Wise Daniel reduced to pagan mythic hero
by Damien F. Mackey
“Danel, famous for his goodness and wisdom, is known to us from the Ras Shamra texts.” The Jerusalem Bible
Daniel the Wise versus Danel the Rapha-man
We well know of young Daniel’s legendary wisdom, and the vision and courage, also, of his three friends.
The contemporary prophet Ezekiel certainly knew of the reputation of Daniel, his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream, thus challenging the boastful King of Tyre with these ironic words (Ezekiel 28:3):
“Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you!”
We know.
Ezekiel knew.
Ezekiel, also spelled Ezechiel (/ɪˈziːkiəl/; Hebrew: יְחֶזְקֵאל, romanized: Yəḥezqēl [jə.ħɛzˈqeːl]; Koinē Greek: Ἰεζεκιήλ, romanized: Iezekiḗl [i.ɛ.zɛ.kiˈel]), was an Israelite priest. The Book of Ezekiel, relating his visions and acts, is named after him.
Unfortunately, modern exegetes do not know.
Let me explain:
Identity of the ‘Daniel’ in Ezekiel 14 and 28
In scriptural commentaries and Bibles, the name “Daniel” has been replaced by “Danel”.
Authorized King James Version vs. New Bible versions – Library of Rickandria
And some commentators or translators have no intention of indicating the prophet Daniel by their use of this name, “Danel”.
Daniel (Aramaic and Hebrew: דָּנִיֵּאל, romanized: Dānīyyēʾl, lit.‘God is my Judge’; Greek: Δανιήλ, romanized: Daniḗl; Arabic: دانيال, romanized: Dāniyāl) is the main character of the Book of Daniel. According to the Hebrew Bible, Daniel was a noble Jewish youth of Jerusalem taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, serving the king and his successors with loyalty and ability until the time of the Persian conqueror Cyrus, all the while remaining true to the God of Israel. While some conservative scholars hold that Daniel existed and his book was written in the 6th century BCE, most scholars agree that Daniel, as depicted in the Book of Daniel, was not a historical figure, wherein the character was probably based on a similar legendary Daniel from earlier traditions. It follows that much of the book is a cryptic allusion to the reign of the 2nd century BCE Hellenistic king Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
Speaking as God’s mouthpiece, the prophet Ezekiel says in relation to the kingdom of Judah (14:13-14):
Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:
Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD.
Six verses further on, Ezekiel reiterates this point with a slight variation (14:19-20):
Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
Ezekiel refers again to “Daniel” in chapter 28, when he scorns the proud King of Tyre by unfavorably comparing his purported wisdom with that of “Daniel”(vv. 1-3):
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee:
This being a reference to the young Daniel’s not only having interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream but actually having revealed its contents as well (Daniel 2).
Nebuchadnezzar II, also Nebuchadrezzar II, meaning “Nabu, watch over my heir”, was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling from the death of his father Nabopolassar in 605 BC to his own death in 562 BC. Often titled Nebuchadnezzar the Great, he is regarded as the empire’s greatest king, famous for his military campaigns in the Levant and their role in Jewish history, and for his construction projects in his capital of Babylon, including the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Ruling for 43 years, Nebuchadnezzar was the longest-reigning king of the Babylonian dynasty. By the time of his death, he was among the most powerful rulers in the world.
Traditionally, commentators – including the Church Fathers – have identified Ezekiel’s “Daniel” with the prophet Daniel (after whom a book of the Bible is named); the young Jewish noble whom the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar … carried off into captivity in the 3rd year of King Jehoiakim of Judah (c. 605 B.C, conventional dating).
Jehoiakim, also sometimes spelled Jehoikim was the eighteenth and antepenultimate King of Judah from 609 to 598 BC. He was the second son of King Josiah (1 Chronicles 3:15) and Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. His birth name was Eliakim.
Fr. Leo Haydock, for instance, in his conservative commentary on Ezekiel 14 accompanying the Douay-Rheims Bible, clearly had the prophet Daniel in mind when he wrote:
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849) was a priest, pastor and Bible scholar from an ancient English Catholic Recusant family. His edition of the Douay Bible with extended commentary, originally published in 1811, became the most popular English Catholic Bible of the 19th century on both sides of the Atlantic. It remains in print and is still regarded for its apologetic value. Haydock’s eventful early years included a narrow scrape with the French Revolution and a struggle to complete his priestly studies in the years before Catholic Emancipation. He would go on to serve poor Catholic missions in rural England.
Miles Williams Mathis: The French Revolution – Library of Rickandria
“Noe [Noah] could not avert the deluge, nor Job the death of his children, neither could Daniel rescue his people from captivity.”
And again, in regard to Ezekiel 28:3 concerning the King of Tyre, Fr. Haydock commented:
Ver. 3 [Wiser than] Daniel; viz., in thy own conceit.
