Daniel’s History

September 18, 2026 | Posted by Ray Fowler

To celebrate the release of my new book, Daniel: Stories and Visions, I am sharing portions from the first chapter this week.

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Daniel’s History

Next, let’s look at Daniel’s history. I know a lot of people think of history as boring, but the history of Daniel is both fascinating and important.

1) Covers events from 605 B.C. to 536 B.C. (70 years)

First, the book of Daniel covers events from 605 B.C. to 536 B.C., so a period of roughly 70 years. Daniel was a young man in his twenties at the beginning of this period and an older man in his nineties near the end. It’s a small slice of history for the world, but it represents the bulk of Daniel’s life.

Isn’t that the way it is for all of us? No matter how long we live, we each inhabit a small slice of history, but God’s plan marches forward regardless.

2) Prophesies events up through 163 B.C. and beyond

Although the book of Daniel covers events from 605 B.C. to 536 B.C, it prophesies events up through 163 B.C. and beyond. Daniel presents detailed prophecies of events leading up to the ruler Antiochus IV in 163 B.C, and then he goes on to prophesy about the coming of Christ, the death of Christ, the ascension of Christ and even the end times, which remain future for all of us.

C. Describes four major empires

Daniel describes the four major empires leading up to the time of Christ: the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire and the Roman Empire.

   Babylonian Empire – 625 – 539 B.C.
   Persian Empire – 539 – 331 B.C.
   Greek Empire – 331 – 63 B.C.
   Roman Empire – 63 B.C. – A.D. 447

Daniel’s life overlaps with the first two empires, whereas he prophesies about the second two empires—in startling detail, centuries in advance.

4) Written around 530 B.C.

In fact, it is the detailed prophecies of these empires which cause the greatest controversy surrounding the book of Daniel, which is: when was the book of Daniel written?

Many secular scholars argue that Daniel was written around 165 B.C. Why? They do not believe in predictive prophecy. Daniel describes events hundreds of years in the future with such detail that they do not believe it could have been written during his lifetime. For example, one such scholar writes: “We need to assume that the vision [in Daniel 8] as a whole is prophecy after the fact. Why? Because human beings are unable accurately to predict future events centuries in advance” (Sibley W. Towner).

Well, that’s exactly the point. Human beings are unable to accurately predict future events centuries in advance. But God knows the future, and prophecy comes from God, not from human beings.

The book of Daniel indicates that it was actually written around 530 B.C. Why?

It records actual events up through Daniel’s final vision in 536 B.C. (Dan. 10:1)
It presents itself as written by Daniel (Dan. 7:1-2)
It was accepted as written by Daniel by the Jews and by Jesus (Matt. 24:15-16)
It is written in earlier Aramaic and Hebrew language (600-330 B.C.)
It encourages faithful living in exile, which was a different life setting than Israel was experiencing in the 2nd century B.C.

In other words, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck—it’s probably a duck! The only reason not to think Daniel was written by Daniel during his own lifetime is if you don’t believe in prophecy, that is, if you don’t believe that God can use prophets to foretell future events long before they happen.

~ Excerpted from the book Daniel: Stories and Visions by Ray Fowler

Click on the book image to view on Amazon.