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Bible Dictionaries
Daniel
People's Dictionary of the Bible
or Daniel (dăn'i-el, or dăn'yel), judgment of God. 1. A son of David by Abigail the Carmelitess. 1 Chronicles 3:1. In 2 Samuel 3:3 he is called Chileab. 2. The name of one of "the greater prophets." Nothing is certainly known of his parentage or family. He appears, however, to have been of royal or noble descent, Daniel 1:3, and to have possessed great natural talents. Daniel 1:4. He was taken to Babylon in "the third year of Jehoiakim," and trained for the king's service. He and his companions resolved to abstain from the "king's meat" for fear of defilement. Daniel 1:8-16. At the close of his three years' discipline, Daniel 1:5; Daniel 1:18, Daniel had an opportunity of exercising his peculiar gift, Daniel 1:17, of interpreting dreams, on the occasion of Nebuchadnezzar's decree against the Magi. Daniel 2:14 ff. In consequence of his ability, by divine assistance, to reveal the dream to the king, he was made "ruler of the whole province of Babylon." Daniel 2:48. He afterwards interpreted a second dream of Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 4:8-27, and the handwriting on the wall which disturbed the feast of Belshazzar. Daniel 5:10-28. At the accession of Darius he was made "first," according to the A. V., but the R. V. reads "one" of the "three presidents" of the empire, Daniel 6:2, and was delivered from the lion's den, into which he had been cast for his faithfulness in the worship of Jehovah. Daniel 6:10-23. At the accession of Cyrus he still retained his prosperity. Daniel 6:28, compare; Daniel 1:21, though he does not appear to have remained at Babylon, and in "the third year of Cyrus" he saw his last recorded vision, on the banks of the Tigris. Daniel 10:1; Daniel 10:4. In the prophecies of Ezekiel mention is made of Daniel as a pattern of righteousness, Ezekiel 14:14; Ezekiel 14:20, and wisdom, Ezekiel 28:3. The narrative implies that Daniel was distinguished for purity and knowledge at a very early age. Daniel 1:19. 3. A descendant of Ithamar, who returned with Ezra. Ezra 8:2. 4. A priest who sealed the covenant drawn up by Nehemiah. Nehemiah 10:6. He is perhaps the same as No. 3.
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Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'Daniel'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/rpd/d/daniel.html. 1893.
