Daniel Study Resources

by Krisan Marotta | Aug 3, 2020 | 02 Library, Resources by Book

Study questions, maps, charts, key words, history, background, outlines, and links to help you study the Old Testament book of Daniel.

Jump to: Background; ** Maps; ** Key Words; ** Encyclopedias; ** Commentaries; ** Articles; ** GotQuestions ** Next **

Basics

The Book of Daniel addresses the question of how to live godly lives in a world dominated by hostile forces.
Daniel was written at a key time in Jewish history when their whole world was turned upside down by the exile, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.
The book of Daniel assumes a knowledge of the Old Testament and the history of Israel and Judah.
Daniel was written at a time of great prophetic activity. Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel were all writing at the same time and Isaiah was shortly before them.
The second half of the book of Daniel is written in Hebrew and the first half is written in Aramaic which was the lingua franca of the day. Other than a small section in Ezra, every other Old Testament book was written in Hebrew.
According to Jewish tradition, Daniel was not categorized as a prophetic work, apparently because Daniel does not say “This says the Lord.” However, by content it is very much like the other prophetic works. Most prophetic works do not contain much specific, detailed prediction. Yet Daniel has the most predictions of any of the prophetic works.
Daniel was deported to Babylon when he was 16 years old. His life and ministry span the 70 year period of Babylonian captivity.
Ezekiel mentions Daniel 3 times as an example of righteousness (Ezekiel 9:23; Eze 10:11; Eze 10:19).

All the prophetic works help us understand the story of history and prepare us for the fact that at the end it will look like the cause of God is hopeless and faithfulness will seem foolish. The prophetic works present the gospel by asking the question, where will you turn when disaster strikes?

Timeline of the Captivity

722 BC – Northern kingdom taken into captivity in Assyria
612 BC – Babylonians and Medes conquer Assyria
605 BC – Babylonians battle Egyptians at Carchemish; Nebuchadnezzar becomes king of Babylon; The Babylonians invade Judah;First wave of deportation of Jews to Babylon; Daniel is taken captive and begins to prophesy
601 BC -Babylonians battle Egypt, both sides suffer losses; Judah decides to realign itself with Egypt
597 BC -Jehoachin becomes king of Judah; 597 BC -Babylonians capture Jerusalem; Second wave of deportation to Babylon from Judah; Ezekiel is taken captive to Babylon; Zedekiah becomes king of Judah
593 BC – Ezekiel begins to prophesy
586 BC – The Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and the Temple; Jerusalem’s walls and gates are burned with fire; Third wave of Jews deported to Babylon and the Babylonian Exile begins
539 BC – Persia overthrows Babylon.

Genre: Understanding Narrative

Genre: Understanding Prophecy

Go to top

Section 1: Background

Background & Outlines

Introduction to the Prophets

Introduction to the Exile and R e turn

Chart: Bible History at a glance

Blue Letter Bible: Old Testament Timeline

Jensen’s Survey of the Old Testament

Bible Atlas: Babylon

Bible Atlas: Babylonia

Bible Atlas: Jerusalem

Timeline of the Babylonian Captivity

Who was Nebuchadnezzar?

Daniel quotes in the NT

Ray C Stedman: Overview of the Book

John MacArthur: Author, Date, Background

ESV: Introduction to Daniel

ESV: The Global Message of Daniel

NIV: Introduction to Daniel

Hebrew Calendar

Chronology of Events Related to Daniel (Reigns of various kings) – Tony Garland

Biblehub: Chronology of Daniel

James van Dine: Analysis of Daniel

David Malick: An Introduction to the Book of Daniel

Go to top

Section 2: Maps

Maps from Holman Bible Atlas

ESV Study Bible Maps

Go to top

Section 3: Key Words

Key Words

kingdom (35v) – Strong’s H4437 in Dan 2:27; Dan 2:39; Dan 2:40; Dan 2:41; Dan 2:42; Dan 2:44; Dan 4:3; Dan 4:18; Dan 4:26; Dan 4:34; Dan 4:36; Dan5:7; Dan 5:11; Dan 5:16; Dan 5:26; Dan 5:28; Dan5:29; Dan 6:1; Dan 6:3; Dan 6:7; Dan 6:26; Dan 7:14; Dan 7:22; Dan 7:23; Dan 7:24; Dan 7:27; Dan 8:21; Dan 9:1; Dan 10:13; Dan 11:4; Dan 11:17; Dan 11:17; Dan 11:20; Dan 11:21;

vision (19v) – Strong’s H2376 or H2377 in Dan 2:19; Dan 7:2; Dan 8:1; Dan 8:2; Dan 8:13; Dan 8:15; Dan 8:17; Dan 8:26; Dan 9:21; Dan 9:24; Dan 10:1; Dan 10:14; Dan 11:14; Strong’s H4758 in Dan 8:16; Dan 8:26; Dan 8:27; Dan 9:23; Dan 10:1; Strong’s H4579a in Dan 10:8; Dan 10:16

dream (18v) – Strong’s H2472 in Dan 2:3; Dan 2:4; Dan 2:5; Dan 2:6; Dan 2:7; Dan 2:9; Dan 2:26; Dan 2:28; Dan 2:36; Dan 2:45; Dan 4:5; Dan 4:6; Dan 4:7; Dan 4:8; Dan 4:9; Dan 4:18; Dan 4:19; Dan 7:1;

dominion (10v) – Strong’s H7985 in Dan 4:3; Dan 4:22; Dan 4:34; Dan 6:26; Dan 7:6; Dan 7:12; Dan 7:14; Dan 7:26; Dan 7:27; Dan 11:5

mystery (6x) – Strong’s H7328 in Dan 2:18; Dan 2:19; Dan 2:27; Dan 2:30; Dan 2:47; Dan 4:9; mysteries in Dan 2:28; Dan 2:29; Dan 2:47

covenant (6v)- Strong’s H1285 in Dan 9:4; Dan 9:27; Dan 11:22; Dan 11:28; Dan 11:30; Dan 11:32

ruler (5v) – Strong’s H7990 in Dan 2:10; Dan 4:17; Dan 4:25; Dan 4:32; Dan 5:21

Go to top

Section 4: Encyclopedias