The wisdom of Daniel was so much celebrated in his days, that it became a proverb among the Chaldeans, when anyone would express an extraordinary wisdom, to say that he was as wise as Daniel. … – He [i.e. Daniel] was now at court and had explained the dream of Nabuchodonosor [Nebuchadnezzar]. Dan ii. 27.
So far, no problems.
The prophet Ezekiel obviously had in mind the famous prophet Daniel, who had become a high official in king Nebuchadnezzar’s court.
The Fathers of the Church accepted this interpretation.
And so has the general run of Scriptural scholars ever since – that is, until the modern era.
For today we find that the traditional identification of the “Daniel” in the Book of Ezekiel is no longer unanimously accepted amongst commentators.
Not only do we discover that in some scriptural commentaries and Bibles the name “Daniel” has been replaced by “Danel” (admittedly not necessarily a cause for panic linguistically speaking, since – loosely transliterated – “Danel” may be accepted as another way of writing “Daniel); but more seriously, that some commentators or translators have no intention of indicating the prophet Daniel by their use of this name, “Danel”.
Instead, they intend an entirely different character of ancient history or mythology; namely, a pagan king-hero of Syro-Canaanite mythology (known from texts discovered at Ugarit, which is modern Ras Shamra).
{Ugarit is my favored location for the lost ancient capital city of Akkad – the approximate region (Latakia) now recovering from Monday’s (6th February 2023) cataclysmic earthquake}.
Here I hope the reader will come to understand why this intrusive “Danel” cannot have been the person intended by the prophet Ezekiel; that the traditional view, that Ezekiel was intending the prophet “Daniel”, is the correct one, and that no other version ought to be admitted.
Some Modern Versions of Ezekiel
(i) The Jerusalem Bible (TJB)
The TJB translators of the Book of Ezekiel have opted for the name, “Danel”, instead of “Daniel”.
Thus we read:
“… and if in that country there were these three men, Noah Danel and Job, these men would have their lives spared …” (14:14)
And again:
“… if Noah and Danel and Job were in the country …” (14:20)
And finally:
“… You [the King of Tyre] are wiser now than Danel; there is no sage as wise as you …” (28:3)
Then TJB departs radically from tradition when, in a footnote to Ezekiel 14, it identifies this “Danel” with the pagan king of that name the hero of the Canaanite epic.
Thus, we are informed:
“14a. Danel, famous for his goodness and wisdom, is known to us from the Ras Shamra texts.”
By inference, we can assume that the translators of TJB also meant to equate the “Danel” of Ezekiel 38:3 with the same pagan king-hero from the Ras Shamra epic pertaining to this “Danel”.
(ii) The Jerome Biblical Commentary (TJBC)
Whereas, according to TJB the presumed “Danel” in Ezekiel is the same as the hero of the Ras Shamra epic, the TJBC is a little more restrained about its identification, using the word “Probably …”.
Unfortunately, nevertheless the TJBC also appears to dismiss the possibility that this “Danel” could have been the same as the Jewish prophet:
Inasmuch as Daniel (Hebr consonants d-n-‘-l, Danel, as in Ugaritic) is placed beside Noah and Job, he is probably a figure from antiquity known through popular tradition and not to be identified with the biblical Daniel.
Probably, although not necessarily, the reference is to Danel of ancient Ugarit, known for the effectiveness of his intercession with the gods, for attention to their desires, and as a righteous judge (ANET 150)”.
(iii) Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)
Although the English version of the CCC uses the phrase “Noah, Daniel, and Job” in relation to Ezekiel 14:14 (#58, p. 21), the French version – which is the original one – has:
“Noe, Danel et Job.”
According to the relevant part of the English text:
“The Bible venerates several great figures amongst the Gentiles:
Abel the just, the king-priest Melchizedek – a figure of Christ – and the upright “Noah, Daniel, and Job.”
The phrase “amongst the Gentiles”, in relation to this “Daniel”, could give the impression that Daniel was a Gentile, and not a Jew.
This impression would be reinforced by the French version, viz., “des nations”; especially after considering that it has been coupled with the spelling, “Danel”, rather than “Daniel”.
We believe that the French version of the CCC here strongly creates the impression that Ezekiel was intending reference to some non-Israelite figure of antiquity.
If so, that could not be the prophet Daniel, who was unquestionably of the kingdom of Judah.
(Cf. Daniel 1:3 and 2:25).
The ‘Danel’ of Ras Shamra
The rich epigraphic harvest of the French excavations of 1930-31 at the site of ancient Ugarit (Ras Shamra), a Syrian coastal town included a fragment belonging to an epic about a youth whose name is spelled ‘a-q-h-t and conventionally vocalized ‘Aqhat.
