Daniel (biblical prophet)

Daniel is a Jewish exile in Babylon whose court service, deliverance from a lions’ den, and apocalyptic visions are recounted in the Book of Daniel.

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Daniel in the lions’ den: A biblical episode in which Daniel survives a night in a den of lions after being condemned for praying to God. This deliverance is Daniel’s defining test of faithfulness in the Babylonian court.
Book of Daniel: A biblical book combining stories of Jewish life at foreign courts with apocalyptic visions of kingdoms and divine deliverance. It is the primary source for Daniel’s story and prophetic visions.
Antiochus IV Epiphanes: A Seleucid king whose policies in Judea provoked the Maccabean revolt in the second century BCE. The book’s final visions closely reflect persecution under his rule.
Danielic Son of Man: A humanlike figure in Daniel 7 who comes with the clouds and receives dominion from the Ancient of Days. This figure became a major focus of later Jewish and Christian interpretation.
Belshazzar’s feast: A biblical episode in which a mysterious inscription appears during a feast hosted by Babylonian king Belshazzar. Daniel interprets the writing that announces the fall of Belshazzar’s kingdom.
Babylonian captivity: The deportation of Judeans to Babylonia, especially following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in the sixth century BCE. Daniel’s identity as an exile places his court story in the aftermath of Judah’s defeat.
Maccabean revolt: A Jewish revolt against Seleucid rule in Judea, beginning in 167 BCE. Daniel’s crisis imagery is commonly read against the persecution that sparked this revolt.
Resurrection in Judaism: The belief that the dead will be restored to life, developed in Jewish texts and traditions in diverse forms. Daniel 12 contains one of the Hebrew Bible’s clearest statements about resurrection.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: Three Jewish exiles in Babylon who survive a fiery furnace after refusing to worship a golden image. Their court ordeal parallels Daniel’s refusal to abandon Jewish worship.
Apocalyptic literature: A literary form that reveals hidden heavenly realities and portrays divine intervention in history, often through symbolic visions. Daniel’s visions are among the Bible’s central examples of this literary form.