20.  The first chapter is introductory to the whole book, giving an account of the selection and education of Daniel and his three companions by direction of the king of Babylon.  The prophecies that follow naturally fall into two series.  The first, occupying chaps. 2-7, is written in Chaldee from the middle of the fourth verse of chap. 2.  It unfolds the relation which God’s kingdom holds to the heathen powers as seen (1,) in a twofold vision of the four great monarchies of the world, in the form first of an image consisting of four parts, and then of four great beasts rising up out of the sea, the last monarchy being succeeded by the kingdom of the God of heaven, which shall never be destroyed (chaps. 2, 7); (2,) in the protection and deliverance of God’s faithful servants from the persecution of heathen kings and princes (chaps. 3, 6); (3,) in the humbling of heathen monarchs for their pride, idolatry, and profanation of the sacred vessels belonging to the sanctuary (chaps. 4, 5).  Thus we see that the first three of these six chapters (2-7) correspond to the last three taken in an inverse order—­the second to the seventh, the third to the sixth, and the fourth to the fifth.  The second series, consisting of the remaining five chapters, is written in Hebrew.  This also exhibits the conflict between God’s kingdom and the heathen world, taking up the second and third monarchies under the images of a ram and a he-goat.  Chap. 8.  There follow some special details relating to the nearer future, with some very remarkable revelations respecting the time of the Messiah’s advent, the destruction of the holy city by the Romans, the last great conflict between the kingdom of God and its enemies, and the final resurrection.

The intimate connection between the book of Daniel and the Revelation of John must strike every reader of the holy Scriptures.  They mutually interpret each other, and together constitute one grand system of prophecy extending down to the end of the world.  Both also contain predictions, the exact interpretation of which is extremely difficult, perhaps impossible, till the mystery of God shall be finished.

21.  That they who deny the reality of miracles and prophecy should receive the book of Daniel as genuine and authentic is impossible.  To review the history of the assaults made by them upon it, or of the volumes written in reply, is foreign to the plan of the present work.  A brief summary only will be given of the grounds on which its claim to a place in the canon of the Old Testament is vindicated.

(1.) The unity of the book of Daniel is now conceded.  “The two leading divisions are so related that the one implies the existence of the other.  Both have the same characteristics of manner and style, though a considerable portion of the book is in Chaldee, and the remainder in Hebrew.”  Davidson after Keil and others, Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 916.  This being admitted, the book as a whole claims Daniel for its author; for in it he often speaks in the first person, and in the last chapter the book is manifestly ascribed to him (12:4, 9).