrew sections of the book supports but does not prove this.  Also, Nebuchadnezzar is an author of part of the book.  A straightforward reading of chapter four has Nebuchadnezzar the author of this chapter.  Therefore, I believe that there are at least three authors whose material is found in the book.  I would not be surprised if there were more than three authors–Daniel, a contemporary Jewish author, Nebuchadnezzar and a later Jewish editor who put the book in its final form, although putting a fourth author in there is fairly speculative.

John Oakes