This text was first called the epic of Daniel, or Danel, for ‘Aqhat’s father, but on the one tablet of which the first line (containing the title of the composition to which the tablet belongs) is preserved, it reads “Pertaining to ‘Aqhat”, and closer study reveals that the text really talks about Daniel only what concerns ‘Aqhat.
As a gift from the gods, Danel and his wife receive a son, ‘Aqhat.
Later the gods give Danel a bow, which he in turn gives to ‘Aqhat, but the war-goddess Anath wants the bow and gets it by slaying ‘Aqhat.
The latter’s sister learns how her brother was slain.
Although the rest of the story is lost (at least so far), it may well terminate in keeping with the Tammuz-Adonis agricultural theme, i.e., ‘Aqhat would be restored to life for half of each year (cf. ANET 149-155).
Now here are some of the extracts pertaining to the character, Daniel, or Danel, from the “Tale of ‘Aqhat” (ibid.).
The reader will quickly realize that this Ugaritic hero is no sober prophet of Israel, nor any sort of monotheistic God-fearer, but a polytheist and a worshipper of Baal:
… Straightaway Daniel the Raph]a-man, …
Gives oblation to the gods to eat, Gives oblation to drink to the holy ones. …
But lo, on the seventh day, Baal approaches with his plea: ‘Unhappy is Daniel the Rapha-man, … Who hath no son like his brethren, ….
Wilt thou not bless him, O Bull El, my father, Beatify him, O Creator of Creatures?
So shall there be a son in his house, A scion in the midst of his palace:
Who sets up the stelae of his ancestral spirits, In the holy place the protectors of his clan …
Who takes him by the hand when he’s drunk, Carries him when he’s sated with wine’,
Consumes his funerary offering in Baal’s house, (Even) his potion in El’s house?’
After ‘Aqhat’s death, the story goes on to recount that:
“Daniel goes to his house …. He weeps for Aqhat the Youth, … But after seven years, [Daniel] the Rapha-[man] speaks up, …He] lifts up his voice and cries: … He ta[kes] sacrifice for the gods, Offers up a clan-offering to heaven, the clan-offering of Harnamiyy to the stars!”
And so, it goes on.
Hardly the kind of fare on which the biblical writers fed!
The whole story is also a far cry from the behavior demonstrated by the sober and God-fearing prophet Daniel (or any other Old Testament exemplars).
Daniel preferred to risk his life rather than to defile himself by eating and drinking
“the daily portion of the rich food which the king ate” (Daniel 1:5)
and who would rather endure being thrown into the lions’ den (cf. 6:16 and 14:31) than to cease worshipping his God in preference to worshipping the pagan gods of Babylon and Persia.
Who, or what, were the ancient gods? – Library of Rickandria
Why This New Identification of “Daniel”?
There are various reasons, I believe, as to why the prophet Daniel is now rejected by many as being the person whom the prophet Ezekiel intended.
Here I shall mention only a few of these, after which I shall comment briefly on them:
– One is the almost obsessive tendency of modern biblical scholars to demythologize the Scriptures, by insisting that the sacred writers had received their information from prevailing tales of pagan mythology.
It seems that if a myth can possibly be found to provide a so-called basis for ‘interpreting’ a Scriptural passage, then it will thus be seized upon.
– Two is that, because Daniel is grouped by Ezekiel with Noah and Job – both of whom are thought to have lived many centuries before the prophet Daniel – then Ezekiel must certainly have been intending someone other than the prophet Daniel.
– Three is that commentators consider the prophet Daniel (who was a contemporary of Ezekiel’s) to have been rather too young at the time of Ezekiel’s writing of his chapter 28 against the King of Tyre to have been able to have achieved the kind of world-wide fame that the “Daniel” in this chapter so obviously had achieved.
Regarding One, on the supposed precedence of mythology over the inspired texts, I have now shown in various articles that the conventional arrangement of ancient history is sorely in need of a revision.
The faulty chronology that conventional scholars of antiquity and biblical history have inherited leads them into arriving at all sorts of anomalous conclusions.
Thus we find that, for example, the account of Noah’s Flood is supposed to have been borrowed from the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh (also about a hero saved from a flood – every nation seems to have such a folklore in fact); that the story of the child Moses’s being placed in the river in a basket was borrowed from a similar tale about King Sargon of Akkad; and that likewise the Law (Torah) of Mount Sinai was inspired by the Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon.
Hammurabi (/ˌxæmʊˈrɑːbi/; Old Babylonian Akkadian: 𒄩𒄠𒈬𒊏𒁉, romanized: Ḫâmmurapi; c. 1810 – c. 1750 BC), also spelled Hammurapi, was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from c. 1792 to c. 1750 BC.
