Dr. Samuel M. Frost
In my commentary on Daniel, I noted that the first verse (1:1) and the last verse (12:13) are deliberate bookends that reveal the heart of Daniel’s eschatology. With that, this article will explore the relationship between the two verses.
First, Daniel 1:1 states, “In the third year belonging to the reign of Yehoakim – King of the land of Judah – Nebuchadnezzar – King of the land of Babylon – came to Jerusalem, and he captured it.” 12:13 states, “You (Daniel), keep going until your last breath, and then you will rest. You will stand (again) to your inheritance at the last day.”
The contrast is between the land being lost to Babylon, which is the “inheritance” of Daniel’s people, and Daniel’s having to be “raised from the dead” in order to receive back this inheritance. The point is obvious: the reception of Israel’s inheritance is not truly gained until the true saints of Israel (like Daniel) are raised “unto everlasting life” (Daniel 12:2).
John J. Collins, long regarded as one of the premier experts on Danielic studies, understands that the resurrection in 12:2, 13 forms the conclusion of the entire book, “the last substantive revelation of the book.”[1] As such, the resurrection of the dead is when the saints “would receive dominion over the whole earth.”[2] This last reference for Collins is the final conclusion found in Daniel 7. Apart from Collins’ work, my view, exhausted in my commentary, is that Daniel first sees a shadowy “son of man” inheriting a ”kingdom” (Daniel 7.14) before the presence of the Ancient of Days. Then, at some point unspecified, the saints come to “receive the kingdom forever and ever” (7:18). This is also in 7:27, where they are “given” the same kingdom the “son of man” was given.
Even more conservative works, the explicit mention of resurrection is to be found in 12:13. Philips and Vines comment that, “Daniel would rest in death…he would stand in resurrection. He would receive his lot of inheritance. He would enter into his reward and have his share in the glories yet to come.”[3] We could site several more, but the point is clear.
I want to focus on the lexeme usually translated as “lot.” The Hebrew term is, גורל (goral). The Theodotian Greek (TH) has, κληρος (klεros), which is mostly translated as, “inheritance.” The association between “inheritance” and “lot” is not missed. What is also interesting is that the Jewish translators of the older Greek (LXX) have, δοχα (doxa), which means, “glory.”[4] Daniel would “rise to your [his] glory.”[5] The idea of resurrection in glory to receive and be given the inheritance is connected with no real controversy.
So, what is this goral to be inherited? The term literally means a “lot,” which was casted to determine an outcome. For example, the land was to be divided by “lot” (Numbers 36:2, and several other places). However, since the land was divided by casting the lot, the term itself became synonymous (by metonymy) with inheritance and land.[6] This is particularly brought out in Joshua. With that being said, Daniel is promised that when he dies (goes to his end), he will rest. At some point, in the last day, he will rise again from the dead and be given his destiny in glory: his inheritance that not only belongs to him, but to all the saints of the Most High. Since “land” is so deeply associated with the term, “lot,” we can easily infer that the “land” promised to Israel “forever” is to be given to them through the intervention of God in the resurrection of the dead; receiving a new land inheritance, but nonetheless the same land from which death separates them. It is not heaven that is inherited. Heaven is the place of “rest” until “resurrection.” Heaven, too, is not the “inheritance” ever promised to Daniel’s people: land was. In fact, the land is promised to Abraham, “forever.”
Thus, in conclusion, the first verses of Daniel show that their land is taken away from them, the people of God. This land is their promised inheritance. God has promised them this land “forever,” and that there would be a time when they would be “restored” there forever, with “no one to ever remove them from it,” and “never again will you be taken out of it.” It is not surprise, then, that Israel’s exile from the land, has as its ultimate fulfillment Israel’s resurrection in order to receive back the land forever. That this did not happen in the return to the land under the edict of Cyrus the Persian King, since Daniel foresees that once again they will be sacked under the Seleucid occupation. Later on, (not mentioned in Daniel), Rome would occupy the land, only to scatter Judea yet again. However, within this time the son of man has been made to be “present” in heaven, and is given all things (Daniel 7:13-14). What he is given is eventually given to “the saints of the Most High.” Daniel does not tell us, “when” that is, only that it will be when the saints of the Most High are raised from the dead and receive their glory, their land, their inheritance forever. The NT is loaded with this idea. We may note, then, too, that Paul is not envisioning a political return of Israel to the land after the bulldozing of the Romans in 135-138 CE. Rather, he sees the semitic peoples who are so associated with the covenants (Judaism) as being scattered, but not forsaken. Their “glory” will be “life from the dead,” when they, and all associated with “their promises” are “saved” – raised from the dead (this the material of Romans 9-11).
[1] Collins, John J. Daniel with an Introduction to Apocalyptic Literature. Volume XX, The Forms of Old Testament Literature (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. 1984), 103.
[2] Ibid., 104.
[3] Phillips, John; Jerry Vines, Exploring the Book of Daniel. (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers. 1990), 203.
[4] See, Silvia Anneliese Linington, Covenant in Daniel and the Dead Sea Scrolls: An Exposition of Daniel 9-12 and Selected Sections of the Damascus Document (CD), Community Rule (1QS), Hymn Scroll (1QHA) and War Scroll (1QM). Dissertation, November 2014. 171 n.337.
[5] We should not miss Paul’s “will be raised εν δοχη” – “in glory” in 1Cor 15.43. The LXX has επι την δοχαν – where epi is used with accusative form, indicating the idea of “in” or “in upon.”
[6] Harris, R. Laird. Gleason L. Archer, Bruce K. Waltke. Theological Workbook of the Old Testament. Volume 1. (Chicago: Moody Press. 1980). 382. There, the term “becomes and equivalent to inheritance, portion, possession,” and quotes Dan 12:13 with this meaning. See also Willem A. VanGermeren, New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis. Volume 1. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 1997). 841-842. There, the term means, “allotted inheritance.” The word also becomes associated with the idea of “destiny” in more recent lexicons; Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgartner. The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. 2000. (The Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament and the Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament CD-ROM Edition are copyright Koninklijke Brill NV).
Vigilate et Orate 