Order of the chapters and chronological order

The normal reading of Daniel naturally follows the order of the twelve chapters:

Daniel 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 8 → 9 → 10 → 11 → 12.

This order must be respected when studying the composition of the book.

However, it does not correspond exactly to the historical sequence of events.

Daniel himself provides several indications that allow us to see this.

Daniel 5 tells of the fall of Belshazzar.

Yet Daniel 7 begins with:

“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream” (Daniel 7.1).

Daniel 8 then specifies:

“In the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar” (Daniel 8.1).

The events of Daniel 7 and Daniel 8 therefore precede those of Daniel 5 chronologically.

This table immediately reveals the most important displacement:

Daniel 7 and Daniel 8 must chronologically be placed back before Daniel 5.

Following the main indications given by the text, the sequence can be represented approximately as follows:

Daniel 1Daniel's arrival in the Babylonian world.

↓

Daniel 2Nebuchadnezzar's dream and the vision of the statue.

↓

Daniel 3-4Events of Nebuchadnezzar's reign whose precise date is not given.

↓

Daniel 7First year of
Belshazzar.

↓

Daniel 8Third year of
Belshazzar.

↓

Daniel 5Last night of
Belshazzar and fall of Babylon.

↓

Daniel 6 and Daniel 9Period of Darius the Mede.

↓

Daniel 10-12Third year of Cyrus and the last great revelation.

This reconstruction must remain cautious for the chapters that do not provide a precise date.

The answer probably lies in the literary structure of the book.

Daniel 2 to Daniel 7 forms an Aramaic unit.

Within this unit, Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 answer each other.

Daniel 2 presents a succession of kingdoms in the form of a statue.

Daniel 7 also presents a succession of kingdoms, this time in the form of four beasts.

Both visions lead to a dominion established by God and destined never to pass away (Daniel 2.44; 7.13-14).

Placing Daniel 7 immediately after Daniel 6 therefore makes it possible to close the great unit begun in Daniel 2.

Its position thus answers more to a literary and theological logic than to a strict chronological one.

Daniel 8 opens a new stage.

The text returns to Hebrew.

The vision takes up the question of the kingdoms again but becomes more precise.

The ram is explicitly identified with the Medes and the Persians, while the goat is associated with Javan (Daniel 8.20-21).

The position of Daniel 8 thus allows a progression:

Daniel 2: the general framework of the kingdoms

↓

Daniel 7: resumption and deepening of the general framework

↓

Daniel 8: more precise identification of certain powers

The literary order therefore favors the progression of the revelation rather than the strict succession of dates.

This organization produces a particularly interesting effect.

Daniel 2 had announced to Nebuchadnezzar:

“After you shall arise another kingdom” (Daniel 2.39).

Daniel 5 then tells of the actual disappearance of Babylonian dominion.

Daniel interprets the writing that appeared on the wall:

“Your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians” (Daniel 5.28).

The chapter ends with the death of Belshazzar and the arrival of Darius the Mede (Daniel 5.30-31).

The book is therefore not content with announcing the succession of kingdoms.

It also tells of the first great change of empire that Daniel witnesses.

What Daniel 2 had presented in prophetic form becomes, within the narrative itself, a historical event.

Daniel 6 and Daniel 9 both belong to the period that follows the fall of Babylon.

Daniel 6 presents Daniel under the authority of Darius.

Daniel 9 begins with a similar indication:

“In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes” (Daniel 9.1).

Yet the two chapters are not placed next to each other.

Daniel 6 ends the series of the great court narratives.

Daniel 9 belongs to the Hebrew section of visions and revelations.

Once again, literary organization prevails over a simple chronological succession.

The situation is different for the last three chapters.

Daniel 10.1 provides the chronological framework:

“In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a word was revealed to Daniel.”

The revelation begins in chapter 10, continues in chapter 11 and ends in chapter 12.

The modern divisions into chapters can give the impression of three successive revelations.

It is, however, a single great unit.

Chronological order and literary order therefore coincide much more directly here.

Reconstructing the chronology of Daniel — show definition INF221 is useful, but it would be methodologically incorrect to reorganize the book according to this chronology and to regard this new order as superior to the transmitted order.

Chronology answers the question:

When did the events take place?

The literary structure answers another question:

Why are the narratives and visions presented in this order?

The two approaches are complementary.

The first sheds light on the history of Daniel.

The second sheds light on the composition and message of the book.

* The exact chronological position of Daniel 3 and Daniel 4 cannot be determined with the same precision as that of the explicitly dated chapters.

This table therefore does not claim to provide an absolute chronology of each episode.

It only highlights the displacements that the indications of the text actually allow us to establish.