GILGAMESH – Library of Rickandria
Regarding Two, Ezekiel may not necessarily have had in mind a common era as his point of departure for grouping together:
- Noah
- Daniel
- Job
Rather, the common denominator distinguishing these three heroes for him was their righteousness amongst their contemporaries who had all apostatized.
One may obtain a clue to Ezekiel’s choice of grouping in this case by comparing it with a similar grouping provided by the prophet Jeremiah, who said:
“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My heart would not turn toward this people…’” (15:1)
No common era here!
Almost 500 years separated the prophet Samuel from his predecessor, Moses!
Yet this fact apparently did not perturb Jeremiah whose common denominator was, not era but the fact that both Moses and Samuel were Levites/ priests, who had extraordinary powers of intercession before God.
What I am getting at here is that both Jeremiah and Ezekiel had carefully chosen the named, famous characters in their respective groupings.
Jeremiah (Hebrew: יִרְמְיָהוּ, romanized: Yirmĭyāhu, lit.‘Yah shall raise’, Koinē Greek: Ἰερεμίας, romanized: Ieremíās; c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the “weeping prophet”, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with the assistance and under the editorship of Baruch ben Neriah, his scribe and disciple.
These were not just random selections.
Now, returning to Ezekiel 14, can we find any further commonality amongst:
- Noah
- Daniel
- Job
It appears that we can. Ezekiel, we recall, was in captivity in a foreign land because of his compatriots’ wickedness.
He – like Daniel – had been forced to leave Judah and to live amongst the Gentiles.
Noah too, because of the iniquity of the pre-Flood (antediluvian) world, had been forced to flee that world, overrun by water, and to start afresh in a new world (postdiluvian).
Job is a most obscure figure, both as to his nationality and to his era.
However, I have identified Job with Tobit’s son, Tobias, in the latter’s old age:
Job’s Life and Times – Library of Rickandria
There are many significant likenesses, as I have shown, between the two.
And, most suitably, we find that Tobias also had to leave his homeland of northern Israel, because of its iniquity, and dwell in Assyria.
Thus, we find a common thread in the life of these three Old Testament characters,
- Noah
- Daniel
- Job
As to Three, the point about Daniel’s being far too young at the time of Ezekiel’s prophesying to have earned a world-wide reputation as being a man of extraordinary wisdom, such a claim would seemingly indicate an ignorance of Scripture.
Daniel, when merely a boy or youth, had already made a name for himself amongst his own exiled people, and internationally (i.e., throughout the world-wide Babylonian Empire), owing to two famous incidents:
(a) The Case of Susanna
The incident in Daniel 13 in which Susanna, sentenced to death after having been falsely accused of adultery, was saved by the judicious intervention of young Daniel, is traditionally considered to have been the first great prophetic act by which Daniel acquired his fame, with Daniel being supposedly only about 12 years old at the time.
LOR:
There is no Chapter 13 in the Book of Daniel in the authorized version of the Bible, the King James.
THE AUTHORIZED BIBLE: KING JAMES VERSION (KJV) – Library of Rickandria
The new bible versions were written & edited by two known occultists, Westcott & Hort.
Authorized King James Version vs. New Bible versions – Library of Rickandria
That the incident had made Daniel famous is attested by Daniel 13:6:
“… Daniel became great in the sight of the people from that day [when he saved Susanna], and thence forward.”
(b) Nebuchednezzar’s Dream
When Daniel was yet still a youth, having been given by God:
“learning and skill in all letters and wisdom” (Daniel 1:17),
he not only interpreted King Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream, but first of all had to recall it for the king.
Afterwards, Nebuchadnezzar was so amazed with Daniel’s powers that he:
“… fell upon his face, and did homage to Daniel …. Then the king gave Daniel high honours and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.” (2:46, 48)
We need only to recall in addition that this Nebuchadnezzar ‘the Great’ was one of the most famous and potent kings of all antiquity.
The young Daniel is a far more interesting flesh-and-blood prospect than is the mythological ‘Danel’ of the Ugaritic myths.
Thus, there appears to be no serious problem whatsoever about the prophet Ezekiel, himself an exile in Babylon, knowing early about Daniel’s fame.
Nor should we wonder about his expecting the King of Tyre also to have been aware of Daniel’s wisdom; for Tyre was part of the Babylonian Empire, and Ezekiel’s prophecy against Tyre occurred about sixteen years after Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream.
Conclusion
There are absolutely no obstacles against the traditional view that Ezekiel had intended the prophet Daniel of the Book of Daniel in Ezekiel 14:14, 29 and 28:3.
It would be inconceivable that Ezekiel might have intended to hold up to his contemporaries, as a model of righteousness, an obscure pagan king-hero of the Canaanites.
CONTINUE
Pious exiled Jews given pagan names – Library of Rickandria
SAUCE
Wise Daniel reduced to pagan mythic hero