Daniel Evokes Isaiah: Allusive Characterization of Foreign Rule in the Hebrew–Aramaic Book of Daniel

Description

Lester argues here that the book of Daniel contains a complex but poetically unified narrative. This can be identified through certain narrative qualities, including the allusion to Isaiah throughout, which uniquely contributes to the narrative arc. The narrative begins with the inauguration of foreign rule over Israel, and concludes with that rule's end. Each stage of the book's composition casts that foreign rule in terms ever-more-reminiscent of Isaiah's depiction of Assyria. That enemy is first conscripted by God to punish Israel, but then arrogates punitive authority to itself until ultimately punished in its turn and destroyed. Each apocalypse in the book of Daniel carries forward, in its own way, that allusive characterization. Lester thus argues that an allusive poetics can be investigated as an intentional rhetorical trope in a work for which the concept of “author” is complex; that a narrative criticism can incorporate a critical understanding of composition history. The “Daniel” resulting from this inquiry depicts Daniel's 2nd-century Jewish reader not as suffering punishment for breaking covenant with God, but as enduring in covenant faithfulness the last days of the “Assyrian” arrogator's violent excesses. This narrative problematizes any simplistic narrative conceptions of biblical Israel as ceaselessly rebellious, lending a unique note to conversations about suffering and theodicy in the Hebrew Bible, and about anti-Judaic habits in Christian reading of the Hebrew Bible. Cover Title Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Chapter 1. How Daniel Evokes Isaiah 1. Daniel’s Evocation of Isaiah Observed 2. Allusion 3. Narrative: The Rule of the Nations in Daniel 4. Texts of Isaiah and Daniel a. Allusion and Critical Issues of Composition History b. Composition History and Manuscript Evidence 5. Conclusion Chapter 2. Intertextuality and Allusion in Daniel 1. Intertextuality and Allusion 2. Influence: Deutero-Isaiah and Daniel 2 3. Inner-Biblical Exegesis: Daniel 1 and 9 a. Daniel 1:1–2 and 2 Chronicles 36:6–7; 2 Kings 24:1 b. Daniel 9 and Jeremiah 25:11, 12; 29:10 4. Non-Literary Allusion: Daniel 7 a. Daniel 7–12 and Contemporary Events and Figures b. Daniel 7 and the Chaos Combat Myth 5. Interliterary Allusion: Daniel 2 and Others a. Daniel 2 and the Joseph Story b. Some Other Interliterary Allusions 6. Internal Allusion: Toward a Narrative Unity 7. Allusion to Isaiah Chapter 3. Allusions to Isaiah in yhe Apocalypses 1. Allusions to Isaiah 2. Antiochus IV, the “Assyrian” Arrogator a. Isaiah’s Assyria and the King of the North: Daniel 10–12 b. Isaiah’s Assyria and the “Prince to Come”: Daniel 9:26–27 and Isaiah 10:22–23; 28:22 c. Assyria: The “Little Horn” in Daniel 8 d. Assyria: The “Little Horn,” Daniel 7:8 and Isaiah 10:12; 37:23 e. Antiochus IV and Allusion to Isaiah in Daniel 7–12 3. Daniel and the Maskilim a. The Servant of YHWH: Daniel 10–12 b. Daniel the Exilic Penitent: Daniel 9:20–23 and Isaiah 65:24 Chapter 4. Allusions to Isaiah in the Court Legends 1. Isaiah and the Court Legends: Daniel 1–3 a. Daniel 2:34–35, 45 and Isaiah 41:15–16; 51:1 b. Daniel 2:46 and Isaiah 45:14; 49:7, 23 (cf. 60:14) c. Daniel 3:25–27 and Isaiah 43:2 d. Daniel 1:3 and Isaiah 39:7 e. Conclusions: Isaiah and the Court Legends 2. Habits of Allusion in Daniel a. Allusion and its Indicators b. Daniel and the OG of Isaiah c. Evoking Allusive Texts d. Internal Allusion 3. Conclusions Chapter 5. Isaiah and the Rule of the Nations in Daniel 1. Isaiah and the Rule of the Nations 2. The Rule of the Nations in Daniel’s Narrative 3. The Rule of the Nations: Isaiah 10 in the Apocalypses (Daniel 7–12) a. Background to Daniel 8–12: Allusion and Rhetorical Play in Isaiah 10:22–25 b. The Latter Days of the Wrath”: Isaiah 10 in Daniel 8:19, 23–25 c. Flood, Decree, and Desolation: Isaiah 10 in Daniel 9:26–27 d. Flood, Decree, and Wrath: Isaiah 10 in Daniel 11 e. A Question of Intent: Isaiah 10 in the Aramaic Apocalypse (Daniel 7) 4. Other Allusive Contributions of Isaiah to Apocalyptic Daniel a. Daniel 8 and Isaiah 14 b. Daniel 9 and Isaiah 65 c. Daniel 10–12: the Maskilim and Their Vindication 5. Allusion to Isaiah in Daniel 1–3 6. Allusion to Isaiah in Daniel: Some Comparisons 7. Conclusion Appendix: Texts and Translations 1. Witnesses and Their Characters a. Hebrew–Aramaic b. Greek 2. Lists from Fragmentary Sources a. Papyrus 967 b. Qumran Daniel 3. Texts and Translations a. Isaiah b. Daniel Bibliography Index of References Index of Authors