DANIEL - A BOOK ON TRIAL, Chapter Two

IMAGINE yourself in a court of law, attending an important trial.  A man stands accused of fraud.  The prosecuting attorney insists that the man is guilty.  Yet, the accused has a long-standing reputation for integrity.  Would you not be interested in hearing the evidence for defense? 

You are in a similar situation when it comes to the Bible book of Daniel. Its writer was a man renowned for integrity.  The book that bears  his name has been highly regarded for thousands of years.  It presents itself as authentic history, written by Daniel, a Hebrew prophet who lived during the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E. Accurate Biblical chronology shows that his book covers the period extending from about 618 to 536 B.C.E. and was completed by the latter date.  but the book stands accused. Some encyclopedias and other reference works imply or assert outright that it is a fraud. (It is not a fraud, they say that because it Satan's work in there) 

For example, The New Encyclopedia Britannica acknowledges that the book of Daniel was once "generally considered to be true history, containing genuine prophecy."  The Britannica claims that in reality, however, Daniel "was written in a later time of national crisis-when the Jews were suffering severe persecution under [Syrian King] Anticohus IV Epiphanes."  The encyclopedia dates the book between 167 and 164 B.C.E. This same work asserts that the writer of the book of Daniel  does not prophecy the future but simply presents  "events that are past history to him as prophecies of future happenings. "  

Next time: Conclusion of:DANIEL-A BOOK ON TRIAL 

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