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Sefer Daniel ספר דניאל
The exile's court tales and apocalyptic visions — the lions' den, the writing on the wall, the seventy weeks. Daniel lived and saw his visions in Bavel, and like Yechezkel his book waited for the return: the baraita of Bava Batra assigns its writing to the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, the assembly whose own members (Rashi lists Chaggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Zerubavel, Mordechai and their colleagues) bridged the exile and the Land. In the baraita's order it stands among the Ketuvim, not the Prophets.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- ספר דניאל
- Also known as
- Daniel, Book of Daniel
- Era
- second-temple
II. When
- Traditional
- Daniel's visions in the Babylonian and early Persian courts; committed to writing by the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, c. 3408–3450 AM, per Bava Batra 15a
- Academic
- court tales possibly earlier; the visions dated by most scholars to the Maccabean crisis, c. 165 BCE
- Duration
- ≈42 years
- Precision
- approximate
IV. What
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic (2:4–7:28 in Aramaic)
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| "The Anshei Knesset HaGedolah wrote Yechezkel, the Twelve, Daniel, and Megillat Esther" (אנשי כנסת הגדולה כתבו... דניאל) — the baraita of Bava Batra; Rashi explains the pattern for the exile books as writing-down after the return to the Land. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| In the baraita's order of the Ketuvim, Daniel is placed with Megillat Esther between Kinot and Ezra — a book of visions counted among the Writings rather than the Prophets. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| Timeline placement c. 3408–3450 AM, the working years of the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah — the writing date; Daniel's own career in Bavel and Persia is a generation and more earlier. The span is schematic. | tradition reconstruction | ★★★☆☆ |