Daniel 5:30 “In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain.”
Daniel 7:1 “In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon”
Daniel 8:1 “In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar.”
Those are the scriptural givens. Daniel 7 and 8 were obviously written before chapter 5, so Daniel is unarguably out of chronological order. Now look at this . . .
Daniel 6:1 “It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps.”
Daniel 9:1 “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes.”
Daniel was “daily in the king’s court,” second ruler in the land, obviously a master of court protocol, so he would never have started writing about a king before telling the reader who that king was. In Daniel 9, Darius is introduced. In Daniel 6, the readers already know who Darius is, so Daniel 9 was written before Daniel 6.
In Daniel 12:4, God tells Daniel to “seal and conceal the words of this book.” in Daniel 12:9, we read, “these words are sealed and concealed until the time of the end.” Now Daniel could not rewrite what the Holy Spirit had inspired, but he had to do something to obey the command of 12:4. So it appears that Daniel put his visions out of chronological order. Here is their original chronological order . . .
1. Introduction, ch.1, in Hebrew.
2. The great image, ch.2, in Chaldee.
3. the fiery furnace, ch.3 in Chaldee.
4. Nebuchadnezzar goes insane, ch.4, in Chaldee
5. The four Beasts (now ch.7) in Chaldee.
6. The Two Beasts (now ch.8) in Chaldee.
7, Belshazzar dies., ch.5, in Chaldee.
8. The 70 weeks, ch.9, in Hebrew.
9. Daniel in the lion’s den, ch. 6, in Chaldee.
10. Two Empires, ch 10-12 in Hebrew.
That is from irrefutable scriptural evidence! When Daniel put his chapters out of order, as we now see in the Bible, Daniel accomplished two things:
First: he put the Hebrew chapters separate from the Chaldee chapters, clearly showing that Daniel indeed had two audiences: (1) the Gentile nations who would control the holy land into the distant future (2) the future of the Jewish people during that same. So Daniel is bifidic and his prophecies to Gentiles and Jews are primarily about same “the time of the Gentiles.”
Second: it can be shown beyond reasonable doubt that Daniel actually does have 2 chiasms, the first a three-part in Chaldee to the Gentiles, second a two-part in Hebrew to the Jews. Neither would have been formed if Daniel had not been put out of order!
A ch.2, The Great Image 4 Gentile Empires
B ch.3, The Fiery Furnace God's People in Tribulation
C ch.4, Nebuchadnezzar Insane Gentile Rulers Judged
C ch.5, Belshazzar Killed Gentile Rulers Judged
B ch.6, The Lions Den God's People in Tribulation
A ch.7,The Four Beasts 4 Gentile Empires
The four empires in the great image are the same as the four empires of the four beasts, foretelling who would control the holy land during “the time of the Gentiles.” The fiery furnace and the lion’s den are both about God’s chosen people in tribulation during the “time of the Gentiles.” Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar being judged are still future, symbolic of God’s final judgment on those who desecrated his Temple Mount and made His people suffer.
And I think I’ll start a new thread with this, titled “Daniel’s 1st Chiasm.” If It does nothing else, it will keep Zone busy. <grin>
