Hello presidente,
Yes Simeon and Anna prophecied around the year 0 about the imminent coming of the Messiah. There is I believe a 400-450 year gap between the book of Malachi and them when God did not provide any new Revelation.
Hello biblestudent. I personally believe the book of Daniel was written much earlier than that. The Historical information in the book of Daniel has been proved to be of greater reliability than secular Historians like Herodotus. I believe my point stands, there is a period between the Old and New Testaments when no new Revelation was given and there is now a period since the book of Revelation when no new Canonical Revelation has been given. God bless you both have a good week.
Fillan: As I have noted, some Hebrew Bible prophecies were written after the fact, looking back and pretending they were forecasting the future. This is especially true about the book of Daniel that has both old stories about the Babylonian captivity written much later and additions to the book of Daniel attempting to leverage the older stories with later prophecies couched in the past.
Scholars date the last chapters of the book of Daniel to the second century BCE because the text accurately describes real historical events up to 167 BCE and then incorrectly predicts how King Antiochus IV Epiphanes would die.
Main Reasons for the Second-Century Date Accurate history up to 167 BCE: The book describes the wars and political actions of the Greek ruler Antiochus IV with precise detail. Historians note this looks like a report of past events rather than a prediction of the future.
Failed final prediction: The text claims that Antiochus IV will die in the Middle East near the Holy Land. In reality, the king died in Persia in 164 BCE, showing the author lived through the earlier events but guessed wrong about the end. Language and vocabulary: The Hebrew and Aramaic text contains late Persian and Greek loanwords. These words did not exist in the sixth century BCE when Daniel was supposed to live in Babylon. Placement in the Bible: The Hebrew Bible places Daniel in the Writings section instead of the Prophets. This placement indicates the book was written after the collection of prophetic books was already closed.
Books Updated and Reinterpreted as Prophecy Book Original Layer / Context Later Updates & Prophetic Framing
Isaiah Eighth-century BCE oracles (Chapters 1–39) warning Judah of Assyrian aggression.
Deutero-Isaiah (Ch. 40–55) and Trito-Isaiah (Ch. 56–66) were added centuries later by anonymous exilic/post-exilic scribes. They update the book to predict the rise of Cyrus the Great, the end of the Babylonian exile, and a cosmic future restoration.
Zechariah - Historical visions of the 6th-century BCE prophet regarding the rebuilding of the Second Temple (Chapters 1–8). Deutero-Zechariah (Ch. 9–14) consists of late, anonymous apocalyptic oracles. These layers updated the historical text with eschatological prophecies concerning a warrior king, the final siege of Jerusalem, and global judgment.
Amos - Raw, eighth-century BCE oracles targeting the social injustice of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
Scribes edited the text during the Babylonian exile, adding the final "Deuteronomistic" salvation oracle (Amos 9:11–15). This post-exilic epilogue updated Amos’s strict doom into a hopeful prophecy about rebuilding the fallen tent of David.
Micah - Pre-exilic social critiques focused primarily on the immediate destruction of Samaria and Jerusalem.
Post-exilic scribes added liturgical and hopeful expansions, notably the famous peace prophecy in Micah 4 (shared with Isaiah) and the liturgical prayer in Micah 7. These later additions transformed a book of immediate local warning into a sweeping prophecy of ultimate restoration.
It is strange that you introduced Herodotus as he does not list the Belshazzar as any King in Babylon which the book of Daniel does.
The Twelve (Minor Prophets) Separate historical scrolls written by individual prophets over several centuries. Late Persian-era scribes deliberately bound these twelve booklets into a single, unified macro-scroll. They added linking catchwords and editorial glosses to force the distinct historical messages to read as a single, multi-phased prophecy culminating in the Day of the Lord.
Thus, the late additions to Daniel, pretending an earlier prediction, is totally consistent with other Hebrew Bible books that have gone through the same later addition and reformulation. If one can claim "inspiration" for the original versus, one can also claim "inspiration" to those who later modified the earlier scrolls.
The Greek Additions to the Book of Daniel consist of three distinct narrative and poetic sections found in ancient Greek versions like the Septuagint and Theodotion's translation. While excluded from the Hebrew Masoretic Text and modern Protestant Bibles, they are fully accepted as canonical Scripture in Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox traditions only. They are in the Bible for these majority of Christians who have ever lived, but not in the Protestant versions.
The specific contents, structure, and placement of these three additions include:1. The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children Placement: Inserted directly inside Chapter 3, between verses 23 and 24. It expands upon the narrative of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego inside the fiery furnace.
Specific Contents:The Penitential Prayer: Azariah (Abednego's Hebrew name) prays from inside the fire. He confesses the sins of Israel, acknowledges God's justice in delivering them into captivity, and begs for divine mercy.The Deliverance Narrative: A brief prose passage describes the Babylonian executioners fueling the furnace until the flames surge 49 cubits high. An angel of the Lord descends, strikes the flames out of the furnace, and creates a cool, wind-swept moisture in the center, leaving the youths unharmed.
The Song of Praise: A liturgical hymn of praise sung in unison by all three men. It calls upon all of creation—angels, heavens, waters, sun, stars, weather, and humanity—to bless, praise, and exalt God forever
Daniel’s Intervention: As she is led away, God inspires a young youth named Daniel. He halts the procession and demands a proper trial. He separates the two elders and cross-examines them individually, asking each under which tree they caught Susanna. One names a mastic tree; the other names an evergreen oak. Their conflicting lies expose the conspiracy, Susanna is vindicated, the elders are executed, and Daniel establishes his reputation for divinely inspired wisdom.
Bel and the DragonPlacement: Positioned as an epilogue at the very end of the book, making up Chapter 14.Specific Contents: This section contains two distinct, independent tales of Daniel outwitting Babylonian idolatry:The Deception of Bel: King Cyrus challenges Daniel to explain why he doesn't worship the great idol Bel, noting that the deity consumes massive amounts of flour, oil, and 40 sheep every night. Daniel claims the idol is just clay and bronze. To settle it, the King seals the temple doors. Daniel secretly scatters ashes across the floor. The next morning, the food is gone, but Daniel shows the King the footprints left by the priests and their families who snuck in through a hidden trapdoor. The priests are executed, and the temple is destroyed.The Slaughter of the Great Dragon: The Babylonians also worship a massive living dragon or serpent. Daniel tells the King he can kill it without a sword or club. He cooks a mixture of pitch, fat, and hair into cakes and feeds them to the beast. The dragon eats them and bursts open.The Lions' Den (Extended): Enraged by the destruction of their gods, the locals force Cyrus to throw Daniel into a lions' den containing seven starved lions for six days. God miraculously preserves Daniel. Furthermore, an angel picks up the prophet Habakkuk in Judea by his hair, flies him to Babylon to deliver a bowl of stew to Daniel, and flies him right back. On the seventh day, the King finds Daniel alive, proclaims the greatness of God, and throws Daniel’s accusers into the den, where they are instantly eaten.
