The Symbolic Character of Prophetic Language: The Dreams and Prophetic Visions in the Book of Daniel
The Bible contains many important sections where the narrative uses symbols to convey a message in a coded or hidden manner. For instance, Joseph continuously interprets dreams by providing a meaning that eliminates the supernatural or surreal sense of the dream and transforms the dream into something that we can take practical action to prevent or realize. The most famous one is the interpretation of the Pharaoh's dreams of the seven skinny cows and the seven fat cows.
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| Joseph's Interprets Pharaoh's Dream Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons |
The discovery of Hieroglyphics recounting dreams and their interpretations validates the historical value of this story from Genesis in them stories tell of priests interpreting Pharaoh's dream. Throughout history, different cultures attributed a special meaning to dreams, believing that they convey special messages hidden in the images that appear on them. In ancient Egypt and Greece, people believed that dreams channeled divine messages that only spiritually gifted people could interpret.
Psychology has recognized the power of dreams to convey messages. Many people today follow a Freudian view of dreams as suppressed desires and wishes. Ryand Hurd of dreamstudies.org shares that Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, rejected Freud's major premise that dreams are expressions of tabooed sexual desires. Jung came to believe that dreams, among other things, bring a message through mythic narratives to the dreamer that can help him solve problems. Dreamers, thus, should pay attention to their hidden messages. These ideas resonate with what happened in the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis.
With respect to dreams, this might not surprise many people. But, what about prophecies? What about visions of the future?
Prophecy could be regarded as a totally different experience, one that we could say resides in a higher dimension. Yet the prophetic language exudes symbolic images. Some Christian groups believe that many prophecies will be fulfilled literally and there is no need to see the images as mere representations but as identical replicas of what will occur in the future. Other Christian groups have realized that visions and prophecies, like the ones in Revelations, can be interpreted in terms of historical developments and of persons. However, they still think some parts of the prophecies, especially those pertaining to Jesus of to the antichrist, can be taken literally for the most part.
However, examining biblical instances where prophecies have been interpreted in the stories of the Bible themselves we can find that prophecies share a lot with dreams. No manifestation of supernatural beings or actions is part of their correct interpretations.
However, examining biblical instances where prophecies have been interpreted in the stories of the Bible themselves we can find that prophecies share a lot with dreams. No manifestation of supernatural beings or actions is part of their correct interpretations.
If we take the Bible seriously as teaching us how to lead our lives then we should seriously consider those cases when prophetic visions were explained by referring to normal people and natural events as a type of interpretive principle. For this let us examine the Book of Daniel.
The Book of Daniel
The most obvious case is that of Daniel, a noble Jew exiled in Babylon who came to have a position of respect in the government of Nebuchadnezzar. In chapter 7 of the book of Daniel, we find one of the most impacting prophetic visions for it contains what seemed to be the numerous political upheavals that would take place up to the arrival of Jesus to establish the heavenly Kingdom. But this unfolding of events did not appear before Daniel in a clear form. The vision veiled the times to come through the use of images of 4 strange beasts. The first one looked like a lion but with wings of an eagle, a second one resembled a bear, a third one seemed like a leopard but with four wings on its back and with four heads. The fourth beast resists the comparison with any particular animal and Daniel simply describes it as də·ḥî·lāh (Hebrew for dreadful) and wə-’ê-mə-ṯā-nî (terrible) with iron teeth.
Daniel became distressed and alarmed by the appearance of these four beasts (7:15). When Daniel has another vision of what is to come the author once again depicts him as turning color to a deathly pallor and losing all of his strength (10:8). (Perhaps through Daniel's attitude the author wishes to teach his readers not to rejoice over calamities that may fall upon those who reject God's word.)
Though Daniel comes into the story as someone gifted by God with knowledge and intelligence in every type of literature and wisdom, as well as understanding in all kinds and vision and dreams (Daniel 1:17) the unfolding of the story reveals that Daniel prayed for God's assistance in understanding dreams and required clarifications from angels as to the prophetic visions he received. The author may have intended to show us that Daniel's heavenly gift was dependent upon his faith in terms of praying to God for assistance, or that God will give the meaning to a vision if we faithfully attend Him throughout our lives. Still, if the great Daniel could not decipher the meaning of very important visions, who among us truly believe himself or herself capable of interpreting the powerful vision of Revelations?
Daniel received the answer that the four beasts represented four kings that were to succeed one another till the arrival of one who looked like the Son of Man who would establish the final everlasting Kingdom of God. These kings were not to be supernaturally fit in any way, as some form of anti-Christs or demons. They would be normal human beings in charge of different cultures, each of them would successively win over the previous one and take control of the land.
Afterward, Daniel received other visions. In two earlier chapters, 2 and 4, the author follows a similar methodology of presenting supernatural images and then providing the meaning of the images in terms of actual people and normal historical events. The structure reflects an underlying didactic strategy.
In other words: the book intends to teach the readers, perhaps some particular ideal reader, that prophetic dreams are not meant to be taken literally.
