At first thought, the task of summarizing the theological message of the book of Daniel is daunting. After all, the two halves of the book seem so different and the apocalyptic visions so complex.
Nonetheless, while the book is theologically rich and incapable of exhaustive description, there is a clear message that rings through every chapter of the book. God is sovereign. He overrules and eventually will overcome human evil . This theme is found in both parts of the book.
The initial six stories (chs. 1-6) are admittedly set in a more friendly environment than the second part. The text’s attitude toward the gentile rulers is, for the most part, favorable. However, many of the stories contain either a real or threatened danger to God’s people represented by Daniel and his three friends, and in any case, the Exile looms over the heads of the characters throughout.
In the first half of the book, we see God intervening in the historical circumstances of the characters and delivering them from danger and even using their distress to further their own careers and power. Daniel 6 is a case in point. It is not Darius, but rather his jealous satraps who plot to endanger the hero’s life. They trap the king in a situation where he must impose the death penalty on Daniel. Daniel is thrown to the lions, while the king spends the night in anguish. The next morning Darius rushes to the den and discovers that Daniel has survived. God has intervened by sending an angel to “shut the mouths of the lions” (6:21).
God can overrule evil and bring justice. The evil plotters themselves receive the death penalty that they tried to impose on Daniel (6:24), and the king praises Daniel’s God (6:26-27).
In summary, the stories are a tract directed to the people of God on how to act in times of oppression. The stories are similar to the Joseph narrative and the book of Esther, two books that have been correctly compared to wisdom literature. All three clearly embody and illustrate principles that the sages teach in Proverbs. Daniel is the prototypical wiseman who knows how to handle himself in front of potentially hostile kings. All biblical narrative has a didactic edge to it (Longman 1987, 70), but Daniel especially so.
The second half of the book of Daniel also addresses the people of God as they live under oppression and even persecution. However, here God’s deliverance is more a future hope than a historical reality. Even in the first half of the book, Daniel and his three friends realize that their salvation and vindication may not take place immediately. In a deeply profound statement, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego express their deep trust in God, though they might even die in the fiery furnace: “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (Dan. 3:16-18). They recognize that they might be burned alive, but nonetheless they trust that God will care for them. They are to be obedient.
The book of Daniel teaches that this warfare between the evil kingdom of man and the good kingdom of God (which includes righteous men and women) takes place on both the heavenly and earthly spheres (Dan. 10:12-14). While Daniel lived and prophesied, the people of God were oppressed and downtrodden, but the message of Daniel’s prophecy is that the kingdom of God will be victorious. This victory will be both certain and complete. Speaking of the boastful single horn that culminates the first half of the vision (7:8), the angel interprets:
But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him. (Dan. 7:26-27)
In summary, the message of Daniel fits into the message of the whole Old Testament, indeed the whole Bible. God is at war with evil and without a doubt will overcome evil. This message brought comfort to the faithful in Israel in Daniel’s day and does so today as well.
Unfortunately, though, Christian interest in the book of Daniel has too often become obsessed with the puzzle of the time schemes in the book. Do the seventy “sevens” (Dan. 9:25-27) or the 1,335 days (12:11-12) give us a chronological blueprint? Does the book of Daniel tell us when the end time will come?
The obviously highly figurative context in which these numbers occur as well as the New Testament warnings that no man knows the time of the end (Mark 13:32-36; Acts 1:7-8) should keep us from becoming dogmatic in our interpretation of these numbers. Mickelsen (1984, 186) put it best when he said, “Apocalyptic time measurements (highly symbolic) simply provide a framework for important truths for Daniel and his people, and they are not meant to convey exact time periods.”