Daniel - John

Daniel ends the beginning and John begins the end.

End and Beginning

Daniel is the last book of the Old Testament while John is the first book of the New Testament. So it might not be too surprising that Daniel finishes with something akin to "THE END" and John starts "In the beginning."

Daniel	John
39 Daniel 12:13 ¹³But as for you, Daniel, go your way and rest until the end; then you will arise at your appointed time, at the end of the days.	40 John 1:1 ¹In the beginning was the word, and that very word was with god, and god was that word.

The presence of red words at the end of Daniel is a tip off that Jesus is the voice speaking to Daniel. John then begins by stating that the "word" (which is code for "Jesus") was in the beginning. In other words, go back and read the Old Testament again, because Jesus is there. He appears and speaks often, in fact, like near the end of Daniel.

Jesus at the River

Jesus visits Daniel and John at the river's edge.

Daniel	John
39 Daniel 10:4-11 ⁴On the 24th day of the 1st month, as I was by the side of the great river Tigris, ⁵I lifted up my eyes and looked, and saw a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with glory and majesty. ⁶His appearance was peculiar, and there is nothing like it; his face like the appearance of lightning and his eyes like lamps of fire and his arms and his feet like the color of burnished brass and the sound of his words like the sound of many armies. ⁷And I, Daniel, alone saw this vision; for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great fear fell on them, so they fled because of the fear. ⁸Therefore I was left alone and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me; and my heart trembled, and there was no strength in me. ⁹And when I heard the sound of his words, I fell down on my face on the ground; ¹⁰and look, a hand touched me and set me on my knees and on the palms of my hands. ¹¹And he said to me, Arise, Daniel, man greatly beloved; understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright; for now I have been sent to you. And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.	40 John 1:28-29 ²⁸These things happened in Bethany at the Jordan crossing, where John was baptizing. ²⁹The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him, and he said, Look, the lamb of god, who takes away the sin of the world.

Daniel

John

39 Daniel 10:4-11
⁴On the 24th day of the 1st month, as I was by the side of the great river Tigris,
⁵I lifted up my eyes and looked, and saw a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with glory and majesty.
⁶His appearance was peculiar, and there is nothing like it; his face like the appearance of lightning and his eyes like lamps of fire and his arms and his feet like the color of burnished brass and the sound of his words like the sound of many armies.
⁷And I, Daniel, alone saw this vision; for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great fear fell on them, so they fled because of the fear.
⁸Therefore I was left alone and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me; and my heart trembled, and there was no strength in me.
⁹And when I heard the sound of his words, I fell down on my face on the ground;
¹⁰and look, a hand touched me and set me on my knees and on the palms of my hands.

¹¹And he said to me, Arise, Daniel, man greatly beloved; understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright; for now I have been sent to you. And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.

40 John 1:28-29
²⁸These things happened in Bethany at the Jordan crossing, where John was baptizing.

²⁹The next day, John saw Jesus coming to him, and he said, Look, the lamb of god, who takes away the sin of the world.

Jesus went to Daniel at the Euphrates river and gave him a rather long vision that stretches to the end of his book. Jesus visited John at the edge of the Jordan where he was baptizing, ultimately to be baptized by him and revealed to Israel.

Daniel has the baptism theme too, but it's less obvious. Daniel is told he will rise from the dead at the end of days. Baptism pictures death and resurrection. It's a picture of Jesus' death and resurrection. By dying to one's own desires and following Jesus the promise of actual resurrection and everlasting life is attained. Daniel was promised resurrection because he did what Jesus told him.

Daniel had trouble standing when Jesus showed up at the river. He fell forward on his face, only to be picked up by Jesus. It looks like Jesus baptized Daniel. Daniel does not say explicity that he fell in the water, but the description of where he was and what happened coupled with the baptism theme shared by Daniel and John strongly suggests this. So Jesus baptized Daniel in the Euphrates and John baptized Jesus in the Jordan.

Aramaic

Aramaic is the language of the New Testament, though it was quickly translated to Greek to supply the increasing interest in copies of the Bible by Greek readers. Half of Daniel was written in Aramaic. The other being Hebrew.

Daniel, as the last book of the Hebrew Old Testament, anticipates the language shift that occurs with John and the New Testament. He shows the future of the text by writting half the content in Aramaic. Daniel seems to know what's coming in terms of the text itself and models what the finished product would look like in miniature by writting a book in two languages.

Daniel & Revelation

Daniel is often compared with Revelation and studied in parallel. There are a number of correlations shared between the books, which is why they are studied together so often. One example is the way Daniel is told to seal his word, but John is told not to seal. Why? Daniel was not at the end yet, but John was. Some of the parallels make sense in light of the book order placing Daniel at the end of the Old Testament.

By Ryan Eaton
Posted Monday, Issachar 26, 13001