Gide. I'm Gary Stevens.

And welcome to the second series of the History in the Bible podcast.

More of the history in more of the books in all the Bibles.

Episode 2.13. Grappling with the Greeks Part 4

Daniel entered the book of parables.

In the last episode, I left the history of the province of Judah

of the death of Jonathan Maccabeyas, who had led his country to the very brink of

independence, only to be treacherously murdered by his selecid enemies in 143 BC, 24 years into the

Maccabian insurrection. It is time to take a break from the history and investigate the apocalyptic book

of Daniel, which was written sometime during the revolt, and that part of First Enoch called

the Book of Parables. Both books are crucial links between the rich thought of Second Temple

Judaism and Christianity.

The Book of Daniel, Daniel, enormously influenced Christianity, but had almost no impact on

Judaism. The book of Daniel is a very odd beast indeed. The first half claims to be an account of pious young

Jews suffering in the Babylonian exile. Here we find the stories we all know, folk tales of the

brave Jew Daniel and his three companions who are thrown into the fiery furnace and into the lion's den.

It is a story of Daniel, the dream interpreter, the man who sees the writing on the wall,

and speaks truth to power. The second half of the book is radically different,

the only full-blown apocalypse in the Old Testament.

According to Christian tradition, those final chapters are an explicit prophecy of the coming of

Jesus, the Son of Man. Daniel is quoted extensively throughout the New Testament.

Jews and Christians have quite different opinions as to the book's importance.

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