Daniel (Pt 10): Porphry was an Idiot

The first critic who dismissed Daniel as a pseudo-forgery from the 2nd century B.C. was a Neo-Platonic philosopher (read goofball).

This jerk (reportedly an 'ex-Christian': read - never got it), saw clearly that one of the strongest arguments for Christianity was the prophecy of the Messiah in Daniel.

So he proposed that Daniel wasn't really Daniel at all, but a 2nd century Jewish forger who faked all his prophecies by posing history as prophecy.

This required Porphry to date the book as late as possible (c. 165 BC),
and claim that all the descriptions were in fact prophecies about the Maccabean Revolt.

Of course even Porphry was aware that the book of Daniel also prophesied the Roman Empire as one of FOUR Empires, extending his prophetic vision far into the future and beyond 165 B.C.

Thus it wasn't enough to argue that Daniel chapter 8 was mere history.
Porphyry had to get rid of the Statue in Daniel Chapter 2.

our previous chart showed how Porphyry developed his own system for interpreting the difficult problem of the Four Empires, and mentioned that this nonsense was also adopted by modern critics, starting in about the 18th century.

In this new chart, the juxtaposition of the three different prophecies under consideration shows that even when we date the Book of Daniel as late as 165 B.C., this date slices through the middle of all three prophecies.

Thus the solution doesn't solve the problem.

More than this however, this still doesn't leave us free to adopt any old dating for Daniel.  Because as the chart also shows, the Hebrew Canon was closed around 330 B.C., with Daniel in existence and included, and this is not easily refuted.

Furthermore, even the later Hebrew books like the Writings were all being translated into Greek well before the cut-off date (165 BC) being proposed.

And if the Book of Daniel was translated into Greek (in any condition) prior to the Maccabean revolt, it could not have been composed during that time to encourage persecuted Jews, nor could it contain the detailed description of that severe persecution (if the critics' theory of no prophecy allowed is maintained).

Josephus and Philo also mention the translation of the LXX, and for our purposes it matters not whether the Letter or Aristeas is fake, or whether Josephus is off on his dates.   There is no way that loyal Jews were going to be happily translating Hebrew into Greek during the violent war and rebellion against imposed Greek cultural invasion.  Nor would they be enthusiastic about it after this period, when they finally won their autonomy for a spell.

Its also humorous to note that Porphyry died in 305 A.D., just before Constantine decided to convert the Empire into Christianity.

So he missed the most important event of the 4th century A.D.,
another prophecy of Daniel.

Daniel (Pt 9): The Emperor Has No Pants!

We are now in a position to diagram what the skeptics and critics
do to the Book of Daniel and its prophecies.

The earliest the Book of Daniel can have been completed (by Daniel) is 535 B.C.

The latest the Book of Daniel could have been compiled is admitted to be 167 B.C.,
because most importantly, the book is known to have been in circulation in the Maccabean period,
and is independently quoted and referenced by various authors in that time.
Finally, it was already translated into Greek (the LXX) by about this time (167 B.C.)

It is said by critics to cover events up to the Maccabean period
and is said to have been written to encourage Jews in that time of persecution.

Skeptics date the book at the latest possible point for two basic reasons:

(1) Prophecy is impossible as an axiom.

(2) All the contents posed as prophecy can be assumed to be historical,
and be dated to before this time (167 B.C.),


which is how the critics explain why the book appears to be an accurate prophetic book.

However, the flaws with these axioms are obvious.

The most glaring problem is that Axiom (2) can really only explain
the contents of Daniel chapter 8, and perhaps some of 11 and 12.

The prophecy of Daniel chapter 2 remains a massive stumbling block to
skeptics, because it appears to predict the Roman Empire, which would
then again be a prophecy, so Axiom (1) fails.

The solution for critics is to simply eliminate one Empire (the Roman), and pretend that
the Greek Empire counts for TWO Empires.
That is, Alexander himself is one whole kingdom (the "Third Empire"),
and all the Greek rulers who followed count as the "Fourth Empire".

The "Iron Legs" move over to position 3, and so Empires 3 and 4
are squeezed into the spot just before the latest possible date that
the book can be given.

Voila! The Emperor has no Pants!

Daniel (pt 8): Overview with Daniel 2

In the 2nd chapter of Daniel, the first Dream is given of the Statue of four/five parts:

Head of Gold (Babylon)
Chest of Silver (Media-Persia)
Loins of Brass (Greece)
Legs of Iron (Rome)
Feet of Iron/Clay Mixture (Post-Roman Broken Empire)

And of course the Stone from Heaven, the Kingdom made without Hands (Christianity)

Again we offer a High resolution and Low resolution version
for online viewing and zooming in:

Its both remarkable and important that the kingdoms are not named until
years later (in chapters 7, 8, 9 of Daniel), and are fleshed out in later visions.

Nonetheless there is no doubt at all about the intended identities of these empires:

Click for Large Version

Daniel, AFTER surviving the fall of Babylon to the Media-Persians, certainly knows
who the Second 'Kingdom' (Media-Persia) is, and the angel now names both
Persia and the following Third 'Kingdom' (Greece) in chapter 8:20-21.

It seems natural that Daniel is told of their identity at a point in history when
they are now known to exist and their names have become known.

Even so, this is a remarkable prophecy since Daniel receives a prophecy of
WHO will replace the Persian Empire (which he could hardly be certain of
by normal means, and would not even live to witness), namely the Grecian Empire.
Even at this late point in time (circa 535 B.C.) several contenders for succession would be possible.