The History of the Prophet Daniel - James Allen Moseley - Bog

Daniel is clearly the Old Testament companion to the New Testament Book of Revelation. There are many similarities in the visions of the two books. Any exegesis of Daniel quickly arouses controversy between the proponents of various eschatological views. A great deal of what Daniel prophesied found fulfillment in the ancient history of the Middle East. Many readers of the Bible have no idea about those events. They may only barely have heard of Alexander the Great, Darius III, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and Judas Maccabeus, and so it is nearly impossible for them to understand Daniel Chapters 8 and 10 through 12. They might just barely have heard of the Roman emperors Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius and Nero, but they probably do not know much, if anything, about Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian and Titus, and so the astonishing accuracy of Daniel 7, and its perfect fit with Revelation 13, escapes them. The fact that Daniel's prophecies found fulfillment in near-term historical events need not exclude that they may have far-future applications, too. Bible prophecy has other precedents showing that past and future prophetic fulfillments can simultaneously be true. So it may be with some, many, or all of Daniel's prophecies. The student of Scripture must take the responsibility to know what Daniel said, what happened from the time Daniel wrote until today, fit historical events with the details of his prophecies, and decide which elements of Daniel's prophecies await future fulfillment and which have already been fulfilled. To skip any part of this process - for example, to ignore historical events that fit tightly with Daniel's prophecy simply from a futurist bias, or to ignore futuristic possibilities in Daniel's prophecies simply from a preterist bias - would be negligent. The devoted student of Scripture should read the Bible for all it's worth, taking into account all valid information, and then arrive at the best interpretation under the guidance of his own mind and of the Holy Spirit. As Edmund Burke wrote, "Those who do not know history are destined to repeat it." Jim Moseley has taught and written 17 books on Biblical theology since 2008, focusing on apologetics, science, history, archaeology, and comparative religions and doctrines. He is President of a non-profit organization (thebiblehistoryguy.com), whose mission is finding faith through facts. He is working on a Master's Degree in Divinity at Liberty University.