Conclusion of TELLING DETAILS

Another contrast emerges. Daniel shows that Nebuchadnezzer could enact and change laws on a whim.  Darius could do nothing to change 'the laws of the Medes and the Persians'-even those he himself had enacted!  (Daniel 2:5, 6, 23, 46-49; 3:10, 11, 29; 6:12-16) Historian John C. Whitcomb writes:  "Ancient history substantiates this difference between Babylon, where the law was subject to the king, and Medo-Persia, where the king was subject to the law."

The thrilling account of Belshazzar's feast, which is recorded in Daniel chapter 5, is rich in detail.  Apparently, it began with lighthearted eating and plenty of drinking, for there are several references  to wine.  (Daniel 5:1, 2, 4) In fact, relief carvings of similar feasts show only wine being consumed.  Evidently, then, wine was extremely important  at such festivities. Daniel also mentions that  women were present at this banquet-the king's secondary wives and his concubines.  (Daniel 5:3, 23) (note: that part about the wives and concubines is in the old testament and is a no no now.  Jehovah only wants men and women to have only one female wife for the man and a male husband for the women, that is it. No man with man or woman with  a woman; it is not natural and Jehovah detests the same sex relationships.)  Archaeology supports this detail of Babylonian custom.  The notion of wives joining men at a feast was objectionable to Jews and Greeks in the Maccabean era.  Perhaps that  is why early versions of the Greek Septuagint translation of Daniel omit the mention of these women.  Yet, the alleged forger of Daniel would have lived in the same Hellenized (Greek) culture, and perhaps even during the same general era,m that produced the Septuagint! 

In view of such details, it seems almost incredible that Britannica could describe the author of the book of Daniel as having only a "sketchy and inaccurate " knowledge of the exilic times.  How could any forger of later centuries have been so intimately familiar  with ancient Babylonian and Persian customs? Remember, too, that both empires had gone into decline long before the second century B.C.E. There were evidently no archaeologists back then; nor did the Jews of that time pride themselves on knowledge of foreign cultures and history. Only Daniel the prophet, an eyewitness of the times and events he described, could have written the book bearing his name.  

Next time: DO ETERNAL FACTORS PROVE DANIEL A FORGERY? 

From the book:  PAY ATTENTION TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY! 1999