QUESTION:

Is there any evidence aganst the idea that Daniel 7:1-12:13( the section of daniel that is written in the first person) was not a part of the original book of daniel,but was written dering the maccabean wars and then added to the original text( the section of daniel that is written in the third person?)

Answer:

As far as I know, there is no viable evidence against Daniel 7:1-12:13 being part of the original Daniel, which was a book written some time in the sixth or fifth century BC. Those who make this point do so for theological reasons, principally. They assume that the Bible is NOT the inspired word of God and that, therefore, obviously, Daniel 7 and Daniel 11 MUST have been written after the fact. This is circular reasoning and does not amount to evidence to support the conclusion. I list the evidence for the early date of Daniel in my book “Daniel, Prophet to the Nations.” I strong urge you to get a copy of this book from www.ipibooks.com. The “evidence” I have heard for a later date for Daniel (ie. after 164 BC) is supposed historical errors in Daniel (of which there are in fact absolutely none) and linguistic arguments. For example, the fact that there are a few Greek words in Daniel is used as “evidence” it was written after the Greeks controlled Palestine. This “evidence” is simply bogus. The only Greek words in Daniel are the words for musical instruments in Daniel 3. Obviously, when two cultures come into contact, the word for musical instrument which do not exist in the other culture are some of the first words incorporated into the other language. The evidence from Greek language in Daniel supports the 6th or 5th century BC (or possibly the 4th, but definitely not the 2nd century BC). The Aramaic in Daniel has also been proposed as evidence for a late date, but experts in Aramaic simply do not support this conclusion. Daniel is the inspired word of God–plain and simple. In my opinion, the very poor quality of arguments for a later date for the book is some of the strongest evidence FOR and earlier date and for the book being inspired by God.

Add to this the fact that Daniel 7 prophesies events in the late first century AD, and Daniel 9 prophesies events in about AD 30. How are these propheies explained by those who have a preassumption that Daniel is not inspired. Add to this the fact that we have Daniel manuscripts in the Dead Sea Scrolls in the second century and that Daniel was included in the Septuagint translations.

As for 1st vs 3rd person, it is apparent that a later editor/writer collected the book that we call Daniel.  I have proposed that this editor did so some time in either the very late 6th century or some time in the 5th century BC.  This is why Daniel is occasionally referred to in the third person, as the editor is summarizing writings about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

Let us put aside these bogus arguments that Daniel was written post-164 BC, the time of Antiochus Epiphanes.

John Oakes