What is the main message in Daniel chapter 8?

Answer 1

There are lots of messages, but perhaps the biggest one is God's control over history. The rise and fall of empires is in his hands, and the coming of Christ to reign over the Kingdom of God for ever is promised after the rise and fall of Babylonian, Median, Persian and Greek empires.

For people like Daniel, stuck in exile during the Babylonian empire, this would have given them an amazing long-term perspective on God's plans, and helped them to realise that even though life was tough at the time, God was still with them and still had plans for them.

Answer 2

Answer 1:

The book of Daniel is one of the prophetic books of the Old Testament.

It also tells in detail of the conditions experienced by the Jews who were displaced after their homeland was overrun by the Babylonians, and the country's best and finest young men were taken to work in Babylon. Daniel tells of the faithfulness to God of selected young men in the face of a land where idol-worship was rife; it tells of how they were tested, and how they came through their tests triumphantly

Answer 2:

The book of Daniel is a part of the 'Writings' section of the Tanach (Jewish Bible). This book is not placed in Prophets because Daniel himself was not a prophet. However, it was decided that the book should be included in the Tanach because the information it contained would be important to future generations of Jews.

The Christian Church moved the book of Daniel to the Prophets section of the Christian Old Testament. This is just one of the many alterations that render the Christian OT an invalid text from the Jewish perspective.

Answer 3

The Book of Daniel is a second-century BCE story of the life of Daniel, a man said to have lived during the Babylonian Exile of the 6th century BCE and early in the Persian period. The book describes various trials, successes and amazing miracles of Daniel.

The biblical scholar, Raymond E. Brown, says that the real context of the Book of Daniel is the persecution experienced under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164), and that the author used descriptions of the Babylonian kings to decry the Syrian rulers of his time.

Answer 4

The Book of Daniel, supposedly written by Daniel himself during the Babylonian Exile, tells of the miracle in which Daniel's friends survived in a furnace so hot that those who threw them in were killed by the heat. It tells the famous story of Daniel surviving a night in a den of lions, protected by an angel. And it tells of prophecies that accurately foretold the future of Judah.

In chapter 2, Daniel prophesied that King Nebuchadnezzar would be followed by an inferior kingdom, then a third and a fourth kingdom. The fourth kingdom would then become divided. And in the days of these kings, God would set up a kingdom that would never be destroyed. Some Christians interpret this as a prophecy that includes the Roman Empire and the advent of Christianity. More objectively, it was simply a prophecy of King Nebuchadnezzar's successor, then the Persian Empire and the kingdom of Alexander, which was divided after Alexander's death.

The author of Daniel knew of the four consecutive kingdoms because he was writing about Daniel from the perspective of the second century, just before the Maccabean revolt. The book was written during the darkest period since the Exile to give the people a sense of pride and hope for the future.

Please note that from the Jewish perspective, Daniel was not a prophet. This book was included in the Tanach because it was deemed important for future generations, however, it is located in the Writings section, not Prophets.

Answer 5

The message of Daniel is that God has power and will triumph ultimately. This was the message at the time of writing, and also today since many of the predicted prophecies in the book have been fulfilled.

Answer 6

Daniel prophesied some amazing things and I can't really say which I believe to be the most important, but my favorite is the prophecy of the 70 weeks found in chapter 9:20-27. I do believe we are approaching the 70th week very quickly.

Jewish answer:

The most important message of Daniel is (opinion:) his prophecy that the Four Kingdoms (Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome) would not last forever; only the Kingdom of God will.

Answer 7

Daniel has a vision of a ram and a goat, hinting to Persia, Medea and Greece. The goat tramples the ram, hinting that Greece (Alexander) will conquer Persia and Medea.

The goat's horn is broken, splitting into four, hinting to the four kingdoms that would arise from the Greek empire (the Ptolemaic kingdom, the Seleucids, the kingdom of Pergamon, and Macedon).

Answer 8

Leonard J Greenspoon (The Oxford History of the Biblical World, Between Alexandria and Antioch) describes the Book of Daniel as a second-century Jewish novel and says that the author would not have expected the audience of his time to see it as historical. Nevertheless, two changes in this view occurred over the centuries that followed. First, the Jews began to see Daniel as real history, and placed it in the list of Historical books in the Jewish canon. To the later Christians, Daniel was more than just history, it was prophecy, and the book came to be listed by Christians as one of the Old Testament Books of Prophecy.

Answer 9

Like the Book of Esther, the message of Daniel was that God would remain with the Jews during their exile and would protect those who serve Him. See also:

Reliability of the Hebrew Bible

According to traditional chronology, Daniel lived from about 435 BCE to about 340 BCE. His gravesite is known to this day, in Susa, Iran. (See also: Jewish history timeline)

Ch.1 - Daniel in Nevuchadnezzar's palace; insists on kosher food.
Ch.2 - Daniel interprets the king's (Nevuchadnezzar's) dream, of a beast made of gold, silver, brass, iron and clay. It hints to four kingdoms.
Ch.3 - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, Daniel's young friends, refuse to bow to a statue put up by the king. They are cast into a furnace but God prevents the fire from burning them.
Ch.4 - The king dreams of a great tree cut down and a man humbled by losing his sanity and living among the animals. Daniel tells him that this would befall him, the king; and it came true.
Ch.5 - The Chaldean king Belshazzar sees a disembodied hand writing on a wall. Daniel tells him that the mysterious words hint that his (Belshazzar's) rule will not last. Belshazzar is killed that very night.
Ch.6 - Daniel continues his regular prayers despite a decree forbidding such prayers. The king, Darius, has him tossed among hungry lions, but God prevents them from harming him.
Ch.7 - Daniel dreams of four strange beasts, hinting to four kingdoms.
Ch.8 - Daniel has a vision of a ram and a goat, hinting to Persia, Medea and Greece.
Ch.9 - Daniel prays to God.
Ch.10 - Daniel speaks to the angel.
Ch.11 - The angel tells Daniel of future wars between kings.
Ch.12 - Daniel is told that the meaning of the prophecy will remain hidden until the end-times.See also:

More about the Hebrew Bible

Answer 10

The main theme of the Book of Daniel is the sovereign control of God in past and future times. Another theme is the importance of separating from the world's sinful practices.