The visions are described as real experiences, time and place being given, and tlie deep emotions of the seer described (7"- >» 8'»-'«- " 9»- » lO'"'"- ">■'»). The experiences seem to lie in the region of sleep or on its borderland (7'- ' 8" 10"). Their subjective reality seems to be in a measure confirmed by the intense seriousness which characterizes the book, and the writer's evident belief in the value and Divine origin of his message.
But, on the other hand, the book is nnquestion- ahly pseudonymous, and the visions contain, in the form of Gabriel's di.^closures about the future, much that was to the author really, and of course
consciously, history. Is this consistent with the impression that the writer is describing really visionary, ecstatic experiences, or docs it compel us to assume that the vision is tliroughout a literary form ? The problem is really a psychological one. How are we to explain the form ot tlie book, that of visions and angelic interpretations, so as to explain both the fact that tliese consist largely in history disguised as prediction, and the fact of the writer's emotion and conviction as to their contents ? It is evident that this form served the writer's practical purpose, for it showed that the present insupportable condition of his people was foreknown and determined by God, and it gave a ground for belief in the truth of predictions of really future events. But the emotion and con- viction of the writer seem inconsistent with his use of a purely artistic, not to say artful, form of composition.
We are undoubtedly helped towards a solution of tlie problem hy the fact, whose significance we owe to G'\nkel, that the predictions of the apoca- lypse are not novelties, but rest in part on tradi- tion. The foresight of Daniel comes to the ^vriter, at least in part, through the study of the older
Srophets. Tlie interpretation of the 70 weeks of er 25'"- 29'" is certainly of central si-'nilicance in the book (ch. 9). But it is probable also that symbolical figures such as those of chs. 7 and 8 (cf. 2) were not invented de novo by tlie author, but came to him from the past, and were regarded by him as mysterious types and forecasts of human history, in which he could find the future the more surely because he could lind in them the past. The pseudonymous form becomes both less oirensive to us and more intelligible if we suppose that the writer was actually searching in ancient prophecies, and in apocalyptical traditions to him no less ancient, for previsions of the actual course of post-exilic Jewish history, in order that he might the more firmly believe and the more surely convince others that the present crisis is not a break in the plan of God, but a necessary stage in its unfoldin<^, and that the promised deliverance is near. It is possible also in this case to suppose that the interpretation came in connexion with deep emotional experiences.
(a) Plan of the cumpo.s-it ion. — Daniel is char- acterized by an unmistakable unity of tone and general teaching ; but unity in plan and in detail IS not obvious, and various ell'orts to prove com- posite authorship have been made. In fact the book is made up of ten quite distinct pieces, largely independent oi each other (divided according to chapters, except the 10th, which includes chs. 10-12). Distinct apocalypses could easily be made of chs. 2. 7. 8. 9. lU-12. It is, however, the prevailing and probable view that the book, as we have it, comes from one author ; that the enemy of God and His people is everywhere Antiochus, and the hone every- where that 01 his speedy overthrow and tiie ruler- ship of Israel over the nations. The book, then, has no chronological sequence throughout ; it does, however, describe the present distress and the coming deliverance on the whole with increasing definiteness and detail in the successive figures. Ch. 7 is more explicit than ch. 2, while cli. i^jlcsauiid
) ol Aiiliipi Iius IV. Tins pi as serving well the tntmonitory aim of the writer, which the stories also evidently serve. His plan is to give a clearer and fuller disclosure of the future OS the book proceeds, but to enforce con- stantly in varied forms the les.son of the reality of God's rule and the safety of patient and enduring trust in Him amid present troubles. There is no anxiety about exact consistency throughout. Th«
246 REVELATION, BOOK OF
REVELATION, BOOK OF
overthrow of the Greek kingdom is at first the deed of God alone, but in the last vision Michael is the deliverer. At first the consummation seems to follow directly upon the fall of Antiochus, hut in oh. 12 a period of trial for Israel intervenes before its glory. The stories teach a present de- liverance for the faithful, but at the end martyrdom and a deliverance only after death come into view.
2. Characteristics of Apocalypses in comparison with Prophecy. — On tne basis of this description of Daniel we may attempt a brief discussion of the characteristics of apocalyptical literature in general in comj)arison with OT prophecy.
(a) situation and message. — In the case of the apocalj£se the situation is always one in which the righteous arein trouble, because ot tlie rule uf y foreign power, and usually also because in the Jewish community itself those who have power and prosperity are the wicked, not the righteous. Thft pipss.'ycr^ ii^ f'^t '^plij^erance is soon_if' "nmo