Page 29 - Daniel

Persian words similar to that of the papyri of the 5th century B.C.;
whereas, it differs in composition from the Aramaic of the Nabateans,
which is devoid of Persian, Hebrew, and Babylonian words, and is full

of Arabisms, and also from that of the Palmyrenes, which is full of
Greek words, while having but one or two Persian words, and no
Hebrew or Babylonian. 28

Wilson finds the textual problems are no different from those of other
books whose genuineness has not been assailed. While problems of text
continue in the book of Daniel as in many other books in the Old
Testament, these problems in themselves are not sufficiently supported

by factual evidence to justify disbelief in the present text of Daniel. As
with many other arguments against Daniel, the presuppositions of the
higher critics that lead to these arguments are in themselves suspect; and
the widespread disagreement among the critics as to the nature and
extent of the textual problems tends to support the conclusion that they
are invalid.

Problems of Language

Critics have objected to the presence of various Greek and Persian
words in the book of Daniel as if this proved a late date. As brought out

in the exposition of Daniel 3 where a number of these Persian and Greek
words are found, in the light of archeological discoveries this objection
is no longer valid. It has now been proved that one hundred years before
Daniel, Greek mercenaries served in the Assyrian armies under the
command of Esarhaddon (683 B.C.) as well as in the Babylonian army of
29
Nebuchadnezzar. Wilson has said if Daniel had been written in the
second century, there would have been far more Greek words than the
30
few that occur. Yamauchi has also shown that critical objections to
Greek words in Daniel are without foundation. 31

The use of Persian words is certainly not strange in view of the fact
that Daniel lived in the early years of the Persian Empire and served as
one of its principal officials. He naturally would use contemporary
Persian description of various officials in chapter 3 in an effort to update
the understanding of these offices for those living after the Persian