In chapter 8, once again the vision of a Ram and a Goat represent two different kingdoms.
The book of Daniel guides the readers to have a humble attitude towards interpreting prophecy as Daniel, a master interpreter, after receiving the last vision admits that he heard but could not understand (12:8).
Daniel contains so many important prophecies that have to do with the coming of the promised Messiah that Christianity parallels them with the prophecies presented in the book of Revelation in the New Testament. If that is the case should not we base any interpretation of the prophecies on Revelation to the manner of interpretation offered in the book of Daniel?
Traditionally, Christianity has expected to see several mighty supernatural events taking place in the time of the Last Days. The central event that Christians hope to see is the visible return of Jesus coming on the clouds of heaven. Other major events that tradition foresees as having a literal realization in the Last Days are the resurrection of all the dead, the Judgment of all mankind, the rapture of the saints, the burning up of the planet Earth, the destruction of Satan, and the establishment of the New Jerusalem. In other words, tradition expects a literal fulfillment of all these prophecies presented in the Bible.
Church leaders claim that the return of Jesus on the clouds will take place literally since even Jesus mentioned it. However, the vision of one like the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven first appears in one of the visions of Daniel. The evidence so far points towards that vision having a symbolic meaning.
However, in view of the manner in which the author of the book of Daniel repeatedly teaches his readers that prophecies will find a natural fulfillment that one must decipher, or have the blessing to have them elucidated for one by an angel, should not we expect that the prophecies in Revelation require a similar interpretation? Do we have to have the author of Revelation tell us that we should seek a natural meaning to all the prophecies concerning the last days and the Second Coming when the Bible already contains an excellent clear presentation of the proper interpretive methods for the prophetic visions? Would we not be like those that had ears but could not hear, had eyes but could not see?
“Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.” (Zig Ziglar)
The author of Daniel appears to be using a didactic strategy in the fashion that the authors of didactic hymns throughout the Bible have done. Dr. Matthew E. Gordley in an article for the Journal of Biblical Literature in 2009 on the use of didactic hymnody in the Prologue of the Gospel of John says: Scholars have long recognized the existence in ancient times of didactic hymnody--a kind of composition that instructs an audience even as it praises the divine.
The instruction could take different forms such as exhortations to follow the Law, to love Wisdom, or to reveal a special significance of some important events in Jewish history such as the Exodus.
We find that the authors of Daniel fashioned a didactic strategy by interpreting visions and dreams of the future on 5 different occasions with the same exact method. The interpretations only speak of natural events about to come.
When we look at the book of Daniel from this angle we can realize that its intention is not to merely speak of the great faith of Daniel and his friends. In retrospect a couple of colorful stories depicting Daniel and his Jewish friends' bravery and absolute faith in God when they had to confront a den of hungry lions and a fiery furnace respectively take something of a background to the greater number of times the author illustrates the true nature of prophetic language. When looking into the main topic of the book of Daniel, the greater number of presentations of the process of interpreting prophecies tilt the weight of the balance in favor of the makeup of the apocalyptic communication.
When we look at the book of Daniel from this angle we can realize that its intention is not to merely speak of the great faith of Daniel and his friends. In retrospect a couple of colorful stories depicting Daniel and his Jewish friends' bravery and absolute faith in God when they had to confront a den of hungry lions and a fiery furnace respectively take something of a background to the greater number of times the author illustrates the true nature of prophetic language. When looking into the main topic of the book of Daniel, the greater number of presentations of the process of interpreting prophecies tilt the weight of the balance in favor of the makeup of the apocalyptic communication.
In fact, by having Daniel require the help of God and of angels to understand visions that even caused Daniel to feel distraught, the story attempts to lead the readers into focusing upon the interpretive process more than solely upon the exemplary character of Daniel. The author bestowed immense value upon grasping the essentially symbolic nature of the prophetic visions and also of the fundamental need for humans to depend ultimately on assistance from angels or God Himself in ascertaining their meanings.
He seems intended on having his readers realize that prophecies about the future, about the last days, must found an interpretation in terms of realistic events and normal human beings and not be expected to have a literal fulfillment.
In his book, Knowing Scripture (p. 99), R. C. Sproul, a well-known conservative Presbyterian minister, warns that: Of the forms of prophecy, the apocalyptic form is the most difficult to handle. Apocalyptic literature is characterized by a high degree of symbolic imagery that is sometimes interpreted for us and sometimes left uninterpreted. It is very easy to get bewildered with Daniel's symbols and the drama of the New Testament Apocalypse.
Bernard Ramm, another conservative theologian, and apologist counsels that:
Careful investigation must be made of the meaning of the terms in the original, of their derivations etymologically or culturally and a close examination of their associations to see what natural symbolism might be. (Protestant Biblical Interpretation, p. 238)
The author of Daniel conceived a brilliant literary structure calling future generations to expect the realization of the apocalyptic vision in terms of the natural unfolding of events and not of supernatural events.
If you feel this post gave you a deeper insight into the book of Daniel please leave a comment below.
I like this very much. I learned a lot from this post. thank you.
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