"proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95% of the text. The 5% of variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations of spelling." (Geisler, Norman and Nix, William. A General introduction to the Bible. Moody Press. 1973. p. 261.   That is the result of meticulous, accurate copying by the Jewish scribes down through time. This should give us great confidence in the message and accuracy of what we read.     Book of Daniel. The book of Daniel is one of the most significant books in the Old Testament since it predicts the rise and fall of four major historic empires: (Babylon (605-539 BC), Media-Persia (539-331 BC), Greece (331-146 BC), Rome (146 BC-A.D. 476) and it predicts the date of Jesus' life and death (2 B.C.-AD 33). The time of the writing, or date, of Daniel is also the most controversial of the Old Testament books. Lets look at the evidence for the date of the writing of the book of Daniel. The issue before us is whether Daniel was written before these events occurred?     --- Dead Sea Scroll Date. When was Daniel written? The Dead Sea Scrolls provide the first proof that the book of Daniel existed before 165 BC since Daniel was found among the manuscripts at Qumran. This early date is the result of radiocarbon dating of the Dead Sea manuscripts of Daniel. They imply that earlier copies of the book with older dates already existed. This is important because Daniel predicted the fall of Babylon (605-539 B.C.), Media-Persia (539-331 B.C.), Greece (331-146 B.C.) and then Rome (331-146 B.C.). Daniel also predicts the time of Jesus’ death (33 A.D.). The Dead Sea Scrolls prove that at least one prophecy, the prophecy about Jesus’ existence on earth is real.     --- The Septuagint. There is another proof that the book of Daniel existed before Jesus was alive on this earth. This proof involves the Septuagint, which is also known as the LXX. The LXX is a Greek translation of the Old Testament. Jewish tradition says that seventy scribes translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek between 285 BC and 247 BC. Since the Septuagint contains the book of Daniel, we know the book of Daniel existed even earlier in time.     --- Book of Josephus. Josephus states the book of Daniel was shown to Alexander the Great when he approached the city of Jerusalem (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI, chap VIII, section 5). History says that Alexander the Great approached Jerusalem around 331 BC. This means the book of Daniel existed before this event. It predicted that Jerusalem would be conquered by Greece. Some critics will accept Josephus’ other accounts as being accurate yet dispute this fact.     --- The Jewish Tradition. Long standing Jewish tradition says the book of Daniel existed before 450 BC. While this is not solid proof, it is consistent with the next fact.     --- Ezekiel's Reference. Most critics widely accept the book of Ezekiel as being written between 586 BC and 538 BC. What is fascinating is that the author, Ezekiel, refers to Daniel in Ezekiel 14:14, 20. This implies that Daniel was alive during his time. Daniel claims to be the author (Daniel 12:4) of the book which bears his name and to have lived during the life of Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 1-2) and Darius (Dan. 9:1). This implies that Daniel was a contemporary of Ezekiel and lived to see the fall of Babylon (Dan. 5:30-31).         < Back   Next >
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