E-Book Overview
The volume contains seven studies, each of which focuses on a different vision or chapter in Daniel and offers a new interpretation or reading of the passage in question. Many of the insights proposed in this volume are based upon the realization that the authors of Daniel were frequently interpreters of earlier biblical books, and that the identification of these intertextual clues can be the key to unlocking the meaning of these texts.
E-Book Content
Michael Segal Dreams, Riddles, and Visions
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
Edited by John Barton, Reinhard G. Kratz, and Markus Witte
Band 455
Michael Segal
Dreams, Riddles, and Visions Textual, Contextual, and Intertextual Approaches to the Book of Daniel
ISBN 978-3-11-033086-1 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-033099-1 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978–3-11–038997–5 ISSN 0934–2575 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2016 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com
Contents 0 0.1. 0.2. 0.3. 0.4.
Introduction | 1 Divinely Inspired Wisdom in Daniel | 2 Textual Questions: Alternate Editions of Daniel | 3 Intertextual Contexts: Daniel as Second Temple Literature | 7 Exegetical Insights: Rereading the Book of Daniel | 9
1 1.1. 1.2. 1.3.
Introducing the Book of Daniel (Daniel 1) | 13 The List of Instructions to Ashpenaz | 15 How did God help Daniel vis-à-vis the | ?שר הסריסים19 A Story within a Story | 22 Appendix: The Third Year of Jehoiakim’s Reign | 26
2
2.4. 2.5. 2.6.
Daniel as Interpreter of Dreams: The Literary Development of the Narrative in Daniel 2 | 32 Description of Daniel 2 | 32 Contradictions within Daniel 2 | 33 Divine Names as Supporting Evidence for Different Sources | 37 A More Precise Source Division | 41 Daniel as an “Improved” Joseph | 48 Possible Origin of the Addition | 51
3 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4.
Rereading the Writing on the Wall (Daniel 5) | 55 They Could Not Read the Writing | 55 The Riddle of the Writing | 68 The Narrativization of Prophecy | 79 Conclusions | 93
4 4.1. 4.2. 4.2.1. 4.2.2. 4.2.3. 4.3. 4.3.1.
The Textual and Literary Development of Daniel 4 | 94 The Structure of MT Daniel 4 | 96 Secondary Elements in MT Daniel 4 | 102 Daniel 4:3–7a,15 | 102 Daniel 4:13a | 104 Daniel 4:14b | 108 Secondary Elements in OG | 109 Solving an Interpretive Crux – “in fetters of iron and bronze” | 109 The Date of the Story | 115
2.1. 2.2. 2.3.
4.3.2.
VI 4.3.3. 4.4. 4.5. 4.6. 5 5.1. 5.2. 5.3. 5.4. 5.5. 5.6. 6 6.1. 6.2. 6.2.1. 6.2.2. 6.2.3. 6.2.4. 6.3. 7 7.1. 7.2. 7.2.1. 7.2.2. 7.2.3. 7.3. 7.3.1. 7.3.2. 7.4.
Contents
Additional Secondary Elements in OG | 119 Summary Remarks on the Relationship between MT and OG | 124 Does the Old Greek reflect a Semitic Vorlage? Evidence from a Parabiblical Composition | 126 Conclusions | 131 Reconsidering the Theological Background of Daniel 7 | 132 The Literary Unity of Daniel 7 | 132 Identifying the “One like a Man” | 134 Translating and Identifying | )עם( קדישי עליונין139 Eschatological Biblical Interpretation: Establishing Yhwh’s Portion | 144 Daniel 7 and the Other Apocalypses in Daniel: Daniel 7:25 | 150 Theological Worldview or Literary Appropriation? | 153 The Chronological Conception of the Persian Period in Daniel 9 | 155 Introduction: Chronology in Daniel 9 – The Interpretive Consensus | 15