Commentary on Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18

Daniel 7, an apocalyptic vision of the end of human history, is a challenging text for both the preacher and the person in the pew. The Bible’s apocalyptic texts, whether in Daniel or Revelation, have a wild and untamed quality that makes them hard to handle.

The lectionary divides this chapter in such a way that it seems like the heart of the passage has been excised. But even these few verses from Daniel’s central vision might inspire confusion and distress. Apocalyptic visions transport the reader from the mundane world to the fantastical realm of the heavens, where God and the heavenly host clash with hostile forces. They confront the preacher with difficult symbols that defy simple interpretation. They locate the reader in a timescape that moves back and forth between past, future, and present, thus upending our linear sense of time. All of these elements can have a profoundly disorienting effect.

Moreover, apocalyptic ideas have spawned a complex legacy of interpretation. In the 1950s, German New Testament scholar Ernst Käsemann asserted that apocalypticism was the womb of Christian theology. This tradition has been used to shape a vision of a redemptive future, which in turn has inspired movements for change. But a wide array of Christian scholars and communities have treated apocalyptic ideas with deep suspicion because apocalyptic language “seems particularly prone to reactionary ideological distortion and violence.”¹

The preacher should also be aware of congregants who were raised with theologies in which the end times were imminent, creating a profound fear that they might be “left behind.” Lay people and students alike have shared stories of this kind with me as they talked about deconstructing and reconstructing their faith.

In the earlier chapters of the book, Daniel, a Jewish wise man trained in dream interpretation, is called upon to interpret the dreams of the Babylonian kings. In this chapter, however, Daniel shifts from being the interpreter to being the dreamer. He finds himself in the heavenly throne room, where he sees a cosmic conflict between the winds of heaven and the great sea and four beasts. His skills in dream interpretation fail him, and distress and terror overtake him.

We all know from our own experiences that the dream world is a dynamic and unstable place that frequently produces confusion, even when the dream is not a nightmare. In the ancient world, as sometimes in the modern one, dreams were viewed as revelatory, but they required scrutiny and an interpretive framework.

Cosmic conflict

What we learn from the interpreting angel is that the cosmic conflict is nothing less than God’s hidden work of managing the brutal empires and tyrants of the world. The biblical writers often use beasts to symbolize the destructive power of ancient Near Eastern empires. The imagery used in verses 4–8 of a lion (Babylonians), a bear (Medes), a leopard (Persians), and an unidentified fourth animal (Greeks) highlights the monstrous and predatory nature of these empires.

The description of the fourth animal—identified by scholars as the empire descending from Alexander the Great—is especially negative. This point of view might be surprising. Our Western educational systems usually idealize Alexander’s achievements and legacy. But the writers of Daniel were trying to survive amid the cultural and military violence of the Seleucid kings, especially Antiochus IV (circa 175–164 BCE), who carried out Alexander’s program of colonization.

The visions in this book repeatedly chart the rise and fall of political powers. But throughout these cycles, God had been working to create an eternal kingdom, one that would differ completely from the earthly kingdoms of the past. In verse 18, the Most High inaugurates this kingdom and gives it to God’s faithful community.

The term “holy ones” needs some further explanation. In the Old Testament, the word used here almost always refers to angelic beings like Gabriel and Uriel, who will be named later in the book. The holy ones comprise the divine court and do the work of the Most High. But according to apocalyptic logic, events in heaven find their reflection in earthly events and people. Thus, when the holy ones receive the eternal kingdom from God, the vision signals that God is empowering the faithful on earth (see verse 27). The oppression, injustice, and arrogance of tyrants will come to an end, once and for all, at a time of God’s choosing.

The holy ones of the Most High

So, what does it mean for the holy ones to receive the kingdom? Or in other words, what are the people of God supposed to do with this vision? Over the past two millennia, interpreters have sometimes read this vision as evidence that God has anointed a political leader or party in the present to do the divine will on earth. Take, for example, the English Puritans who were led by Oliver Cromwell in the mid-1600s. They believed themselves to be the holy ones of Daniel 7 who were inaugurating God’s new monarchy. They used this chapter to legitimize military revolution.²

Hindsight shows us that such attempts to identify a political leader who is God’s own person almost always end up in violence and corruption. Instead, readers do well to follow Daniel’s example. So much of what Daniel does in this and the subsequent chapters of the book involves paying attention: searching, studying, and discerning. Daniel repeatedly says, “I kept watching,” throughout the chapter.

Each of these occurrences signals an important change in the dream sequence. Daniel continues to search for wisdom by asking for clarification (verse 16), rereading the prophets (9:2), and praying (9:4). He seeks out patterns of God’s actions in Israel’s history to discern God’s actions in his own time. He sees and records the Most High’s work, hidden in history, to restore justice and deliver the faithful. Like many of us, Daniel also seeks certainty regarding the distressing events he witnesses, but this will continue to elude both him and us.

All Saints Day

The lectionary assigns this reading to All Saints Day, and one might wonder what connection brings them together.

The word “saint” is linguistically related to the word for holy ones (7:18), through the Latin translation of the Bible. The celebration of All Saints Day reminds us that the Christian community reaches beyond the present and connects us with both the past and the future. It looks backward to celebrate the work of the faithful, both known and unknown, who labored for justice and righteousness. It reminds us that the faithful in the present are laboring for a future that is unknown to us. Perhaps most importantly, All Saints Day reminds us that we are never alone and never left behind.

Notes

1. Ry O Siggelkow, “Ernst Käsemann and the Specter of Apocalyptic,” Theology Today 75, no. 1 (2018): 40, https://doi.org/10.1177/0040573618763575.
2. Carol A. Newsom and Brennan Breed, Daniel: A Commentary (Westminster John Knox, 2014), 245.