Page 28 - Daniel

the essential weakness of such an argument from silence. Rather,
apocalyptic writings extended over a long period. Conservative
scholarship, while admitting the apocalyptic character of the book of
Daniel, rejects this as a valid ground for questioning the sixth-century
authorship and therefore the genuineness of the book.

Rejection of Miracles

If Daniel is to be considered spurious on the ground that it presents

miracles, it would follow that most of the Scriptures would also be
eliminated as valid inspired writings. The objection to miracles reveals
the essentially naturalistic point of view of some of the critics. Daniel’s
miracles are no more unusual than some of those attributed to Christ in
the Gospels, to Elijah in the book of 1 Kings, or to Moses and Aaron in
the Pentateuch. Indeed, the deliverance of Daniel’s three companions in
Daniel 3 and of Daniel himself in Daniel 6 is no more unusual than

Christ passing through the mob that was threatening to throw Him over
a cliff (Luke 4:29–30) or Peter’s deliverance from prison (Acts 12:5–11).
In the biblical context, the rejection of a book because of miraculous
incidents must be judged invalid.

Textual Problems

Critics have raised textual problems almost without number in relation
to the book of Daniel. But they have also contradicted each other,
testifying to the subjective character of these criticisms. Critics have
especially concentrated on the Aramaic portions, alleging many
redactions and various degrees of tampering with the text; but there is

wide divergence in their findings. Wilson, probably the outstanding
authority on ancient languages of the Middle East in his day,
summarized his findings in these words,

We claim, however, that the composite Aramaic of Daniel agrees in
almost every particular of orthography, etymology and syntax with
the Aramaic of the North Sem inscriptions of the 9th, 8th and 7th

cents. B.C. and of the Egypt papyri of the 5th cent. B.C., and that the
vocabulary of Daniel has an admixture of Hebrew, Babylonian and