DANIEL, the fourth of the greater prophets, was born in Judea, of the tribe of Judah, about the 25th year of the reign of Josiah. He was led captive to Babylon, with other young Hebrew lords, after the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, who took them into his service. That prince gave them masters to instruct them in the language and sciences of the Chaldeans, and ordered them to be fed with the most delicate viands: but they, fearing that they should eat meat forbidden by the law of Moses, desired the king's officers to allow them only pulse. The wisdom and conduct of Daniel pleasing Nebuchadnezzar, that prince gave him several posts of honour. It is commonly believed, that this prophet, when but 12 years of age, made known the innocence of the chaste Susannah: but the learned are not agreed, that the young Daniel, who confounded the old men, was the same with this prophet. However, he explained Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the mysterious statue, which foretold the four great monarchies; on which account he was made prefect of the province of Babylon. In the reign of Darius, the king of the Medes, he refused to adore the golden statue of the king, and was cast into the lions den, when those beasts, though pinched with hunger, did him no manner of hurt. And he explained the characters written on the wall of the room where Belshazzar was feasting.
It is believed that Daniel died in Chaldea, and that he did not take advantage of the permission granted by Cyrus to the Jews of returning to their own country. St Epiphanius says he died at Babylon; and herein he is followed by the generality of historians.
The prophecies of Daniel concerning the coming of the Messiah, and the other great events of after-times, are so clear and explicit, that, as St Jerome tells us, Porphyry objected to them, that those which related to the kings of Syria and Egypt, chap. xi. must have been written after the time of Antiochus Epiphanes; whereas his prophecy was translated into Greek 100 years before his time, and the translation was in the hands of the Egyptians, who had no great kindness for the Jews and their religion. And those prophecies foretelling the success of Alexander, chap. viii. 5. xi. 3. were shown to Alexander by the Jews, in consequence of which they obtained several privileges from him; (Ant. lib. xi. c. 8.). The style of Daniel is not so lofty and figurative as that of the other prophets; it is clear and concise, and his narrations and descriptions simple and natural: in short, he writes more like a historian than a prophet.
The Jews do not reckon Daniel among the prophets; part of his book, that is, from the fourth verse of his second chapter to the end of the seventh chapter, was originally written in the Chaldee language; the reason of which was, that in that part he treats of the Chaldean or Babylonish affairs: all the rest of the books in Hebrew. The first six chapters of the book of Daniel are a history of the kings of Babylon, and what befel the Jews under their government. In the last six he is altogether prophetic, foretelling not only
Daniel, Danmonii, only what should happen to his own church and nation, but events in which foreign princes and kingdoms were concerned.