Daniel in the Bible

What changed when Daniel was taken to Babylon?

Daniel enters the story as a young man from Judah, taken into a court that gives him a new name, teaches him its language and literature, and assigns him the king’s food and wine. He asks not to defile himself with that food, then proposes a ten-day test of vegetables and water to the steward. The steward continues the alternative diet after seeing the result. The chapter does not spell out exactly what made the royal food defiling.

This ten-day test is not the three weeks of mourning in Daniel 10, when Daniel avoids pleasant food, meat, and wine. Neither passage gives the detailed food rules of every modern “Daniel Fast.” Daniel’s companions share the early food test and join him in seeking God’s mercy over the king’s dream. Chapter 3 later follows those three friends into the furnace; it does not say where Daniel is during that event.

Daniel 1:3–20; 2:17–18; 3:12–30; 10:2–3 · Read the account of Daniel’s three friends in the furnace →

Daniel asks for understanding—and does not receive every answer

Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that God has revealed the dream, not that he is wiser than everyone else. When Daniel receives visions himself, he asks for their meaning. Gabriel explains the ram and goat in chapter 8, yet Daniel remains troubled and is ill for days. By chapter 12 he still says that he does not understand what he has heard. Receiving a vision does not make him all-knowing.

His prayer in chapter 9 also goes beyond asking for personal protection. Reading Jeremiah’s prophecy about Jerusalem, he confesses his own sin and his people’s sin, and asks for mercy for the city and sanctuary. His innocence of the charges in chapter 6 is not a claim that he has never sinned.

The visions are not all later than the lions’ den. Chapters 7 and 8 are dated to Belshazzar’s reign, before that king’s death in chapter 5. Chapter 9 is dated to Darius’s first year and chapter 10 to Cyrus’s third year. Daniel 1:21 mentions Cyrus’s first year, but it does not give Daniel’s death date.

Daniel 1:21; 2:27–30; 5:30–31; 6:22; 7:1; 8:1, 15–27; 9:1–20; 10:1; 12:8–13 · Explore the book’s structure, languages, and visions →

A Hebrew confession carried into exile

What does the name Daniel mean?

Daniel means “God is my judge,” as the Brown–Driver–Briggs lexicon explains. The chief official gives him the Babylonian name Belteshazzar (Daniel 1:7), which Nebuchadnezzar associates with his god (4:8). Belteshazzar is Daniel, not King Belshazzar, the ruler he addresses in chapter 5. Ezekiel 14:14, 20 and 28:3 mention a wise, righteous figure whose name is rendered Daniel or Danel. Some readers identify him with Daniel the exile; others see an earlier figure known from Ugaritic literature. His identity is disputed.

Brown–Driver–Briggs: Daniel, entry 1840

Yale Bible Study: the Danel identification and Daniel’s name